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One Crazy Summer of Arcade

Posted by Bob Mackey

Today's LIVE Arcade release of Castle Crashers and the recent trend of incoming college freshmen gathering in front of me to learn writing can only mean one thing: summer is over. But man, what a summer it was.  So many memories made while only moving slightly to avoid bedsores.

Of course, I speak of Microsoft's five-week-long "Summer of Arcade," an event that saw the back-to-back release of five awesome Xbox Live Arcade titles: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Braid, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Galaga Legions, and Castle Crashers. Sure, it started a little late, and it neglected to include a few of the more recent remakes (Commando 3 and 1942: Joint Strike got just a little bit screwed by the timing), but I can't remember a time that so much multi-genre awesomeness was packed into such an affordable month.

More importantly, though, I think it's a look at things to come for the future of gaming.

I'll admit that I haven't gotten around to getting Galaga and Castle Crashers yet--blame the deviousness of both Braid and Bionic Commando for this. But the thing is, I plan on eventually getting all of the Summer of Arcade titles because they're perfect for my life right now.  It's not that I'm exceptionally busy--I'm just suffering epic-induced burnout that might have been brought on by playing Grand Theft Auto IV far past the point of enjoyment.  Really, the thought of any game taking up more than 10 hours of my time makes me long for the simple joys that XBox LIVE has brought me over the past month. April was the last time I bought a full-priced 360 game, and I really can't see myself doing it again until the holidays.

All of this has made me ponder the following discussion-worthy question: is XBox LIVE Arcade making us rethink the current philosophy of bank-breaking, world-destroying, blockbuster games? I'm content to live in a world where a new (ostensibly) NES Mega Man is a celebrated certainty, rather than the dream of a ROM-hacking madman.

Related Links:

Yahtzee Says, Support Your Local Independent Developer (He's Right).
Bionic Commando is Love: Bionic Commando Rearmed is Out. It Matters.
Mega Man 9 Goes Back To Your Roots. Way Back.


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Demaar said:

I dunno, I like big budget games and stuff, but I'm certainly over slogging through a 40 hour epic. Valve seems to have the right idea, more people need to copy them.

That said, I still willingly spent about 60 hours in Mass Effect, so I dunno...

August 28, 2008 10:01 AM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

If unsatisfied, please return unused portion for partial refund.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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