What's Wrong with Xbox Live Arcade

Retro has been a big theme for every console's online offerings these days. Why not? It's like the DVD release of something like Knight Rider - you already own the content, it takes next to no work or any real cost to get it re-published on the new format, and it's practically guaranteed to sell enough to turn a small profit and justify the whole venture. Easy money, really. Granted, I usually pass on them because I have the original; I own almost every major console released in the US and have an extensive library of games for each of them, but most people either don't have that kind of money, don't have that kind of time on their hands, or both. A decent percentage of those people look at the new title on Live Arcade and say, "hey! I remember that game. I loved that game! I wouldn't mind having it to play every now and again."

So what's the problem? Well, the first has been covered extensively by Penny Arcade. Why are these games being reviewed? How can you possibly assign a numeric value to a title that is probably older than you are? As Tycho says: "it is fucking Pac Man." An easy response might be - well, much like a DVD release of old material we are also judging the extras with it. This is certainly a debatable point, but it brings me to what I think is really wrong with the whole damn process.

Developers...you are releasing a video game, not a DVD. Stop trying to treat it like one. Extras? What fucking extras can you tack onto Pac Man or Xevious? What could you possibly stick onto Contra that would really be worth a damn? Nothing. Nothing! Screw the extras, just release the game. Clean it up, sure. Make the emulator run it at HD or in widescreen. Those kinds of things aren't rocket science and as a developer I know they take minimal work.

The next step - now that we've decided extras are worthless and we just want the game...let's go with $5 (400 Microsoft points), alright? It blows my mind to see Contra on XBLA with a couple of silly "extras" whacked on for $10. $10! It simply staggers me to think they (Microsoft and to a lesser degree the developers) cannot comprehend how many more sales they would make at a $5, even $7 sweet spot. At $5 I would end up buying every damn game just to get the achievement opportunities.

Now...I'm really only talking about the retro, emulated stuff. Original games or modern Windows games that have been ported are in a different category; while I certainly wish they were cheaper, I cannot dispute Popcap's right to $10 for Bejeweled 2 or Zuma. In the end it doesn't matter anyway, of course. While everyone cries and moans about the prices of most content present on Xbox Live, people are still paying hand over fist for every bit of it. They charge $10 because they know they can. I may not be buying those games and there might even be many, many more people that aren't buying those games, but enough did and continue to do so. I just wish they would figure out that less is more and volume selling really does work.

(Addendum: I'm going to shut my pie-hole. Most of these games are now $5. Initially several weren't, but that's obviously changed and I'm going to start purchasing.)