Ico, God of War, SotC, Ape Escape, Buzz, EyeToy, Ratchet and Clank, Singstar, Socom U.S. Navy seals, Ever Quest, GranTurismo, Naughty Dog titles, Key of Heaven (Kingdom of paradise), Syphon Filter, Talkman, Wipeout Pure, ATV offroad fury, LocoRoco and Twisted Metal are all pretty much 1st party titles. And pretty good ones too.
The Ape Escape, Eye Toy, Singstar, Syphon Filter, ATV and Twisted Metal games are all BAD.
Syphon Filter went way down hill after the 2nd game (the first two i loved). It, like Twisted Metal (again, i loved the first two) is a series that has refused to grow up (read evolve with the rest of the industry).
Ape Escape COULD be enjoyable but the series is marred by bad controls.
Eye Toy and Singstar are rubbish. While i understand and see the importance of Eye Toy and believe that it could be truly awesome this generation if done right, the games so far have been awful. I' m not going to comment on Singstar.
GranTurismo is undoubtedly a popular series and has undeniable build quality, but again it' s being left behind. I despise the series but i see why people love it. Games like GTR and the Proect Gothem series walk all over GT as far as i' m concerned. With the sheer amount of amazing looking next gen driving games (TDU for example), Sony need to go all out on GT, add car damage and realistic physics and make the game more fun (if only by adding a non-sim mode).
The Ratchet and Clank games have been 1up' d by the Jak & Daxter series at every turn. I don' t like them but again i see why people do. Both Super Mario Sunshine and Conker: Live & Reloaded are far superior in every aspect.
Ever Quest? Lets' s see Sony make that work on PlayStation 3. Sony' s PlayStation userbase won' t go for it.
The Ico/SotC, God of War, Socom U.S. Navy seals and Wipeout games are the Sony heavyweights. These are the games that need next gen updates early in PS3' s life.
God of War is Sony' s Ninja Gaiden. It needs to be MUCH harder though and they need to open up the game world so that even if they only do a GoW trilogy they can continue the series through another character.
The SoCom games if done right could rival the Clancy range. Unfortunately, so far they' ve been only average. I' m REALLY looking forward to their next-gen incarnation though as the series has massive potential.
Wipeout Fusion was dire, but Pure was a god send. I want a PS3 version of Pure at launch. That would sell me and it would show me that Sony are serious about PS3 being a games machine. 2097 is still the best console entry in the series and that' s what Sony need to go back to, just like they have done with Pure. They DO NOT need to make it work with the stupid motion sensing controller as they' d have to change the games mechanic to make it work properly.
Lastly, the ICO/SotC games could, somewhere down the line be bigger than Zelda. I don' t want a 3rd game, instead i want PS3 remakes of both PS2 titles.
Compared to Sony' s 1st party titles Microsoft sucks.
You' re serious? Microsoft have some seriously cool first party games and IP' s.
Conker
Crimzon Skies
Fable
Forza Motorsport
Halo
MechAssault
Project Gotham
RalliSport Challenge
Kameo
Perfect Dark
Age of Empires
Mechwarrior
Killer Instinct
Banjoe
Black & White
Sony' s problem is that it' s first party titles are often overshadowed by their third party games. The way i see it, both Microsoft and Nintendo especially have the better first party franchises.