The February issue of EGM arrived in my mailbox this weekend and they’ve taken a nod from the current presidential hopefuls and mocked up a “Decision ‘08? feature where each platform candidate lists why you should vote for them in 2008.

As someone that owns all three current-gen systems, I was understandably excited to read about the best each candidate had in store for the coming year.

Just a reminder that for this last part of my three-part coverage, I am intentionally confining my discussion to the titles EGM chose to list for each platform. If there’s a glaring omission (of an officially announced title), complain to them, not me. I should also note that all three platforms become much more compelling when you factor in the multi-platform releases.

Read on to see what exclusives the PS3 has in store for 2008…

I immediately noticed that the PS3 clocks in an impressive 16 titles in EGM’s feature compared to 10 each for the Wii and Xbox 360.  Another thing I noticed is that at least half of those 16 games are sequels to popular franchises that have done well on other Playstation platforms. The biggest benefit the PS3 has in this race is that it can address the tried-and-true strategy of giving the fans more of what they want while also going out and trying to create some new franchises at the same time.

Here’s exactly what Playstation 3 exclusives EGM listed:

• Gran Turismo 5: Prologue
• Final Fantasy XIII
• LittleBigPlanet
• The Agency
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
• Hot Shots Golf 5
• SOCOM: Confrontation
• Infamous
• Afrika
• Killzone 2
• Yakuza Kenzan
• White Knight Chronicles
• Valkyrie of the Battlefield: Gallian Chronicles
• Wipeout HD
• Tekken 6
• Singstar

Let’s break down the genres represented by this list: 2 racers, 3 RPGs, 1 MMOFPS, 4 Action, 2 FPSs, 1 Sports, 1 Music, 1 Fighter, and 1 Safari-Photography-Sim-Mystery.  Those games cover a lot of bases.  As a candidate in this race, it would seem the PS3 has something to offer almost everyone.  They may not be the favorite going into 2008, but it’s clear they have a lot of support from their party to try to win your vote.

Sure, there’s an argument to be made that the PS3 only has so many exclusives listed now because they were delayed from last year.  To answer that, I’d say “So?”  I think we’re to the point now where the past is the past.  We should focus more on the present and future.  Frankly, I think there’s something to be said for not rushing games to arbitrarily make some deadline if you know your game (or even install base) isn’t up to snuff yet.  I don’t see how the PS3 can not have a phenomenal year with some of the exclusives listed above. 

It’s still quite early in the year with plenty of room left for announcing currently unknown titles for this fall, but that applies to all the candidates.  I know Microsoft just announced they’re going to announce something at GDC late next month about their upcoming titles this year (man I just love it when they announce announcements, how about you?)  Maybe that’s when we’ll hear about Gears of War 2 or Banjo Threeie. 

Who knows when or what Nintendo might announce, they announce the weirdest things and then proceed to sell them like hotcakes.  Actually, I’m not even sure hotcakes sell as well as some of Nintendo’s products.  In addition to the titles listed above, I expect Sony to actually announce more titles such as whatever two games Team ICO have been working on since last year, Naughty Dog’s current project, or the recently acknowledged Resistance 2 from Insomniac Games.

There you have it. The platform-exclusive coverage from EGM’s Decision ‘08 feature, broken down into platform-specific bites.  Looking at it solely from the games they’ve listed, how do you see the upcoming year looking for each of the candidates?  It remains to be seen whether 2008 will best 2007 for the folks that only own an Xbox 360 (clearly 2007 was), but for the folks with access to two or all three of these platforms, it definitely does look like 2008 has the potential to be better than 2007.  Frankly… that scares me a little and scares my wallet a lot!

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