How ace is XBLA?

On Saturday, I mainly played Xbox Live Arcade games. I knocked
Assault Heroes on the head with Andy, played Carcassone against the AI, finished off the time attack mode in Geon and then, late in the evening, downloaded Word Puzzle and spent far too long playing through the main mode. The last levels are very tricky, especially at 4am when you can barely focus on the screen.

I was struck by how much I've come to take the simplicity and ease of use of the XBLA system for granted. New titles are flagged up for me, I download a trial, and if I like it, a few button presses are all that is needed to debit my stored credit card and unlock the full game. I don't even have to shift on my beanbag. It's a far cry from mailing an order to Special Reserve and then waiting a couple of weeks for the postman to bring your game in a jiffy bag. The sheer ease of buying new games on the service has definitely contributed to my extensive use of it. I've got 30 or so Arcade games and the majority were purchased rather than free with codes. The dip-in, dip-out nature of the games is something I've come to rely on and many evenings I find myself not touching a retail game at all.

That said, Sunday was mainly spent playing Assassin's Creed (aka Jade's Game) - more on that in the next post.

Things I learned from videogames #1

Never loiter next to a barrel.

Dormant ****ing blogs

Grr. Denied my favoured address by a blog with one post on it. From 2005. Grrrr.