Don't have $400 to drop? Have a little patience...

Jesus

Swabbie
Banned
So we all know now that Arena has been confirmed as an Xbox Live Arcade game for the Xbox 360, but do you guys really want to spend $400 just for an arcade game? (well, actually, yes, because it's been a decade, but still...)

There's one thing people seem to be forgetting. Microsoft announced at CES this year that they would actually let people play Arcade titles on another platform: Vista. They showed off GeoWars and UNO when I was there, both ran just fine on Vista. So my bet is that if you don't want to get a 360, or don't have the money, an upgrade to Vista will do the same for you, with what some might think of as better controls.

Just chiming in my 2 cents here, I know I haven't swung by very often lately, but I thought of this, didn't see it mentioned anywhere else, and thought you guys might want to know.
 
The promised Vista-Arcade integratio n didn't materialize -- but hopefully it will someday (Pedro posted about this earlier today).
 
That's very interesting. I was able to see it working first hand with UNO and GeoWars, so I'm really surprised it never made it to market. Ah well, I'm sure it will someday, no reason to scrap it, especially since XNA works between the two as well.
 
I'd rather buy an X-Box than upgrade my pc to vista at the moment.

but it'd certainly be nice to have that option!
 
Windows Vista will set you back a couple hundred Dollars, and that doesn't include the cost of any new hardware you may need to run it at a respectable speed. I do hope the PC/360 Live integration will happen.

I wouldn't worry about the control scheme. Since they're developing this specifically for the 360, the controls will be perfect.
 
Windows Vista will set you back a couple hundred Dollars, and that doesn't include the cost of any new hardware you may need to run it at a respectable speed. I do hope the PC/360 Live integration will happen.

I wouldn't worry about the control scheme. Since they're developing this specifically for the 360, the controls will be perfect.

Also, since a 360 controler is PC compatible anyway, once or if Arena is playable in Vista, a 360 controler will probably still be the prefered method of control.
 
That's very interesting. I was able to see it working first hand with UNO and GeoWars, so I'm really surprised it never made it to market. Ah well, I'm sure it will someday, no reason to scrap it, especially since XNA works between the two as well.

Tell that to Wing Commander III for the Saturn... :) Demo'ing something at a tradeshow isn't the same thing as releasing it -- though I'm sure we'd *all* like to see Microsoft actually do this.

(re: NinjaLA - I believe the 360 controllers are USB.)
 
I believe you can also now buy a wireless sensor for wireless 360 controllers to connect to a PC.
 
I'd rather buy an X-Box than upgrade my pc to vista at the moment.
I would also rather buy a 360 for $400 than downgrade my pc to Vista for $200 at the moment. But as I can't afford either right now, (and as RAM for my PC is a higher prioriy anyway) I'll have to see what happens come annual review/bonus time.
 
Ah, yes, the 360 has USB wired controllers, or you can grab (for $30-$40 I believe) a wireless adapter via USB for your PC, so that you can use wireless 360 controllers with your PC (up to four on the same adapter!).

And yes, not everything makes it out of the trade shows, but MS has been pushing hard to connect the worlds of Vista and the 360, so I wouldn't be surprised if this has a better chance of making it to market than any other feature that's currently missing.

Maybe this will be better on the 360 though, considering it's controls are so incredibly different this time around. Kinda cool looking though, the thought of making a WC arcade game...but it scares me to think it might lead to spinoffs. (WC Arena 2 anyone?)
 
Not trying to attack anyone on this forum but when did an announcement of Vista-arcade not being implemented come across? I have been looking everywhere for any article saying this but I could not find it. Why would Microsoft show arcade games running in windows in CES (January 2007) if they will not have this feature in the future. When Shadowrun comes out in the summer this year, it uses that service to have crossplatform multiplayer.

I dont know what you guys are talking about having to have huge system requirements to run Vista. I have a machine running Vista with a AGP Geforce 6600 GT, two gig of DDR ram, and a Athlon XP 3500+. It works smoothly.
 
They didn't literally drop it, it's just been a mess so far. They've been trying to do this for years and it hasn't amounted to anything. Everybody talks about Shadowrun, and it's just one game that doesn't look all that great. Early on with this Live Anywhere stuff, they announced that Halo 2 PC and Halo 2 XBox would work together. Now Halo 2 PC's going to barely make it out before Halo 3. They've also limited their audience by requiring Vista for it (and Shadowrun), and they scaled back the interactivity to just exchanging messages or something like that. You won't actually be able to play.

If they were really serious about it, it would have happened already. Dreamcast games (like Microsoft's Starlancer!) were playable with their PC counterparts half a dozen years ago.

So Vista-360 compatibiliy Uno sounds cool, but it's following after a bunch of PC-XBox Live Anywhere things that just floundered. I hope they release Arena for everything, but it looks like just 360 for right now.
 
I agree that shadowrun will suck. I believe people can play via Live anywhere on shadowrun thought. Just look here (IGN's article about their experience with it at CES 2007). Unfortunately Microsoft has been pretty quiet about the development of Live Anywhere so no one really knows what is going on.

I too, hope for arena to come out for PC at some point or even better yet WC6. I am glad to see EA is doing something with this franchise.
 
For us Europeans, play.com are selling core systems for £150 (inc delivery) now. Add the cost of a HDD and you still have a very nice deal compared to what you could get with your money a matter of weeks ago.
 
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