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I am a total Xbox Live Arcade Junkie

I have come to the shocking conclusion that I am a total Xbox Live Arcade junkie. I am a totally addicted to the idea of getting little games that range from 50 to 150 megs that are digitally sold and distributed over the Xbox Live network and are priced at mostly 400 to 800 MS points. That is $5 to $10 but there have been some games at 1200 points or $15. The manuals are all included and there is always a demo version to try out before you hand over the digital dough. The great thing about the price-point is that it is not that much for your friends on Live to get game if there is good co-operative online game play and it keeps the number of players in the online lobby fairly lively.

I tell you it's addictive to see a game for sale instantly for $5 to $10. They are like potato chips. You can't have just one after you have that initial hook. I have over 80 Xbox Live Arcade games and if you add all up it is probably more than I have spent on big Xbox games on DVD.

Some XBLA games are ports of classic arcade, console and PC games while many are original games. Microsoft tends to publish one or two of them every wednesday and this week is Mr Driller Live. This is an High Definition online remake of a classic Namco PSone/ Dreamcast action puzzle game. I am perfectly happy getting a classic game as long as it's has some online interaction.

The development costs are much lower than a normal Xbox game and so publishing a game is much more achievable for a smaller developer. The recommended price point and storage size keeps the game to a reasonable scope with these restriction but there has been some really impressive games made for Xbox Live Arcade. Since they live on your Xbox 360 hard drive it is pretty easy to switch between with out having to get your butt of the couch. Hypothetically you have a few on the larger 512 Memory Unit that comes with the Xbox 360 Arcade pack but you are going to run out of space real soon.

The concept of Xbox Live Arcade has been emulated with the PlayStation Network games for the PS3 and WiiWare for the Wii but neither look as polished as XBLA. Unlike PSN games these are integrated in a unified user interface experience and you and your friends can hop from one game to the next with constant cross game communication. Unlike the forthcoming WiiWare there is room on a Xbox 360 hard drive to store dozens of games with out running out of room. I was shocked to find out that when WiiWare launched in Japan it did not include an external storage solution so it is capped and crippled as the Wii Virtual Console. Being able to play classic games online with other people over the net blows away the in room only game play of the Wii virtual Console.

Xbox 360 achievements are capped at 200 Gamerscore points but it is still fun to see an Achievement Unlocked popup at the bottom of the screen but just not for as much as the big games.

The system is pretty good but not perfect. There is some major Digital Restriction Management (DRM) problems moving an arcade game from one Xbox 360 system to another and it is a pain to get your arcade games all working right when you get a post repair cycle Xbox system if your attempting to get over a Red Ring of Death hardware failure, some developers are not happy with the sometimes lengthy product testing software cycles and the revised profit sharing publishing arrangement with Microsoft.

There is much consternation and discussion about how big a potential casual gaming market and this is the real deal. Microsoft is really serious about this and later on this fall they are going to be opening to selling up amateur and small time

Jake at April 1, 2008 Raves

Comments

Posted by: Danh at April 1, 2008 6:54 AM

Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at April 1, 2008 9:27 AM

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