Microsoft released the dates and prices for next month’s Xbox Live Block Party. It’s a month of new Xbox Live Arcade titles being released every week with the grand finale being the release of Game Room, where your avatar will be able to play retro arcade titles and other new titles to be released later.
Hit the break to see the release schedule along with prices and other deals Microsoft will be giving to Gold members.
Xbox Live’s Major Nelson released his weekly activity report for Xbox Live yesterday. I was a little surprised by some of the new entries making their way towards the top of the list. Two of the five games played on Xbox Live last week were actually just demos. Both the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Aliens vs Predator demos did quite well, helping to knock FIFA 10 and Call of Duty 4 out of the top five.
Hit the break to see the top ten played games last week.
2009 was the most profitable year for the Xbox Live Arcade service so far according to estimates by the research group Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE). The online gaming hub made $103.4 million dollars in the 2009 fiscal year, a whopping 34% jump in profits from 2008. Recession…what recession!?
One of the major factors in the increased profits was the average cost for an XBLA game, which rose from $8.33 in 2008 to $9.12 in 2009. The extra $0.79 increase on average still isn’t that bad considering some of the great games we saw last year. It’s clear that a lot of developers and publishers are directing a lot of effort into developing quality games for the service, and it’s paying off.
EA’s Battlefield 1943 took the top honors last year as the highest selling title. To find out who else made the list hit the break.
