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Microsoft XBox (Games)

Xbox Live Arcade Details Emerge 31

Posted by Zonk from the classic-games-on-next-gen-consoles dept.
An anonymous reader writes "CNN/Money's latest Game Over column spills the beans on Xbox Live Arcade (previously mentioned on Slashdot), Microsoft's forthcoming effort to attract more casual gamers to its console. The feature, which will offer classic arcade games and popular online fare like Bejeweled, will launch Nov. 3, but as the column points out, it will have a very small line-up of titles and will charge rather high fees to purchase them."
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Xbox Live Arcade Details Emerge More

Xbox Live Arcade Details Emerge

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  • I don't get it (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Bastian ( 66383 ) on Thursday October 14, 2004 @02:40PM (#10527815)
    For the past several years, I am constantly seeing re-releases of old/retro games. Sometimes they are one-game-to-a-cart, like with GBA retro games, sometimes they are collections like Namco Arcade.

    The one constant is that they always cost at least two or three times what I could pay for the original at a used video game store. In the extreme case, I can buy six old Atari games for my PS2 for $30, or I can go spend $20 for an old Atari and a stack of 20 games.

    Or I can do what I really did and pick up an old Atari, two of basically every controller, and a box of about 60 games for $5.

    Which just leaves me wondering, who buys this stuff?

    • Re:I don't get it (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Owning one of every worthwhile console ever would require filling your house with several miles of cable. Replacing that old system with a nice small CD makes sense for people who don't like dealing with flaky old hardware (yeah, I know, it's for PS2, irony) and who don't have a dedicated, big, games room.

      Personally I mostly use emulators. But I have a GBA with some retro games on because, duh, it's a handheld. Want to play an original NES game on the train?
      • I had to buy a second TV back in 1993 or 94 because the little antenna screws you used to connect consoles or VCRs or stuff with weren't long enough to add my Genesis without unplugging something else. I had three at one point. One for 8 bit, one for 16 bit, and one for everything else. It was commented that my room resembled the center of a Borg Cube.

        Sometimes I wonder if I should get a life. Then I see something cool on the release list for next week.
        • I used to have all that stuff connected to one PC. You just have to use the proper wiring and switchboxes. When you have everything (or at least everything you will ever care about in terms of video games, barring new systems) you don't have to recable anything unless new systems come out, or more to the point, become available used.

    • Re:I don't get it (Score:2, Insightful)

      by FriedTurkey ( 761642 ) *
      I actually love all those collections and buy every one for my PS2 and Gameboy SP. Why? Convenience. I am not carrying around an Atari on a plane. Plus the games are a lot better with the modern controllers (exception Midway for PS2 which has horrible controls) than the horrible Atari joysticks that always broke. I actually can kick ass at Pitfall now. With the Atari joystick, Pitfall was frustrating. (Probably causing the many breakages of Atari joysticks.)
    • The truth, I imagine, is that games like this are relatively cheap to develop. 6 or 7 titles out of a back catalogue, decent emulator, maybe some old advertising material, and a UI.

      And there must be a market of people who like the nostalgia but either:
      a) Can't be bothered getting out the old Atari or Commodore 64
      b) Can't be bothered, or don't want to, download ROM images and an emulator, or
      c) Like the nostalgia of old games,a nd are willing to pay for the conveninece of playing them on a new console.

    • The problem with buying old systems/games is that it's a crapshoot as to whether or not it works. I recently started buying old Atari 2600/5200 systems and games, and more often than not, they don't work like they should. Broken joysticks, broken paddles, consoles with messed up sound, stripped RF cables, etc. They can usually be fixed, but it takes a bit of time, effort, money, and knowhow. Something the casual retro gamer really doesn't have.

      And I'd like to know where you can buy an Atari with 20 gam
  • It seems like this is a pretty pointless offer from microsoft. If you think about it, in order to play these games, you need to make the original hardware investment of $150, then you need to have Xbox Live, another $50/year (I think), and you have to pay for each game?

    This is in opposition to the current retro-trend oriented hardware which bundles a bunch of games inside one old controller shaped device that you can hook directly to your TV for maybe $20.

    Basically, the only advantages Live can claim are

    • Re:Seems Pointless (Score:4, Insightful)

      by LordNimon ( 85072 ) on Thursday October 14, 2004 @03:18PM (#10528383)
      It seems like this is a pretty pointless offer from microsoft. If you think about it, in order to play these games, you need to make the original hardware investment of $150, then you need to have Xbox Live, another $50/year (I think), and you have to pay for each game?

      Obviously, this is for people who already have an Xbox and Xbox Live, and want to play these games as well, without having to use their PC or purchase another console.

      I would buy this. I have an Xbox with a Live account, and my wife is eagerly looking forward to Xbox Live Arcade, so that I'm not the only one playing Xbox games.

    • But I need to go get the controller device, and plug it in.

      #1- I might want to purchase one of these games while sitting there at 3:00 am because I can't sleep.

      #2- It sounds dumb, by my TV is very heavy- and it is tightly jammed into a large cabinet. I don't want to move it to plug something else in (that is worth about $30 right there).

      #3- Purchasing the actual hardware (joystick games) seems like an actual emotional investment. I had to actually pick it up, put it in my cart, pay for it, etc. If it
    • I agree that paying $20 for a bunch of retro games doesn't seem right, but most folks are forgetting that the bulk of the games on Live Arcade are going to be all the newer downloadable games that can be found on MSN, Yahoo, Pogo, etc. Those games are all priced around $20 bucks.

      See the following sites:
      http://zone.msn.com/en/root/downloads.htm [msn.com]
      http://www.gamehouse.com/ [gamehouse.com]
      http://www.pogo.com/togo/tg-topgames.jsp?sls=2&sit e=pogo [pogo.com]

      Most of these games have free versions you can play on the web, but they
  • On a different (smaller) scale, Microsoft is attempting to offer a service that the Phantom does not seem to be able to provide. Many threads have done nothing but annihilate Infinium Labs and its offering of the Phantom console system. With this service, Microsoft is offering a similar product; however, on a level that is less technically demanding, which might negate some of the major issues the Phantom is facing.

    On demand gaming has to start somewhere. Flame Microsoft all you want, but Microsoft seem
  • Hey Microsoft, if you want my money for X-Box live, then offer all the old Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct and Virtual Fighter titles for online competitve play. Hold tournaments for money like heat.net used to. There is no way I'm dropping 50$ on your network unless it does something better/different from Mame with Kaillara.
    • Street Fighter II/III on the way. [ebgames.com]

      Midway offers MK I, II, III and Killer Instinct as part of different retro packages for Xbox already, though not online. Based on the existing relationship, it should be only a matter of time until they are part of Arcade.

      This looks like a really cool idea and implementation, but the price for each game is just too high. Maybe it will drop soon if interest is not high when it launches.
      • Dude, you said Killer Instinct, and that's not fair. Killer Instinct isn't one either of Midway's discs, and the characters are jointly owned by Rare and Nintendo, if I'm not mistaken. I'd pay 50 dollars easy for an arcade perfect version of the first Killer Instinct that was online enabled.

  • Let me get this straight.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by dogbowl ( 75870 ) on Thursday October 14, 2004 @03:22PM (#10528453) Homepage
    So, I'm expected to go out and spend $150 dollars on an x-box, $50 on x-box live and then another $10 dollars just so I can play bejewelled?

    Why don't I just play solitare while I'm at work?

  • In my opinion, it's a really cool service. The concept of being able to play online poker, Galaga, Pac-Man, whathaveyou, is awesome as a way to play something fun that's less demanding than most online games. That being said, their pricing structure is way too high. It's not about the cost of the Xbox or Xbox Live, which their target audience already has, but the concept of playing Dig-Dug online for around twenty bucks is too rich for my blood. Around five dollars for a title sounds a lot easier to swallow
    • Not even that -- they should have a host of free titles (your standard chess/checkers/etc), and then optional premium content which may include licensed games from other publishers.

      To be honest, when I saw this introduced from the E3 footage, it really seemed as though that it was going to be an upgrade to Xbox Live itself where you would have a bunch of free content. Either I misinterpreted, hoped too much, or MS changed their strategy.

      I think they'd do well with this scheme, quite honestly. $10 - $20 pe
  • Maybe a lot of people don't care and aren't interested in these sort of games - but I always like to support the little guy, and I really hope this opens up the 'cash pot' for all those little indie developers out there. Of course, I suspect there will be an army of middle men in the way, as this article [garagegames.com] by one of the guys from garage games points the way of the future for indies. I also hope it opens up the market for some of the less casual indie games out there. All the stuff popcap does is pretty banal
  • What they need is online versions of these games where you can compete with others, like yahoo games or what not.

    I know it would interest a lot of non-gamers to be able to play "Ink Link" and Pop-Cap puzzle games for a very (very) low price, seeing as they are mostly free online.
  • Yet again a bunch of people on Slashdot jump all over something without doing all of the homework.

    Old Arcade games are not what Live Arcade is about, nor will that be all it will launch with. There are many independant games which most people have never seen before comming out on Live Arcade. Games that take full advantage of the Xbox's hardware shaders, etc.

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