Microsoft Reveals Xbox 360 Soccer Exclusivity

[Spartan_X]

Microsoft Reveals Xbox 360 Soccer Exclusivity

At its press event at the Leipzig game conference, Microsoft did not debut any major new titles for the Xbox 360, but did nonetheless make the unexpected announcement that both Electronic Arts? FIFA 07 and Konami?s Pro Evolution Soccer 6 would be next generation console exclusives to Microsoft for twelve months.

This appears to imply that there will be no PlayStation 3 version of either franchise until late 2007, with the company commenting that this made "the exclusive home to next-generation soccer this holiday season," a major boon to Microsoft in the soccer-mad territory.

The company also confirmed the specific bundle deals and release dates for the Xbox Live Vision camera, for which consumers can chat via video, send photo messages, put their own face in a game, and customize their gamertag for the benefit of their friends on the Xbox Live network.

The camera will be available in the U.S. on Sept. 19 and in Europe on Oct. 6 in two packages, firstly the standard Xbox Live Vision packag, featuring the camera, one-month Xbox Live Gold Membership, Xbox 360 Headset, and free downloads of Uno and TotemBall for $39.99 U.S./ euro 49.99. Secondly, the Xbox Live Video Chat Gold Kit includes a camera, a 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership, an Xbox 360 Headset, free downloads of Uno, TotemBall, and Robotron, and 200 Microsoft Points for $79.99 U.S./ euro 89.99.

Officials also announced that the Xbox 360 would be launched in Eastern European countries such as a Poland, Hungry, The Czech Republic and Slovakia from November 3rd, 2006, further expanding the console's global reach.

Microsoft additionally followed up on a partnership with ten major universities to place the XNA development platform in the curriculum, the European part of a U.S. announcement already made during the company's GameFest last week. Five of these universities will be in Europe, with Hull, Nottingham and Bradford in the UK and Karlsruhe and Munich in Germany.

Finally, one other minor announcement in the company's relatively uneventful Leipzig press conference was the revelation that classic German board games Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Alhambra are to debut on Xbox Live Arcade in the near future.

News source: Gamasutra

[magik]

Wow, this should really help international sales for the Xbox 360. Genius move, just genius. (Y)

[Gfunk4life]

magik is right good idea,it will work but we dont know how much, atless one person is going to get xbox360 to play these games asap

[crimsonhead]

Whoopty doo Basil! But what does it all mean?

Now I won't be buying soccer games on the 360 instead of not buying soccer games on the PS3 or Wii :) Meh..

[cashman Veteran]

Hmm, I wonder why this is. I wasn't planning on getting a 360, but if Pro Evo is always going to be exclusively on the 360 I will have to move to them instead. I won't be getting a new console for at least a year anyway, but this is a major blow for Sony if gamers know that Pro Evo won't be coming to their console straight away.

[Keito]

Ah well, the PS3 is backwards compatible, so I'll just play Pro evo 5 till then :p

[PL_ Veteran]

Ah well, the PS3 is backwards compatible, so I'll just play Pro evo 5 till then :p

Ah. No. You misunderstand. PES6 is coming to all the current-gen consoles, along with FIFA 07, but they are next-gen exclusives.

It is indeed a very surprising move, nontheless. Could MS dollars have had a hand in this, or was it a developer's choice... :shifty:

EDIT: Wait, 12 months exclusive?! Does that mean that us 360-ers will be loving FIFA 08, while PS3 has just discovered 07?

[Keito]

Ah. No. You misunderstand. PES6 is coming to all the current-gen consoles, along with FIFA 07, but they are next-gen exclusives.

It is indeed a very surprising move, nontheless. Could MS dollars have had a hand in this, or was it a developer's choice... :shifty:

EDIT: Wait, 12 months exclusive?! Does that mean that us 360-ers will be loving FIFA 08, while PS3 has just discovered 07?

Well PES6 it is then :p

I think they'll be just skipping PES7 / FIFA07 for the PS3... they'll just move along.

[Bhav]

EDIT: Wait, 12 months exclusive?! Does that mean that us 360-ers will be loving FIFA 08, while PS3 has just discovered 07?

No it means PES7 and FIFA08 will be on both PS3 and Xbox 360.

This is pretty annoying, but since the PS3 is backwards compatible I'll can make do with the PS2 versions.

And the one I'm more interested in, PES6, according to Eurogamer, is just a prettier version of the PS2 game. Next year they should have re-worked the engine for PS3 and Xbox 360 (much like EA has done for FIFA07 on Xbox 360).

And anyway, both games are released across all the other platforms before PS3 is released, so no one is going to notice really.

[Ambience]

EDIT: Wait, 12 months exclusive?! Does that mean that us 360-ers will be loving FIFA 08, while PS3 has just discovered 07?

Probably not, as Keito said. PS3 'should' have FIFA08, and skip 07. I am somewhat disappointed that the PS3 won't have either franchise - but then again, I don't want a PS3 until FFXIII launches, and that's rumoured to be late 2007, coinciding with this 'one-year contract' Microsoft has with EA and Konami.

[Pc_Madness]

Soccer is crap... lucky PS3 users not having to put up with those games taking up shelf space at stores. :)

[PL_ Veteran]

Next year they should have re-worked the engine for PS3 and Xbox 360 (much like EA has done for FIFA07 on Xbox 360).

:rofl: Don't they say that every year?

[Spookie]

:rofl: Don't they say that every year?

Year? I though they released a new addition for the FIFA franchise every 6 months these days. :x

[Bhav]

:rofl: Don't they say that every year?

Well EA said with FIFA07 that they've actually re-written the engine to suit the Xbox 360 and exploit its power for better AI, animation etc.

[magik]

Well EA said with FIFA07 that they've actually re-written the engine to suit the Xbox 360 and exploit its power for better AI, animation etc.

EA says a lot of push-posh :laugh:

[Bhav]

EA says a lot of push-posh :laugh:

That's true :rofl: But like I said above, Konami has promised an optimised PES/WE next year for PS3 (and Xbox 360). This year they've just improved the graphics (and even then, they've gone overboard...the players look like wax models according to eurogamer). So PES7 is what I'm actually looking forward to.

[PL_ Veteran]

That's true :rofl: But like I said above, Konami has promised an optimised PES/WE next year for PS3 (and Xbox 360). This year they've just improved the graphics (and even then, they've gone overboard...the players look like wax models according to eurogamer). So PES7 is what I'm actually looking forward to.

I don't really listen to EuroGamer, after they said in '04 that MS's showing was poor. '04 being the year they showed the first level of Halo 2.

OMGWTF!?

[Bhav]

They've changed quite a bit in last year - they're probably the leading gaming site that represents the UK (GamesRadar totally sucks arse)