The competition between Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation has been quite fierce ever since Microsoft decided to launch its own video game console to combat the ever growing popularity of the PlayStation. The launch of the Xbox in 2001 has definitely seen Sony losing its monopoly over the console gaming segment. But nearly a decade later, it still hard to say who has the edge over the other because both of them have garnered quite a reputation and the rivalry has resulted in bonuses for the customers, in terms of enhanced graphics, choice of titles available, etc. So to try and gain a firm grip over the console gaming world, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live and in particular Xbox Live Arcade. But with the growing number of games available, users have complained about how tedious it can be to browse through the online store. Microsoft is going to change all that by launching Destination Arcade.

WHAT IS XBOX LIVE ARCADE?

Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a video game basically available in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft’s digital distribution network for Xbox 360. Currently, it is integrated into the latest Xbox models, the Xbox 360. One has to buy Xbox Live Arcade titles and play them on Xbox Live Arcade. The games available on this service are typically the arcade games that were popular in the 80s and 90s, but with advanced graphics; and also arcade titles that have been recently developed. The current size of these games can be anywhere up to 2 GB. Games older than 6 months would become eligible for deletion from the service if they had a Metacritic (an entertainment review site) score below 65 and a conversion rate below 6%.

ROLE OF DESTINATION ARCADE

While it is easy to find new titles, browsing through the XBLA library to find something to play is quite cumbersome, and older content is hardly featured. Microsoft is trying to rectify that with the Destination Arcade visual browser. Destination Arcade will let you to search new games. A prominent feature is the ability to sort by price, community rating, and many more options you can chose as per your choice.  Under the new design menus are more aesthetically pleasing and appear to be more “Kinetic” browsing friendly.

Xbox Live programming director Major Nelson stated that the Destination arcade app would be “easy-to-use visual browser.” It will also feature a news feed for users to keep track of the Arcade’s latest releases.

Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb wrote on his official blog, “With a growing library of over 250 Arcade games, Destination Arcade will allow you to discover new games and content you enjoy.”

However, there is a piece of news from Microsoft that may disappoint users looking forward to the release – Destination Arcade will only be available temporarily and will disappear once Summer of Arcade ends on August 18.

Summer of Arcade is Microsoft’s annual offering of arcade game titles to Xbox users for the duration of the summer. The games are typically released every Wednesday.