With a little more than 5 weeks away from being released in the United States, Microsoft's Xbox 360 is starting to build some steam towards the starting line of the next-generation console race. One of the built-in features of the Xbox 360 is the Xbox Live Arcade, featuring simple games for the casual gamer to download and play instantly. Microsoftannounced a list of 21Xbox Live Arcade games to be available during launch, with 35 to be available by summer 2006.
Amongst the list of launch games are four Midway arcade classics such as, Gauntlet, Joust, Robotron 2048, and SmashTV. All four of these games have made an appearance on the first Midway Arcade Treasures title; however, Xbox Live Arcade offers Midway a direct to consumer distribution channel with very little costs involved, no DVD disc to master or box to ship. In addition, these versions are Xbox Live enabled, which means online multiplayer.
As the Xbox 360 matures and Xbox Live Arcade gains in popularity, perhaps Midway will open up their catalog and provide more and more classic arcade titles to Xbox Live Arcade. One very likely scenario is an online Xbox Live enabled version of the classic Mortal Kombat arcade games.
If Midway charged $10-$20 for a Xbox Live enabled Mortal Kombat or Mortal Kombat II, would you be comfortable enough to buy the title directly through the Xbox Live Marketplace? If not, why?
