So XBox Live Arcade basically kicks ass.

[Neo Rasa]

Right now Smash TV, Gauntlet, Joust, ROBOTRON: 2084, Galaga, and Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting are all eating up a lot of my time.

The arcade versions of both Contra and Super Contra are coming out on it (Contra in the near future).

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is confirmed to be coming out on it in the first quarter of 2007.

1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152635

(I have to bitch here though since it's a 1up article: since when the hell are Time Pilot and Scramble "obscure?").

Anyways, now that a much larger game like SotN is coming to the Live Arcade, SNK's got no excuse to not get their stuff up. There's a larger size memory card coming out in the near future too so it's not like that limit should affect them anymore.



Discuss all this.

[Deleted]

Holy crapdamn. This seems awesome, but... I know very little about XBLA. Is it only for the XBOX 360? Does it cost much money to download? And... well, I guess that's it, really. For now, anyway.

Well... dang! Looks like there's incentive for me to get an X360 now!

[Gilder]

I think SNK is preparing to have Ikari Warriors be released on XBLA sooner or later this year, so the door is wide open for SNK to start having their games on the XBLA. Hopefully they'll be able to actually release NeoGeo games on XBLA instead of just their older arcade games (not that I'm saying their old arcade games are bad in any way).

I played some of the XBLA games from someone who had an Xbox360 in my dorm before I came home for the summer. We played Joust and Smash TV the most, but I must recommend the incredible Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. I went out and bought PGR2 for the Xbox just so I can have the original Geometry Wars. Totally worth the five bucks for the racing game just for that little title alone.

Alot of noteworthy titles are being released for the XBLA that's got me excited such as Lumines Live!, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Alien Hominid, and Dig Dug. There is one question about one of the titles: Sonic the Hedgehog: High Speed. Is this a brand new version of Sonic or a rerelease of an older title maybe with HD?

[Neo Rasa]

Yeah it's pretty awesome.

Basically, XBox Live Arcade is something that existed on the original XBox so that you could pay ten dollars to play Ms. Pac-Man, Bejeweled, and other such games.

It's basically dead for the original XBox, for the 360 on the other hand...

Live Arcade only exists online for the 360/original XBox if you want to download the old games for whatever reason. You need an XBox Live account to be able to download the games (which all cost money individually, typically anywhere from $4 to $10 each).

Fortunately now they have two tiers of the XBox Live service, the Silver and Gold plans. Silver is completely free to have and Gold costs $8 a month (or $50 for a year, etc.). You need the Gold plan to play the games online against other people. The Silver plan is free and lets you do everything else except play the games online (so you can have a friends list, buy Live Arcade games, download game demos, etc.).

Setting up the account is very easy, you just need a credit card (a debit/credit will do also) and a broadband connection. When you initially create the account you'll get a free month of the Gold service also.

What's generated my uber-excitement in it is how they accounced a new game coming out for it every Wednesday basically til around the fall or so. Here's what's definitely out/coming out so far:

Out since they started this:
Cloning Clyde
Galaga
Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
Pac-Man

Upcoming stuff includes Castle Crashers (the next game from The Behemoth, it's a sidescrolling beat'em up from the people that made Alien Hominid), the arcade versions of Contra and Super Contra, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Scramble, there's a bunch of cool stuff coming out.


Also Robotron, Smash TV, Joust, Gauntlet and a few other classics are already there as well.



Finally the community aspect of this is awesome, as stuff like Street Fighter II has a spectator type mode where you all wait in the lobby and can watch a match while waiting for your turn against the winner in that room. All the games have online scoreboards as well, the interface makes it easy to contact/add to your friends list people that play the same games as you. It's awesome. Basically the last bastion of a mainstream, regularly attended "arcade" scene in the US.

[Shellshock]

Hey dudes, this whole online arcade gaming is not new. Mame with a Kaillera client has been doing the same trick for years now. ALTHOUGH with the popularity of Xbox live this is gonna become much more popular and mainstream, which translates into much more players (it's really hard to find people on Kaillera to play certain games with).
It's all good, but wouldn't it be cheaper if we all organize ourselves and schedule some play hours on Kaillera?? Mmmm... you can even have voice chat thru an instant messenger client...

No match watching or permanent scores though....

[margoyle]

At this rate, if I had a 360, I'd have to convert my chair into a toilet because bathroom breaks would be too much effort.

[Neo Rasa]

sh3llsh0ck said:

Hey dudes, this whole online arcade gaming is not new. Mame with a Kaillera client has been doing the same trick for years now.

That makes me feel really old. Of course none of this is new, there's been online gaming of fighting games and basic shooters and stuff since long before console rom and JAMMA pcb emulation was even a concept. The Live Arcade provides an interface and community structure that blows away everything else I've ever experienced though.

[shido]

I don't understand what the fuss is all about
Most people here played SOTN right? So why whould you pay money to play it again when you don't even get the box or the manual or the disc. You are paying for a rom (and a one you already played).

[Shellshock]

shido said:

I don't understand what the fuss is all about
Most people here played SOTN right? So why whould you pay money to play it again when you don't even get the box or the manual or the disc. You are paying for a rom (and a one you already played).

True that! And what's with the online factor?? Does it mean your cousin in Texas will be able to watch how you hit every wall hoping to find a secret room until you finish the game?? And why SOTN?? How about Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo 8 player tournaments?? Or , on the same note, how about Rondo of Blood or Castlevania 3?

[Neo Rasa]

shido said:

I don't understand what the fuss is all about
Most people here played SOTN right? So why whould you pay money to play it again when you don't even get the box or the manual or the disc. You are paying for a rom (and a one you already played).

It's great because many people who don't have access to it will now have a chance to play it. In addition, the Live Arcade has been used as a barometer as to whether or not another potential game is worth making or completing. As the 1up article even mentions, if this were downloaded a lot it would likely make Konami actually consider either putting other games in the series up or releasing a physical compilation.

The other reason this is important is because it opens the door to "bigger" games being distributed this way, which will give small developers a greater oppurtunity to get their games out (Castle Crashers being a prime example).

[Shellshock]

neorasa said:

sh3llsh0ck said:

Hey dudes, this whole online arcade gaming is not new. Mame with a Kaillera client has been doing the same trick for years now.

That makes me feel really old. Of course none of this is new, there's been online gaming of fighting games and basic shooters and stuff since long before console rom and JAMMA pcb emulation was even a concept. The Live Arcade provides an interface and community structure that blows away everything else I've ever experienced though.

[neg]

Personally, having a version of SOTN that I can play without having the music play badly would be a good thing. My version has a lot of stuttering on most tracks, and a couple of them even stop playing after a while.

I suppose, though, that I'd have to buy a 360 first to take advantage of things. I haven't trying XBox Live Arcade myself, but I'm sure I'd like it. Lots of old games I find fun are on there, and I'd like the community, especially in this day of few arcades (the one in my town is dying as it is). The money I'd have to play for each one would limit what I could play, however, especially when I have more important things to pay for, like college.

gilder said:

There is one question about one of the titles: Sonic the Hedgehog: High Speed. Is this a brand new version of Sonic or a rerelease of an older title maybe with HD?

I heard there was going to be a high-definition port of the first Sonic, so I'm guessing that's what the title would be. Anyone who can prove me wrong can write in, though.

[megatronbison]

neorasa said:

It's great because many people who don't have access to it will now have a chance to play it.

Couldn't agree more- I have 2 copies of the game but I know very few people who have actually played this (even online, most have only played it via a download). Giving fans of the series who don't want to resort to piracy or absurd ebay prices a chance to play this game cannot remotely be a bad thing in my eyes

[Shadax]

I think that Super Contra (the arcade version, at least) might be more obscure than Time Pilot, but I'm not a hip and with it games journalist, so I wouldn't really know.