July 21st 2010 12:56 pm PT

Don’t know if I should post this here or wait for the destination arcade post.

I like it but how do you get to it after the download? The only way I’ve found it is in my played items menu only because I immediately booted the program after download.

It looks like it could use some polish and is slow to load but I believe this could one day replace the existing games section.

All in all I say Kudos to the programmers for Destination Arcade.

Been waiting for this one!! This game looks tight!

So glad this is out now and not at the end of the Summer of Arcade.. like what Castle Crashers was.. and I’m excited to try Lara Croft but will have to wait.

I’m excited

Will definetly be checking this one out.

Major can you clarify what’s up with Destination Arcade? I’ve been reading that now it will only be available through the duration of Summer of Arcade?

I like it, will buy it with my new batch of MS.

Very interesting but I’ll wait for a price reduce (as well as with DeathSpank)

Is there any reason why Destination Arcade is currently only available in the US & Honk Kong?

@rogXue you got yours game library and hit play

@rogXue you got yours game library and hit play

@rogXue you got yours game library and hit play

@rogXue: you got your game library and hit play.

Hope it helps

Destination Arcade is US only, and will only be around during the Summer of Arcade. I posted about it here

http://majornelson.com/archive/2010/07/12/destination-arcade-to-launch-with-the-summer-of-arcade.aspx

I also discussed it on my last show.

Can’t wait to get home so I can play Limbo!!

No Destination Arcade for Canadian users….yet.

Played the trial. Great game.
The art style and ambient soundtrack is superb. Could well be this year’s Braid.

Reminds me of that ‘Coma’ game on Newgrounds. Link for those interested
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/541124

Limbo is good, best arcade game since Winterbottom many months ago

Yes great game, will purchase as soon as the points have been acquired.

This game seems good but I cannot wait for Castlevania.

Am I alone in saying 1200MSP for a 3hr game with almost zero replay value is too much?

I can afford it no probs, but I just don’t think it’s worth it.

I probably shouldn’t comment until I’ve played it.

Hope I’m wrong.

ouch, so I’ll have to dig through my game library to get to something that shows my game library. Kinda makes it pointless. Should be an option on the My Xbox tier.

As for Limbo, I agree with you K1ller Hornet. That’s why I won’t be picking it up. This game could give me the best 3 hrs of my life and I still wouldn’t pay $15 for it.

@Hornet

I actually disagree somewhat.. though I do not like having to buy 1600pts to buy a 1200pt game.
Anyhow, I don’t equate amount of hours played in terms of value for money. A long game can just as well be a swindle (See ‘Final Fantasy XIII’).

Looks like a fun game that I would love to buy. Just not for $15.

The game is kind of short. And $15 is on the high-end. However, the game is awesome. Plus there are “hidden” easter eggs.

The game has replay value for the hardcore player.

I’ll just leave this here.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/8/8/

@ QualityJeverage: Exactly, leave it to Penny Arcade to say it best. Some games are actually worth the $15, and this is one of them, especially when it means supporting creative games from indie developers.

QualityJeverage, that is clever and all, but the main problem is that that just 3 years ago, 1200 point games were unheard of and the price point didn’t exist. Now it is the new 800. That rate of inflation is unheard of in the history of any country that isn’t a third world nation with an unstable government!

Not to mention I paid 1200 for 15+ hours of content with DeathSpank (with color and voiceovers no less), but I’m now being asked to spend 1200 on a game 1/3rd as long. Is it 3X better than a Ron Gilbert game? I doubt it!

Hey Major one quick question on Destination Arcade. Is the only reason for the 4 week release is to treat it like a beta? I think its its a definte approvement over the current system. Are they going to release it in an november update so that its a part of the dashboard? Ok so Two quick questions.

I had truly hoped this would have an 800 Microsoft Point price tag. Darn. :/

Hey, everyone. I’m sure most of you know, but Destination Arcade is up on the Summer of Arcade menu. Thankfully there isn’t a “region”-lock on it, as I was able to download it here in Japan with my American account. Just so everyone knows, you can try to download it in another region while you can. At least try. Luckily I got it right off the bat, and it really is nice. Especially the Dragon Avatar Award when you find Bubble Bobble in Destination Arcade.

@KILLER HORNET
I totally agree. I just played the LIMBO demo, and I really, really enjoyed it. However, it just didn’t have a 1200MSP price feel to it. It would be like N+ charging 1200MSP. Don’t get me wrong, as I’m a HUGE fan of N+, but the 1200MSP price tag has become all too common as of recent and LIMBO is a prime example. It should definitely be 800MSP. No ifs, ands, or buts. Surely it is a great game, but I fear it will get much less sales because of the price.

I, as well as many other people, will wait a few months for this to be discounted to 800MSP, and I will definitely purchase it then.

DestA is working in TH too! nice and there’re 2 avatar award for DestA

Very good game !

I played yesterday evening other Summer of Arcade Games…All are greats! And I was very impressed by Hydro Thunder Hurricane!

Cheers
Sined
http://www.xbla360.fr

ok, two things:

Limbo is great, but as other people already said: 1200MSP is too expensive for this game… I was expecting a 800MSP price tag, and i’d have instantly bought it at that price.

Also, why is destination arcade US only? I was hoping to finaly get a better way of browsing for my arcade games only to find out today: it’s not available here in germany.

I just gave Limbo a try and… no. Not for 1200, not a chance. Sorry but the trial hasn’t swayed me.
That’s not to say I didn’t like it, but when I think a game is okay then I may be inclined to spend 800. At 1200, I have to think it’s freakin’ awesome. Which I don’t.

zfair899: Well, that was, erm… different. O_0

ripoff 1200 points for a 3 hour game

Lol at people complaining about $15. Its $15 freaking dollars! If your that strapped for cash anyways, you shouldnt even be on here looking for a new game

what i wonder is how strapped for cash MS is? i mean they take away all the “free” features that my gold subscription pays for like 1 vs 100, then they up the price arbitrarily on arcade games that don’t really seem to be worth the price.

and then when some one complains there’s always gotta be those jokers who don’t understand why people are miffed, but the question is when will the upping of the prices and the decrease in value gonna be enough for the rest of you to get on board? is 20 dollars for a game like limbo too much? is 25 dollars too much? is 30? i mean will the argument that people who complain are broke losers change for you, and you understand that it’s more about delivering a fair product for a fair price?

Alot of Complaining for sure. I think they see it as 1200 points instead of $15 because 1200 is greater than 15. Anyhow Its 15000 pennies, I think I can find that in my couch cusion.

@ Disco Penguins. I unlocked the Dragon when choosing to Magic the Gathering, but Bubble Bobble would also make sense.
.
I would also like to say that Destination Arcade does seem like a preview of sorts as the look on my 27″ SD TV has everything elongated in a vertical fashion with some corner areas like the Xbox Live Arcade logo cut off. This was definitely a HD focused project, but it has lots of promise and will be a big disappointment if it does not come back sometime later.
.
Some obervations:
- Seems like a 16:9 presentation forced into 4:3, but it still works and is very useable.
- It’s quick and responsive, and quite interactive like the various music store applications.
- Some games like Pirates vs Nijas do not have a Recommendation option?
- The community rating section truly highlights what are the worthwhile games as voted on by the community.
- The price sort option is great and should go to show the non-veterans that there are PLENTY of 400 point games out there, with less than realized 1200 & 1600 point games.
- There are more games with multiplayer features than people may have realized.
- Did you know you can manipulate the menu in the Find Games section in a fashion that harkens back to the menu manipulation option of old Xbox 1 Official Xbox Magazine game disks with the right thumbstick? Not that big of a deal, but I thought I would point it out.
- Happy to see that the Game Recommendations section is back on the console. I missed that option, and this new version I think would be pretty effective, marketing-wise.
- There seems to be additional Deals of the Week in this section that are not a part of the current promotion or were part of a past promotion? If so, that’s a great incentive to check back in to this specific application weekly. This idea should be ported to various Music Stores STAT.
- The dissolving effect when chagning pictures in the New Arrivals section is pretty neat.
- Both those Watchmen games need to be lower to 500 to 800 points already.
- Finally, a way to truly sort all games by price. But, we need more free Full games represented up there.
,
Sorry to hijack this blog post Major. Could we get a blog posting dedicated to this asking for opinions and feedback? This is something that should promoted be greatly to gather as much feedback as possible as it is definitely something that should come back after the Summer of Arcade promotion. The Games Marketplace Section is lacking its own Netflix & Last.fm exclusive destination area on the dashboard, now that 1 vs 100 is no longer around. Such sad news.

Btw, with regards to the game being promoted here.
.
I saw and played it during the South by Southwest event and many of us agreed it was one of the best games there along with Risk and the Snoopy game. But so many people played it(there was a constant stream of people), many of us feared it would be $15 title and so it saddens me to see that we were proven right when pricing was announced. More would give the game more than a look over if it was priced at 800 points, but being a Braid & Caastle Crashers calibar game, art & presentation wise, I can understand the $15 price point.
.
I truly hope it does well.

Give them something for free and they will still complaining. It´s allwasy the same s*it but only from a different hole. IMHO it´s worth the 1200 points just on another level like (for example) DeathSpank – wich i still enjoy. Ron´s game gave me some great laughs – LIMBO let the shivers on my spine go nuts! It´s gruesome and brutal but in an abnormaly stunning way. It´s like art – in my eyes. And if i go to visit an art gallery it will be a bit more expensive. Anyway – maybe it´s just in my eyes brutal because i have a four years old son and when i see that Limbo (it is not really the sunnyfunny lane to take a walk) is a bad and deadly place….deep inside it really hurts to see that some children didn´t had a checkpoint… Nevermind! I love it in a abstract way and i don´t regret any of my 1200 points.

Another hype. Its a good game, without doubt, but I guess it will drop in value after your playthrough massively. They should have added an option to make an own film about what you have played before. Just to look. The trailer looked better to me than the game itself. Will pass. Give us Castlevania and Lara

This game sort of remind’s me of World of Goo ( aka the black and white art house style ). However for 1200 points it’s a far cry from last years must purchase Shadow Complex also for 1200 points in full glorious colour 2.5D format!

What with Shadow Complex being released last – in last year’s Summer of Arcade, I’m assuming the Lara Croft game will be the best of the bunch!!?

why do you people keep claiming “it’s just $15″? In Europe, we have to pay in Euros, which still makes the game 1200MSP. This translates to 15€ which is $20….

a 800MSP price tag would translate roughly to 10€ which is $13

I am not a cheapskate (in fact, I have 5100MSP I could spend right now), I just think it’s not a fair price for the game… The 1200MSP price tag has just become too common, soon it’s gonna be 1600MSP for a game, 1200MSP for “classic” games (a lá Sonic)…

I’ll just leave this here.
http://www.gamerbytes.com/2010/07/indepth_xbox_live_arcade_sales_12.php

I can see both sides of the pricing argument. On the one hand it makes MS appear to be greedy moneygrubbers when they post a download-only 110MB 3-hour B&W game and stamp the capital price of 1200MSP on it, with the sole reason seemingly being because it’s part of the SoA in which all games are at that price point, again needlessly if not greedily so! It makes one wonder if MS is trying to groom us for even higher price-point standards!

Sure, LIMBO a premium game, unlike other Arcade games (like Bankshot Blliards or Zombie Wranglers). You can tell a lot of extra EXTRA love and effort has gone into it! And the end product is really quite amazing! And that brings me to the other hand! What measure to you use on a game in order to guage its worth? It’s size? Time to beat? Color or lack thereof??? I don’t think any of those should be a primary basis. I think it’s the overall packaged experience that counts! This game gives us an experience that is unique, quite interesting and very wonderful in it own way, and it’s unlike and above the normal dribble we normally get!

I dunno..

I bought the game (without even downloading the trial) and I’m very glad I did! $15 bucks for a 3-hour game? You’d pay the same for two half-hour lunches at Burger King, and those have NO replayability! =P I figured a small price (in perspective) shouldn’t stand in the way of enjoying this great game.

I love this game. So fun! And tough!

I like it nice game

Lets put it this way. The average retail game is around $60. This game is $15 which is 1/4th that.
Most single player experiences are around 8-10 hours long and we don’t complain about those. If you multiplied limbo’s 3-4 hours of gameplay by 4 which would be a $60 game you get 12-16 hours which is about par if not higher than the average retail game. If you subtract out multiplayer which some good single player games do not have it really doesn’t look that bad. Nobody complains when you pay $30 for a blu-ray movie that only lasts 2 1/2 hours either. To be honest, you guys are just used to the bargains that were the old arcade games. The days of $5 arcade games are coming to an end as a new era of quality emerges and what it really means to be an xbox live arcade game changes.

Loving this game so far. Take that evil spider!

@Exu: Geeeeeeeeeez. Those numbers are pretty bad, actually. I wonder why the case, considering some of the games.
However, I’m still behind my choice on LIMBO. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a cheap skate. You can clearly see by my list of games that well more than half are Arcade games, so I don’t hesitate in purchasing a good Arcade game, as long as I truly believe it is worth the price it’s labeled under.
For LIMBO, it’s clearly not a 1200MSP game. It’s an 800MSP. Games like N+, Castlevania: SOTN, Worms 2, Peggle, ‘Splosion Man, The Maw, Mega Man 9 & 10, Perfect Dark, Geometry Wars 2, and Cellfactor are all 800MSP games and are well worth the price. If these same games were marked up to 1200MSP, like LIMBO, I don’t think I would have ever came around to playing them.
Honestly, the only 800MSP game that I listed there that I would even think of considering paying 1200MSP for would be Castlevania: SOTN, and it’s not even an original game.
The pricing system is starting to get out of control, and it’s games like LIMBO that are losing out because of it.

Looks awesome but for 1200 points? No.

I really wish fun games like this weren’t overpriced. A 3-5 hour single player arcade adventure with little to do once you complete the game is not a $15 game, it just is not. I want this game, and have more than enough money to buy it for myself and all of my family members, but that just isn’t the point. Pass.

I mean, I see why Castle Crashers is 1200. I see no reason why this carries the same price.

LIMBO ≡ WIN. I played it and loved it! Keep the good titles coming.

I remember when this site was a fun place to get exciting information and partake in discussions, not a simple Press Release blog.

What a rip off $15.00, I played it and completed it in 3 hours with no interest in ever playing it again. should have been 400 MS points.

Love this game, been playing it ever since I bought it. So original and creative not to mention imaginative

Just wow ôo
Played the demo, all i can say is “F*** you sis, i’m outta here!” ._.”
Creepiest forest EVER!

@localhorst86:
You forgot the Value Added Tax.

The game is short yes, but i REALLY enjoyed it. I admit i was worried about the length of the game, but the fun factor was well worth the 1200 points. It wouldn’t have mattered how long the game is, i didn’t want it to end.

not really, daniel cw. 5000 points cost 60€ in germany (official price), including VAT, so Limbo would be 14.40€

I wont download destination arcade. That’s stupid it’s only going to be around a month then BOOM its gone. I’m not even wasting my time, thanks but no thanks. Limbo is great, I’ll probably only play it through once but so far I’m loving it. Its funny because I dont even like puzzle games at all and yet I find myself trying to figure out each new one I come across and after 3 hours stuck on a very simple puzzle that should of took 2 minutes to solve I realize how stupid I really am. Hey maybe that’s why I dont like puzzle games. LOL LOL

Great, great game. Wow. Am I impressed. Frankly, I don’t typically enjoy these puzzle games but for some reason I like this one. I am about 35% complete. Up to this point I have been able to find the way out of every situation but then all of the sudden, bang, I am stuck and I have no idea how to progress. I will try again tonight but then I guess I will seek help on-line. Bummer.

Whoever can get through this game in one sitting with only 5 deaths…props to you!

It’s kinda Trial and Error, i only played the demo, and i think i hit every trap possible (includes spider and so on) even traps on the floor later on because i forgot already there could be more than one xp

I’m just curious, are all summer of arcade games going to be 1200 ms points? I’ll get Limbo, but 1200 just seems high for a game that is reported by many to take less than 5 hours first time around and about an hour any play through after. I’m interested in getting all five games but 1200 each would be nuts.

I really enjoyed the demo for Limbo. My type of game. But the 1200 point price is pretty steep for a short arcade game. If it was 800 points I would have jumped on it day one, but I’ll most likely purchase it next week. I don’t like to pass up on a great game.

—-
I’m with everyone on the outrageous prices lately. 1200 is definitely the new 800. Games never reached that amount, then all of a sudden, BOOM, almost every “quality” game is 1200 points. I’m not cheap, but I don’t like getting ripped off time and time again.

I’ve never played a game like this before. I really enjoy it. I don’t mind the 1200 points for this game. What does tick me off is the 1200 points for refurbished map packs like MW2. That is highway robbery.

@SkyyPlum

Yea, they are all 1200. Wack, huh?

Bought it yesterday and already through it. Very funny

In short: overhyped, too short, boring puzzles, and not as impressive as some reviews want to tell me. Its still a good game, but Im disappointed. Wont buy anything again by this developer nor trust any reviews or opinions of other. Braid had much better puzzles imo.

Now Im just glad to get 400pts back b/c of CV and Lara one day…Thats it with Limbo at me. Can rest in piece erm peace.

LIMBO is my new favourite game. Thank you Playdead. Highly recommend this game. 5/5

I bought it and completed it over the weekend. Very fun game, but overpriced at 1200pts. It has no replay value at all.

I think it’s the lack of replay value that makes the 1200MSP price point outrageous. I bought Risk:Factions instead, now I have 4300MSP remaining and don’t know what to buy…

@localhorst: Yes, but the U.S. prices do not include VAT.

@LEGENDARY T0AD
It doesn’t appear that you have played the game despite your claims.

I’m fighting the idea of purchasing Limbo, but I have many other games to get to.

Anyways, I think Destination arcade is a beta test of what may be in the new Kinect dashboard update. Just a thought.

what gets me is people complain about paying $15 for a arcade game, the get on ebay and pay half price of a retail game for dlc for a game. EX. jazz code for transformers, and look now all the preorder dlc for that game will be available with extra maps for $10….and guess what people will complain about that 2

So I got a code for the game and gave it a go.

What a dull and lifeless overhyped, overpriced bore.

I gotta say that I’m with K1ller Hornet. While playing the trial I was saying to myself “this is amazing, I have to have it.” 24 hours later I was saying “Really? That’s it?!” Great-looking game. Really spooky with some terrific ambient sound and music. But entirely too short for 1200 points.

The game is pretty fun and kinda makes your brain work even though the puzzles are simple.

I think the general concensus is that it was worth 800 points. There are a few games which I can look back apon and say they were worth the money. They are:
BF1943
Trials HD
Castle Crashers
Shadow Complex

They have set the standard for what we as a community expect for a 1200 point game.

@ZaZeeMan How would You know what I play? My games are set to private. But I changed it just so you could see I have played and completed the game,Also check the date.