Microsoft buys Lionhead; New Xbox 360 games revealed

1. Microsoft buys Lionhead
2. New Xbox 360 games revealed at Japanese event
3. Console Exclusivity
4. New Kameo Co-Op and content

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NEWS:

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1. Microsoft buys Lionhead

The rumors were true -- Microsoft Game Studios (MGS) has purchased U.K.-based Lionhead Studios.

Lionhead was founded by Peter Molyneux, the guy behind Populous, Syndicate, and Dungeon Keeper, and his current studio produced Fable (and Fable: The Lost Chapters), Black and White, and The Movies.

According to TeamXbox.com, "Lionhead Studios will immediately begin creating content exclusively for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows platforms" -- so it's not hard to see the value add for Microsoft Game Studios.

Molyneux said, "This acquisition gives Lionhead the stability and opportunity to focus on creating world-class next-generation titles."

No word on what this means for Black and White 2, or the Activision-published The Movies, which Activision published for PC, but canned for console release, making actor/gamers like me everywhere, angry. All 6 of us.

Lionhead Studios is the latest member of Microsoft Game Studios, joining Bungie Studios (Halo), Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires), FASA Studio (MechAssault) and Rare Ltd. (Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero). Microsoft shut down Austin-based MGS studio Digital Anvil (Brute Force).

Oh, and with Lionhead Studios and Rare Ltd., MGS has two UK-based studios. They're both strong brands, but beware the Consolidation Fairy ...

2. New Xbox 360 games revealed at Japanese event

The Japanese Xbox 360 launch was a stinker. Microsoft knows this (there's a new Xbox boss for Japan -- Takashi Sensui instead of Yoshihiro Maruyama), and at the Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho in Japan, they held an "Xbox 360 Media Briefing" to lay out a "new strategy" for the Japanese market.

Existing and new games were discussed, and some of them are Xbox 360 exclusives.

• Culdcept SAGA
  • Namco Bandai
  • Xbox 360 Exclusive: Yes
  • More info April 14, but think monopoly-card-battling-strategy
• Mobile Suit Gundam
• Namco Bandai
• Xbox 360 Exclusive: TBD
• First of the franchise on a Microsoft platform, and first of the franchise to use FPS perspective
• Zegapain XOR
  • Namco Bandai
  • Xbox 360 Exclusive: Yes
  • A mech shooter, based on the Zegapain anime TV series airing in Japan (starting today)
• Project Sylph
• Square-Enix
• Xbox 360 Exclusive: Yes
• Arcade-style shooter designed exclusively for the Xbox 360, maybe like Silpheed?
• More info
• (Unnamed RPG)
• Tri-Ace
• Xbox 360 Exclusive: Yes
• Microsoft will be publishing an RPG from the folks behind Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean
• Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and Cry On
• Mistwalker Studios
• Xbox 360 Exclusive: Yes
• Two of the most hotly anticipated Japanese releases are Blue Dragon (late 2006) and Lost Odyssey (2007), both to be published by Microsoft. A third title, Cry On, is also in development, but not a lot is known about it.
• Lost Odyssey is a long way off, but Microsoft and Mistwalker Studios said a 20-minute demo would be available this summer.
• It's huge for Microsoft to have 3 Xbox 360 exclusive games from the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. I am worried that one game will Halo/Oni one (or both) of the others.
• Pac-Man and Galaga
• Namco Bandai
• Xbox 360 Exclusive: Sorta (high-def Xbox Live Arcade versions)
• Xbox Live Arcade versions of the classic arcade games
• Other Xbox Live Arcade (multiple titles)
• SNK, Konami, and Yukes
• Xbox 360 Exclusive: Sorta (high-def Xbox Live Arcade versions)
• Xbox Live Arcade versions of To Be Announced classic arcade games

As with many Japanese title announcements, the when (and if) of releases for other territories is up in the air. Though I'm hoping Sony's super-intelligent region-free gaming announcement forces the hand of all console manufacturers. That would so rock to be able to legally play games I want to play, even if they're not formally released in the U.S.

3. Console Exclusivity

Console-exclusives mean something different in the next-gen world. Rockstar published the Grand Theft Auto franchise as Sony exclusives, but they show up on Xbox 9-14 months later. Even Ubisoft goes back and forth with "console exclusives" only lasting a month or two.

Right now, everything that's "next-gen only" and coming out between last November and this fall is an "Xbox 360 exclusive -- the 360 is the only next-gen box out there!

Really, the only "exclusives" are going to be first-party published games (Gears of War for Xbox 360, Killzone 2 for PS3, etc.).

This gets even muddier on the Microsoft front, because they're developing some titles for the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista, and are even doing some handheld versions of games (like MechAssault, though I'd argue this is them playing with the pipeline model and process so they can solidify what they need to do for Microsoft handheld exlusives).

Of course, Nintendo is Nintendo, so many of those first party (and "second party") exclusives will remain so. However, though I have phenomenal respect for the company, I really expect them to go the way of Sega at some point.

4. New Kameo Co-Op and content

Microsoft Game Studios and Rare Ltd. have released the co-op pack for Kameo: Elements of Power. Downloading this 25.94MB free pack opens up the two-player cooperative mode for the entire game (previously found only in the action levels of the game) -- sort of. You have to have completed the entire game in single player mode before it's available in co-operative mode, and the game has to be good enough for you to want to play it twice. Wait. Like Perfect Dark Zero. Wait.

Anyway, the download is free and unlocks cooperative gameplay over Xbox Live and System Link, which is cool.

Once again (chant with me): "All games should feature online co-op, and playing co-operatively should matter."

Microsoft has also two packs of costumes for Kameo and her inner kin. Both'll set you back 200 points, with the "Kameo Masquerade Pack" giving you 10 new costumes for Kameo, including outfits inspired from classic Rare titles. The second "Fright Warrior Pack" pack is a set of "fantastic and scary fright-themed costumes" for Kameo and all of her inner fantastical psychiatric patients.

OK, I have to say I really do like and respect Rare -- I'm just a little less than appreciative of Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, and, uh, Grabbed by the Ghoulies.