Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread
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Willy Wanka
my god this avatar owns
Give me SWOS already
XBLA's problem is that no one here understands it.
It was originally imagined as the Xbox 360 equivalent of Minesweeper and Solitaire, not deep or meaningful gameplay experiences.
Then it became popular, too popular to encapsulate in once in a while releases or 50 MB download limits. The problem is that the same people are still working on it, with no apparent restructuring.
Now you have developers working with XNA while companies are just plain dumping their old hits en masse on the PSN and VC. The XBLA service, with respect to how it's operated, seems ill-equipped to offer games the same way.
It was originally imagined as the Xbox 360 equivalent of Minesweeper and Solitaire, not deep or meaningful gameplay experiences.
Then it became popular, too popular to encapsulate in once in a while releases or 50 MB download limits. The problem is that the same people are still working on it, with no apparent restructuring.
Now you have developers working with XNA while companies are just plain dumping their old hits en masse on the PSN and VC. The XBLA service, with respect to how it's operated, seems ill-equipped to offer games the same way.
CrapSandwich
former Navy SEAL
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
Ms. Pac Man is among the greatest coin-ops ever created. The fact that it's a timeless classic makes it an excellent addition to the ever-growing Xbox Live Arcade portfolio.
Seriously, though, who doesn't like Ms. Pac Man? I don't like many old coin-ops, but Ms. Pac Man is always fun.
Apharmd Battler
Member
a Master Ninja said:
SWEET!! Anybody got any word on Castle Crashers?!
Hitler Stole My Potato
Banned
CrapSandwich said:
Ms Pac Man is fine but not when it becomes the sole release. If they want to dump a bunch of these classic arcade games on XBLA that's ok by me but it they're going to drop 'em individually and continuously spread out weeks and months at a time then we've got a problem.
MS keeps telling us that they've got all these developers lined up making XBLA games but I'm not seeing anything that's telling me it's true outside of the press releases. I mean where are they? How come it took over a year to port Defender? Defender! Either there just aren't that many games in the pipeline as MS would like us to believe or there is something desperately wrong with their certification process. I think it's a little from column A and a lot from column B.
goldenpp72
Member
The really odd thing is that with the XBLA schedule, you basically have about 4 games a month tops, assuming they dont miss a week, in the mean time retail games see at points dozens of releases in a month, why is it ok for gta/halo/madden/mgs/etc to come out in one month but not a bunch of 20 year old titles?
GhaleonEB said:Someone find this guy his ****ing potato already.
I do agree with him, though.
In just 6 or 7 weeks, Nintendos VC has made feel jealous about all the people owning a wii
I always scroll the list on my dashboard and looks grim, I already bought contra and SF2: HF but Super castlevania, Mario 64 and the original Legend of Zelda put nintendo's offering in a whole new level.
I bought my 360 3 months ago and I haven't seen an uptade, at least it isnt' noticeable. It takes FOREVER to get a 50k bytes game?!! why is that?
Hitler Stole My Potato
Banned
GhaleonEB said:Someone find this guy his ****ing potato already.
If anyone has seen it, please contact me.
Whether you agree or not, he's beaten the issue to death. I bitch about the lack advance notice of releases every week, but I keep it to a handfull of posts; Rage Against the Potato has been going for two days straight now in multiple threads. The shit I give arne each weak it tame by comparison. :lolsphinx said:
The comparisons between Arcade and VC have gone around over and over. I pretty much agree with him as well - I had much higer hopes for Arcade than was realized in the past year, by far. But things are looking up, at least for the type of stuff I'm interested in. There's a lot of good content coming soon, and most of the stuff I'm excited about are original games, not ROM dumps. (Castle Crashers and Mutant Storm Empire, for example.)
Hitler Stole My Potato
Banned
GhaleonEB said:
I'm like a retarded Terminator. I just keep going and going.
And I know this topic has been discussed ad nauseam but I only do it 'cause I care.
I think these issues need to get discussed. Hitler Stole My Potato has an Xbox 360, and is hardly calling the console crap or anything like some other users do.
With respect to some concerns, MS has become as stubborn as Nintendo. I mean, it's not like anyone is asking MS to include any special features that are outside the realm of their already established plans.
1) Bigger hard drive
2) More frequent/higher quality downloadable games.
Those were criticisms 6 months ago, and they're just as obvious today.
With respect to some concerns, MS has become as stubborn as Nintendo. I mean, it's not like anyone is asking MS to include any special features that are outside the realm of their already established plans.
1) Bigger hard drive
2) More frequent/higher quality downloadable games.
Those were criticisms 6 months ago, and they're just as obvious today.
Well, I listed a couple for examples. I didn't want to start up the list wars that were raging on the last page again, but here we go:sphinx said:
Castle Crashers
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Checkers
Chess
Cyberball
Eternity's Child
Fatal Fury Special
Metal Slug
Mutant Storm Empire
Root Beer Tapper
Settlers of Catan
Sonic the Hedgehog High Speed
Space Giraffe
Super Contra
Warlords
Worms (formerly Worms HD)
The games I've bought so far are Smash TV, DOOM, Cloning Clyde and Assault Heroes. So from four purchased games over the course of a year to seeing nearly 20 already announced that I will probably buy is "looking up" for me.
Hitler Stole My Potato
Banned
There's quite a few announced and rumored games on XBLA that I'm definately interested in but when you've that "one release a week" hanging over the service like an albatros and then you notice how many more classic arcade games MS supposedly has on the slate, well let's just say I'm far less enthusastic. Just thinking how long it'll take to even get to half the games I want is depressing. It'll take years.
It all depends on how "classic" the classics are. I'll take games like DOOM and Smash TV over Galaga and Pac-Man any day. So stuff like Fatal Fury, Castlevania and Metal Slug are heading in the right direction. But as I said - those classic games seem to do damn well, so there's an audience for them. It just doesn't include me.Hitler Stole My Potato said:
The mix is looking better in the near future than it has been. I'm still hopefull XBLA will really take off this year, but yes - one game a week is, um, weak.
Just interesting from all the chest pounding that MS does about XBL and XBLA that their position has weakened so quickly. The fact that it took over a year for them to finally give us a Checkers or Chess is stupid, especially if they expect us to pay for it regardless of achievements and Live Vision support or what have you. MS just doesn't seem nimble enough despite their headstart to rectify the shortcomings of their service in time to have anything resembling an advantage given Sony's aggressive stance in the digital games marketplace.
D3VI0US said:
i don't get your point. really. what does a year have to do with checkers and chess being in development for a year?
how has MS position on XBL or XBLA weakened so quickly?
ah, I should be laughing at all the back and forth in this thread and after all the stuff I've been reading over the past few days, I'm really just depressed.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
Just because I love watching you guys flop around like fish on a stretch of a ice cubes, I just read some totally out of nowhere comments to Mjolnir Nelson's mysterious post about Ms. PacMan being available on XBLM (it's not).
"the XBLA release next weeks looks like it'll be the roboblitz multiplayer 'addon'"
and then
"Well theres two weeks of patches coming up for Xbox Live Wednesdays. One wednesday the Roboblitz multiplayer patch and the camera patch for Texas Hold'em."
Man, I would laugh so hard. Guaranteed there'd be more spite and vitriol in this single thread than a thousand threads about NPDs.
Don't let me down, you guys!
"the XBLA release next weeks looks like it'll be the roboblitz multiplayer 'addon'"
and then
"Well theres two weeks of patches coming up for Xbox Live Wednesdays. One wednesday the Roboblitz multiplayer patch and the camera patch for Texas Hold'em."
Man, I would laugh so hard. Guaranteed there'd be more spite and vitriol in this single thread than a thousand threads about NPDs.
Don't let me down, you guys!
Hitler Stole My Potato
Banned
BenjaminBirdie said:
lolerz
.....
Only 4 more weeks 'til Ms Pac Man! Can't wait!
wii60 has some more pictures of upcoming arcade titles:
http://www.wii60.com/68/360-info-fresh-from-ces/
http://www.wii60.com/68/360-info-fresh-from-ces/
Hitler Stole My Potato said:
There's something definately wrong with the certification process. Having attended an MS conference for Vista developers on how to get your product certified, I can easily say that if the XBLA certification process is anything like then it's easy to see why releases get delayed so much.
I don't understand why can't they let developers release the games earlier, and patch them quicker afterwards.
I dunno if I'm gonna get Alien Hominid. I already own it, but HD, co-op, achievements, plus as a fan of Newgrounds I wanna support these guys. Hopefully it isn't exactly like the original.
What I don't understand is how is this certification process so horribly long yet obvious problems like the Contra co-op bug gets through?thorns said:
Crab Milk Mickey
Member
Diablohead
Member
I don't understand how they can't release a patch/mp addon and a game together, they got enough games to release.
according to 360Achievements site, Heavy Weapon is next week.We would like to thank our friends at PopCap Games, who were able to give us a sneak peak at their upcoming game on Xbox Live Arcade - Heavy Weapon. Enjoy the achievements, but on January 17th, you will have to earn them yourself on Xbox LiveCheck the achievement list here.Unfortunately they haven't set the gamescore yet for the individual achievements, but it will be the usual 12 achievements and 200 points.
2nd post down
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/home/
The certification process is ****ing retarded, seriously. How can games be held back so much and STILL be released with such obvious bugs? Marble Blast Ultra and the friends leader-boards not working, Contra co-op being unplayable, connection issues in Assault Heroes co-op, etc. From what I've read it takes like 4 months for that process and these are issues you can find in the first minute of testing.
And how about a game library that actually takes advantage of Xbox Live? UNO was a good example of that and it's the most successful title on the service now I think. There needs to be more games with online co-op and stuff - how about some beat-em-ups like Streets of Rage? Where is all the variety? There are only like three genres on XBLA right now - everything is either a card/puzzle game, Geometry Wars clone, or a retro title.
XBLA is so much wasted potential right now. I know it's not as simple as snapping a finger and getting tons of games up there, but MS could/should be doing much better then this.
And how about a game library that actually takes advantage of Xbox Live? UNO was a good example of that and it's the most successful title on the service now I think. There needs to be more games with online co-op and stuff - how about some beat-em-ups like Streets of Rage? Where is all the variety? There are only like three genres on XBLA right now - everything is either a card/puzzle game, Geometry Wars clone, or a retro title.
XBLA is so much wasted potential right now. I know it's not as simple as snapping a finger and getting tons of games up there, but MS could/should be doing much better then this.
FirstInHell
Banned
CrapSandwich said:
I don't like Ms. Pac Man because I already paid 400 points for Pac Man. Ms. Pac Man is a superior game so they should have released this instead of Pac Man. Does the Xbox Live Arcade community really need two Pac Man games?
I wish Microsoft would realize the missed potential here. You have people begging for content and Microsoft refuses to even release an approximation as to when we can hope to see the content.
Arne, I realize that everyone is giving you grief here, but you cannot ignore the fact that this is not just a few people bitching about the way the service is being handled. Go to almost any messageboard and you cann see how the internet collectively rolls its eyes when the news that games like Rally-X and Ms. Pac Man were being released. The patches being released in the spot of a game is even more groan inducing.
I think people are becoming more vocal about the service because when you look at what the Wii has managed to do in such a very short time frame, the endless waiting and scarce releases of 20 year old arcade ports has ceased being impressive.
Just to prove that I am not trolling here are some examples;
A sample of the mostly negative Major Nelson comments;
Also, here is what official Xbox forum members are saying about the releases
http://forums.xbox.com/9469650/ShowPost.aspx
http://forums.xbox.com/9461959/ShowPost.aspx
These were found after 2 minutes to browsing from obvious places. You cannot tell me that there isn't a problem here.
speculawyer
Member
Ms. Pac-man? Meh.
Give us Worms!
Give us Worms!
Space Runaway
Member
maynerd said:
One of those original games everyone wants so bad. Seems to be a vehicle based side scrolling shooter(Though it looks like it could play like Cabal too). Looks pretty good. Hope it really is next.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
FirstInHell said:
Who on Earth told you that?
VenusandBacchus
Member
Heavy weapon is sweet I played it at E3 you control a tank with the right stick and aim with your left stick at things in the air and shoot with the triggers it was very fun Im looking foward to it.
BenjaminBirdie said:
He's just conveniently ignored the multiple times in the past few pages where I said the team is aware about trying to improve both consistency and communicating upcoming releases better.
Apart from that, I'll totally stand behind the fact that now and for the forseeable future XBLA will have the most announced and released original IPs for digital download.
And, really, I don't by the VC comparisons anymore! Not to the folks on this board who are more intelligent to think it's the same thing. I still think those are apples and oranges comparisons, whether you or anyone else likes it or not and whether or not it serves their purpose. And they're still only releasing 10-20+ year old console titles.
Hitler Stole My Potato
Banned
arne said:
You tell 'em Steve-Dave!
*goes back to playing nearly 30 year old arcade titles*
Son of Godzilla
Banned
Don't forget Lumines Live has a Heavenly Star pack due out in January, so that will take up a wednesday. Between that and the patches and mappacks and Uno decks, I'm predicting the next game sometime in September. That way they can unleash some rolling thunder for Holiday 2007.
Segata Sanshiro
Member
arne said:
Well, this is essentially a problem now. You're right, this is an apples and oranges comparison. XBLA games have a lot more work put into them than VC titles. The problem is that to the customer, they are both fruit, and they are both competing for the afternoon snack position. Right now, even on messageboards where people should be a bit more savvy you're seeing people make the comparison, and as far as they know, it's not a favourable one for XBLA.
This is because the comparison is being done on a purely quantitative level. Quantitatively, Nintendo is kicking MS's heinie. But that's not XBLA's strengths. MS needs to find a way to highlight the various strengths of the XBLA stuff. Get the word out, so that people know. If I have an option of buying the same game from VC or XBLA, I'll buy it from XBLA everytime, because it's going to have a lot of features over the VC version. That's what MS needs to play up. Until they do the comparisons are going to continue, and each week it's going to get worse. As for the how...well, that's the job of a marketing guy, not a 'digital content philosopher' such as myself.
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