Who’s Pirating Starcraft II?
Zombies have my heart, but they can’t have my brains
Retro Reunion: Mr. Bones
For a gamer, regardless of what consoles you do or do not own, 2008 has been good to you. Companies have been wising up and releasing more multiplatform games, allowing more and more gamers to enjoy their products, however there is still a good amount of exclusive games to contend with, and Gamerlimit.com is taking a look them. We’ve assembled a list of exclusives released in 2008 for both of the major consoles.
Here, we’re going to break down the games into genres, and showcase the stengths and weaknesses of both the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 in regards to the exclusives released in 2008. If you’re having trouble deciding what console on which to spend your Christmas money , you’ve come to the right place!
Keep in mind that we’re looking at exclusive new releases only.
Role-Playing Games
Xbox 360:
Front Runner- Tales of Vesperia
Other Notable Titles- Lost Oddyssey , Infinite Undiscovery , The Last Remnant
Playstation 3:
Front Runner: Valkyria Chronicles
Other Notable Titles- Disgaea 3
Gamerlimit’s Take: For sheer number of RPG releases, the Xbox 360 takes the cake. Tales of Vesperia is its highest quality RPG, and it’s further supplemented by a few other decent RPG titles from Square-Enix and Mistwalker Studios. The Playstation 3 saw only 2 new release RPG titles in 2008, however both were reviewed rather well.
And the winner is…
Playstation 3: Valkyria Chronicles was highly reviewed, and it’s exclusive to the Playstation 3. In addition, Disgaea 3 is a cheap way to get a tactical RPG fix that will probably last until 2010. Playstation 3 owners should also note, that Persona 4 is the highest rated JRPG of the previous year, and if you have backwards compatible machines, it’s the best option for you as an RPG fan. The Xbox 360 has one notable RPG in Tales of Vesperia, yet the rest were arguable passable.
Action-Adventure
Xbox 360:
Front Runner- Fable 2
Other Notable Titles- Ninja Gaiden 2, Too Human
Playstation 3:
Front Runner- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Gamerlimit’s Take: Fable and Metal Gear Solid 4 are must play games for anyone serious about the hobby. The Xbox’s library also happened to receive the well reviewed, yet derivitive Ninja Gaiden 2, and the average rated Too Human.
And the winner is…
A Tie: The massive end chapter of Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid Saga is more than enough to offset the combination of Fable 2 and any other action adventure games on the system, especially given the divisive nature of Ninja Gaiden 2 and Too Human. Regardless of what console you own, if you’re looking for an action-adventure fix, you want be looking too hard.
Racing
Xbox 360:
Front Runner: Nothing
PS3:
Front Runner: Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
Other Notable Titles: Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
Gamerlimit’s Take: Playstation 3 has racing games, the Xbox 360 doesn’t. I guess it has that Dorito’s game. How is that?
And the winner is…
Playstation 3: The PS3 received 2 exceptional racing titles in 2008, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, a precursor to the upcoming Gran Turismo 5, and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, a follow-up to the successful first entry into the Motorstorm franchise. Those titles in addition the rest of the wonderful 2008 multiplatform racing games such as Burnout: Paradise, Pure and Baja: Edge of Control, serves to round out the console’s racing library, making the PS3 THE console for Racing fans.
Games Requiring Unique Peripherals:
Xbox 360:
Front Runner: Scene It: Box Office Smash!!!
Other Notable Titles: You’re in the Movies
Playstation 3:
Front Runner: Singstar!
Other Notable Titles: Buzz! Quiz TV
Gamerlimit’s Take: Singstar and Buzz were highly anticipated before their releases, Singstar being one of the better kareoke games on the market it has also received several expansion discs since its first release on the PS3. Buzz had a create your own question mode, effectively extending the life of the game to however long players wanted to write questions for it. The 360 received an update to the Scene It brand of video games and the lackluster You’re in the Movies! which was plagued with hardware issues right out of the box.
And the winner is…
Playstation 3: The Playstation 3 simply offered more and better titles than the 360 in this genre.
Build-It-Yourself Titles
Xbox 360:
Notable Titles: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Playstation 3:
Notable Titles: Little Big Planet
Gamerlimit’s Take: Banjo-Kazooie: N&B and Little Big Planet are among the better reviewed games of the year. LBP offered players an unrivaled level design system, and one of the first effective mascots in years via Sackboy. Banjo-Kazooie is an effective re-boot of a franchise, offering a vehicle customization system that enables players to make any vehicle they can imagine, without bogging them down with technicalities.
And the winner is…
Playstation 3: Little Big Planet received reviews in the top 5 of all games released this year. It’s a must-have experience for anyone with a creative bone in their body and it’s only available on the PS3. Also, Sackboy is adorable.
Shooter (First and Third Person)
Xbox 360:
Front Runner: Gears of War 2
Other Notable Titles: Left 4 Dead
Playstation 3:
Front Runner: Resistance 2
Other Notable Titles: Socom: Confrontation, Haze
Gamerlimit’s Take: Exclusive shooters sell systems, just ask Microsoft about Halo. 2008 is the year of cooperative play wherein Gears of War 2 and Left 4 Dead offered players wonderful ways to play together. Gears of War 2 was a complete reinvigoration of the first game, offering new locales, new weapons and an improved (albeit not dramatically improved) narrative. Left 4 Dead offered a cooperative experience unlike anything gamers have seen before, forcing players to work together against a zombie attack.
Resistance 2′s main draw was it’s class-based cooperative mode, which sold copies even though it’s single player was completely milquetoast. Haze’s release was surrounded with anticipation, unfortunately the game turned out to be an utter letdown and a complete waste of everyone’s hype mana. Socom: Confrontation is the latest entry into the Socom line of titles, however its released was plagued with bugs and its front end is still complicated enough to create a significant barrier of entry.
And the winner is…
Xbox 360: Both consoles had strong entries into the genre however the Xbox 360′s shooters simply outclassed those released on PS3 this year.
Downloadable Games:
Xbox 360:
Front Runner- Braid
Other Notable Titles- Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved, Castle Crashers
Playstation 3:
Front Runner- Wipeout HD
Other Notable Titles- Pixeljunk Monsters, Pixeljunk Eden
Gamerlimit’s Take: Both consoles received strong entries on the downloadable front. The 360 received an update to the wildly popular Geometry Wars. And With the release of Braid, it also got one of the more thought provoking titles in recent history. On the Playstation side of things, the PS3 was treated to the best Wipeout entry in years, in addition to a pair of great Pixeljunk games.
And the Winner Is…
Xbox 360: Braid is simply an experience unlike any other, it’s thought provoking and debate inciting in a way that even full priced games have acheived. In addition to the highly anticipated Geometry Wars 2 and the recently patched Castle Crashers, the Xbox 360 had the strongest downloadable library of the year.
Exclusive Characters In a Namco-Bandai Game Titled Soul Calibur 4
Xbox 360:
Front Runner: Yoda
Playstation 3:
Front Runner: Darth Vader
Gamerlimit’s Take: What the hell are Star Wars characters doing in a fantasy fighting game?
And the Winner Is…
Namco-Bandai: They ended up charging you to unlock characters that were already on the disc anyways. Jerks.
And Finally…
Overall Winner of the Year:
You, the gamers.
2008 has been a terrific year for gaming. In addition to all the wonderful exclusive titles listed here, we received a huge amount of excellent multi-platform titles. Fallout 3, Call of Duty: World at War, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, Devil May Cry 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Rock Band 2, Prince of Persia, Burnout: Paradise…
Stop reading this and go play your games, I know you aren’t done with that backlog yet. GO!
Are you new to Gamer Limit? Come check out what we’re about here!
Awesome list, altho the Namco part seemed to be made just for bashing on SC4, it very well fits with my opinion aswell.Maybe you can some day compare the Wii and Dreamcast lineup
Why cant more comparisons be like this. No bias opinions on this what so ever and the fact that you took the best of what each console had was well put together. Thought I’m a ps3 fan I do have to admit that Braid was a superior game for its old school feel but Super Stardust HD, Pixel Junk Eden, and Whip out if it was for combined I would give it up to PSN =/
Shame there are no exclusive racing titles for the Xbox 360 right now. I think it was Forza Motorsport 2 more than a year ago and PGR4 which were the last notable exclusives in that genre.
fable 2 can’t be compared with mgs4 , the last adventure of snake is ten times better than fable2, and than the most of the games released untill now.. and i’m not a big fan of mgs games, but it’s one of the games that can be remembered 10 years in the future or even more.. fable 2 was a good game, but not even near to mgs4…. the rest of the list seems ok to me….
Great review. Not smothered by your opinions – just plain fact. Keep it on!
And the loser is, the 360. It sucks compete arse.
PS3 is the mother of all consoles and the 360 is the little boy who needs a smack about the head.
The wii is a big fat turkey, and looks like complete and utter crap. SD FTW.
Hell yeah mgs4 is the only action adventure on ps3 vs 3 on the xbox 360 guys seriously admit it its the best game ever made it did a tie against 3 othere games in the ring of glory MGS4 FOREVER
This article is in need of comment moderation.
“The Xbox 360 has one notable RPG in Tales of Vesperia, yet the rest were arguable passable.”
So, Lost Odyssey is “passable” ? … /rolleyes
@ Fakto
Yes, it was… /rollseyes
Resistance 2 so beats Gears of War 2 not by much but still beats it. Left 4 Dead tho destroys all the other runner ups. 360 does have better downloadable content tho.(mainly braid) thats all I feel like saying for now, but great list tho.
Good article, but with some mistakes. Fable II is a RPG, not a action adventure game. Lost Odyssey is a good RPG, not a “passable” game. And, it’s obviously, ps3 is the winner of 2008. LBP + Resistence 2 + Metal Gear Solid 4 + Motorstorm 2 + Valkyria Chronicles.
@ Dios
How is that a viable opinion when message board chatter AND Metacritic/Gamerankings both disagree with you?
How do some of you guys come up with your logic?
lol, Fable 2 & MGS4 tie?
that’s…new
Hey Fakto, you should read everything carefully before jumping to conclusions. They explicitly said at the top of the page to
“Keep in mind that we’re looking at exclusive new releases only.”
Lost Odyssey was released in February 2008.
So don’t roll your eyes just because you actually found a site that’s not bias and the most of the verdicts go to the PS3 instead of your precious 360. Why can’t you should go by what games are better and not look at what console they’re on.
I say kudos to gamerlimit keep up the good work.
edit*
So you don’t jump all over me, I understand that Gran Turismo was released in February as well but the PS3 still has better exlusive racers than the 360.
PS3 is the best console ever i have switched to the dark side i think im becoming a dare I say it fanboy but really its a freaking home computer and gaming system yellowdog linux anyone? all the things that can be done wiht this next gen console i wish i had gotten the $600 60 gb it has the best PS2 replayability of all of them and you can make it HUGE 500gb Hardrive 500!!! PS3 Wins!!!
@lol
Then do it and send it to us. If it’s better than what I typed up then we’ll post it.
Otherwise, don’t ruin the site with your throwaway fanboy posts.
@ Jeff
“This article is in need of comment moderation.”
I agree and I will take care of it right now.
this is a article for ps3 fanboys reading. HOW COME u say valk. chronicles is a rpg? L.O.L , 360 totally blow out the competition with tpgs in 2008.
You know what Light, no no no, Rick owns a damn PS3, he is not a fanboy of Sony, it’s an honest article. If you think it’s fanboyish get out of here dude. Or make a educated opinion/comment.
@Dios
You sir are completely retarded. I only own a PS3, and I’m a complete sony fanboy, but common sense says Gears 2 > Resistance 2. Seriously, resistance 2 was just slightly above average. I other news, this article is great! I felt it was just perfect.
Haha Oh God. Flamewar! 360 Should have one RPG. And MSG4 Beats Fable II in a long shot!
@ AgonisingNewt
What longshot!? WTF are you people talking about? The Metacritic AND Gameranking totals are damn near equal?
WTF is wrong with you people!?
How Lame.
First thing – the RPG section in your article completely wrong: Valkyria is a strategy game so it shouldn’y be included, and fable is an RPG and not an action adventure game so it should have been in the RPG section.
But besides that, how can you claim that Disgaea 3 was “reviewed rather well” but Losy Oddisey was “arguable passable” when they both have a metacritic average of 78? The X360 demonstrated a superior RPG year by a long shot.
On the other hand, the PS3 should take the lead on the action-adventure because Fable 2 shouldn’t really be there and Ninja Gaiden is no competition to MGS4.
Also, why the hell is there a “Games Requiring Unique Peripherals” category but no Strategy category, or fighting category?
@ Guy
I don’t know why I’m arguing with these people… I think the caffeine just has me high. At least I’m in some kind of position to do it.
1) Valkyria Chronicles is a Tactical RPG, also know as turned base strategy. It’s not a strategy game along the lines of Starcraft or Company of Heroes. It’s more akin to Disgaea or Final Fantasy Tactics which were completely and undoubtedly ROLE PLAYING GAMES.
At any rate, that category was either going to the PS3 or it was going to be a tie, but I gave it to the PS3 because Valkyria was actually something new and classy. The Xbox’s RPGs were pretty derivative in nature, although polished pretty well. If you can name any real innovations in either Lost Odyssey or Tales of Vesperia, I’ll be glad to eat my words, but having played through both and enjoyed both, the best I can do is wish you good luck.
2nd) Fable is an Adventure game with RPG elements, but sure, we can argue its ambiguous nature. It was my call and my article, so I decided the category it fit into. Second, the PS3 DID take the lead in action adventure, I gave it the win due to MGS4, Which tells me you probably didn’t even read the article before you posted your nonsense.
Lastly, this bit:
“Also, why the hell is there a “Games Requiring Unique Peripherals” category but no Strategy category, or fighting category?”
Because the article is about EXCLUSIVE NEW RELEASES. What fighting games were released for either the Xbox 360 or the PS3 and are exclusive? Strategy games?
Read the ****ing article before posting.
Guys… We’re looking for thought-filled, inciteful debate, not fanboy banter, go do that on whatever message boards you came from. I’m tightening the moderation on this topic for the future.
Think before you post, otherwise you’re wasting your time completely.
I think that Rick is just trying to defend his article by calling us fanboys. Good list otherwise.
@ rick
Overall I like the article but the reason fable and mgs4 are close on the metacritic scores is because it is currently imposible to give mgs4 a 11/10 lol. I have played both and mgs4 kicks the shit out of fable 2.
Also I love resistance 2 but gears 2 owns it. Fav xbox game this year.
I have been thinking and arnt all games RPG’s as you have a role to play in every game?
“Those titles in addition the rest of the wonderful 2008 multiplatform racing games such as .. Baja: Edge of Control”
Baja: Edge of Control?! Stopped reading right there…
Refreshing to read an article with the flamebait “360 vs Ps3″ title end in such a balanced conclusion-I wish there was more of this maturity and dignity amongst “fanboys”
MGS4 vs Fable 2??? Doesn’t compute…
the winner is 360
(3 $ a copied game)
something tells me the guy who wrote this is a little biased towards PS3.
Fable is a RPG at heart so stick that i nthe RPG category and its a guaranteed win.
Build it yourself title ??? that isnt a real category it was obviously made up because nothing on xbox can compete with little big planet
Great article! I love the conclusion and wish more would follow this credo. If you enjoy games, there’s something for you on all platforms!
Who else here bets that once the PS3 version of “The Last Remnant” gets released next year it will totally eclipse the 360 version in sales??? Face it 360 fanboys, RPG’s and the 360 don’t go together, TLR was described as a “Technical mess”, although that’s probably cause it was made for a console with last – gen hardware.
Oh and BTW – PS3′s RPG frontrunner should’ve been White Knight Chronicles, since it released THIS YEAR in Japan.
First Day WKC sales – 135,000
First day TLR sales – 4???
OK, so not quite, it was probably more like 30,000. Though you get the picture.
360 taking the RPG crown? ROFL! That’s a thought only non – gamers could think up.
@ Rick
This is obviously your article and you can put whatever you want in it, but that’s the beauty of the Internet: we can chose not to agree and question your article. And as you can see, many people disagree with you, especially when it comes to the Valkyrie-RPG-Fable-not part.
- Fable 2 is an RPG at it’s very heart. It involves creating a charcter of your choice, statistically developing it and evolving during the game, choosing your own path and your own story, and interacting with NPCs. These is exactlly what an RPG is all about.
I do agree it has hybrid elements, but it’s more of a real RPG then action-adventure, simulation or anything else. Actually, it’s more of a real RPG than all other titles mentioned here (when sticking to the classis definition of an RPG).
- Valkyrie Chronicles on the other hand is more of a Tactical game with some RPG elements in it then fable is action-adventure with RPG elements in it. It’s closer in it’s nature to tactical turn based games then it is to real RPG games.
- In the buttom line, IMO you can either choose no to include fable in the RPG section and then or not to include Valkyrie as well, or include them both. Either way, the advantage is on the X360 side as far as I see it (and that’s even before including titles such as Penny Arcade 2).
- As for me not reading your article before posting my nonsense, and the PS3 taking the lead in the action-adventure category. I’m terribly sorry for my mistake. For a second there I misinterpreted the fact that when you wrote (and I quote) “And the winner is… A Tie” as a tie. My bad.
- As for strategy/tactical games: In 2008 the X360 saw Red Alert 3, Kane’s Wrath among a few others with less favourable reviews, as well as the downloadable titles a Kingdom for keflings and Commanders.
As for Fighting games: In 2008 the X360 saw (at least in the west) Guilty Gear 2 Overtune, battle fantasia (coming to the PS3 in 2009) and the downloadable titles Soulcalibur and Samurai Shodown II.
You can argue about the quality and quantity of titles.
Which brings me to another point: seeing that you mentioned relatively low quality titles such as haze and Too Human, why did you not include titles such as Frontlines, Viva Pinata 2 and Culdcept Saga? Perhaps you did not want to create a separate category for VP2 and CS, but Frontlines should feel right at home in the shooter category. Balancing this out, there are several good exclusive PS3 sports titles that can fit nicely in their own category.
The main problem when creating a comparison as you did right here , is that the writer can totally spin it to give the appearance he wishes for by selecting which game falls in which category and which category to omit/include altogether. I have to say that your article is mostly good, but it fall short and raises questions in a few key factors that makes the entire list look a tad fanboy-ish. I’m sorry if I was direct in the previous post, but I call it as I see it. (BTW, I also don’t think that all the downloadable titles should be piled up in one simple categroy, but that’s a completely different topic).
Now, I hope this makes an insightful debate. If not, I’ll just crawl back to my forum.
Lol this is kinda biased……….. like a lot
First of all 360 had some racing games pure and grid but why weren’t those mentioned. And wtf MGS4 a tie with Fable 2.
Gears tied for best shooter with resistance 2. Jesus christ this is biased as hell towards POS3.
/end
@ Guy
Alright, I’m well rested and ready to reply sans anger…
Valkyria Chronicles is a Tactical RPG. It’s not Starcraft, and it’s not Civilization. Your characters are constant throughout a story. You’re trying to split hairs and it’s not working.
At your fighting point: Battle Fantasia and Guilty Gear 2 are horrible games. I would have included them, but then I would have given the win to the PS3 for NOT allowing horrible games onto the system. I understand that I arguably did the same thing with the racing category, but at least the PS3 had substantially better quality racing games than the fighting ones you mentioned.
I stand by my stance that Fable 2 is as much of an adventure game as it is an RPG. That’s the beauty of its versatitility. I’m not spinning it any way which way in my article, it’s every bit an RPG is an Adventure game. I just thought the Fable would resonate further in people’s minds as an adventure game.
The winner of the action adventure category isn’t a tie. It’s the PS3, there’s been an editing mistake. However unfortunately, due to my “bias” I now feel that it’s ridiculous to equate an A level (Fable) and a B level (Ninja Gaiden) game with an A+ level (MGS4) game. Why would an unbiased person do that? It doesn’t make sense mathematically, a great game and a good game allow for more entertainment value than a really great game. So I think I’ll leave it as it is.
I could have added Frontlines to the shooter category, but what would that serve? To show that the 360 has more shooters? It already won that category.
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is not a sequel, it falls into the expansion/remake category and that’s why I omitted it. Culdcept Saga is the same. I did consider putting them onto the list, but this was supposed to be about pure new releases.
I put all the downloadable titles together because it’s ludicrous to split them apart, or to try and supplement the other categories with these bite sized games. It just made the most sense to compare them together.
Lastly, this article isn’t biased, it can’t be because I don’t care.
I like video games, I don’t give a rat’s ass about Microsoft or Sony, I don’t care how they’re doing. I just like video games. That’s the side I’m on, the side of video games. That’s the side everyone should be on.
Also just to clarify, if you’re post is still here. You aren’t a fanboy. Fanboy posts aren’t going to show up on the page.
I have no respect for the writer of this article especially after the RPG comparison. And lost Oddyssey is the best RPG I’ve played since FFXIII, passable? The PS3 game is almost passable. Meta reviews like metacritic and gameranking that average actual review say the exact opposite of what your saying. Also why are you putting Fable a action RPG against MGS4 a third person shotter? What gives? Did you put sim city against a racing game too while your at it? Oh wait your trying (but failing) to make the ps3 win against 360. Good thing people are intelligent enough to vote with there wallet.
@Rick
You did make valid arguments regarding your choices. You still didn’t convince me about fable, but I do see your points mostly. I’m not claiming that this article is biased in some way or another, because after all your bottom line couldn’t be more true and both consoles saw excellent titles. I’m just saying that you’re decisions and choice of categories might seem weird to people so they disregard this otherwise good article (as you can see from the comments of the so called fanboys).
Also, I don’t agree with two more things:
First, Battle Fantasia. I think it’s a pretty decent fighting game and not the horrible game you think it is (I can’t defend guilty gear though). It’s obviously still better then having nothing to offer at all (and you are probably aware that giving the win to PS3 just for not allowing “horrible games” to the system would be ridiculous. Both systems are home to complete disasters as much as they are to quality titles. You even mentioned Haze in this article, so you obviously know what I’m talking about).
Second, Viva Pinata. I don’t see this game as a remake, at least not more than Motorstorm 2, GT5 and Soul Calibur 4 are remakes. After all, what is Soul Calibur 4 if not the same fighting game at it’s core with mostly the same characters, same moves and same arenas?
I guess im too late to say inb4 fanboy war
dis is d best review ive read so far kip it up.NICE JOB
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I wont to buy this car and i’m looking for opinion.
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Br
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