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.



TimeShift

While there have been plenty of games that allow the player to mess with time (Prince of Persia and the upcoming Full Auto immediately spring to mind), none give you as much chrono-control as this gorgeous first-person shooter from Saber Interactive. You'll be able to slow the action down to a crawl, rewind recent events, or even stop time altogether.However cool they sound, make no mistake about the nature of these powers: you'll actually need to use them wisely if you want to survive. TimeShift features plenty of time-control puzzles, and they'll actually force you to use your brain!


There's still a lot to learn about the game's storyline, but we were given a brief synopsis during a recent demo. You'll play as Michael Swift, a test pilot who is given the chance to be the first man to go back in time. As was the case in Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder", events in the past alter the present, and you've got to make everything right. Provided that it doesn't play like a videogame version of Jean Claude Van Damme's "Timecop," this will be one of the system's most intriguing shooters.



Resident Evil 5

As we've documented already in this feature, Microsoft believes that one of the keys to its success in the next-generation is support from Japanese developers. With the announcement that the next title in Capcom's hugely popular survival horror series would be coming to the Xbox 360, it appears that they've finally landed a sure blockbuster. The timing couldn't be better either, as the franchise is back on top after the release of the stellar Resident Evil 4, a game that was universally loved by critics and fanboys alike,


As is the case with the majority of the titles on this list, we really don't know much about the game's story. An early trailer showed a young man exploring a sunlit, dusty village. As a group of unknown enemies charge through the streets toward him, he turns and lifts his weapon. We don't know who the enemies are supposed to be (zombies? psychos? Xbox 360-hungry gamers?), but they're fast and mean. All we do know is that we can't wait to get our hands on this one.