Written by John Scalzo  on November 30, 2007

Special: We continue our regular look at the exclusive titles on each of the next-generation consoles.

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As of this month, the gaming world has officially been a part of the "next-generation of consoles" for a year. Which means two things. One, I think it's high time everybody (journalists, fanboys and PR companies) should stop referring to anything PS3, Wii or Xbox 360-related as "next-gen." And two, it's the perfect time to once again examine the exclusive games situation among the three consoles.

Not much has changed since our last update in September. The Wii is still on top by a considerable margin, the Xbox 360 is in a respectable second and the PS3 once again has roughly half the number of exclusives as the second place console. To determine what is and is not an exclusive game, we have developed a set of rules and the rules of The Exclusive Arms Race are very simple:

Eligibility Rules 1. These are Уconsole exclusivesФ. So if a game appears on the PC and only one console, it is exclusive to that console. Also, because of the limitations of the DS, PSP and GBA, any game that appears on only one console and a handheld will be considered exclusive to that console. 2. Downloadable games and content packs will not be included. Downloadable games may be added in the future, but considering the number of УexclusiveФ content pack deals flying around (i.e. Grand Theft Auto IV), the word doesn't end up meaning anything. 3. УNext-Gen exclusivesФ will not be counted. So we won't be counting games that appear on only one next-gen console but also on the PS2, Xbox or GC. So The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Burnout: Revenge and others are all out. 4. No Уfantasy gamesФ. That means that these lists will only include games that have been formally announced by a publisher and have at least a working title. So that means games like УUnannounced LucasArts/Day 1 Next-Gen ProjectФ and УUntitled Namco RPGФ won't be included. 5. The list will focus mainly on games scheduled to release in North America. Import titles (including games released exclusively for one console only in Japan or Europe) will not be counted. Unreleased titles that are likely to come to America will be counted, but will be dropped from the list if a North American release date is not announced after the game is released in its home region. Other Rules 1. While the list is still made up of "console exclusives", games that have been starred with an asterick (*) are titles that will also available on the PC. These games are then totaled up and displayed next to the total along with the percentage of the total these games take up. 2. We have attempted to rank the exclusives by highlighting games in green that have earned an aggreagate score of 75 or better on MetaCritic. Again, the number and percentage of released games with a score of 75 or better is included next to the total. 3. We have attempted to predict the future and all unreleased games that come from a "proven franchise" will also be highlighted in green and counted. A game is considered part of a proven franchise if the most recently released game in the series scored a 75 or better at MetaCritic. 3a. We will attempt to differentiate between main series games and spinoffs so for example, Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be judged by Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Halo Wars will be considered a new part of the Halo franchise and will not be marked as "green".

So with the rules established, here's what the current totals look like. And like any good Cold War, they are in bar graph form for that whole УI have more missiles than you and it's the end of the world as we know itФ feel:



For those that wish to track the changes from our previous lists, they can be found here:
October 2006
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
September 2007

With all that out of the way, here is the full list of exclusives for each console. While we cannot guarantee it is a complete list, they are as accurate as possible as of the day this article was published.

Xbox 360 (100 [+3])
*Also On PC (39 [39%])
Games with a Metascore of 75 or Better
+ Proven Franchises (37 [37%])

Released (63)
Games with a Metascore of 75 or Better (28 [44%])

Title	Publisher	Metascore
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation	Namco Bandai	80
America's Army: True Soldiers	Ubisoft	NA
Amped 3	2K Games	72
Battlestations: Midway*	Eidos	73
Beautiful Katamari	Namco Bandai	74
BioShock*	2K Games	96
Blue Dragon	Microsoft	78
Bomberman: Act Zero	Konami	34
Bullet Witch	Atari	55
Call of Duty 2*	Activision	90
Call of Juarez*	Ubisoft	72
Chromehounds	Sega	70
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars*	EA	82
Condemned: Criminal Origins*	Sega	81
Crackdown	Microsoft	83
Dance Dance Revolution Universe	Konami	74
Dead or Alive 4	Tecmo	85
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2	Tecmo	54
Dead Rising	Capcom	85
Earth Defense Force 2017	D3	69
Eternal Sonata	Namco Bandai	79
F.E.A.R. Files*	Sierra	70
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage	Empire	80
Forza Motorsport 2	Microsoft	90
Full Auto	Sega	70
Fuzion Frenzy 2	Microsoft	48
Gears of War*	Microsoft	94
Halo 3	Microsoft	94
Hour of Victory*	Midway	40
Import Tuner Challenge	Ubisoft	53
Kameo: Elements of Power	Microsoft	79
Kengo: Legend of the 9	Majesco	39
Mass Effect	Microsoft	92
MotoGP 06*	THQ	80
MotoGP 07*	THQ	78
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja	Ubisoft	78
Ninety-Nine Nights	Microsoft	61
Over G Fighters	Ubisoft	49
Overlord*	Codemasters	76
Perfect Dark Zero	Microsoft	81
PopCap Arcade Volume 1	PopCap	NA
Prey*	2K Games	79
Project Gotham Racing 3	Microsoft	88
Project Gotham Racing 4	Microsoft	86
Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception	Microsoft	69
Quake 4*	Activision	74
Ridge Racer 6	Namco Bandai	74
Rumble Roses XX	Konami	62
Saints Row	THQ	81
Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action	Microsoft	72
Shadowrun*	Microsoft	67
Star Trek: Legacy*	Bethesda	64
Tenchu Z	Microsoft	56
Tetris Evolution	THQ	53
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle-earth II*	EA	79
The Outfit	THQ	70
Top Spin 2*	2K Games	75
Two Worlds*	Southpeak	50
Vampire Rain	Microsoft	47
Viva Piёata*	Microsoft	84
Viva Piёata: Party Animals	Microsoft	56
WarTech: Senko No Ronde	Ubisoft	58
Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1	Microsoft	NA

Unreleased (37)
Proven Franchises (9 [24%])

Title	Publisher	Release Date
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures*	TBA	2008
Alan Wake*	Microsoft	2008
All Points Bulletin*	Webzen	2008
Banjo-Kazooie 3	Microsoft	2007
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath *NEW*	EA	2008
Cry On	TBA	TBA
Culdcept Saga	Namco Bandai	2008
Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2	Konami	TBA
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements*	Ubisoft	TBA
Dead Island*	TBA	2008
Dead or Alive Code: Cronus	Tecmo	TBA
Dungeon Hero*	Gamecock	2009
Elveon*	TBA	2007
Fable 2	Microsoft	2008
Far East of Eden Ziria	TBA	TBA
GTR*	TBA	TBA
Halo Wars	Microsoft	2008
Huxley*	Webzen	TBA
Infinite Undiscovery	TBA	TBA
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom	Microsoft	2007
Left 4 Dead*	Valve	11/2007
Lost Odyssey	Microsoft	2008
Marvel Universe Online*	Microsoft	TBA
Mobile Ops: The One Year War	Namco Bandai	2007
Ninja Gaiden 2 *NEW*	Tecmo	2008
Operation Darkness *NEW*	Atlus	2008
Postal III*	TBA	2008
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel*	TBA	TBA
Spectral Force 3 *NEW*	Atlus	2008
The Secret World*	TBA	TBA
Theseis*	TBA	2007
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction*	Ubisoft	Q4 2007
Too Human	Microsoft	2008
Universe At War: Earth Assault*	Sega	2008
Warhammer: Battle March*	Namco Bandai	2008
Warhound	TBA	2008
World in Conflict*	Sierra	2008

The Wii list, the PlayStation 3 list and some final analysis can be found on the next two pages.