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Publishers Embrace Xbox Live Arcade

Posted by Zonk on from the best-part-of-the-system-so-far dept.

With many of the high profile 'launch window' titles still coming, the Xbox Live Arcade is one of the most entertaining elements to the Xbox 360. Joystiq posts about a recent Major Nelson podcast in which he interviews the general manager of the Xbox Live Arcade. Big-name publishers are jumping on board, and they plan numerous additions to the service in the coming months. From the post: "Just one important caveat: the Xbox Live Arcade party lasts only so long as Microsoft plays the gatekeeper role well. If the company softens its standards and starts to include mediocre titles for download, gamer trust and interest in the service will decline rapidly. So far, they're on the right path. Geometry Wars--that little $5.00 Xbox Live Arcade title that has surprised and delighted the majority of those who have given it a shot--still reigns as the top Xbox 360 title in our book."

27 comments

  1. It's nice to see some classics coming back by casualsax3 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Street Fighter II is making an appearance, with some interesting new features very similar to what DOA Ultimate saw. It's a nice new take on a classic fighter. http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/06/street-fighter-i i-goin-all-out-on-360s-live-arcade/

  2. Geometry Wars? by kevin.fowler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sounds like the arguments my friends and I used to have in college about who would do the homework and let us all copy it.

    But to get serious... as my roommates and I are looking to get an Xbox 360 for our living room HDTV... hearing someone say that a $5 downloadable title (even if it is sort of his baby) is the best 360 game so far is a bit discouraging.

    --
    Bury me in mashed potatoes.
    1. Re:Geometry Wars? by wedgewu · · Score: 3, Informative
      I'd say that Geometry Wars IS one of the best games on the Xbox360 right now. The thing you're misunderstanding is that this doesn't mean that the other games are any worse than you would expect, but rather that Geometry Wars is just phenomenal.

      That is, of course, if you play games for FUN, rather than just pretty shiny graphics...

    2. Re:Geometry Wars? by kevin.fowler · · Score: 1

      I'd rather play Adventure than Kameo.

      --
      Bury me in mashed potatoes.
    3. Re:Geometry Wars? by tgd · · Score: 2, Informative

      Eh, there are good games for the 360, but I've played enough Geometry Wars, Hexic and Zuma to more than justify $400 just for the time I've spent on them alone.

      Add a couple Saturdays blown on Kameo, and its really a no brainer to me. These are good games. If you're a poor college student who games 50 hours a week, you'll run out of good stuff to play, but there are a LOT of people who play games who only pay an hour or two a day.

    4. Re:Geometry Wars? by kevin.fowler · · Score: 1

      When I saw that you could play Zuma on it, I got very excited... then I realized that I would be spending $150 on my stake in a box to play Zuma in my living room on instead of on my laptop in my room.

      --
      Bury me in mashed potatoes.
    5. Re:Geometry Wars? by CaseM · · Score: 1

      Why? I'm totally addicted to Geometry Wars. If it was $50.00 it'd be discouraging, but it's the price of a soda and a couple of burgers in exchange for many hours of pure entertainment. He's saying that of the Xbox Live Arcade games, it's the top pick. It really is that good.

    6. Re:Geometry Wars? by radish · · Score: 1

      Not everyone's a GW fan. I have it, and it's mildly entertaining, but for whatever reason I just suck at it. Which gives it a pretty short attention span. PGR3 on the other hand....

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

  3. Casual gaming by the+computer+guy+nex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There have been multiple stories lately about the rise of casual gaming. Even at $5 for geometry wars (which is the most expensive one I believe??), you can buy 12 for the price of one major "published" game.

    Even being able to download a bunch of demos was really a great idea.

    Microsoft is trying to take over the gaming market through online. Not just marketplace, but also the amazing online support within major games and the ability to send/recieve text and voice messages.

    1. Re:Casual gaming by EngineeringMarvel · · Score: 2, Funny

      The Live Arcade is something that interest me. I haven't bought a console since Super Nintendo. Reason being, the console market never really interest me since the games I mostly like to play are usually built for the computer. I really enjoyed Street Fighter II, Super Mario Brothers 3, Mario Kart, etc. I did play a lot of James Bond, FFVII, and Zelda a bunch, but that was in college on other people's consoles.

      The Arcade idea is something that might bring me to buying a console as it is something a computer does not give me, or atleast give it to me effeciently. I say that because for about every 10 demos I download to my computer, I'd say one is worth a damn. I'm gonna wait until the Revolution comes out before I really make a decision on if I want a console or not. With the severe lack of fun computer software (only WoW, BF2, and HL2 come to mind out of a 3 year span that were good games) over the last two years and this Arcade idea, I might succomb and return back to the darkside.

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      I couldn't think of anything witty to say, so...you're stuck with this.
    2. Re:Casual gaming by generic-man · · Score: 2, Informative

      Geometry Wars is one of the cheaper downloadable games, actually. Zuma is 800 points or $10 US. Many of the other PopCap games sell for about as much for the Xbox 360 as they do for the PC.

      (Take a page out of the Dave & Busters / Jillian's book, you can't buy EXACTLY enough points to buy just one game. To buy Geometry Wars for $5, I had to shell out for at $6.25 or $12.50 worth of points. That's not much more money, but for Microsoft it adds up quickly.)

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    3. Re:Casual gaming by Miguel+de+Icaza · · Score: -1

      is there any technical reason the original xbox live can't support an arcade? seems like an artificial marketing trick - to take a new software feature and artificially make it exclusive to expensive new hardware platform - but NOT a next gen feature (eg hd graphics, 3d controller), just a software trick to drive upgrades.

      if this is such a killer app with huge consumer demand and money to be made them microsoft shareholders should demand arcade like features rolled back to the original xbox live platform. or maybe its just fluff.

      --
      Before adopting WHATWG, read the moonlight.NET EULA [http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/moonlight.mspx]
    4. Re:Casual gaming by Osty · · Score: 1

      is there any technical reason the original xbox live can't support an arcade? seems like an artificial marketing trick - to take a new software feature and artificially make it exclusive to expensive new hardware platform - but NOT a next gen feature (eg hd graphics, 3d controller), just a software trick to drive upgrades.

      Nope. No technical reason at all. It'd be awesome if they built an arcade for Xbox 1. Oh, wait. That happened. The 360's arcade is a killer app because it's on each and every Xbox 360 sold. The Xbox 1 Live Arcade required a DVD, and that DVD was almost impossible to find. You could order one online for the price of shipping, but it took 6-8 weeks to deliver, at which point you've totally forgotten about the arcade again. The prices were occassionally higher than they should've been. For example, Zuma and Bejewelled were both $15 on the original Arcade, but are $10 each on the 360 Arcade. Finally, there was no Geometry Wars.

  4. $5 a game is nice but... by hal2814 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    $5 a game is nice but there's a $400 entrance fee. When you can pay less than $100 for a system and $5 per download, then you'll see the casual gamers come out of the woodwork for console gaming.

    1. Re:$5 a game is nice but... by F_Scentura · · Score: 1

      Why that is an insightful point hal2814, or should I say... TIM ROBERTS OF INFINIUM LABS?

    2. Re:$5 a game is nice but... by Jonny_eh · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I believe this is what Nintendo is hoping for in its' next system.

    3. Re:$5 a game is nice but... by hal2814 · · Score: 1

      I would think not. The big difference between Tim Roberts and I is that I don't pretend to have a product out there capable of what I propose. I'm merely giving the conditions under which casual gamers would go out en masse to get a video game system.

    4. Re:$5 a game is nice but... by jchenx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      People tend to forget that there are other games available for the system. :)

      The 360 Live Arcade is supposed a nice bonus feature to the system, not the ONLY reason to get it. Also, I've heard of many stories about guys buying the system, but their girlfriends and wives discovering the Live Arcade and getting hooked. It's a great way to get introduce your significant-other to the wonderful world of gaming, so that she doesn't automatically veto all your future game purchases. ("As long as you let me buy some Arcade games, I'm fine with you getting that new boxing game")

      The only downside is having to share the 360 with her. :)

      (Maybe she can help boost your gamerscore by unlocking Bejeweled 2 and Zuma achievements though!)

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      -- jchenx
    5. Re:$5 a game is nice but... by hobbesx · · Score: 1

      I half aggree with you. The whole casual gaming rise is really being pushed by things like MSN games, where the barrier to entry almost always more than $400.00. I guess it all depends on what you mean by 'come out of the woodwork'. But, like you said, once something hits Walmart for $99.95 it'll be as common as toasters, if they can keep resonably playable games in it.

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  5. It's a nice feature by JunkyardCat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Not only does it provide more online gaming opportunities, which continues to rise in popularity, but it may well revive a lot of older games. There are a lot of "gone but not forgotten" titles that I'd love to see make a comeback, particularly with some live competition. If the prices remain this low I expect to spend a lot of time on the 360. Umm A lot MORE time :)

  6. They're $5 for a reason. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    So what you guys are saying is that I don't have an Xbox 360 yet because jerks are out there getting it just to play $5 throwaway titles they can just emulate on their PC?

    Hey guys, they're $5 for a reason - because if they were any higher priced they wouldn't be worth it.

    There are great titles for the 360 done by real developers (that is, people who actually make games for a living, not hacks in their parents' basement making "independant" titles) yet all I hear about is the crap low-budget titles from developers who suck so bad they can't get publishing contracts to be in real stores so they resort to being on this arcade crap, or they rerelease games that I played in 1982 and have no wish to play again. Why play Gauntlet again for the millionth time when I can play Morrowind? I mean, really.

    Xbox Live Arcade will be the 360's downfall, quite possibly one of the worst ideas I've ever seen.

    1. Re:They're $5 for a reason. by MHolmesIV · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So you're saying that unless you spend 30 million dollars on a game, it's crap? Well, that may be true if all you're going for is eyecandy, but you don't need stupendous graphics for really fun and addictive gameplay.

      Seriously, considering the "quality" of the big name games out there, I'd encourage the "independants" all I could. Some of the best games I've ever played were made by tiny independant game makers. (Popcap games, Star Control 2 and The Horde by "Toys for Bob", Starscape by Moonpod). All I see when I look at the big game makers are stupid sports games, eyecandy rich Wolfenstein 3d clones, and more and more complex Civilization and Dune 2 clones.

      I'd love to see more of the old style games that are actually fun to play come out for Arcade. For instance, I miss those great top down shooters like "Slapfight" or the really fun puzzle games like Rockford. There are limitless possibilities for revamping old titles that were actually fun, and creating new titles that don't take 300 graphic artists and 3 years to make. And I believe thats's where the XBox will win, not lose the console war.

    2. Re:They're $5 for a reason. by paedobear · · Score: 0

      Popcap games have consistently stolen their games from older games by other companies (often "bigger" companies) - they're currently being sued by Mitchell for copywrite infringement over one of their games. That said - most "casual game" companies seem to steal as much of their game as possible from older games. It's bad enough when it's open source, but it's pitiful when you expect to be paid.

  7. Bankshot Billiards 2 by CaseM · · Score: 1

    Bankshot Billiards 2 is the most expensive Arcade game on Xbox Live and comes in at an even $12.00 US.

    1. Re:Bankshot Billiards 2 by Osty · · Score: 1

      Bankshot Billiards 2 is the most expensive Arcade game on Xbox Live and comes in at an even $12.00 US.

      Sure, if by $12.00USD you really meant 1200 Microsoft Points. At 80 points per $1USD, that's actually $15.00USD. Not a big difference, but it is the only game on XBLA that's over $10USD. Everything else runs for $5-$10. Unfortunately, Bankshot seems to be rather popular (whether that's artificial from giving it away free in the Xbox Live Gold starter kit or genuine, I don't know). Hopefully its popularity will not cause the average price of XBLA games to increase. I think it will all revolve around SFII in a couple months. Street Figher will sell well regardless of what it costs, so if it ships at 1200 Points that will just add legitimacy to the higher price point. Then you can say goodbye to any good new games at 400 Points.

  8. $5 is the least expensive by Asmor · · Score: 1

    Microsoft uses an intermediary point system to hide the cost of stuff (supposedly to allow for microtransactions). 100 points is equal to $1.25. Geometry Wars is 400 points, so $5. There are several other games that are also 400 points, including most of the classic arcade games (Gauntlet, Robotron, etc). A lot of the other games, however, are 800 points.

    1. Re:$5 is the least expensive by CavemanKiwi · · Score: 1

      It could be so that points can be sold for different amounts, depending on the market they are being sold in.