Today, I thought I’d take a look at how Xbox Live Arcade did for the month of March. As I previously mentioned, the Top Thee Problems with Xbox Live Arcade are the lack of games coming out, the pricing and the number of retro games. For each of these areas I’ll take a quick look at how things fared this month.

Slow Game Releases
In this category Xbox Live Arcade has made some great improvements this month. There were four Wednesdays in March and every week there was a title released. Also, Alien Hominid HD was released the last day of February so I’m going to include it in March’s grading. The games released were Alien Hominid HD, Worms, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Jetpac Refuelled. Xbox Live Arcade went 5 for 5 so I’ll score it a 5 out of 5 in this category.

Pricing
It has become pretty clear that Arcade titles are pretty much going to be either 400 ($5) or 800 ($10) points. Personally I find there are very few arcade titles with enough replay value to be worth $10. Only Jetpack Refuelled and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were 400 points this month. The other three were all 800 points each, but some would argue they have a longer replay value. So, in the pricing category I’m giving a score of 3 out of 5.

Retro Games
If you’ve been reading my reviews you know that I’m not a fan of retro titles on Xbox Live Arcade. They were fun when they were originally released, but now they don’t stand up to the current games being made. There were not any actual original games this month. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are direct ports of the original game. Worms is a new version of a long running PC series. Alien Hominid has been around on about every previous console and the PC, but the did add new High Def graphics to the Arcade version. Jetpac Refuelled is a revamped version of Jetpac, and they include the original game for the price of purchase. This category is probably the hardest to judge because of the updated graphics and things of that nature, but I think a 3 out of 5 is pretty fair.

Overall
That bring the overall score to a 11/15. That is a 73%. Unless things have changes since I was in school Xbox Live Arcade receives a grade of a C for the month of March. Hopefully next month they can put out some original games and bring the prices of retro games down.

The problem with Jetpac Refuelled is that it was a fun game when the original was released 24 years ago. It is nice they have both the enhanced and original versions of the game for 400 points, but it is still just another retro game. It still appeals to the same audience as all the previous retro games; People who are fans of the original. The updated graphics do look a lot better, but the gameplay is really repetitive. After a couple levels you’ve either got it down or you don’t. The Achievements add a little replay value as you try to do things like play levels without using weapons and beat all 128 levels, but really this game just is not that fun after a few levels. After half a dozen levels you find yourself doing the same thing over and over. Unless you’re a big fan of games from the early 80s don’t bother with this one. It is just not fun enough to play for 120+ levels.

As I previously mentioned (here), BrightSpot.tv will allow you to save on your monthly GameFly.com bill. Previously they it was a $5 a month savings, but now it seems they have raised it to $10 a month. That is almost half off the two games out plan.

If you have played any of the previous games in the Tony Hawk series then you’re probably familiar with how each new one goes. For the most part, each new Tony Hawk game adds a few new gameplay elements and better graphics. Project 8’s graphics are the best for any Tony Hawk game so far, but that is to be expected. The main new gameplay feature they added is called “Nail The Trick.” Nail The Trick is probably the best addition to the Tony Hawk series in the last 4 or 5 versions. It allows you to make up your own tricks as you play. When you are in the air, to enter Nail The Trick mode, you just click down on both the left and right thumb sticks. Each thumb stick then controls one of your legs. It takes a little practice, but once you get it the hang of it you can make some really great tricks. After playing for a few hours I was using the Nail The Trick mode without even thinking about it. It is an exciting addition to the normal tricks that can be performed.

Some of the other changes they made take a little more getting use to. The stat system has been changed. Instead of getting stat points by skating over them you now increase your stats by doing that specific action. So, to get my grinding stats up I have to grind more. The more I grind the more that stat goes up. At first I found this really frustrating, but once you get about half way leveled up it started to go a lot faster. This makes it easier to do bigger tricks to balance out the more difficult challenges later in the game.

These two areas of improvement are fine once you get use to them, but the one thing that I continue to have trouble with is with getting a clean landing from my tricks. Sloppy landings seem much easier to do. They made it harder to get a clean landing. In past Tony Hawk games they would give you a little leniency when you land if you were not perfectly strait. Now if it is not perfectly strait you get a sloppy landing, or even fall down, when landing at angles that use to be acceptable. The other thing I’m continuing to find frustrating is Focus mode. Focus mode slows down time so you can be more accurate with your tricks. However, to enter Focus mode you click down on the left thumb stick. I really wish they had mapped this to the left bumper instead because I an always accidentally clicking down the left stick. In past Tony Hawk games the focus mode was turned on in the same way, but they did not have the Nail The Trick mode which also uses clicking on the thumb sticks. I know there are only so many buttons on the controller but putting two different actions on the same button is a bad idea.

One suggestions I have for future version is to allow me to import my character from the previous game saves. It gets a bit old recreating the same skater each time a new game is released. Obviously, I could not keep all my full stats from my previous game’s skater, but maybe just give me a give a stat bonus based on previous character. Something like 1 stat point for every skill that my character had completely maxed out would be fine.

The one thing they finally got right is the load times. There are none once the game starts up. The whole game is one giant level with different sections unlocking as you progress. In American Wasteland they attempted to do this, but it did not really work because the different portions of the map were connected with long, boring hallways. In Project 8 the different portions of the level all connect together seamlessly. It is nice to see that they can make improvements like this on the newer consoles.

Overall, I’m enjoying Tony Hawk Project 8. The goal in the game is to move up from being the 200th ranked skater to being the best. I think I’m about 30th right now, but I’m moving up at a pretty decent pace. I’d recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the Tony Hawk series or anyone interested in a skateboarding game. The advancements they have made since the early Tony Hawk games are amazing. If you were never really into skating games Project 8 is a great place to try the water.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

I watched both The Illusionist and The Prestige in the last week, finally. Yes, I know I’m a few months late. For two movies set both set in the early 1900s, in Europe, about magicians they are very different movies. Despite the similar settings I was surprised how different the movies really were. The Illusionist is, at its heart, a love story while The Prestige is a drama/thriller. Due to the characters being magicians both have a lot of mystery in them. Both have that moment where you find out how the magician’s signature trick is done, but the effect of this in each movie is extremely different.

When the big reveal occurs in The Illusionist arrives you’re ending the movie happily ever after. The story takes some unique twists and turns as you get to this point, but in the end the hero gets the girl and the bed guy dies. You do spend a good portion of the movie thinking that the main character’s love interest is dead, but when you get to the end and find out she is alive all of the illusions are revealed to see how a couple in love have beat the odds to live their lives together.

In The Prestige the big reveal at the end shows you how far a man will go to be the best in the world at his trade. Unlike the love story in The Illusionist, the love interest in The Prestige are there to help show the effects of two men battling each other to be the best magician in the world. The battle these two men take cost them dearly and in the end you see the true cost of their obsession. There is no “happily ever after” in The Prestige for the main character. He becomes the best magician in the world but it cost him everything. His adversary never can top his opponents best trick, but he gets to keep a small portion of the things he life and family. Yet, for both characters the cost is high and the rewards few.

I like both movies but for very different reasons. I like The Illusionist because of the final portion of the movie where all of the questions get answered and the tricks revealed. I liked The Prestige because of how the characters interact with each other as the plot progresses. I’d recommend both movies to anyone looking for a good drama/mystery.

I got an invitation to join the Joost beta the other day. For those of you not familiar, Joost is a basically a form of online television. Instead of having normal channels like CBS, ABC, and NBC. The channels are specific to the content on them. For example, there is a Green Day channel, an Indy Car channel, and a Gaming channel. Currently there are about 25 channels to choose from. The interface is simple and clean and easy to navigate. In addition to the standard channel flipping methods you can also search for shows by name or type. Joost allows for full screen viewing or putting it in a window so I can easily watch have shows going while I do other stuff on my computer. The full screen is nice for putting it on my TV.

I did notice a little stuttering at first on a couple shows, but generally the video looks really great, even at full screen. I need to try it out somewhere with a slower connection speed to see how it does with the buffering and streaming, but so far it has always performed well. The Joost website lists that the application downloads approximately 320Mb of data an hour and uploads about 105MB an hour. So, a broadband connection is definitely required. Joost is peer-to-peer based so instead of pulling all of the video from a central server it speeds up the process by allowing videos to be pulled form other Joost locations that are closer to you.

One thing that would be nice to see added is a way to sort shows by genre. For example, lets say I want to see all of the different sporting shows across all of the channels; currently I would either need to scroll through channels by name or search for sports. The searching does work well, but to be able to see different genres by themselves would be nice.

Joost is currently in talks with quite a few different networks so I expect the amount of content to grow quite quickly as if becomes more popular. The social aspects of Joost are what really set it apart from other online video sources. The ability to chat with people watching the same show I am is great. I anticipate that once out of beta Joost will be very popular and will attract a lot of attention.

Joost is free to use and watch because it is ad based, but so far I’ve only seen a couple of ads. Far less than if I were watching normal television. I know some people will be turned off by this, but I’d rather have Joost be free with ads than have to pay for it.

[Update] Wow. There are a lot of people interested in getting a Joost Invite. I still have plenty more to send so keep the requests coming. Due to the number of invite requests I’ve been getting I’ve made a change to comment moderation. I will be approving comments as I send the invites for them. Now, when you see your comment is posted I will have also sent you the invite for Joost as well. Hope that makes it a little easier for everyone. I’ll continue to try and send out Joost Invites as soon as I receive the requests.

I’ve heard a lot of people say over the last year that gaming magazines on their way out. With the internet you can get the same information sooner. Game reviews and previews for games in this months Official Xbox Magazine were up on game sites like IGN and GameSpot a month ago. OXM has their demo disc that adds some value to their magazine, but all of the demos they have have also been available on Xbox Live Marketplace. A few were delayed until a while after OXM released, but for the most part all of the demos on the OXM demo disc are already on the Marketplace by the time the magazine gets to my house. I guess people who don’t have broadband access may like the demo disc, but broadband is growing. Will there be anyone in 5 years that doesn’t have broadband internet access if they really want it. Without new demos what value does OXM provide that I can’t get elsewhere? Official Playstation Magazine ended last November and it provided a demo disc as well. OPM not only provided a demo disc, but it does not have an easily accessible way to download the demos like the Xbox 360 provides. If OPM could not make it with better circumstances what chance do gaming magazines without demos have? Personally, I still subscribe to OXM. I’ve thought about canceling but every few months they’ll get an exclusive early review or interview that interest me just enough to keep my subscription. I canceled my Electronic Gaming Monthly subscription years ago when I realized I could get all the same info online. I’ve got a few months left on my OXM subscription before I decide about it, but unless they come up with some great content I don’t see myself renewing the subscription.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was released on Xbox Live Arcade today. I took a few minutes on my lunch break to play it. I’d never previously played any of the Castlevania games so I thought I’d check it out. I figure, like most of the retro games that are released, the people who most want to play Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are the people who have fond memories of playing it previously. From what I understand Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was considered by many to be the best of the Castlevania games. Assuming that is true I still don’t think it stacks up against some of the other classic side scrollers. I think Double Dragon and Ninja Gaiden are both much better than this. The dashboard details specify it as being in HD, but the graphics don’t look to be updated from what I can see. They look to be the same as the origional, but I can’t say for sure because I never played the original. If these are the updated graphics it must have looked pretty bad when it was released. The gameplay seems to be pretty standard side scroller style. Maybe if I had played it before I night be excited about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night but I’m just not that impressed with another retro title being released for XBLA.

Amazon Unbox has been renting and selling Movies and TV shows for download on a computer for a while. They recently partnered with TiVo and added the option to download directly to your TiVo. This interests me a lot more than downloading to a computer. The only time I ever watch movies on a computer is when I travel. Then, I’ll watch movies on my laptop during plane flights. However, I watch movies on my TV pretty frequently and the option to have them put strait on my TiVo saves the time of going to Blockbuster.

The sign up and setup were easy. I just specified my TiVo info and it found my TiVo box automatically. Very simple and painless. If I had not already had an account on TiVo.com I’m not sure how it would have worked, but I did so it was not an issue. The best part was that by signing up before April 30th I got a $15 credit so my first few rentals will be free (offer details).

The Unbox site is a pain to use when looking for a movie. This is partially because not all of the movies can be downloaded to a TiVo. You have to search for TiVo and it will list only those movies that can be downloaded to a TiVo, but it would be easier if they just made a separate section for titles available for the TiVo. The other issue I have with the site is that there is no easy way to browse new release movies. They really could use a New Release section that has the movies that were just released onDVD the last couple weeks. Instead, you have to go to the Movies section and search for TiVo. Then, try and sort them in a way that works for you. It could be laid out much better. The selection of available movies is limited but not really too bad. I found a couple movies I’d not seen that I wanted to watch.

After picking a movie the download started within a few minutes. I’m not sure how long it took exactly. I started it in the afternoon and then went out to dinner. By the time I got home it was downloaded. The prices are about average. $4 for a movie rental that lasts 24 hours once you start watching it. Pretty similar to On Demand movies from a cable provider. Nothing really ground breaking in the pricing, but it was not any more than going over to Blockbuster. The benefit is that you have 30 days to watch it to once it is downloaded whereas with Blockbuster you have a week to return it.

The movie I rented first was The Illusionist. It looked fine. I have a 32 inch standard definition TV and it looked as good as anything else I watch. My only annoyance with the actual movie experience was the lack of surround sound. I did not really notice in this movie, but in an action movie it would have been annoying not to have the full surround sound.

So, to recap, the prices are about average. The movie selection is not a good as Blockbuster, but there were still a decent amount of movies. I’m sure they will continue to add more as the service grows. It is nice to have a month to watch the movie instead of just a week. The movie itself looked fine on a Standard Def TV, but it would be nice if they had a option to rent them in High Def. My only real complaint about the whole thing is with the Amazon Unbox website. It can be a hassle to browse through movies, but if you have a specific movie in mind it is easy enough to search for.

A friend of mine recently told me BrightSpot.tv could save me $5 a month on my GameFly.com membership. Since I’m a tightwad I figured I’d check it out. BrightSpot.tv essentially pays you for watching advertisers’ videos. You don’t get actual cash, but instead the money you make gets credited to an account of your choice. Currently, it can either be for a GameFly.com account or an NBA.com Audio League Pass. I figured the videos would be lame commercials, but most of them were for movies or games. Each one you watch is worth $0.50. Most of them are 30 seconds long, but a few are movie trailers that are over a minute. After watching the video you answer a couple questions about the video. You can watch up to 6 videos a day.

Right now there are no additional movies for me to watch, but I’ve earned $21.50 so far. In addition to watching the videos yourself they also have an option to add additional family members to your “household”. Then, when that family member watches videos the credit goes towards your account. This would be great if I had kids who used GameFly. I could have them watch a videos to help offset the cost of their game rentals.

Going into it I thought it was going to be a scam, but they have a very nice, clean website. They seem pretty legitimate since they have partnered with NBA.com and GameFly.com. Today, I received an email confirming that $5 had been credited to my GameFly account so it seems like my concerns were ill founded. Hopefully they grow and add some additional partners, but if not I’m happy with saving on my GameFly membership.