Right off the bat I want to state that I think Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is off to a pretty good start. I want to mention that at the beginning because by then end of this post you may think I don’t like Xbox Live Arcade when in reality I just have three areas of complaint.

Problem #1: Slow Game Releases
Why are so few games being released? I do like that Microsoft made Wednesdays “Xbox Live Arcade Release Day,” but why do they just release one game. Or worse yet, an add-on pack for a game. By my count so far there have been 45 games released for Xbox Live Arcade. That is far less than one a week; especially when you factor in that 10 of the 45 were released when Xbox Live Arcade started. For the most part these games are selling well. They are easy to buy and the demos make it easy to see if you think they are worth picking up or not. So, I have a message for development companies please put some teams together and work on more Arcade games. Microsoft Certificate Team, I realize you have a difficult job, but please get arcade games released quicker. I don’t always have time to sit down and play a game for a few hours, but I can find 20 or 30 minutes about every day to play an arcade game.

Problem #2: The Pricing
I appreciate that the whole Arcade thing is pretty new and companies are still trying to figure out prices for their arcade releases, but it would be nice if they could work out some sort of standardization. Even if the price is higher than I personally want to pay, at least try to work out some standard pricing to charge for arcade games. For example, Assault Heroes and Heavy Weapon both cost 800 points. Yet, Assault Heroes takes much less time to beat (in my experience) and offers less game modes. I liked Assault Heroes, but it should cost less than Heavy Weapon. I’m not even going to discuss the pricing for Lumines Live because that was the worst Live Arcade release pricing plan they have had so far. I could probably write a whole post just on it alone. Please work out a standard pricing model and stop over charging your loyal customers for every little thing.

Problem #3: Retro Games
I don’t mind retro arcade games. For the most part, they bring back great memories, but retro games are like any other video game: once you haven’t played the game for a while you seldom go back to it. I can look at my own game library as an example. I have over 40 games for the original Xbox, but the only one I have played in the last year is Halo 2. Once a game has been completed it is time to move on to the next one. If the game has good multiplayer it might extend its life a little, but it too will get shelved for a new game in time. That is a major part of the reason why I have started renting more games and buying less, but that also is a rant for another day. If they want to continue to release so many retro games please start releasing original arcade games on the same day (see Complaint #1). So far, of the 45 Xbox Live Arcade games released 18 of them have been a retro release. That is 40% of the Arcade games. I’d really like to see that number drop to about 20%. One retro game a month is more than enough. If I wanted to play these old games I would pull my old systems out the closet.

I saw a list of 10 new game releases that were coming for Xbox Live Arcade a week or two back, and out of those 10 games I plan to check out at least 4 of them: Alien Hominid HD, Band of Bugs, Catan, and Luxor 2. Five of the ten are retro games or remakes or PC games. Why is it that only half of these games are new ideas? Maybe it is easier to port over an old game than it is to make a new one. Maybe developers are having trouble thinking up new game ideas that have not been done on the PC. I don’t know, but I wish it would stop. I have high hopes for the XNA developers out there. From what I’ve seen most of them are fresh and original ideas. I look forward to seeing some of these hit the Xbox Live Arcade so those of us who are not in the XNA program can check them out.

Xbox Live Arcade and XNA Developers take a look at Outpost Kaloki X. It is a good example for you to use when thinking about making/releasing an arcade game. It is an original game for a reasonable price. They also released 5 additional game modes, but only charge for two of them. Please, please take a look at this game because it does an excellent job of providing good value for the gamer.

As Xbox Live Arcade grows I think it will probably grow out of these three issues. However, here in its infancy, as it starts mature I hope Microsoft can take note of the issues and challenges that Xbox Live Arcade faces and push it to be a great source for fun games. The only other option I see is that Microsoft lets Xbox Live Arcade sink into a dumping pile for old game remakes and poorly designed mini-games. I don’t think that is what Microsoft and the Arcade Developers want so I have hope that these issues will be addressed as time progresses.