It will most likely crash and burn, lol

Microsoft is behind the times. They're still working up to AAAA when AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA already came out years ago.

AAAA... This is just getting ridiculous now.

This would have to be for their next console. Probably a launch title. Which means that they're not going to be putting out another console for a good two years or so yet.
Hell yeah! Because we all know how large budgets make great games every time.

Hey, your game is guaranteed to be good if the soundtrack features Snoop Dog and will cost you $5 million!

Shit was about to post this but got beaten to the punch.

When you've gone to the trouble of putting Snoop's voice and likeness into the game and you've got a Snoop Dogg soundtrack, what could possibly go wrong? Game of the motherfucking year, ma' nizzle!

can't figure out if I should go with:

Super Saiyan 5
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs7/i/2005/229/2/e/BROLY__THE_LEGEND_AS_SSJ3_by_Saiyakupo.png

or jumping the shark
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_g05rcQEz--I/R5tAK1Wr1eI/AAAAAAAAAOc/liK3TPzQ0x0/s400/jumptheshark.jpg

.... both seem like viable contributions to this thread.

Actually, I think that in the grand tradition of Tower Defense games, this will make the rise of the Action-Anti Aircraft Artillery game genre. Or perhaps Microsoft wants to compete with Rovio and make their own Angry Birds-style game, consulting with the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia.

In any case, I'm expecting a joint lawsuit to be filed against Microsoft by the American Association of Anesthesiologist Assistants, with the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association.

I'm waiting for the AAAA+

AAAA ... was the noise I made when I read that article. While pinching the bridge of my nose.

Doesn't matter if the graphics are so AAAA+ that they are indistinguishable from reality, it would still be crap.

They don't understand what video games are about.

I really dislike the "make it bigger, shinier, louder, and more expensive than what's come before!" philosophy of game design at this point. I can't say that AAA(A) titles aren't fun, but at the same time I'm irritated by how the industry thinks that replacing creativity with money is a fair tradeoff.

I think that it's clear that games do need a certain budget to really be as good as they can be. Naturally that varies according to what kind of game it is. But there have been a fair few Eastern European games in the past few years that have left me thinking "if only they had a bigger budget".

But yeah, for the most part, chucking money at games is not the solution. In fact in a lot of ways it's the problem - the larger the budget the more of a sure bet it has to be. Mass market appeal. Overdone gameplay and themes. Tried and tested with little to no variation. Call of Duty is naturally the prime example of this. As are its numerous clones.

Oh, certainly. There are a few ideas I have that I'd love to do, but couldn't make work without a real team and a decent budget. Creativity in general can transcend a budget, but specific ideas (especially as far as videogames are concerned) sometimes need money. For instance, imagine how lame STALKER would have been if it didn't have any money behind it (an ironic example, since that's basically what my current game is going to be).

Out of curiosity, what games are you thinking of that needed a bigger budget? I'd be interested in checking them out.

Microsoft is becoming more irrelevant to games? (xbox aside).
Whats an AAAA compared to a AAA?. Is it an abbreviation? ;)