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[Jesiatha]

For those that are interested, Xbox Live Arcade went gold today and is off to manufacturing. I currently have the #1 Ms. Pac-Man score on the leaderboards . Official launch date is November 3rd, the launcher/game should be widely available.

Remember, even if $10 is too much for a game, you get Ms. Pac-Man for free, and can try free demos of all the games


Edit - bolded the last sentence.

 

[Wario64]

Full version of Pacman free? Are the discs free or do I have to pay a small price?

 

[Kanbee-san]

What are the graphics like ? (i kid)

My wife wants this, but $10 each. Hmmm.

 

[Jesiatha]

Full version of Ms. Pacman is free with the launcher. Disc will come free in OXM, be available from MS for the cost of shipping&handling, and will probably be available by other means very soon after launch.

 

[snapty00]

This is a badass service.

However, the price is way beyond acceptable, so I won't even bother. It's badass, but it's not $10 badass.

 

[impirius]

Great choice for the free game.

Congratulations!

 

[Renegade]

I won't buy for 10 bucks a game. Sheesh MS! I can get the same games off my Cellphone cheaper than that.

BUT... I'd pay 10 or maybe even 20 a year for all 20 or so games (With netplay).

 

[Sp3eD]

MS isn't Nintendo. People aren't going to pay $10 for 20 year old 3rd party games....

 

[StrikerObi]

If Microsoft is smart they will give this out with Halo 2.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

I can see $10+ for the full versions of (shareware) PC ports/conversions, but classic titles should be $1-3 a pop... Hopefully, MS will listen. Anyway, looking forward to trying it out.

 

[mosaic]

Blah, I continue to be of the mindset that $3 a game would be acceptable. Anything more is insanity for things that are readily available in pre-existing compilations or free via other means. I mean, lordy, Yahoo has free Java games, as does MSN. And that's about what cell users pay for many of their downloadables.

And considering that Microsoft gets $50 out of every subscriber per year for Live, I don't see how it's possible that they spend all that outlay on the infrastructure and have nothing left to support some teeny tiny, yet popular "mini" games.

Now, maybe I'm wrong and this stuff does cost MS a lot of money, but that doesn't mean I find it worth my while to pay $10 per game -- I'll get the installer disc and perhaps shell out for one game (hey, is Texas Hold Em coming out? I'd get that) and that's it.

Otherwise, games.yahoo.com is already in my favorites.

 

[Renegade]

I was under the impression that it would be 10 bucks for a pack of games. I'd have less problem paying 10 bones for, say, 3 or 4 Namco classics.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

If you could pick what games you got in a $10 pack, then things won't be so bad.

 

[JMPovoa]

I don't understand some of you guys. sometimes i waste half that ammount (that ammount = $10) or even a bit more on a single lunch! OK,ok, so many of you don't work still

 

[Kon Tiki]

I won't buy for 10 bucks a game. Sheesh MS! I can get the same games off my Cellphone cheaper than that.

Or on a Flash Arcade.

 

[DCharlie]

Mame...

but regardless - if Nintendo can do it with their old shit, maybe MS can pull the same trick?
infact, it's cheaper!

 

[Jesiatha]

I mean, lordy, Yahoo has free Java games, as does MSN.

And the free demos will roughly correspond to the free versions online. A lot of these games are Xbox versions of things available at MSN Games. However, all the online games have $20-$25 downloadable versions. The Xbox version ends up being cheaper.

Also, the majority of titles at launch will be non-classic arcade games. However, the classic arcade games we do have will be sold in a 3-pack (I'm not sure of the price offhand).

 

[thorns]

Is this coming to Europe as well?

 

[PhatSaqs]

What were you playing last night when I got this:

Jesiatha is playing Xbox Live Arcade.

 

[Jesiatha]

Yes, we plan to bring it to Europe. It won't be a simultaneous launch though - I would imagine early next year.

Last night I was in the launcher / playing Ms. Pac-Man. All of the other launch games are still in cert, so they aren't available on retail boxes yet. Neither of those supports Live multiplayer, but everything is Live aware.

One of the biggest problems with the launch is the lack of Live enabled (as in multiplayer) titles. It's tough to make cheap games and still get in good Live play. My current job is to make this better - hopefully sometime next year we'll be able to start cranking out a decent number of Live multiplayer games.

 

[BojTrek]

I want to see videos of what these games look like on the TV...

If they cannot match MAME standards, I don't want them...

Please be good, please be good... I want a Robotron version that looks like MAME buts plays over the X-Box without fading... hope my HD TV helps...

TO PEOPLE ACTUALLY PLAYING X-BOX LIVE ARCADE NOW: Does the Ms.Pac-Man game look like playing MAME Ms. Pac-Man on my PC or playing Ms.Pac-Man in those crappy Arcade Classic games released on X-Box by like Midway or Atari???

 

[BuddyC]

They had me at "Free Ms. Pac Man."

 

[Jesiatha]

TO PEOPLE ACTUALLY PLAYING X-BOX LIVE ARCADE NOW: Does the Ms.Pac-Man game look like playing MAME Ms. Pac-Man on my PC or playing Ms.Pac-Man in those crappy Arcade Classic games released on X-Box by like Midway or Atari???

What is the difference?

 

[Dave Long]

Xbox Live Arcade is gold!

*crickets*

 

[BojTrek]

The difference from MAME playing ROMS on the PC/monitor compared to playing X-Box Arcade Calssics on TV is extremely different.

The graphics look all faded and stretched on X-Box, PS2 whichever system had a greatest hits disk of arcade games.

On the PC, if it the resolution on the monitor, MAME running arcade games is arcade perfect it looks exactly like it did in the arcade.

That is the difference I mean... when these games are on the console, they never look exactly like they did in the arcade... is it because the TV is not as detailed as PC monitors or arcade screens???

 

[Error Macro]

$10 per game.

I just paid $20 for Midway Treasures Vol. 2, which has a shit load of games on there.

 

[Sinatar]

I think the prices are going to vary. Its not going to be full of old classic games, much of it will be the kind of stuff you see on http://www.popcap.com. Since they are charging $20 to buy their games off of popcap, of course they are going to charge similar amounts on xblarcade.