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XBLA Passes 500 Title Milestone

C

CountAntonius

Member
Via XBLA Fans
XBLA_WALL.png
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During all the hoopla of E3, Xbox Live Arcade snuck silently past a rather large milestone as noticed by friend of the site, @Lifelower. Our own XBLA historian, Andrew Crews, confirmed the feat. The above image details all 500 titles, but actually has one slight mistake: it includes 1 vs 100 and not VF5.

So congrats to Big Bang Racing and Virtua Fighter 5 for pushing the platform over the hump. Now if only Microsoft can figure out a way to sell the above image as a poster. We’d all buy a copy! Congratulations to the entire XBLA team and all the developers and publishers — past and present—who have helped shape this platform into what it is today.
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I thought it would be more by now. Either way fantastic collection of games. So many winners there.
 
K

Kokonoe

Banned
My favorite thing about Xbox Live and the Xbox 360 are the mass amount of quality arcade titles with leaderboards and online play.

If only I could play XBLA games on PC.
 
D

Deleted member 81567

Unconfirmed Member
One of the few things Microsoft has going for it.
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
Kokonoe said:
My favorite thing about Xbox Live and the Xbox 360 are the mass amount of quality arcade titles with leaderboards and online play.

If only I could play XBLA games on PC.
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Well Windows 8 can play some XBLA games and its currently very easy to port over XBLA titles.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
XBLA (and PSN) are the best thing to have emerged this generation. So many great titles at a fairly wide range of pricepoints and some phenomenal port / remakes that probably wouldn't have seen light of day otherwise. Kudos, MS.
 
D

Dabanton

Member
In console terms it's hard to think of how many genres would never have had the chance for a release without Xbox Live and PSN.
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
Playing through Fez at the moment. It's a truly incredible game, a work of art.

I've spent more time playing XBLA games this generation than I have playing 360/PS3/Wii retail titles or PSN/WiiWare titles. The breadth and depth of titles on the service is amazing, and it's only getting even better this year.

For all those who moan about endless FPS games and a lack of innovation, you're all looking in the wrong place.
 
T

TEJ

Member
Monty Mole said:
For all those who moan about endless FPS games and a lack of innovation, you're all looking in the wrong place.
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truth.

the xbla is the best damned thing to happen this console generation. I'm pretty sure I own close to 100 of those games.
 
PAULINK

PAULINK

I microwave steaks.
Hard to believe I own 1 in 5 of the xbox live arcade catalog... but I don't regret it one bit! Absolutely love the mesh of unique downloadable titles and upscaled ports from older generations. And while I don't download every trial, any game that slightly interests me will get a download. I love that luxury.
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
PAULINK said:
Hard to believe I own 1 in 5 of the xbox live arcade catalog... but I don't regret it one bit! Absolutely love the mesh of unique downloadable titles and upscaled ports from older generations. And while I don't download every trial, any game that slightly interests me will get a download. I love that luxury.
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Indeed, ensuring there is a trial version, leaderboards and achievements on every XBLA game is one of the best things MS did IMO, even though this was slightly controversial and constantly moaned about by devs back in 05/06.

EDIT: I do wonder if some games would have sold better without a trial though, Fez being a prime example. Amazing reviews and an incredible game but takes a while to get its hooks in to you. I wonder if many people downloaded the trial first but would have just bought it if that option wasn't available on the back of the reviews.
 
F

Family Fry

Member
7 years and 500 titles later, this year is still shaping up to be one of the best.
Man remember being amazed by Geometry Wars and playing Gauntlet, Smash TV online.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
Family Fry said:
7 years and 500 titles later, this year is still shaping up to be one of the best.
Man remember being amazed by Geometry Wars and playing Gauntlet, Smash TV online.
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Man, back when achievements were a thing, I got 200 points out of Gauntlet.

Looking back, I can't imagine what I was thinking. Must've been really drunk.
 
S

surly

Banned
Monty Mole said:
EDIT: I do wonder if some games would have sold better without a trial though, Fez being a prime example. Amazing reviews and an incredible game but takes a while to get its hooks in to you. I wonder if many people downloaded the trial first but would have just bought it if that option wasn't available on the back of the reviews.
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It's hard to say, but it definitely works both ways. After being burned by a £10 game on PSN where there was no trial, I haven't bought a game off there since unless I can try before I buy.
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
surly said:
It's hard to say, but it definitely works both ways. After being burned by a £10 game on PSN where there was no trial, I haven't bought a game off there since unless I can try before I buy.
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True, this is a big part of the reason why I still haven't jumped in on Journey (£10) yet. It's had incredible reviews but I really didn't like TGC's previous two titles (which I feel I got burned on). A trial would make the difference.
 
P

Pranay

Member
Monty Mole said:
True, this is a big part of the reason why I still haven't jumped in on Journey (£10) yet. It's had incredible reviews but I really didn't like TGC's previous two titles (which I feel I got burned on). A trial would make the difference.
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Their is a demo btw :p
 
S

surly

Banned
Monty Mole said:
True, this is a big part of the reason why I still haven't jumped in on Journey (£10) yet. It's had incredible reviews but I really didn't like TGC's previous two titles (which I feel I got burned on). A trial would make the difference.
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Yep, exactly the same here! There was supposed to be a demo up last week and it even says "try before you buy" at the top of the big Journey ad on the PSN store, but the trial is nowhere to be found.
 
W

Wibblewozzer

Member
surly said:
It's hard to say, but it definitely works both ways. After being burned by a £10 game on PSN where there was no trial, I haven't bought a game off there since unless I can try before I buy.
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I own way too many XBLA games, a load of them that aren't so hot, because I always feel they're cheap enough that I might as well just buy them since I'll have fewer regrets if they're bad. I buy fewer now but in the past I was really lenient and despite having a demo easily available I've always had a strange aversion from actually grabbing them.

The other thing I did with the image was seeing how many consecutive purchases I have in a row as they're laid out in that image. I actually only maxed out with six in a row. If I ever got around to buying Yars Revenge that number would go up to ten I believe. Guess I'm slightly picky, or Microsoft is good at filtering in the less than special games amongst the good ones. Still, I own 1/3 of the games on the service. I almost wish they had released more than 500 by now.
 
F

Family Fry

Member
SmokyDave said:
Man, back when achievements were a thing, I got 200 points out of Gauntlet.

Looking back, I can't imagine what I was thinking. Must've been really drunk.
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I remember doing the same with Geometry Wars, was convinced I could do it. I felt triumphant when I eventually 200/200 the game about a month later.
Anyone out there with a large collection of XBLA games, have seen some sites with people who were buying weekly and will have a full set no doubt, scary.
 
S

Shotgun Kiss

Member
The 360 is worth owning for XBLA alone.

I have a shitload of Microsoft points cards lying around, but I've bought all XBLA games that interest me already. As a result, I'm always looking forward to the next big release.
 
M

Mzo

Member
I was sad when MS started discouraging actual arcade games from XBLA. They started off so strong this gen and did their best to fuck up as much as they could the past couple of years.
 
M

Monty Mole

Member
Mzo said:
I was sad when MS started discouraging actual arcade games from XBLA. They started off so strong this gen and did their best to fuck up as much as they could the past couple of years.
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Seriously? The quality of XBLA games has dramatically increased over the past couple of years IMO, and the line-up this year is the best yet.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
cjelly said:
you can't be serious
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Why can't he? Maybe he wants to play the 1980's Gauntlet for $5. Who are you to stop him from being able to do that?

In fact, I'd rather bitch about the price increase. Ikaruga for $10? Okay. Suddenly Raidant Silvergun is $15. Why?
 
K

kylej

Banned
And about 50 were marketed properly. The rest were released without a peep and buried 3 levels deep in the dashboard.

Still a phenomenal service though. Shadow Complex is one of my favorite games of all time.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Monty Mole said:
Seriously? The quality of XBLA games has dramatically increased over the past couple of years IMO, and the line-up this year is the best yet.
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I think the top end quality and scope has risen pretty dramatically, but there's also been a shift in emphasis away from score attack type games. In part this has been owing to major publishers getting involved in XBLA, in part due to the disk space cap being raised and eventually lifted, in part due to the general revival of top-tier indie, and in part because mobile/social have siphoned a lot of the most simplistic arcadey games.
 
S

Santiako

Member
Stumpokapow said:
I think the top end quality and scope has risen pretty dramatically, but there's also been a shift in emphasis away from score attack type games. In part this has been owing to major publishers getting involved in XBLA, in part due to the disk space cap being raised and eventually lifted, in part due to the general revival of top-tier indie, and in part because mobile/social have siphoned a lot of the most simplistic arcadey games.
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There are a lot of those games in XBLIG though.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Santiako said:
There are a lot of those games in XBLIG though.
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There are, but XBLIG's limitations on price point, DLC, visibility, leaderboards, online play, achievements, and the ability of the developer to structure the content and length of the demo mean that it's not a 1:1 replacement for what XBLA used to be.
 
C

CrunchinJelly

formerly cjelly
TheSeks said:
Why can't he? Maybe he wants to play the 1980's Gauntlet for $5. Who are you to stop him from being able to do that?
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because the classic arcade and console games model wasn't sustainable. as evidenced by Virtual Console and Game Room. You reach a point where you're shovelling obscure shit for $5 because nobody can get the licenses to the titles people really want. Eventually the service ends up nothing but shovelware.
 
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