"They say hindsight is 20-20, so IGN was curious whether or not Microsoft applied any lessons learned from its Xbox launch to the Xbox 360's.

What we now have is some good old fashioned perspective, and since Sony's PlayStation 3 has yet to launch, what better system to compare the Xbox 360 to than its little brother, the Xbox. Our focus will be the launch of each Microsoft system. Specifically, we'll be answering these questions: How do the games that launched with the Xbox and Xbox 360 compare? What were the big issues surrounding each launch? What worked, what didn't? And which launch was ultimately better?

You know how movies nowadays seem to be nothing but 90-minute remakes of old TV shows or classic films? Just think about it—what did we gamers get in the way of titles for the 360 launch? Sequels. Granted, some of them are pretty good sequels if we're talking about PGR3 and DOA4, but Madden '06 or Quake 4? Sorry, but those were done better on other platforms.

We all know about the shortages, scratched-up discs, and even about consoles overheating, so we wondered whether or not time had dulled our memories of the original Xbox launch. On the way back from dinner with Ben a few days after the 360 launch, we ended up bemoaning the lack of blockbuster games for Microsoft's next-gen console. "The 360," he said, "has no Halo."

Thinking about that conversation now, I'd like to counter that despite the lack of a true blockbuster title like Halo for the 360, it does have the undeniable advantage of a great Live implementation. That, at least, Microsoft got right this time around." [link]