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[thorns]

Did it even launch? No hype or anything around it.. It was a brilliant idea IMHO, one of those subtle innovations that are not talked about very loudly. We could see a lot of smaller and new independent titles on it with fresh new ideas, fun for a quick fix or two. Some quick to learn / fast / fun games I could play when my friends came over.

WHY the hell did MS not make this downloadable for everyone? At least make the discs freely and widely available? And instead of giving away some games for free, decides to charge for them all? Why not charge much lower fees for the games, since the profit margin on downloadable games is much higher than buying it at retail.

I hope this idea lives on for Xenon and the management does not fuck it up like they did now.

 

[Guns N' Poops]

XBL Arcade should have been bundled with every Xbox free.

 

[Community Forum]

XBL Arcade should have been bundled with every Xbox free.

At least include it in the Xbox Live Starter Kits.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

It should have been free as a download. They way they're doing it now (Scavenge to find and pay for a XBL Arcade disc, then pay for games) is very stupid

 

[The Faceless Master]

dunno about anyone else, but someone (MS?) sent me an XBL Arcade disk in the mail free...

complete with a 64 page "xbox live power up" mag and a letter from the xbox live team...

 

[Blimblim]

At first the plan was to put Xbox Live Arcade right into the Dashboard. But a big dashboard update like this (basically renewing almost everything on the main HD partition) is a very difficult and rather risky process where no error can be tolerated.
Since most of the dashboard team is hard at work on Xenon since quite some time now, and Xbox Live Arcade never was a high profile feature, MS simply put that idea away and went for the DVD only thing.
That's what I've been told at least.
Hopefully there will be a way to integrate new features into the Xenon dashboard with requiring full upgrades. But then, there is the risk hackers would use this feature... Time will tell.

 

[The Faceless Master]

this is what i got in the mail some time ago...

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Tell them to send one to:

The Abominable Snowman
9284 SkiFree Plaza
EatU, Colorado 21250

 

[Blimblim]

Tell them to send one to:

The Abominable Snowman
9284 SkiFree Plaza
EatU, Colorado 21250

$5 and it's yours :
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/livearcade/fulfillment.htm

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

At first the plan was to put Xbox Live Arcade right into the Dashboard. But a big dashboard update like this (basically renewing almost everything on the main HD partition) is a very difficult and rather risky process where no error can be tolerated.
Since most of the dashboard team is hard at work on Xenon since quite some time now, and Xbox Live Arcade never was a high profile feature, MS simply put that idea away and went for the DVD only thing.
That's what I've been told at least.
Hopefully there will be a way to integrate new features into the Xenon dashboard with requiring full upgrades. But then, there is the risk hackers would use this feature... Time will tell.

Isn't that team a group of WildTangent guys?

Anyway, why did they decide to make the discs so scarce? And the price of games so high? Will they at least include it in the Xenon Live dashboard?

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Did Mutant Storm actually make it as a Live Arcade title?

 

[BarneyBP]

I got live arcade included in my three month starter kit. There's nothing quite like seeing the Xbox churn out Miss Pac Man

 

[thorns]

there was a gaf member who used to work on xbl arcade? maybe he can fill us in about the situation?

 

[Jesiatha]

We would have loved to put it on a dashboard update, but couldn't because of the major work that goes into one.

The launcher is available in new starter kits (assuming ennough have flowed through the retail channel, that is). They will also be available in OXM soon, although without Ms. Pacman. You can also order them for $5 from the link above.

As far as prices, most of the games are $9.99. The Namco vintage pack is $14.99, and a couple other games are $19.99. I think about 60% of what is available is at the $9.99 price point though. Plus, EVERY game has a FREE demo that you can download.

Mutant Storm did come out, is awesome, and is in the $9.99 bunch.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

What happened to Xbox Live Arcade? They made a casual gamer product available in a way that only the hardcore would get. The Starter Disc is impossible to find, and $6 for a "free" disc with a 2-4 week wait time isn't very appealing. They then priced the games just high enough to rule out impulse buying. Great idea, but the pricing and placement suck hard.

 

[joshschw]

I have one it came with my starter kit, there are free demos for everything which is usually enough to not buy the game.