Over the last few weeks, we've documented just about everything you'll ever want to know about Microsoft's latest piece of gaming hardware, the recently launched Xbox 360. We've told you all about the system's cutting-edge multimedia capabilities, the tremendous Xbox Live support, as well as the games that were available at launch. Of course, this is just the beginning of the console's life cycle, so we figured that now would be as good a time as any to check out what's in store for the future of the system. Over the next few days, we'll be taking a look at some of the games that you can expect to see in 2006 and beyond. Although most of these titles have been officially announced, we don't really know all that much about them, a fact that isn't about to stop us from speculating. So, without further ado, let's take a look into the Xbox 360's future.



Halo 3

Let's see, what do we know about what is undoubtedly the most anticipated game for the Xbox 360? Well, we know that Bungie is definitely hard at work on getting the game out sometime this year. We're pretty sure that it'll have an excellent Xbox Live component to go with the deep single-player mode. And we know that Bill Gates probably shouldn't have said that the game will be out before (or at the same time as) Sony's PlayStation 3. There's way too much riding on this game for Microsoft to rush it out in an attempt to meet some fabricated deadline.


As far as the game's storyline goes, we can only speculate about what we'll be seeing. When last we saw Master Chief (in the Halo 2 cliffhanger ending that gamers either loved or hated), he was preparing to save the universe from total destruction. With a number of remote Halo installations armed for detonation, our hero has to get to The Ark (which seems to be on Earth) to shut them down. Will he be able to do it? That, it appears, is where the player comes in. Finally, there's only one more question to ask: What was Cortana doing with the Gravemind?!? To paraphrase everyone's favorite Spartan, it's time to finish this fight.



Tomb Raider Legend

As one of the videogame world's most beloved characters, it's surprising how tough the last few years have been for Lara Croft. After a disappointing debut on current-gen systems, she pretty much fell off the face of the earth, as did developer CORE Design. Now, with Crystal Dynamics at the helm, the grande dame of gaming is prepared to make a triumphant next-generation return. Will she be able to make it back to the top? Only time will tell, but her latest adventure looks promising.


Although we have only seen snippets of the Xbox 360 game in action, it looks like this will be the same game that's coming to current-gen consoles (with a few more coats of polish, naturally). Lara will be taking her shtick back into the tombs, shimmying up moss-covered walls, solving environmental puzzles, and trying to stay alive for as long as possible. She'll even have some sweet new gadgets at her disposal, including a grappling hook and a personal lighting device. Of course, she's still got some of the same "assets" that made her so popular in the first place.