10 Most Inspired Launch Games Ever Released

By Tom Gilchrist /

The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are now firm fixtures on the horizon and as the the dust settles over their respective specs and their designs, thoughts will rapidly turn to the games. Not that I am saying Microsoft are wrong to focus on TV and Sport (they are) but it really is the games that will decide which of our shiny new consoles emerges as victorious. Historically though Xbox have had stronger launch line-ups than PlayStation, so it will be an interesting one to keep an eye on given that it seems PS4 is going more game-centric than Xbox One. With that in mind, it seems like an excellent time to look back upon the launches of all of the consoles that have come before them and select the very best games that were available from day one. Those games that showcased exactly what these new pieces of technology could do and persuade gamer's to part with their hard earned cash/beg their parents to buy one for them. Some of these games simply showed why these new systems were so good while one or two have gone down as some of the best (maybe THE best?) games of all-time.

10. Wii Sports

With the gaming public a little confused by what exactly the Wii was, the decision to bundle Wii Sports with the console proved to be a very clever move by Nintendo (a ploy they had used before, but more on that later). It brilliantly highlighted just how the new console was totally different to anything before it and how it might totally revolutionise the way we play games. Almost all of the sports included were adapted into decent motion controlled games, tennis and boxing were both frantically enjoyable while golf and baseball were fun. It was a case of Nintendo laying out before the gaming public and game developers exactly what was possible with a little imagination. Unfortunately though no-one else really took up the challenge in the end as apart from the offerings from Nintendo there were hardly any decent "proper" games and the Wii simply became home to a seemingly endless tide of mind numbingly bad party games, all of which would ironically ruin any party in which they were a central feature.