The videogame industry’s annual summer drought is finally coming to an end (Editor Stevie has been dreading his weekly New Releases post for months), and the collective sighs of relieved retailers is now audibly mixing with the breathy anticipation of developers gearing up to unleash their wares upon the expectant masses.

In celebration of 2007’s richest gaming months still being ahead of us, this lowly writer discusses which of the big three home consoles (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii) has the best to offer eager gamers between now and the dawn of 2008.

Oh, and just for the record, cross-platform releases and time-delayed exclusives have been discounted in favour of concentrating on titles that are permanently restricted to one console or another.

It’s highly likely many of you will fervently disagree with what is written below and that’s just fine by us – subjective viewpoints are a wonderful thing – just feel free to tell us exactly why in the comments section below.


Microsoft Xbox 360
After a bit of a nervy start (not to mention hefty amounts of hardware complaints), 2007 looks to be the year that the Xbox 360 has come into its own as a next-generation console. There's no discounting that Bungie’s Halo 3 leads the 360 pack in terms of pure expectation, offering an epic end to the hugely popular FPS trilogy with re-jigged controls, new items, and a deeper multiplayer mode to further strengthen Xbox Live’s position as the definitive online multiplayer portal.

Other highlights include: BioWare’s ambitious Mass Effect, which will arrive as a futuristic RPG with huge expectations to deliver a dynamic and action-packed experience; Project Gotham Racing 4, supposedly Bizarre Creations’ Gran Turismo beater, this time with dynamic weather effects and developer promises that it won’t be rushed; and Eternal Sonata, which is a diamond of a traditional RPG buried in amongst a gaggle of first-person shooters and racers, it’s already received masses of critical acclaim in Japan (though that doesn’t mean it’s any good - Ed).


Sony PlayStation 3
Christmas 2007 is absolutely critical for the PlayStation 3 if it is to make up lost ground on the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, especially given the gut-punch delays to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Grand Theft Auto IV. One title that could spearhead Sony’s fight back is… SingStar PS3. Already massively successful on the PlayStation 2, Sony studio London’s first next-generation edition of its karaoke franchise is most notable for the potential of its downloadable content. 350 tracks will be available at launch, with 50 songs added every month thereafter. It might not be the most obvious choice in terms of widespread appeal, but if Sony is to capitalise on the rise and rise of casual gaming (as typified by the Nintendo Wii), then SingStar is the title to perhaps do it – a bona fide system seller and all-inclusive non-gaming experience.

Bubbling under the surface are titles including Ninja Theory’s hack-and-slash action adventure Heavenly Sword, touted as a high profile, cutting edge experience designed from the ground up to take advantage of the PS3’s rippling power; then there’s Lair, a free-roaming dragon-battler epic and one of the only PS3 games to fully embrace the SIXAXIS controller’s integrated tilt functionality; and, of course, there’s Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, which marks the next-gen debut for the PlayStation brand’s favourite platforming duo.


Nintendo Wii
The Nintendo Wii’s first year was focussed on convincing consumers and developers (with overwhelming success, it has to be said) that its motion-sensing console and control system was more than a mere wiggly-waggly flash in the gaming pan. An array of simple games that demonstrate the versatility of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk have duly aided the completion of that objective, giving the firm time to show it hasn’t forgotten its core audience – and the upcoming arrival of Super Mario Galaxy cannot exemplify that enough. There’s little more to say about the astronomical platformer that hasn’t already been said, so we’ll just repeat the words of Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, who said: "In one sense, this is the first worthy successor to Mario 64." Enough said really.

Other upcoming treats in store for Nintendo Wii owners include Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the highly anticipated beat-em-up sequel to the Nintendo GameCube’s best-selling title; Samus Aran returns in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the final entry in the Retro Studios-developed FPS series that promises to redefine the genre’s control approach on home consoles; and then there’s Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barboros’ Treasure, which is Capcom’s interactive point-and-click puzzle adventure that shows early promise in regard to third-party innovation on Nintendo’s little white box of wonder.


In conclusion:
While there’s no doubting that late 2007 promises to be one of the most exciting times to be the owner of any of the main platform choices and even though Microsoft (with BioShock, Halo 3, Mass Effect and PGR4 would perhaps be a more obvious choice in terms of overt ‘oomph’), this writer, while ignoring cross-console releases, is singling out the Nintendo Wii as having the potential to shine the brightest as the dust settles on 2007 and 2008 looms ever closer.

The proximity between the releases of the so-called ‘holy trinity’ of Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is simply unprecedented in industry terms, while growing third-party exclusivity support from the likes of SEGA (NiGHTS: Into Dreams, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games), Capcom (Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Zak & Wiki), Konami (Dewy’s Adventure), and Ubisoft (Rayman Raving Rabbids 2) – to name but a few – should mark the bewildering climax to a twelve-month period for the Wii that not even the most insightful of industry experts could have predicted.