Turtle power
Microsoft’s scheduling on Xbox Live Arcade this year has been nothing short of a shambles.
At the same time the Wii’s virtual console has instantly established itself as a minefield of retro classics and hidden gems, with at least two or three new releases every seven days.
By comparison Xbox Live Arcade has had several weeks with no new games at all and when one has put in an appearance it’s been an unlovable filler like Root Beer Tapper. Finally though, Microsoft has sobered up their download team and a new wave of genuinely interesting games has been scheduled.
Interestingly most of them aren’t retro titles either (although few older gamers will be able to resist the nostalgia soaked thrills of a four player online version of Konami’s classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coin-op). Most of the other games are originals or re-released versions of independently-developed games, most from very small companies who wouldn’t normally have a chance of releasing their games as a normal shop bought title.
" Microsoft has sobered up their download team and a new wave of genuinely interesting games has been scheduled."
Some of these games have been seen before, such as 2D scrolling shooter Alien Hominid HD – which flopped utterly as a retail game but has far greater prominence as an online download. Or there’s the new online version of Worms which would certainly never have sold in normal circumstances if it wasn’t so easily – and cheaply – available.
27th March 2007
