Nintendo has officially hailed the Wii as a success, reports the BBC, as figures suggest that more than 600,000 consoles have been sold. Red Steel remains the most popular game pick, with Zelda not far behind. So, this means plenty of people (in the US at least) are playing on next gen machines. The PS3 sold out, as did the Wii. The 360 is still going reasonably well one year in. What now?

Well, as I have highlighted recently, not a single game on any of the next gen machines has been a ‘must buy’. Gears of War and Resistance: Fall of Man were hugely hyped, but just didn’t hit the buttons when they arrived. Zelda has had oddly mixed reviews, from the lows of 8.5 from Gamespot to the highs of 10/10 from everyone at 1Up.com. So, with some disappointments in mind, lets take a look at a couple of games for each format to see where our gaming hopes lie (for the purists you’ll see I have tried to avoid 3rd party multi-format games):

Xbox 360

Fable 2
This is the biggie from Lionhead Studios, now of course owned by Microsoft. Once again, much RPG action is promised, though unusually for Molyneux he’s kept his lips sealed. Mostly. Expect to see it around – 2007.

Halo 3
Given the popularity of Halo on the Xbox (and how it has actually moved into general culture) there’s no surprise that this has been announced, developed, and should be released in the ‘Fall’ of 2007.

PS3

Tekken 6
Tekken is one of the key franchises for the Playstation brand, having been released on every iteration. Therefore, no surprise that Tekken is heading for the PS3 relatively soon. If you ask me, it’s pretty much become the Streetfighter of this generation. Anyway, you’ll see some awesome beat-em-up action in 2007.

Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry has been one of the ‘cool’ franchises from the PS2, which naturally will be on the PS3. Essentially you have a hero guy with a sword/gun combo, in the original you have a ‘devil trigger’ too. Good stuff – so one to watch. Devil May Cry will arrive in 2007.

Wii

Super Mario Galaxy
This new Mario is shaping up to be excellent – simply because it has some of the elements from Mario 64. Look at the visuals on Gamespot, they’re wonderfully stylish. Once again, sometime in 2007.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Look here. You can make the motion of opening a door and the door opens. Incredible! Seriously though, Metroid Prime 3 is trying to take the interaction of the Wii to the next level – whether it succeeds or not remains to be seen but both Metroid games on the GC are of a high quality.

Overall
So there you have it, some truly excellent (we hope), rich, absorbing gameplay experiences coming our way soon(ish). Obviously we can’t know till closer to the time, but I’m hoping next year will be the year of games, if this year was the year of console releases (barring the PS3 over here in the UK). It’s a good time to be a gamer – possibly.

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