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More Classic Games To Hit Xbox Live
Several classic Midway games are slated to arrive on the Xbox Live arcade service sometime this year. The Gamespot article mentions Defender and Paperboy among the titles on the block. From the article: "'We've been generally surprised by the response rate...the paid downloads are more than we expected,' Midway CEO David Zucker told GameSpot. 'It's not going to change our economic success overnight, but it's a nice little business on the side, and we're glad that people are happy with the product.' Midway's chief executive also expressed interest in doing similar projects with the PlayStation 3 and Revolution, should they provide that functionality."
They could use some more NEW games before they get too crazy with the classics.
...are the sales of these games more than the actual xbox360 games?
If so, what was the point of buying a 360 in the first place? Kind of a sign that gameplay > graphics. Developers take note!
I was never able to remember where to throw the papers....
Good karma sticks to me like velcro on a piece of plexiglass.
Move along, citizen.
Man, both those games suck without their original controller set-ups. I understand why Xbox would want them available. They're the kind of game you remember fondly and would probably plunk down $10 to download, but without the original control scheme, they both leave much to be desired. I doubt many people will be happy with that investment after the fact. I guess 720 will be next.
Well, of course . . . new 360 games cost $60 bones. Also, let's not forget that the lineup of packaged games available for the box in the US is less than bigantic.
... that it only took Microsoft 5 years to develope a $400 machine that's *almost* as useful as a Dreamcast.
Make ancient games available for download while we wait for the game corps to get their head out of their rear.
But... could be me but... how is this different from using a C64 Emu (or an Amiga emu for those of you who really want the stunning graphics) to play those games? I mean, aside of having to register somewhere and send money some direction?
Let's face it, in THOSE games, the graphics isn't really the selling point. M.U.L.E. anyone? Did it have graphics to splatter you across the wall? Nope. Did it have smooth scrolling? Did it have any?
But it had something I sorely miss in today's games:
Gameplay.
The game managed to keep you playing for weeks, months, some for years. Not because you needed to unlock that very last piece of eye candy. How many games have you been playing lately only to get that very last item unlocked? Despite being bored stiff and wanting nothing but throw it against the wall but you did want to see that last goodie?
Those games managed to keep you playing, for nothing more than yet another highscore that didn't change the game one bit.
And still we played them for hours/weeks/months.
So what do current games lack that they usually get boring after, say, a week?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Long live Defender! Eater of quarters! Sucker of time! How I miss thee, and how I loathe the latter-day attempts to modernize you. Long live Defender!
brwski
"Because without beer, things do not seem to go as well''
Who the hell would buy these? They've been available for free over the Internet (via MAME, etc.) for the better part of a decade.
... how about some NEXT GENERATION games? The 360 is turning out to be a great classic game machine, it's just unfortunate that's not what it was designed for.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
These are the same titles you can get on their Treasures collection for under $20 ($12 used). http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=950 453/
I don't know the status of "backwards somewhat-compatibility" of these on the Xbox360, but it sure seems the per-title cost on Live Arcade is pretty hefty given how cheap you can get authorized copies elsewhere.
{ - Generic Guy - }
I think that we should all step back and see this announcement for what it truly is:
a. an admission that there are no Killer Games that make anyone rush out to buy the xBox 360, and thus a stop-gap until someone can be convinced to do one;
b. an admission that the competing next-gen platforms (PS3,NR) were wise to promote the use of older platform version games, and that this revival of older games for those platforms, but not for xBox360 for the most part, is really hurting MSFT on the revenue side (note: I own MSFT shares, so I want them to make revenue); and
c. a desperate attempt to yank back mind share from the other platforms, which haven't even been shipped yet, but which seem to have large numbers of potential xBox360 owners (such as myself who owns an xBox) waiting until the PS3 and NR consoles are released before making a buying decision.
Overall, not good. Spin it if you will, that's my gut feel. I usually make money from that.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Who the hell would buy these? They've been available for free over the Internet (via MAME, etc.) for the better part of a decade.
The same people who pay 99 cents to have jokes text messaged to them, not groking that that means shelling out $365 bucks a year plus tax.
plus
The same people who pay $20 for a burger, when you can buy one at Dick's in Seattle for 99 cents.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I bought all 3 Midway Arcade treasures for my PS2 recently. At 10-13 bucks a compilation, I felt I was getting a good deal. Things to keep in mind:
1. These are ports of arcade games. They have timers/dead man switches on almsot everything as arcade games were intended to get you in & out of there fast. Some of these countdown timers are thankfully disabled(a few racing games on compilation 3).
2.The controls work right. I could NEVER get the controls to work right on certain games in MAME. Mind you, if I got APB to work right, the game would still suck horribly. I have a thrustmaster 2 for my PC, which is just like a PS2 controller + 2 buttons. For some reason, the right analog stick in MAME stuffs a z-rotation in there for dual-analog stick games(like Assault). Maybe I need a driver freshen.
3. You cannot access cheat codes, unlike MAME. That's 1 point for MAME.
4. I have more controllers for my PS2 than I do my PC(all keyboards aside). If I get a multitap, it's easily 3-4 player Gauntlet on the big screen. 1 point for the consoles.
5. Yes, the endless searchin' for uncorrupted ROMs for mame to get the games to work right. Then when a new version comes out, you sometimes have to get revised roms. 1 point for consoles.
Now if players could hook up over xbox live/whatever to play co-op or competitive on arcade games, oh man would that be fun.
I hope Midway continues to release more arcade ports for the PS2. The 3rd compilation didn't have many games, and you found out just how bad Race Drivin' was with the controls & physics. The load times between races in Rush: the rock were awful. They have plenty more atari coin-op games to port over. Sure beats out the Sega compilation.
That's definitely more reasonable. You make a good case with multiplayer Guantlet. I still wouldn't pay $5 for pacman, though. :)
There has been no update for backwards compatible games on the 360 since December. What the hell is taking so long?
You just don't both speak about the same games.
The parent is right : there were lot of old games that are much better than the *average* crap today.
Just as you are right : there were a lot of crappy games back then.
The difference is only about which games you're thinking :
When thinking with nostalgia, people usually only think about the good parts. They do remember those games that they realy loved and play continously for hours.
They silently forgot all the crapastic stuff that you describe and that they either didn't bothered to buy, or immediatly throwed in a trashcan/brought back for refund/re-sold to some sucker...
So, of course what they remember seems just better than everything they see around these days - which includes not only today huge-success that will be remembered for years, but also includes all crappy stuff (like movie tie-ins) that companies are trying to push and that will be immediatly forgotten after a short.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Enough. Stop with the MS fanboi posts. There is no reason to be posting all this noise about Xbox as nothing is happening on that front. Unless, maybe /. or its staff are getting paid to post product placements disguised as articles. If that's the case, fine, but disclose it. Otherwise, layoff with the xbox-a-day posts.