Unofficial XBLA FAQ
I was bored at work one day, and put this together.
Unofficial XBLA FAQ:
How many games are on XBLA?
63 as of June 6, 2007.
How much do XBLA games cost?
Typically they cost 400, 800, or 1200 XBL points. This translates to 5, 10, and 15 US Dollars respectively.
Sounds good. How much for all of them?
To buy every game on XBLA would cost you 39,200 points, or $490 USD. This does not include the costs needed for two of the free games. Hexic can only be obtained by purchasing the 360 Hard drive, and Totem Ball is unplayable without the Xbox Camera.
What happens if I delete a game I've purchased?
Your xbox live account will always remember the games that you've paid for. You can download them again at no additional charge. This even holds true for games that increase in price after your original purchase, such as Texas Hold'em, which was originally free.
A special case is Hexic, where the game can normally only be obtained by purchasing the Hard Drive. Since the game is not on the Xbox Live Marketplace, if you delete Hexic, to get it back you must contact Support (800-4MY-XBOX), and describe your mistake (deleting hexic) to them, where they will take pity on you and provide a code you can use to get it back.
When are games released?
On Wednesdays.
How often are games released?
Microsoft has said that they would like to be able to release up to two games per week, one a classic, and one new game. In practice, MS has been unable so far to reach this goal.
Why have there been Wednesdays with no new releases?
The likely reason is that there was no game that had passed certification. In other words, MS had no completed games in their possession to release. There may also be situations in which a game has passed certification, but is being held back for promotional reasons, as may be the case with the recently announced TMNT game.
What is certification, and why is it stopping games from being published faster?
Certification is a kind of debug process. MS has to make sure the game won't break any xboxes, that it works properly with all the dashboard functions, such as letting the user play back their own music during gameplay, chatting with friends, etc. Also, the game must incorporate the achievement system properly.
OK, but why does certification take so long?
Teams of testers must play through the entire game under a variety of different circumstances and xbox setups. There's multiple versions of the 360 to test on, and hundreds of different times within each game to try different dashboard features and make sure the game doesn't crash when those features are activated. And if any game-crashing or xbox-crashing bug is found, or the game fails certification for any other reason, it must be sent back to the developer for more coding, and then re-submitted to the certification process.
How do I find out what XBLA games are going to be released soon?
So far, MS has given no official schedule of XBLA releases. Occasionally, MS will make an announcement about upcoming games, but has been known to contradict itself. The best way to stay on top of things is following blogs such as this one, and of course, MajorNelson.com.
I have other questions you didn't address!
Please ask them in this thread and I'll do my best to address them by expanding the FAQ.
You're completely wrong about something!
Ok, let me know in the thread, and I'll do my best to update the information.
I added a section about the total cost for all games on the service. I think I have it correct, my only question is about Hexic. The Xbox.com page says it requires the hard drive, which seems a bit odd, but if that's how it is, my FAQ is correct.
This might be good for the deleting games and getting them back part.
Get Hexic HD Back
http://forums.xbox.com/1/2021361/ShowPost.aspx#2021361
"Alrighty, got word of the "fix". What you need to do is call support and confirm some information. They will then give you a download code so you can get your HexicHD back.
If you guys are experiencing any trouble with that, please post here. Hopefully someone from support will take a look here."
Joined: 2006-08-10