From: sheath@gamepilgrimage.com   
      
   Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:   
     > One of the reasons that the XBLA, PSN and VC stuff ended up being   
   gruoped   
   > and distributed the way that it did was because the game publishers   
   > misread the appeal of retro stuff. A lot of game pirates had giant   
   > colletions of MAME ROMs that they never played, and this didn't   
   > necessarily translate into massive demand for old arcade games. They sell   
   > well, just not nearly as well as the major console manufacturers had   
   > projected.   
      
   I'm glad that these services found an audience, otherwise I'm afraid the   
   entire "arcade generation" of gaming would have gone the way of Atari   
   2600, Colecovision, and whatever else society just dropped and forgot   
   about.   
      
   >>  One thing that really worries me about XBLA games is what will happen   
   >> when they inevitably cut the 360 off the Internet.   
   >   
   > I don't think this will be an issue once the novelty of comparing high   
   > scores wears off. People who really want to play retro stuff will have it   
   > in a permanent format, and everybody else will exercise their usually   
   > level of apathy.   
      
   What does the average game consumer buy nowadays anyway?  It used to be   
   about 4-5 games per console and then it'd gather dust.  I find it funny   
   that there is a multi-billion dollar industry that targets people who   
   have no appreciation for what they buy past three months.  Also, if I   
   had achieved my aspirations of becoming a game designer I would have   
   quit by now because either A) people wouldn't have bought what I wanted   
   to make or B) people wouldn't have played what I made enough to have any   
   real appreciation of it.  Example: Ask anybody who played and enjoyed   
   Crazy Taxi if they knew the game was really bent on a series of "crazy"   
   moves to keep the car riding at full speed no matter which direction you   
   needed to turn.   
      
   >> If I can get the game by some other means I usually do.  The only   
   >> possible benefit of XBLA versions is the ease of playing online, but   
   >> nobody plays online during the day so that's no benefit to me.   
   >   
   > The disk-based XBLA games also support online play as much as the   
   > downloaded versions would. The disk-copy of Uno I have totally supports   
   > online multiplayer and is detected as a valid XBLA purchase with the disk   
   > in the drive. I'm certain the Konami and Namco releases on disk fit that   
   > description too.   
      
   I wasn't aware that there were a significant amount of XBLA games that   
   were released on disk.  I would *kill* to have Shinobi, TMNT, Double   
   Dragon, Golden Axe, Virtual on, et al in disk format.  I might even   
   remember to play them if I could see them on my shelf.   
      
   > -KKC, waiting impatiently for the Phantasy Star announcement.   
      
   What Phantasy Star announcement?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)