Xbox Live Arcade "Hits" -- Reduced Prices

Bamelin

Gamerscore wrote:

* Xbox LIVE Arcade Hits - On Xbox LIVE Arcade, the Arcade Hits program kicks off where some of the best selling Xbox LIVE Arcade games will become available at permanently reduced prices, making it easier than ever for everyone to build a library of downloadable games! The first games to become Arcade Hits will be "Bankshot Billiards 2" and "Lumines LIVE," which will be available for 800 Microsoft Points each, and "Marble Blast Ultra," "Small Arms" and "Zuma Deluxe," which will be available for 400 Microsoft Points each. With free trial downloads for every game and over 100 games to choose from, Xbox LIVE Arcade offers something for every member of the family.

I posted about this in the fall update thread but I thought maybe it deserved it's own thread in case people missed it.

This particular piece of news is pretty awesome to me as I'm an XBLA whore. I'm hoping that this initiative may launch a Marble Blast Ultra rennaisance, and help bolster the online communties of titles like Bomberman Live (which surely will end up in the "hits" catagory.

I suspect any XBLA game with alot of premium add on content will be destined for the hits catagory actually.

Talonrazor

Fantastic, I think I'll get Small Arms and maybe Billards. Microsoft is doing a superb job with the Arcade stuff, XBLA is an awesome service.

PikaPuff

Ugh. More urges to buy Zuma commence. Must... resist!

Noray

Haven't played any of those in the 400 points category. Sell me on them?

Lunker

I hope that Pac-Man CE will eventually come down to 400 points. Don't get me wrong, it's a freaking bargain at 800 because it's an awesome reinterpretation of Pac-Man that's possibly my favorite XBLA title to date, but I think the price scared away a lot of people who just saw it as "more levels for Pac-Man." They're bundling it with the Arcade model now, so they might as well eventually drop it down so more people pick it up, because it's badass.

I'm tempted to snap on Lumines Live for that price too, but I'll hold off for a while.

Samphis

Noray wrote: »

Haven't played any of those in the 400 points category. Sell me on them?

Marble Blast has one of the best multiplayer games ever made. It's tremendously fun and supports up to 12 players.

amateurhour

Lunker wrote: »

I hope that Pac-Man CE will eventually come down to 400 points. Don't get me wrong, it's a freaking bargain at 800 because it's an awesome reinterpretation of Pac-Man that's possibly my favorite XBLA title to date, but I think the price scared away a lot of people who just saw it as "more levels for Pac-Man." They're bundling it with the Arcade model now, so they might as well eventually drop it down so more people pick it up, because it's badass.

I'm tempted to snap on Lumines Live for that price too, but I'll hold off for a while.

What would be awesome is if someone would release that version of pac man that was a limited edition gamecube exclusive where you had to hook up three GBA's, and one player got to be pac man while the other players were ghosts with a limited viewing window. That was one of the best pac man games ever made, and it would be easy to translate to xbla.

I'm still not sold on bankshot for 800, but I am a hell of a lot more likely to get it now. $20 for a live game that isn't a VC old xbox game is ridiculous.

zilo

Marble Blast Ultra for 400 points? I no longer have any excuse not to buy it.

Samphis

Bankshot is good, and yes, it was overpriced, but it used to be $15, not $20.

bombboy

Argh, I already have all those

UnbreakableVow

zilo wrote: »

Marble Blast Ultra for 400 points? I no longer have any excuse not to buy it.

I loved the demo, but didn't $10 love it. $5 is the sweet spot for this.

ChewyWaffles

I buy way too many arcade games. Really, I have about 70-80 or so.

Where's the blush smilie?

Zek

Speaking of which, have they fixed the XBLA demo achievement issue yet?

Bamelin

That's going to be fixed in the fall update I think (December 4th)

FreddyD

I already picked up Lumines at that price, and Zuma and Marble Blast are tempting. It's hard to decide between the two. But I'm still not sold on Small Arms. It just comes off as a half-hearted Smash Bros clone, and I can get the real thing for for a few dollars more.

Bamelin

FreddyD wrote: »

I already picked up Lumines at that price, and Zuma and Marble Blast are tempting. It's hard to decide between the two. But I'm still not sold on Small Arms. It just comes off as a half-hearted Smash Bros clone, and I can get the real thing for for a few dollars more.

It's not Smash Bros. I don't feel it's anything really like Smash Bros. in terms of the fighting dynamics.

Alot of the battles in Small Arms take place at range kinda like Soldat in that respect. Personally I think Small Arms is a pretty solid title at 400 points, well worth picking up (if you have friends to play it online with).

I've also gotten hours of enjoyment from Zuma, I picked that one up the last time it went on sale too.

FreddyD

Bamelin wrote: »

FreddyD wrote: »

I already picked up Lumines at that price, and Zuma and Marble Blast are tempting. It's hard to decide between the two. But I'm still not sold on Small Arms. It just comes off as a half-hearted Smash Bros clone, and I can get the real thing for for a few dollars more.

It's not Smash Bros. I don't feel it's anything really like Smash Bros. in terms of the fighting dynamics.

Alot of the battles in Small Arms take place at range kinda like Soldat in that respect. Personally I think Small Arms is a pretty solid title at 400 points, well worth picking up (if you have friends to play it online with).

I've also gotten hours of enjoyment from Zuma, I picked that one up the last time it went on sale too.

I was getting a Soldat vibe from the emphasis on the weapons, but ammo is kind of scarce, which means melee is still the main method of attack. Movement is limited in Small Arms. I think Undertow has more of the kind of action and mayhem you would see in a good Soldat match.

I think I'll just get them both. I still have free points courtesy of Gaming Lagoon.

RainbowDespair

This is fantastic news. There are plenty of XBLA games I'd love to pick up if only their price was dropped a tad. And I must say that Marble Blast Ultra for $5 is mighty tempting.

For anyone who decides to pick up Lumines Live, I strongly recommend picking up the Holiday Pack as well. Not only is the Holiday pack cheaper than the other 20-skin packs ($5 vs $7.50), I thought the skins were noticeably better as well.

DarkPrimus

The Holiday Pack is awesome, but for some reason one of the songs is like five decibels louder than all the rest.

That and I'm still not good enough to unlock them all yet. I like Heavenly Sky so much, but I don't have any other songs with lyrics.