Xbox Live Arcade Needs To Come Back To XBox One

[deadwrong03]

I think Microsoft had a nice showing at E3 but they made couple of huge (and maybe ultimately costly) mistakes. Of course the biggest one was the whole used games/online once every 24 hours thing, but why did they really get rid of Xbox Live Arcade? It made no sense to me, I understand no backwards compatibility for the 360 titles, but why not the live arcade? They branded Xbox Live arcade in Windows Phone 7/8, and if im not mistaken its also branded in Windows 8? so why can it for the Xbox One?

it might not be big for some but I know I like a few of the xbox live arcade games and was hoping to play a couple of them online on the new system (Marvel vs Capcom 2 never gets old).

Anyone else let down by the lack of XBLA on the new system? Any hopes of it making a come back? I know Microsoft is known for adding functionality and features maybe down the road it will be possible to bring it back?

 

[Keith Wallace]

I did not know that they completely killed it. That's just a moronic move. Will there simply be no XBLA market, or are they rolling it all into the general digital content? That's a matter that has to be explained, because I doubt they just kill indie games on the console. Having the separate branding was nice, but as long as the availability of the games is still on the platform, I won't complain.

 

[martinmc78]

Bit of a waste having XBLA on the One though. Surely its better off having the 360 handle that.

 

[DJRedLine]

General, Arcade and Indie will all be under 1 market and not separated like it is on x360. They have already said they will support indie so no reason they won't do arcade games. The new Trials game got announced last night and that has always been an arcade title.

 

[deadwrong03]

Bit of a waste having XBLA on the One though. Surely its better off having the 360 handle that.

I really didn't want to have to consoles tho it shoulda been just carry he xbla over to the next system. same with the ps4 they killed off the psn store so all the arcade classic games u bought aren't playable on the new systems.

but with Microsoft I don't understand why they did this when they branded this in the windows phone and windows 8 stores it only makes sense for them to carry it on to the next gen

 

[martinmc78]

I really didn't want to have to consoles tho it shoulda been just carry he xbla over to the next system. same with the ps4 they killed off the psn store so all the arcade classic games u bought aren't playable on the new systems.

but with Microsoft I don't understand why they did this when they branded this in the windows phone and windows 8 stores it only makes sense for them to carry it on to the next gen

I see what your saying but maybe that's the plan to keep the 360 going - world of tanks could just be the start - and there isn't any word yet on how the 360 will integrate with the one. I doubt they will have it as a completely standalone item otherwise why bother going to the effort of the redesign - I think there is more there than MS have let on so far.

 

[vertigoOne]

Since all games will be available digitally it no longer makes sense to have a separate environment for retail and downloadable.

 

[martinmc78]

Since all games will be available digitally it no longer makes sense to have a separate environment for retail and downloadable.

What has that got to do with XBLA? And im sure all the employees at all the game stores would disagree with you.

 

[vertigoOne]

What is the real difference between an XBLA game and a retail game on the X1 now that all will be downloadable? They are all games, they will all be downloadable.

To me, this discussion is as pointless as crying for Games on Demand on the X1. It is easy enough to see how MS is planning to move forward.

 

[ncxcstud]

The XBLA game and retail XBOX 360 games are - essentially in the eyes of the 360 system itself - the same types of games. That's why the XBLA games don't play on X1. XBLA games aren't 'emulated' on the 360 and can be played anywhere. They are 360 games. The 360 and X1 are completely different systems. Just as the PS3 and the PS4 are completely different too and won't have backwards compatibility. The Gaikai stuff to stream PS3 (and I'm betting it'll be 'select' PS3 games that you'll more than likely have to buy again) won't come at launch but in 2014...

Though, I don't think Microsoft is going to stop having 'smaller' downloadable games on their platform at all. That's just silly talk.

 

[Mystictrust]

Yeah, as has been mentioned already, they're not getting rid of XBLA - it will live on, but under one big umbrella of downloadable titles. Just "Games".

Addressing what might be another issue the OP brought up (or maybe what he was talking about all along)... both the disc-based games and XBLA games still operated under the same architecture of 360. Just because XBLA titles could be downloaded doesn't make them something "special" that can utilize the architecture of the new system. Whether on disc or digitally downloadable, the games simply can't be run on the new system. Period. The backwards compatibility has nothing at all to do with discs - it has to do with the way the games were written, and they were all written for an entirely different architecture. It is up to the game developers to go back in and re-write the code if they want it to work for Xbox One. Microsoft did this recoding themselves for some select major titles going from Xbox --> Xbox 360, but it got too costly and time consuming so they shut it down after a year or two.

 

[coip]

Okay, I'm confused. Forgive my ignorance, as I haven't owned a console since the Dreamcast, but I've always enjoyed playing Xbox 360 at friends' houses, and particularly got a kick out of the Xbox Live Arcade games, many of which were new simple, 'retro' like games, in addition to older, actual retro games that got ported over, so to speak. I was hoping to get an Xbox One and be able to download some of these games (I realize they're old to most people, but they are still new to me) I missed out on over the past few years. But, you guys are saying that the game catalog on the Xbox 360's XBLA section will not be available on the Xbox One? Why not? I understand they are different systems with different architecture, but how come whenever I but software for Windows, it's compatible with multiple versions? I assumed Microsoft wrote Windows 8 to run Windows 7 programs. Why can't they do the same for Xbox One? Why waste that enormous catalog of games? New sales are new sales, even if they're for old games.

 

[Polychrome]

It doesn't sound like they're "getting rid of" arcade, so much as just putting everything in a centralized store.

 

[Mystictrust]

^ I think because Windows PCs have been running x86 architecture for quite some time (I'm no expert though). I know what you mean about the old game catalog... I have lots of old and undiscovered stuff to play through on 360. Both consoles will be side by side for some time to come.

 

[deadwrong03]

It doesn't sound like they're "getting rid of" arcade, so much as just putting everything in a centralized store.

what u mean? the games that are in xbox live arcade on 360 will be available on the one?

 

[ncxcstud]

Okay, I'm confused. Forgive my ignorance, as I haven't owned a console since the Dreamcast, but I've always enjoyed playing Xbox 360 at friends' houses, and particularly got a kick out of the Xbox Live Arcade games, many of which were new simple, 'retro' like games, in addition to older, actual retro games that got ported over, so to speak. I was hoping to get an Xbox One and be able to download some of these games (I realize they're old to most people, but they are still new to me) I missed out on over the past few years. But, you guys are saying that the game catalog on the Xbox 360's XBLA section will not be available on the Xbox One? Why not? I understand they are different systems with different architecture, but how come whenever I but software for Windows, it's compatible with multiple versions? I assumed Microsoft wrote Windows 8 to run Windows 7 programs. Why can't they do the same for Xbox One? Why waste that enormous catalog of games? New sales are new sales, even if they're for old games.

But, there are many games that can't run (natively) on Windows 7 or 8. They need to run in emulated environments, even on your PC. Some of those old DOS games don't run nearly as well (or at all) on modern PCs.

In the end, the reason you can run a lot of older software on newer OS on the PC is that the underlining architecture has remained the same. What Microsoft has done with the One is similar to what it did with Windows Phone 8. They changed the underlining architecture for its future, at the expense of users on the older platform. Its why a lot of games/apps come out for Windows Phone 8 and not WP7.5...

 

[ncxcstud]

what u mean? the games that are in xbox live arcade on 360 will be available on the one?

No, he means that on the XBOX One, all games will be listed under one heading. Major retail games, indie games, and other downloaded games (what we would call XBLA games now) will all be distributed from the same storefront on the XBOX One. Not mixed around in 3 different storefronts like they are on the 360 now.

On the 360 you have the "On Demand" games which are retail games available for download, XBLA games, and the Indie Store. You can't just go to one page and view them all. Skulls of the Shogun can only be found be going to the XBLA store. Arcadecraft can only be found by going to the XB Indie Arcade. Fable III can only be found by going to the retail XBOX 360 games download store.

On the XBOX One, all games will be housed together under one 'store.'