Developers Love Live Arcade

[Vandenh]

Looks like small developers and indie games studios are officially in love with the new XBox Live Arcade. 360Updates (http://360updates.qj.net/) has a news items about it, but we can only link to main page so you might have to scroll down to find it.

Bad Management - who act for both Pompom and Stainless - see Live Arcade as a potential saviour for both gaming originality and smaller developers. Senior Partner, John Cook, remarked, "Live Arcade could have a massive impact on the console market. There is potential there for smaller developers to make games which provide a valid parallel experience to the $10 million epics. Mutant Storm and Crystal Quest are excellent examples of that."
Good to see Arcade finally getting some potential

[agentgray]

This is a great idea. A good distribution method for mini-games. However, how many processes and certifications are they going to have to go through and who will they need to bend over to and who will be getting cuts of sales?

Still, I'd love to see a lot of great mini-games and shareware on there: Fate, Commander Keen, old roms of arcades, etc.

[Triprotic]

it iss a great idea, it's games on demand, little/no waiting, cheap and fun!

there are lots of rights issues I have with this (which I cba going into atm), but this imo is the future!

[Reanimated]

See, GameCube Turbo isn't the only platform that spawns innovation and helps small indie devs make some coin. It would seem that all of the doom and gloom predictions of skyrocketing development costs were a little premature.

Now if MS would just make Shadowrun available for download, I'd be as happy as can be.

[Paranoia]

Here's hoping SNK releasing their classic Neo Geo games on Xbox Live Marketplace.

[MaiXu]

See, GameCube Turbo isn't the only platform that spawns innovation and helps small indie devs make some coin. It would seem that all of the doom and gloom predictions of skyrocketing development costs were a little premature.

Now if MS would just make Shadowrun available for download, I'd be as happy as can be.

GameCube Turbo?

But I agree. Sure, you're unlikely to get the next Halo or Zelda via one of these downloads, but they really expand the 360 beyond what home consoles have traditionally been. I mean, you can play a plethora of games from many genres, which is sure to entice many people to pick up the controller and play a puzzle game or simple game with flashy graphics. I know my sisters, almost the definition of non-gamers, would love to play some of these Arcade titles. Nintendo may have its pedigree available for the Revolution when it launches, but right now, Live Arcade is doing something very similar, but with new games without established names.

I think I really overlooked this amazing aspect of the 360, and Live, when the console launched. Now, I want to get the 360 more, if only to try out some of these nifty games. Alas, I won't have the funds for quite some time ...

[Dracula-X]

Live Arcade is probably my favorite aspect the service and I really have to commend Microsoft (I didn't use the evil acronym! haw!) for giving the smaller guys an avenue for development. Ninty and Sony can learn a thing or two here. Of course, my opinion might be tempered with some more details which I would really like to know, stipulations, liabilities, contracts, royalties, etc. (Anyone have any info yet?)

Assuming they're reasonable (giving the benefit of the doubt) then MS gets two thumbs up, a round of beers, and maybe a homoerotic pat on the ass... from Kelegacy, of course. The beers are on me. :)

[Roc Ingersol]

Much love for the Live Arcade.
It's going to be interesting to see how Microsoft shifts the marketing target from the hardcore gamers to their popcap moms.

[Beelzebud]

I must admit, many of the features that Live Arcade offers, are some of the reasons I modded my original Xbox.

If I do get an Xbox360, months from now, Live Arcade will be a huge factor in that decision.

[AlmostSente]

Arcade looks really really sweet!

[if76]

Where the bloody fucking tampon fuck is Gish? Honestly, if they release this on Live Arcade it would be the system's first killer ap. The singleplayer is one of the best sidescroller quests in history and the 4-player multiplayer mode rivals Super Smash Bros. It's also one of the few excellent PC games that is better played with a gamepad than a mouse and keyboard. In the time it takes me to type each letter, Chronic Logic is losing a dollar of not selling Gish.

[Pluvious]

Hahah.. $400+ for a machine to play old 1980's games. What will they think of next? OH yeah.. $1.99 for TV repeats on Ipod videos that's what.

Suckers.

[taxial]

The Arcade 'is' really really sweet. The best yet is that I can be playing Kameo, get a voice chat request from buddy. I accept it, and then he tells me how awesome it is to play Smash TV again.....I say no Crap! Exit Kameo, pay for the game with my credit card (which is already hooked up to my Xbox Live) and then less than five mintues later be playing it with him. And he's a 22 hour drive from where I am, all or this and I never had to budget an inch. All at my finger tips AND I end the night with turning off my console with the controller...... Yes, X360 and the Arcade is sweet and I love what it's brought back to gaming

[gojira]

So... indie game makers....

Does anyone know where to get techinical info on Arcade Live? I'm guessing that indie game makers really mean "not quite as large as EA but we're not supporting the common putz this mean you gojira" but hey, I gotta try.

How small/large does an indie game maker have to be to get technical info and what does a common putz like me have to do to get it?

Anyone know?

[midrael]

You know, when I first read about the features on the XBox 360, Live Arcade was the one feature that really stood out to me. I'm glad to see that it's proving capable of living up to its potential!

[Donut11]

Hahah.. $400+ for a machine to play old 1980's games. What will they think of next? OH yeah.. $1.99 for TV repeats on Ipod videos that's what.

Suckers.

Dude, people buy bottled water. Get used to it.

[agentgray]

all or this and I never had to budget an inch.
Yeah, budget aside (I know you mean budge), see how easy it was for MS to get a couple bucks from you.

[bapenguin]

Hahah.. $400+ for a machine to play old 1980's games. What will they think of next? OH yeah.. $1.99 for TV repeats on Ipod videos that's what.

Suckers.

One word (or two and a number): Geometry Wars 2

[Vandenh]

>How small/large does an indie game maker have to be to get technical info and what >does a common putz like me have to do to get it?

>Anyone know?

Yes... you need to make a (PC) demo of your game or already have a product and ask MS if you can get a dev kit. A Dev Kit is the real startup cost :) Probably will set you back 10000$

[Skjef]

Where the bloody fucking tampon fuck is Gish? Honestly, if they release this on Live Arcade it would be the system's first killer ap. The singleplayer is one of the best sidescroller quests in history and the 4-player multiplayer mode rivals Super Smash Bros. It's also one of the few excellent PC games that is better played with a gamepad than a mouse and keyboard. In the time it takes me to type each letter, Chronic Logic is losing a dollar of not selling Gish.
Damn straight! I probably still wouldn't buy the 360 if it had Gish, but CL is missing out big-time on this.

Well... I might. Depending on how Halo 3 turns out.

[Suicidal ShiZuru]

Yay I get to *buy* more games for my new system that arent even exclusively for it and are just crappy arcade remakes or other crap. Yay Im so happy. No wait Im not... Live Arcade is stupid. Wow I almost fell for it!

[netcraazzy]

Yay I get to *buy* more games for my new system that arent even exclusively for it and are just crappy arcade remakes or other crap. Yay Im so happy. No wait Im not... Live Arcade is stupid. Wow I almost fell for it!

Don't bash it till you try it dude. There are a number of reasons I really like Live Arcade and I'm not normally the type that buys minigames or addon packs. First and foremost it gives me immediate access to a whole library of games to play when I don't feel like PGR3 and PD0 which are the 2 launch games I currently own. Second, so far all the Live Arcade games have free downloadable demos which is awsome since I can try before I buy. Third, the content is almost TOO easy to get so it's almost instant gratification. Lastly, the potential for small developers to deliver original and relatively cheap games through this system has me very excited.