Speaking at the Develop conference this week, Rare's Nick Burton said that while Xbox Live Arcade titles may not offer huge returns, they can provide a "small but reasonable" revenues on a constant basis.
"When asked by an audience member if [Jetpack refuelled] was a commercial success Burton replied, "If you want to measure it in success in that we broke even - we're in the black, so that's good."
When the Xbox 360 launched in November 2005, a majority of Xbox Live Arcade titles were 400 Microsoft Points, or $5. Of course, that didn’t become the standard, as publishers quickly jacked up prices to 800 and 1200 Points. Just because most of today’s games are more expensive, though, doesn’t mean you can’t score some deals. We came across quite a few quality downloads that won’t break the bank, proving that you can still game on the cheap. Here’s a list of good titles that still sell for 400 Points or less.
John Artest (RunDLC)
Out of the list provided the following are my seconds:
Doom
Uno
Worms
Wolfenstein 3D
TMNT 1989 Arcade
Feeding Frenzy (cheaper to buy the Arcade Vol. 1)
Streets of Rage 2
Sonic 1 - 3 and Knuckles
Contra
Speaking to VideoGamer.com at last week's Develop conference in Brighton, Rare senior software engineer Nick Burton revealed that the developer already has its sights set on a Lunar Jetman remake for Xbox LIVE Arcade.
Lunar Jetman was developed by Chris and Tim Stamper (co-founders of Rare) for the ZX Spectrum and is the sequel to Jetpac - a game which Rare has already updated for Microsoft's Xbox LIVE Arcade service.
"In our back catalogue, I've made no secret about the fact that if I was to do another XBLA game because that fitted in with what we do, which it doesn't at the moment... and that is at the moment. Because I'd done Jetpac and we'd already got a fairly strong idea for Lunar Jetman, I'd kind of like to do that providing I was given a hard deadline of six months, so it was really tight and quick. Mainly because there's that idea already there," explained Burton.
Jetpack Refuelled is just terrific. You should check-it-out.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/g...
Its a great challenge, and just so much fun. If they do a sequel, that would be terrific.
Keep up the great work Rare. I cant wait for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise - a sequel to Jetpack Refuelled would be terrific.
Do not try and change lunar jetman in any shape or form. Keep it the way it was back when you were ultimate play the game - do not mess with perfection.
Lunar Jetman, attic attack, sabre wulf, knight lore - bring them all at 2.50 a piece and I will buy every one of them, EVERY one of them.
Speaking to VideoGamer.com at Develop last week, Rare senior software engineer Nick Burton, an employee at Rare for over 10 years, has revealed that when talking about the studios' owned intellectual property "there's a good chance of seeing any of it again".
"You might see Killer Instinct, you might see Battletoads. Or as I said the other month Killer Instinct meets Battletoads in the GoldenEye universe!" joked Burton.
The titles the Microsoft owned studio is currently working on is something that's constantly debated on internet forums, and speculation isn't helped by Rare's constant teasing. Do you remember the Rare 2007 Christmas card that hinted at a new Killer Instinct? Burton was all too happy to reveal the story behind the card.
"You'll probably have to rephrase this, we're just fu!$ing with you!" he joked. "Have you not noticed a theme in our Christmas cards? We do it every year! It's just sometimes people don't notice it because it's that subtle.
"Ryan (Stevenson, senior concept artist), when he was doing it said, oh I'm putting Killer Instinct in that, I am. The conversation was, put Battletoads in as well! Or Snake Rattle and Roll, come on do it! We have a reputation for teasing. Sometimes we do it for good reasons and other times it upsets people. We're English, we're allowed to!"
Burton wouldn't be drawn on confirming the existence of a new Killer Instinct title, but say that "you could pick anything in our back catalogue and then turn it into something new".
rare now is not even a shadow of its former self
even Nick Burton knows that
just compare pd64 to pdz and you'll see what am talking about
Zerodin you're so stupid.
really, really, really stupid.
CRY MORE BOTS! AHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHA
How does a company go from making legends like Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, and GoldenEye to Viva Pinata and Kameo?
You know the answer, I know the answer, everyone knows the answer.
All the talent left when Microsoft acquired them.
I look forward to Rare games now with cautious optimism.
from making metal gear, to making metal gear solid 4?
If you're trying to insult rare, then go play viva pinata and kameo first.
how does a company go from making classics such as mario and zelda start to make the shovel ware of wii sports, wii fit and wii music! goes both ways.
not only ki,ge or dkc
blast corps,ki64 ge007,banjo kazooi,jet force jimini,dk64,banjo tooie,conker:bad fur day,perfect dark 64,
and don't forget donkey kong country 2:diddy kong quest,it's the best dk game ever
it's a fact that the company went downhill after star fox adventures(the game wasen't that much)
but fanboys can't understand that cause they'r blinded
bubbles
like regular games it depends on how good a game it is also. texas hold'em for example, i bet that developer is way in the black for that project, uno also.
new games like Geometry Wars and Proper remakes of old games like Prince of Persia are cool.
I cant be dealing with crappy ports like sonic/street fighter 2 which look terrible.
Must have took Sega hmm lemme think, a whole 15 mins to put Sonic onto live arcade?
Rare has not put Killer Instinct on there as well and some donkey Kong games. Unless Nintendo has some thing to do with it?
If Xbox live arcade got the game Nintendo Wii got on their VC plus the original stuff, I wouldn't purchase VC games anymore.
The VC games on the Wii are the Exact ports with no updated graphics or gameplay modes but they sure are selling on there. Some of the Xbox live arcade games do update and add some features, with online-play mode and such but they do not have the selection Nintendo has.
How does Nintendo do it, I don't know..
There has been commercial success with other games, its very possible. You can't expect every Live Arcade game to be a commercial success. Porting Sonic is also not the answer. Its not the quantity of arcade offerings but the quality.
I actually thought sonic was the only retro title worth playing. It really felt it hasnt dated but as for all the otehrs...New games is what I want to play. Geometry Wars is still the best game on the arcade imo.