XBLA and Wii Store disappointment

[Marek]

I have been saying positive things about XBLA for a long time. It's a great system, but I'm beginning to wonder why, after one year, it's still got so much tumbleweed blowing through it.

MS promised 50+ games by the end of 2006, and there's about 30 now. Not that quantity is a good measure, but apparently MS fell short of its own target. MS started XBLA Wednesday, admittedly only committing for the summer, but also suggesting it would continue indefinitely if they could, which didn't happen. The current must-haves in the catalog are probably Geometry Wars and Assault Heroes, and maybe Lumines Live! if you haven't yet played another version of that game. There's a few other cool distractions, but the rest is retro shovelware.

Peter Moore: "We think of Xbox Live Arcade as a new platform for independent developers -- it's the Sundance of the game world."

Greg Canessa (XBLA): "We have over 80 titles that are currently in development and have been cueing up releases in secret." (July 2006)

Where are they?

Don't say Castle Crashers because that's just one game, and that alone isn't the elaborate festival of fantastic indie delights that Peter Moore wants XBLA to be.

I know a couple of people who are working on XBLA games and apparently there's at least a few logistical and approval/QA issues at Microsoft. They probably didn't expect the platform to get as much interest as it did and now their pipelines and/or tubes are jammed/clogged.

The Virtual Console section in the Wii store, while obviously not offering any new titles, has a retro offering superior to XBLA, but the system is terribly half-assed. I hadn't even checked out the store until Jake told me how shit the UI was, and it turned out he was right. It seems like they just lazily slapped some buttons onto the screen. It's also super slow, as if you're browsing a website on a 56k modem. Also each VC game you buy has its own channel. WTF? Why isn't there a VC channel with all your games, browsable/sortable using a tailor made Wii interface similar to the Mii channel?

Digital distribution on consoles: :tup:

Current implementation:

Here's hoping PS3's e-Distribution, with games like Fl0w and Calling All Cars, will cause Microsoft and Nintendo to add more thought and more resources to their digital distribution efforts.

[miffy495]

PS3 also appears to be getting Gripshift now, which is cool.

I don't mind the VC interface, except for the separate channels thing. It's slow, yeah, but I'm still hoping that's just because of the novelty causing a flood of traffic. I can't see what's so bad about the UI. You can list by system, release, or alphabetically. Hell, there's even decent descriptions of all the games, something you don't get on Live.

Each game getting its own channel does suck though. As I've never had a Sega and was really too young to be able to afford the games I'd have liked to have played on the SNES, I'm now playing catch up for the ones that I missed back in the day. The Wii has 4 pages of channels to fill. I've got three quarters of one full already and that's just my picks of the few games that they have now. This is three quarters of a separate page. I keep my Wii icons on page one and my VC games on page two. I can easily see myself running out of space long before the end of 2007. I would love some kind of organizer, or maybe just a channel for each system. Click here for Genesis, click here for NES, etc. Then a little list of all the games you have for that system.

As for Live, it's nice to be able to load up Geometry Wars or Lumines without getting off the couch and swapping disks. Other than that, it's doesn't seem to be living up to the potential that was one of the driving forces behind my 360 purchase. I appreciate what's there and everything, but as you said, they could really stand to throw out some more frequent updates. Hopefully now that XNA is out, more stuff will start to surface and it'll come into its own.

[loonyboi]

XBLA is a much, much better implementation than the Wii store. For one thing, all games on XBLA must have a free playable demo, while all Nintendo gives you is a paragraph summary and a couple of screenshots.

Also, as of a couple of updates ago, you can background download stuff from XBLA, where the Wii makes you sit and watch Mario hitting blocks. Also you can only download one at a time.

The emulation is fine on the Wii, but as I've said before, I would have preferred to have some kind of enhancement to these games.

I've bought a couple of games so far (Gunstar Heroes, Bomberman, Mario 64) and they're all cool, but it all seems like a first crack at this system, not the well defined system that Microsoft has.

[elmuerte]

Sounds like things were rushed out of the door.

Here's hoping PS3's e-Distribution, with games like Fl0w and Calling All Cars, will cause Microsoft and Nintendo to add more thought and more resources to their digital distribution efforts.

For some reason I keep forgetting the PS3 has already been released.

[BigJKO]

The emulation is fine on the Wii, but as I've said before, I would have preferred to have some kind of enhancement to these games.

From what I've heard it's the most solid emulation out there. Compared with classic re-releases like XBLA's, that is. It's apparently exactly the same resolution as back in the days, which makes it extra crispy and not anti-aliased and shoddy like the XBLA classics. I'll probably come off as a nostalgic idiot, and a fanboy or something, whatever, but I'd prefer to play them completely untouched, if that means more true-to-old-days and sharper graphics, even if that means missing out on things like scoreboards and such.

If you're going to make remakes, they could be released seperately.

[loonyboi]

From what I've heard it's the most solid emulation out there. Compared with classic re-releases like XBLA's, that is. It's apparently exactly the same resolution as back in the days, which makes it extra crispy and not anti-aliased and shoddy like the XBLA classics. I'll probably come off as a nostalgic idiot, and a fanboy or something, whatever, but I'd prefer to play them completely untouched, if that means more true-to-old-days and sharper graphics, even if that means missing out on things like scoreboards and such.

If you're going to make remakes, they could be released seperately.

It's solid emulation. I don't know about anything else, but Mario 64 runs at a higher resolution than it used to. Playing in progressive scan you'll see scan lines from time to time, but that's to be expected.

XBLA emulation is excellent, but it depends on the game, because there is no stock emulator. It's up to each company to do it themselves. Contra is ass, but that's Konami's fault, not Microsoft's.

I still don't get the arguments against enhancing these older games. I don't see how adding online multiplayer to games that already have multiplayer takes away from the experience. I bought Bomberman, and it's awesome...it supports five players (4 Wii + one GameCube controller or any combination thereof), but it'd be ten times better if I could play it online -- as I will be able to with the XBLA release.

[BigJKO]

I guess I'm just old-fashioned. I still mostly prefer playing next to my friends, instead of online. I'm not against adding it, though. Definately not.

I guess it came off like that in my previous post, 'cause when you said enhancements I thought you meant all kinds of enhancements, like graphic "enhancements". So, given the choice I'd rather have it working just like it worked before without any stretching, smoothing, whatever. Even at the loss of the good features like online and scoreboards.

Does that mean I'm a retro-graphics whore?

[loonyboi]

I guess I'm just old-fashioned. I still mostly prefer playing next to my friends, instead of online. I'm not against adding it, though. Definately not.

Spoken like someone who has friends in relative proximity who play games. None of my friends are gamers.

I guess it came off like that in my previous post, 'cause when you said enhancements I thought you meant all kinds of enhancements, like graphic "enhancements". So, given the choice I'd rather have it working just like it worked before without any stretching, smoothing, whatever. Even at the loss of the good features like online and scoreboards.

Nah, I don't want that crap either. Which is why I like XBLA, where the games are the same, just with cool extra stuff like leaderboards + online play.

Gunstar Heroes is just *screaming* for leaderboards.

[miffy495]

Hmmm... I didn't realize the 360 lets you do background downloads now. That removes one of my biggest problems with Live right there. Thanks for letting me know.

[BigJKO]

Yes, Nintendo and Sony need to get background downloading in there. It's such a must for a downloading service.

I thought that was the whole deal with WiiConnect24?

[Marek]

WiiConnect24 only does background downloading when it's pushed from the server, not when it's pulled from the client. And yes, Nintendo should fix that immediately.

The demos on XBLA are genius. They almost feels like shareware instead of regular demos, because you can try out a few levels and then instantly upgrade to the full version if you like it. Hopefully someday we can do this for AAA games.

[miffy495]

The problem with the arcade demos is that, with a couple of exceptions, they're totally insubstantial. It's one thing to give gamers a taste of a game that leaves them wanting to buy, it's completely another to have a demo so short it borders on a video. Download the Gauntlet demo if you don't get what I mean. It can be beaten, easily, in under 1 minute. The only thing that that demo did was irritate me. We need more demos along the lines of Geometry Wars. Play on a 5 minute timer? Cool. It's a chance to really dig into the game. Once you can last longer than 5 minutes, you're probably into it enough to want to pay for the whole thing.

[loonyboi]

The problem with the arcade demos is that, with a couple of exceptions, they're totally insubstantial. It's one thing to give gamers a taste of a game that leaves them wanting to buy, it's completely another to have a demo so short it borders on a video. Download the Gauntlet demo if you don't get what I mean. It can be beaten, easily, in under 1 minute. The only thing that that demo did was irritate me. We need more demos along the lines of Geometry Wars. Play on a 5 minute timer? Cool. It's a chance to really dig into the game. Once you can last longer than 5 minutes, you're probably into it enough to want to pay for the whole thing.

That definitely varies from game to game. The demo for Uno was great, and got me to buy the full game.

[Savage Cabbage]

Guys, give Assault Heroes a go on XBLA I promise it will leave you smailling over the holiday season. Great as a singleplayer sit down and blast BUT do it co-op over Live and it becomes a real treat. Check it out. Money WELL spent!

[miffy495]

I blasted through the single player really quick, but am looking forward to some new years eve drunken co-op. It honestly wasn't anything all that special, but it was a good chunk of fun for a while. This type of game is always better in co-op though, so I'm witholding final judgement until a few friends and I have passed around the controllers for a couple of hours.

[twmac]

With Assault Heroes, you have to play it on Hard, and you have to ressist the urge to simply restart from the checkpoint you were last at when you lose all your lives.

All the achievements are reasonable too, loved that game, and I have to say it is the reason I want a 360, that, Gears of War and Codemned: Criminal Origins.

[Tanukitsune]

I heard the the Euro Wii VC games don't run than well, except the Turbografx ones... They says they are slowed downed and flawed?

Since I only played Bonk, I can't really tell...

[BigJKO]

Yes, I've read they've got framerate issues and some black borders, which I understood were a product of that crazy 50/60hz PAL thing I never really understood.

Why couldn't they just release the US roms on our European Wiis?

[SiN]

Fuck Gears of War, Halo 3 and all that bullshit, this is why I'm buying a 360:

http://www.xbox-attitude.com/news-11435-Des-images-de-Worms-sur-le-Xbox-Live-Arcade.html

Old-skool Worms using the latest tech ... it looks fucking beautiful!

And of course, Space Giraffe, Jeff Minters latest masterpiece:

I was actually talking (well, messaging) the main man at Team17, and he says the lack of hype about XBLA games (and all these "surprise" day-of announcements) are Microsofts doing. T17 have been slowly hyping Worms, but I guess Microsoft isn't allowing them to make too much of a noise about it. Sounds like a crap plan to me ...

But anyway, good stuff is coming ... it's just going to take some time.

SiN

[miffy495]

Yeah, Worms looks awesome. 'Course, my favorite's always been Armageddon (regardless of opinions on the series, it was the first one I played so it has a special place in my heart) but Worms 2 is an awesome addition to Xbox. Space Giraffe is one of those games that I hear about, get really psyched for, and then forget it the next day. Still, as soon as it hits, I'm buying. I just wish they'd finally tell us a date so I can start getting excited.

[Roderick]

Ohh man, Worms would be so great on it. As soon as I have an Xbox I should get it. After the disappointing Worms DS, I'd like my enthusiasm for the series revitalised.

[SiN]

@miffy:

It's not Worms 2, it's just ... Worms. It's actually the Worms PSP engine ported over, with higher resolution graphics and online competition/leaderboards/etc. Speaking of the handheld versions ...

@Rodi:

... ignore the DS version! It was absolute crap, and doesn't reflect the quality of Team17s work. The DS version was outsourced, and the developers ended up doing a craptacular job. The PSP version on the other hand was done in-house, I've heard was very good.

I didn't buy the PSP version because of the lack of content ... I really wanted another large single-player campaign, but the DS/PSP versions just had basic deathmatches. However, while the X360 version doesn't have a single-player campaign either, there is online competition, which totally makes the game worth it.

Both games are scheduled to come out Q1 2007.

SiN

[Roderick]

SiN; I know the DS version was crap. In fact, I reviewed it for [N]Gamer and crushed it, hopefully sending a signal to the developer or publisher. Heh.

HAHAHA