More good press for Xbox Live Arcade: tipping point near?

I wholeheartedly agree that casual gaming will be huge, but I think MS screwed the pooch in regards to the casual gamer with the 360. It costs $400...you need to get the full premium bundle to take advantage of the "non hardcore gamer" aspects of the 360. And for your $400+, MS only included media extender functionality, not full MCE functionality. This is what I love and hate so much about my PSP...it is casual gamer heaven, even my very game phobic girlfriend can't put it down, but it's really expensive, but not developed enough in the media department to be worth it to a non-gamer. Only among pretentious and overpaid New York lawyers have I really seen a lot of people with PSPs who wouldn't qualify as "gamers."

It's anything BUT counter-intuitive to think that casual gaming is the key to mass acceptance. There's more of them than there are of us, etc. In my opinion XBLA is the single strongest weapon in Microsoft's current arsenal. That's no slight against the 360; rather, MS is wise to make their new console appeal to more than just the frothing hardcore set.

Like I said in the column, more or less, XBLA is the killer app for the 360. I hope Sony is paying attention.

While the 360 may be $400, it can appeal to the casual gamer because of not only XBLA, but the other capabilities it has, ala PSP.

And don't worry, more casual-oriented 360 games will come out. It's a new system, let's give it some time.

I bought the 360 for one game and one game only - Oblivion. However, that doesn't come out until next month. What am I to do until then? Put down $60 for a game I know I don't want?!? What's this little $5 game sitting out there on the internet? Geometry Wars? Sure why not. BAM. Something to play for a month while awaiting Oblivion. The retail games I buy will be few and far between because I just don't have the time to play games. I feel a lot less guilt when I pay $5 for a game and rarely play it. But I haven't been able to put down GW at all. Thank goodness my wife is out of town all week. WOOT!!! Casual gaming rocks!

Every positive mention of Xbox Live Arcade is a validation of Nintendo's strategy.

There you have it, a super-powerful hardware platform that ends up getting kudos because it can run games that require nothing more powerful than a 5-year old PC.

It is clearly a testament to the fact creativity and fun have nothing to do with high-end graphics and extreme processing capacity.

It also shows that developers can't spend so much time on technology without losing track of the #1 reason games exist: Provide entertainment to those who play them.

Clearly, there is a huge market for the next-generation console that will focus on fun.

I say out with the new and in with the old(so to speak). Most casual games rely on the one thing that made NES and SNES games great - they are fun! Story driven games are cool in their own right, but they aren't always that fun. For example - Galaga is a great game. It's hours of fun even now. The graphics suck and there is no story, but damn if I don't enjoy the hell out of it today. Fast forward to Geometry Wars - the graphics are great, the gameplay is very old-school and it's a huge hit. Marble Blast Ultra is just a new take on Marble Madness, but it's done extremely well and it's loads of fun.

Simply put, small games that are fun can be extremely lucrative. With the top selling games of all time being the likes of Mario, Tetris, and The Sims developers need to see the writing on the wall. We don't need Unreal 3 or a Cell processor or HD or surround sound. At the end of the day we need high-quality games that are fun. Nintendo is starting to get it, Microsoft is starting to get it, and Sony will try and make a movie out of it.

Yes, Marble Blast ultra is fun, but give me Monkey Ball Deluxe for the Xbox anyday over Marble Blast (or monkey ball for the gcn.)

Darth, it really just goes to prove that gameplay will always be far more important than graphics.

You know, I'm going to have to go and agree with the article. I think it is a substitute, at least for me, until good games come out. I beat Call of Duty 2 and PDZ... but I couldn't force myself to beat Kameo. Instead, I went to EB and bought Fable for $9.99 and beat that. I'm running out of options here, and I'm waiting for Oblivion to come out!

Personally I like the idea of casual gaming, but I do not like the idea of losing every free cent to play casually. (TV, Xbox360, HDD, extra controller, internet connection, XBL, games and mini-games)... that's alot of money for somthing I used to be able to play at the arcade for 25cents (maybe $3-$6/hr). I can't justify that kind of expense for 'casual gaming', I need the full games to bring be onside (still waiting).

Back in the day, the majority of games were mini-games. I would even argue that the best selling game of all time, Super Mario Bros is just a series of mini-games played one after another. I like those games, but I crave the story driven ones. I want a story that pulls me in (KotOR, NWN, Oblivion...)

< Off topic > Are we quoting Joystiq readers now? How can you be sure the people you are quoting are not getting paid for what they say? (no offense, zero)

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/02/10

One thing is for sure, it is going to force the big production shops to re-examine their entire business model (at least on some levels), which will then change gaming for the better at both ends of the spectrum. Casual games will become higher in quality and the shift of funds away from big production titles will alleviate some of the full-production market saturation, possibly opening room for more creativity and variety as less dense markets reward ideas over execution.

As much as I dislike casual gaming, once Street Fighter 2 arrives for XBLA, it will be worth it.

XBLA is appropriately named. It is doing what arcades did when I was a teenager: Providing a place to play games with other people, without having to dump $60 for a new title. While the price is higher than in arcades of old, it's more affordable than the hit-or-miss retail market.

Hopefully the publishers will learn from this! It would be nice if they noticed that people are paying for games on XBLA because of gameplay, and not because of trend-following, movie licensing, amazing graphics, cutscenes, high-paid Hollywood voice actors, or plotlines that span 20 hours but are ultimately no different than the other ones out there. I like a well-made game with great graphics and an expansive story, but when the choices are all so similar (Final Fantasy = Dragon Warror = Legend of Zelda = Secret of Mana, etc.) it's not difficult to see why people are longing for the days when they could pick up a game and JUST PLAY IT without having to learn the deep psychological, political, and socio-economic background of the characters in the game.

Remember when you would play Galaga for hours without caring who was piloting the ship, why they were in space, why the aliens were attacking, how the ship worked, where you could find schematics of the ship, who drew the ship, who designed the aliens, why the laser blasts sound like they do, and who the captain of the ship is in love with? Remember just PLAYING Ms. Pac-Man without having to watch a 5-minute cinema about the romance between herself and Pac-Man between each level? Just a little animation was enough. We didn't need a prerendered story with Samuel L. Jackson as Pac-Man and Brooke shields as Ms. Pac-Man. We'd still play the game for HOURS.

There's a place in gaming for a shiny marble protagonist with no voice-actor, no cutscenes, and no epic saga. There's a place in gaming for a ship firing in every direction with the only motivation being "because if you don't it gets blown up." yet if Hideo Kojima got a hold of Geometry Wars, you know we'd have to hear all about the motivations of the attacking forces, and the epic struggle for humanity by the lone starship captain. We'd have a 12-minute movie before even being allowed to take control of the ship!

I'm old-school. I want to play. I watch movies, and I play games. Most people are this way, and I predict that Nintendo and Microsoft will score MAJOR points with the casual gamers and general public by offering a simple, fast, low-cost game library that lives in your console. Add in the XBLA ability to display these games in crystal-clear high definition, and you have a model for success.

XBLA is a place for innovation in the games industry. Western developers will retake gaming through this Trojan horse.

Honestly, I've been whining about this to all my friends for years. I can't stand the long games. The 40+ hour rpgs make me completely sick. Short, replayable, fun games, like Rez, Lumines, Geometry Wars, Space Channel 5 are where it's at! And it doesn't have to lose out on story. The first Metal Gear Solid isn't very long (and just how rad were the pick-me-up 'n play VR Missions!), and none of the Metroid games (dismissing prime) are longer than 5-6 hours! Lose the artificial longevity, spend the effort on making shorter, more ~fun~ titles! If casual and indy games wanna go that route, more power to 'em, and I'll support em with MS Points, Nintendollars, or whatever other bizzare currency system these guys come up with.

I have to say, I used to be of the idea that casual games are not real games, but I have recently changed my opinion on that. For one, as these casual games are becoming more and more popular, there are better ones being made. As you mentioned, Marble Blast Ultra is a great example. It's a game that has a well paced learning curve, great level design, simple and nice looking graphics, great multiplayer, and most of all it's totally addicting. I have games I love for my Xbox 360, like CoD 2 and PGR3, but yet I still put in regular gameplay on Marble Blast Ultra, because it's a really fun game too.

Many of these games are also more original than "real" games as well. Games like Wik, Outpost Kaloki, and Marble Blast all prove that these little games can have very original ideas, and innovative gameplay. Would I rather see EA crank out another washed out sequel to thier thousand franchises or play a new, engaging experience on XBLA? Definitely the latter.

Recently my sister has become very into the casual games you can find all over the internet, and was mocking her for the amount of playtime she was putting into it. Then it hit me, was that game really any different for her than Halo 2 or CoD 2 is for me? No, it's a real game that she totally enjoys playing, and she often puts in as much playtime to those games as I do on my Xbox. Just beccause casual games are shorter, or have simpler concepts, or don't have nice graphics doesn't minimize the amount of fun gameplay they can offer -- and it also doesn't make them a less legitamate game.

It's paradigm shifts like this that can lead to a change for the better in the video game industry, and bring a whole new audience to video games that previously only thought they were for the hardcore -- and what's wrong with that?

I am really excited about this retro gaming. Actually the retro gaming is currently the only reason I want to buy a Nintendo Revolution. I love playing all these simply fun games that are available on XBLA. It reminds me of the days where me and my friends played Gauntlet for hours at the arcade. If I can play online with friends some of these older retro games I will be super excited!

And I really enjoy these games I am not ready to give up my Splinter Cell, HALO, Tiger Woods, and others. But I am getting very concerned about the cost of these games. I paid $60 for Call of Duty 2. But I have been renting the 360 games, and to date I have not found any that I am ready to slap down $60 for. I will admit that I have not played PGR3 yet, and a couple of others but the majority of the games I have rented I will wait until Game Fly sells them used for $25-$20.

One thing I have noticed with every little leak about Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, is that nobody is questioning how this is going to affect the cost of games? With about seven times the content, what are they going to charge for these games if and when they come out?

A trend in the gaming industry is to include older versions of the game along with the new. I really like this allot. When Doom 3, me and my friends spent more time playing the original Doom 1, and Doom 2 then the new version. I know Ninja Giaden also did this. If anyone knows of others I would like it if they listed them in their comments.

#12: Really begs the legitimate question. Do any of us play these games because of the A-List actors that do the voices? As far as I am concerned this is just an expense that games really do not need. I also noticed that in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory that there were a couple of product placements. I saw AXE body products. While I do not mind this, and in support it and the products as long as it does not get in the way of the game play. In fact I would even support some of these products since they are supporting the gaming industry.

Finally I think these gaming companies really need to respect these older foundation games that paved the way for them.

they don't want to convert the existing hard core gamers away from the games they want there will always be a market for big games.

I'm pretty sure the Core System can download and play XBLA games - so it would be a mistake to say you need the Premium. The memory cards are 64 MB and Geometry Wars, for example, is 30ish MB, so you can fit two or so on a memory card. And you don't need Xbox Live Gold. So the total cost is a memory card, a core system, and then $5 for one casual game.

Also it is worth noting that with the purchase of a memory card, a core user can download and play as many Arcade games as he or she wants. Your purchase is recorded and kept with your profile so you could swap out games on your memory card if you're willing to deal with the 5 minute downloads when you want to go back to a favorite.

Some of this is the fact there is a lull in new 360 games. (soon to be filled by FN3 and Obliv.) I mean Robotron is fun and all, but is it really what I bought the system for? I could get one of the dozens of classic compilations for that.

But where XBL really shines is the leaderboards. For over a decade the idea of a "high score" was something outdated, even when arcades where still going strong. Who cared what some Galaga machine in a Domino's Pizza had for a high schore? But now that old arcade classics and the soon-to-be classic Geometry Wars are on Live, high scores are now something global and insanely fun to try and increase.

One of the things that I really enjoy about XBLA is the way they're bringing old style games up to date graphically( GeoWars RE, Mutant Storm, Marble blast). Contrary to the hissing and booing from the Revolution fanboy section, a great game that is fun with bad graphics does become an excellent game if it is given premium visals to go along with the fun gameplay.

I will agree, though, that man cannot game on graphics alone.

Can't wait for SF II and Poker.

And that's it- I'm buying Marble Blast tonight. I'm tired of everyone saying how good it is, and the demo is pretty cool.

FInally, is anyone interested in forming a foundation for more press regarding Wik?

Look, simple as this:

If a game is fun, then its fun, and people will play it. I dont even care if it has 2600 graphics, or the hardcorest (yes thats a word) graphics ever if you build it, they will come. Anyone with any real roots have been playing video games since before the original NES, and you know what? We played them because they were fun, not because they were moving pictures on a screen.

=)

I got mine on launch day, and I'll admit, I don't think I've been playing anything but casual games for the last few months.