I just learned that Xbox Live Arcade was a service that first started on the original Xbox, not Xbox 360. You had to order a disc online that would let you access the XBLA store. Here’s the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live_Arcade

I’ve never heard anyone talk about this before, so I think this is really interesting. A lot of the OG XBLA games don’t even have wikipedia pages, so I’m guessing this service was pretty obscure when it came out? Anyways I found some Youtube videos of some of the games, so here’s some gameplay clips if anyone is interested:

Hamsterball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUA-SeFye_0

ThinkTanks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSJ0t8cIQYc

Mutant Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpS1giWPGw

Did any of you guys ever use Xbox Live Arcade on the original Xbox? What did you think of it? I’m curious to hear more about it.

  • @slaacaaEnglish
    4•7 months ago

    Nice find, I completely forgot. I remember either me or a friend having the XBLA disc, but I never even connected my original XB to the net, so I never used it, I just played offline.

    Great console btw, funnily it was the one that turned me from PC to consoles, so I could play the newest Mortal Kombat with friends. I since switched mostly to Playstation, but always had some kind of XB from every gen.

    It really hurts to see how MS dropped the ball with the console since, after doing the impossible and narrowly outselling Sony with the 360. I really though GamePass might turn the tide in their favor again, but as Sony now has a similar service, it seems to have not.