Hands-On Preview: Xbox Live Arcade

For the past couple of years fanboys the world round have been foretelling a gaming apocalypse, a world in which creativity has given way to marginally improving sequels and innovation has all but ceased. The funny thing is, every time someone published an article about how the end of the gaming industry is upon us, a groundbreaking new original title would debut. But one point that repeatedly gets brought up again and again is the frequent deaths of independent game studios, whether that death be by financial issues or buy-outs. The primary reasons cited are usually increasing development costs, a lack of publisher support (marketing, for instance), and a decreasing interest in original titles. Sure it seems like doom and gloom, but there have been some huge positive developments for independent developers in the last couple of years. The biggest development was undoubtedly Steam, Valve’s broadband delivery system that allows companies big and small to sell their games directly to a huge installed base of dedicated gamers, and reap the profits without having to pay distribution costs outside of bandwidth. So far the service has been a smashing success, selling games from Half-Life 2 to Rag Doll Kung Fu.

What does this all have to do with the Xbox 360? After all, Steam is a PC-only service! Patience, young padawan. That was just the background filler.

Valve isn’t the only company doing something about the aforementioned development problems. Microsoft too is leading the charge for independent developers through the Xbox Live Arcade. No, don’t close that browser; this isn’t your grandpappy’s Xbox Live Arcade. It’s something totally different. This is the Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360 tailoring to the hardcore and casual alike. Games on Xbox Live Arcade all have to meet some basic criteria: they must support 1080i (yes, 1080i, not 720p), they must sell for $5-10 USD, and must be fun. Plus it is STRONGLY recommended that they fit on a memory card so people with the 360 Core Package can play. However, exceptions will be made on that last rule in the case of astounding badass-ery.

And so you ask again, and edge the mouse towards that big red X in the corner of the screen. Why should you care? You have no interest in Tetris! You’re a hardcore gamer, beating Halo on Legendary in 2 hours flat, loving Beyond Good & Evil to death, and citing obscure Japanese RPGs as your favorite game of all time! Well, you’re in luck. Most of the games on Xbox Live Arcade are made just for you. Well, not just you, but all the serious gamers out there. But saying just for you is a better marketing tagline.

The games on XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) run the gamut from heavily revamped coin-op games to original indie titles and everything else in between. And when I say coin-op, I don’t mean Bubble Bobble. I’m talking Smash TV, ported from the original ROM code with updated sprites and Xbox Live multiplayer. I’m talking the original Gauntlet, again ported from the original ROM code, and again with Xbox Live multiplayer. I’m talking games from studios such as Ubisoft, Midway, and EA, all of which have submitted game concepts for approval.

While there are quite a few original titles, there are also ports that absolutely exude quality. One game, Wik: Fable of Souls plays like a bizarre hybrid of Bionic Commando and Oddworld. You play a strange orange haired chap by the name of Wik, who happens to have a really long tongue. Using your tongue, controllable with the right thumbstick, you swing from platform to platform, swallowing powerups and point-boosters as you go. As you advance in level, the stages get progressively more complex and challenging. Plus, there’s plenty of time for that progression- there are an incredible amount of levels in Wik. Plus, it too has Live multiplayer. And that’s not even getting into the graphics, which are extraordinarily high resolution and sure to look great on that shiny new HDTV of yours. Wik will be available at the 360’s launch, and is being produced by an outfit by the name of Reflexive Entertainment.

Another Xbox Live Arcade game goes by the unremarkable name of Mutant Storm Reloaded. Beyond the cliché-ridden title, however, lies a remarkably frenetic action game in the vein of Robotron. Starting with just a single shot, you will progress to guided missiles, triple shots, and more before the game is over. As you progress, the enemies become more and more replete… until they are absolutely everywhere and you realize you haven’t blinked in two hours. Be sure to look for the Live multiplayer mode on this one, as well as the exceedingly high-resolution graphics.

Next, we have an industry first. The Xbox 360 is the first console ever to feature an indie game at launch. That industry first even has a name, Marble Blast Ultra. Imagine Super Monkey Ball on steroids, with next-generation shaders and HD graphics, all for just $10. Lookie there, you just imagined Marble Blast Ultra!

Finally, we have what has to be the most anticipated Xbox Live Arcade game, Geometry Wars Evolved. A next-gen revamp of the classic PGR2 easter egg, this is a game that has so much going on at any one given time it will give an autistic kid a seizure in a second flat. A transcendent game experience if there ever was one, Geometry Wars Evolved features the same classically simple gameplay (move with left analog stick fire with right analog stick, drop super-bombs with right trigger), except that it just flows. Enemies are everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Gravity vortexes fill the screen, sucking in unsuspecting enemies, and your ship if you aren’t careful. The background warps with the electromagnetic effect of your upgraded shot. Super bombs cause the entire background to fold into itself, only to spring back anew. Everything is in constant motion, explosions surround you, enemies abound, and if you blink you will lose. And damn is it good. When I get my Xbox 360, the first thing I will be doing is buying Geometry Wars Evolved on the Xbox Live Arcade… and so should you. Don’t go expecting to get this free with PGR3 either, PGR3 includes only the original (retro) version of Geometry Wars. To obtain the so-next-gen-it-hurts Evolved version you will need to purchase it separately on the Live Arcade. Plus it comes with the retro version of Geometry Wars! Now that’s what I call a good deal.

I’m probably not getting across the sheer scope of the Live Arcade here. Other games include a high-resolution game of Billiards, with more game modes than you will even recognize, and Live play. Plus, the physics are absolutely dead-on in it. There’s Texas Hold ‘Em, Hexic HD, the oft-covered 360 pack-in created by famed Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. There will be a total of eight Live Arcade games at launch, and many, many more to soon follow. There are more than 300 developers looking to make games for the Live Arcade, and there are at least a dozen submissions every single week. Anyone can submit a game, from AAA game studios to a couple guys sequestered in a dorm room with a great game. In fact, some development studios are looking at Live Arcade as a way of fostering creativity and giving developers a bit of a break from the breakneck pace of big budget development. For instance, Ubisoft could have the Splinter Cell team construct a Live Arcade game after the latest Splinter Cell ships, have them spend four months on that, then return to Splinter Cell. Live Arcade provides a nice buffer between four year development cycles for developers.

The Live Arcade interface itself is also brilliant. One of the best design choices was the simple addition of a scoreboard that displays the top scores of your friends in any given Arcade game. Might not seem like much at first. But consider, if they have a high score in a game, that game must not suck. And if you have a bunch of friends playing a game, you’ll see their scores constantly being updated from day to day. If they continuously play a game, you will probably look into getting the game. Hell, you could just send them a voice message and ask them how it is! The Xbox 360’s emphasis in community isn’t just there for marketing, it is a design mentality that permeates every aspect of the console.

The Live Arcade has a bright future ahead, and not just because of the vast quantity of games that will release on it. There are a multitude of features they are looking at implementing, from suggestions based on prior game purchases to the ability to give Arcade games as a gift. This is a huge step for the game industry- with the addition of the Live Arcade every single person who acquires an Xbox 360 will start hearing about indie games, and hopefully purchasing those indie games. The Live Arcade marks a fundamental shift in how we think about the game industry, and I for one will be buying Geometry Wars Evolved and a couple other arcade games come 360 launch. Hopefully you will too.