The Story So Far: To be fair, all video game systems need better movie-based games ... but at least the other consoles have one or two solid titles based on licensed goods. Don't believe me? Go and check out The Warriors on the PS2 and PSP. And what about The Chronicles of Riddick on the original Xbox? While it's true that for every one great movie game there are at least twenty that aren't worth playing, it would be nice to see some better movie-based games on the Xbox 360. So far we've had to put up with the ridiculously bad Superman: The Movie game, a port of The Godfather, X-Men 3, and the extremely short King Kong game. While King Kong and The Godfather are far from terrible, it's hard to be too excited about movie games ported from older consoles. It may seem inconsequential to most gamers, but if we're going to have to put up with movie ports don't we deserve something better?

Future Prognosis: After dealing with one disappointment after another perhaps the winds of change are in upon us. We're just months away from Spider-Man 3, Activision's most expensive game of all time. Of course, since nobody is allowed to show off the game yet we don't know if it's going to be good or bad, but given the series pedigree (and the competence of the people developing the title) it's safe to say that it won't be another Superman: The Movie. There's no doubt that there will also be a number of other movie games (most of which won't be very good), but when it comes to this sub-genre all you really need is one good game to make people happy. Will Spider-Man 3 be that one good game? Your guess is as good as mine. The Story So Far: Believe it or not, the Dynasty Warriors series is extremely popular. How else do you explain Koei releasing three or four of them every year? If you thought that the Dynasty Warriors-style of game play was going to end with the original Xbox or PlayStation 2, then you are in for a rude awakening. These days Dynasty Warriors and its clones are just as prolific as they were two or three years ago, only now it's more than one company getting in on the excitement. I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise, thanks to the added power the Xbox 360 is capable of displaying many more characters on screen than the PS2 or original Xbox could ever dream of, which seems like it would benefit this style of game. But so far that has not been the case; neither Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires nor Microsoft's own Ninety-Nine Nights has managed to impress critics or customers. Sure these games are able to throw more characters at you, but at the end of the day you are still just pushing one or two buttons repeatedly until everything is dead. While other genres have managed to add new styles of game play that you could only get in a next-gen console, these Dynasty Warriors games have remained the same. That's not to say that Koei or Microsoft can't push the envelope in the future, but as of right now we it's safe to say that we deserve more from our Dynasty Warriors clones.

Future Prognosis: It's a given that Koei will have a new Dynasty Warriors game ready for this year, but given their track record I worry that this is going to be yet another lateral step. But don't worry; fans of this style of game will be happy to know that Microsoft is publishing the newest entry in the Kingdom Under Fire series. But don't get too excited yet, because the early word is that this upcoming Kingdom Under Fire game, Circle of Doom, will have the emphasis put on the role-playing aspects and not the real-time strategy that the previous two games were known for. Will this mean that the game will ditch the Dynasty Warriors-esque massive fights? If that's the case then I guess the only game fans of this genre can look forward to is Koei's own Dynasty Warriors ... and that's a sad state of affairs if you ask me. The Story So Far: You would think that poker would be easy on a system as powerful as the Xbox 360, yet so far nobody has been able to get it right. It doesn't help matters when you can get better playing poker games for free on the computer. Currently the Xbox 360 has three different poker games, two that come on discs and one that you can download off of the Xbox Live Arcade service. The two packaged games include World Championship Poker: Featuring Howard Lederer - All In and World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions. But considering that nobody plays these games online (and they are more expensive than the Xbox Live Arcade game) one has to wonder why anybody would spend the money to buy these licensed titles. And then there's the aptly named Texas Hold 'Em, which is a $10 Xbox Live Arcade game. While this is certainly the most attractive purchase for poker fans, it's full of annoying little quirks that make it almost impossible to recommend. The biggest problem is that none of these games are very attractive, and all of them are paced so slow that you have to wonder why anybody would want to play more than a game or two before throwing in the towel. It seems so simple, yet so far nobody has been able to recreate the fun and excitement of playing poker ... and that's a downright shame.

Future Prognosis: As far as I can tell nobody is putting forth a better poker game, but it wouldn't surprise me to see some sort of card game compilation show up on the Xbox 360 at some point in the near future. This seems like a fairly cheap and easy game to make and something that will sell to the casual gamer. Whether or not that will actually solve our problem is another issue, but in the mean time I suggest you head over to one of the many poker games that are free on the computer. It should make you completely forget about how woefully inadequate the Xbox 360's selection is. The Story So Far: Perhaps it's because of the popularity of the Xbox Live Arcade or maybe everybody is saving up their classic games for the Nintendo Virtual Console, but whatever it is, there are currently no video game collections on the Xbox 360. About the closest thing we have is a cheap-y collection of mostly original Xbox Live Arcade titles. While other consoles are getting the Metal Slug Anthology and the Sega Genesis Collection, the Xbox 360 has nothing. Instead we are asked to pay $5 - $10 for classic games, whereas you could buy 20 - 30 games in a $20 compilation disc. I would hate to think that this is the future of classic games, single games that cost five times what they should coming on a service that is not guaranteed to be around forever. Call me old fashioned, but I would rather have a disc full of a bunch of games, there's no reason why I need to fill up my Xbox 360 or Wii hard drive with overpriced games.

Future Prognosis: I wish I could say that this is just a dry spell, but currently there are no plans for any video game compilation of any kind. No Sega Genesis, no SNK, no Rare, no Treasure Box, no Metal Gear Solid, no Gradius, no Metal Slug, no nothing. There are plans to release a bunch of classic games (Worms, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, etc.) on the Xbox Live Arcade, but apparently the idea of an actual collection of games on a disc is foreign to Microsoft and its third-parties. It's a shame, the Xbox 360 deserves better. The Story So Far: I'll confess, I'm not a big fan of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game movement, I'm just not the kind of person who wants to spend that much time devoted to one game and one game only. But that doesn't mean that fans of the genre should have to suffer with the crummy MMO's currently populating the Xbox 360. So far Microsoft's next-gen console only has two MMO's, and neither of them is worth the time or money. Final Fantasy XI was several years old by the time it hit the Xbox 360, and unfortunatelyit didn't age well. On the flip side is Phantasy Star Universe, a game that should have been a lot better than it actually is. In both cases you have to pay an extra monthly fee on top of the Xbox Live cost, and in both cases that can only be seen as a complete and utter rip off. People who have never owned a computer and refuse to check out World of WarCraft or even EverQuest 2 may get a kick out of Final Fantasy XI, but everybody else deserves better.

Future Prognosis: While there's no word on World of WarCraft, there is a bright spot off in the distant future. Look for Eidos Interactive to push Age of Conan, a PC/Xbox 360 exclusive that will sport real next generation graphics and some kick ass characters. Is this enough to keep Xbox 360-owning MMO fans happy? We're going to have to wait and see, but a part of me wonders if any game will fill in the void of not having World of WarCraft.