Category:Xbox Live Arcade



Xbox Live Arcade, or XBLA for short, launched November of 2004 for the original Xbox and just one year after Steam, and was the first digital distribution channel for a video game console (if the Sega Channel and Broadcast Satellaview don't count).

The service's main titles seem to be Casual Games, but other games (such as updated re-releases) also exist. For the most part, the service is split into four main categories:


 * Xbox Live Arcade Games (the main focus of the channel)
 * Game Add-Ons
 * Games on Demand (Downloadable Xbox and Xbox 360 games, ranging in quality from Grand Theft Auto IV to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra)
 * Xbox Live Indie Games (Exactly What It Says on the Tin; The first attempt by any major console publisher to accept homebrew games. It takes $99 a year to publish games, and rules are often draconian albeit for a reason, but it's a start)