SupermanSam6:
I have seen a lot about the new dashboard and can't wait 'til it comes, but I've also heard that it might not be coming to the ...
OXM SAYS:
The Xbox 360's new Dashboard will be a worldwide launch, so no need to worry about it not reaching the UK. Altho...MORE
Ezilylost13 says:
"Why don't I like Fallout 3? I just am not getting into it. I'm about 4 hours in and I'm supposed to be looking for a radio station. I am taking my time, doing some exploring and really trying to enjoy it. While I'm playing though, all I can think about is wanting to play something else."
Posted on: Nov 03, 2007
Xbox Live Arcade: Evolve or Die
WORDS BY: Dan Amrich
Like just about everybody else, we’re hooked on the bite-sized gameplay and impulse-buy prices that make Xbox Live Arcade so appealing. But we say it’s time to start thinking beyond the traditional puzzle, card, and classic-coin-op categories and realize what Xbox Live Arcade can achieve that nobody else can. Here are someconcepts we want to download as soon as possible…somebody out there, please make them!
Let’s Make a Wheel of Jeopardy
Despite the genre’s renewable popularity, there are no trivia games on Xbox Live Arcade. What better way to fill that void than with a global game show offering new questions weekly? Having fresh shows every week would keep players coming back, and it should be easy to create a synchronized timer so three or four players could lock in their answers without it devolving into a contest of buzzer-ringing speed. You’ve already got rankings and can create seasons; surely there are more people than just us who want to prove how smart they are. And just because it’s brainy doesn’t mean it needs to be dorky: what are the folks behind the slick and witty You Don’t Know Jack series up to lately? Surely those guys have got families to feed. Combine that with the game-show-friendly Big Button Controller that comes with SceneIt! -- a great game that criminally does not support Live play -- and you've got nothing but excuses left.
WE’D PAY: 800 Points per month to subscribe to the show
You Don't Know Jack any more than Microsoft knows how to do a game show on Live.
An Arcade Party
There are already eight Mario Party titles on Nintendo consoles, with more undoubtedly on the way. Xbox Live Arcade games like Hardwood Backgammon are quaint, but they lack the adrenaline-fueled four-player action that only the Mario Party series seems to have really nailed. The board-game aspect would give our hoped-for Xbox Live Arcade equivalent some structure and a fairly leisurely pace, while the minigames would keep it from being, well, Hardwood Backgammon. Need a kick-start? Start with the best four-player contests from the original-Xbox launch title Fuzion Frenzy and let the ideas start building from there.
WE’D PAY: 400 Points
A Mario Party style board game with mini-games would be an instant XBLA hit.
Four for Fighting
Take another cue from Nintendo and look at the gameplay dynamic of Super Smash Bros. Melee. It’s wacky, it’s cute, it’s violent, and all four players share the screen at the same time. We don’t really want Microsoft’s stable of characters to step up to a similar smackdown (Conker vs. Blinx, anyone?), and we don't think Small Arms worked as well as it could have. Rather than watch the genre die, let’s see someone with a sadistic streak create a funny, more mature take on the same concept. Face it: If Nintendo had gotten its act together with online multiplayer, an Internet-enabled SSBM would make Live look foolish.
WE’D PAY: 800 Points
Small Arms: Good, but not great. Why not try again?
