I have this love-hate relationship with the Xbox Live Arcade. It’s simple really. I love the games that are on it, especially the old style retro 1980′s era arcade games, but at the same time, I despise the damn network because I end up spending more time playing these games than playing $60 dollar games like Call of Duty 3 or Gears of War. The Live Arcade literally sucks up so much of my time folks.. it’s ridiculous! And when I’m not on Live Arcade, my wife is on Live Arcade! What’s up with that!!!!!

The games I love and hate on Xbox Live Arcade include:

Ms Pac Man – come on now.. the old time classic is back in it’s natural beauty. Who could ignore Ms. Pac Man herself? Who can’t stop whistling to the damndest tunes in between the boards? Who can’t stand cursing at the Xbox 360 controller for making you go up/down when you wanted to go left/right? Who thinks that the damn algorithms changed for the Ghosts (or perhaps I’m getting slower in my age!). It’s still better than Pac Man in my opinion.. but barely!

Galaga – Oh man my thumb hurts – yet ANOTHER reason to hate the Live Arcade – PHYSICAL AILMENTS! Galaga on the 360 brings back so many memories of hours spent at the local store in my old stomping grounds of Queens, NY. Who can resist shooting those tiny little aliens out of the screen? Who can resist getting captured and then realizing that was your last ship?!?!??!

Pac Man – The man himself.. the original.. the one and only.. yup. PAC MAN got things started when I was a kid and I curse him for that! I curse him for ever showing up in the arcades and turning my innocent childhood into one of popping quarters into machines for fun. Pac Man on the 360 is as fun as ever but I still can’t stand the Xbox 360 controller.. or perhaps I just suck at the game. Who knows.

Contra – Yes folks.. who can forget that muscle man shooting up people left and right and up and down? The graphics are every bit as ugly as I remember them to be yet it’s still one fun game!

Street Fighter II  – I hate Chun Li. I hate her voice.. I hate her moves.. and I hate the fact that any person playing Chun Li can whip my arse in the game! Yes.. Street Fighter II is available via the Live Network and yes.. it’s as annoyingly fun as ever – sucking hours of my life away – forcing me to remember stupid moves such as half circle + some button to do some crazy move which I’ll never remember. *sigh*.. if they would only bring back MK2…

Ultimate MK3 – yes.. almost.. they almost gave me my wish but they chose to bring back Ultimate MK3 instead. Nice game.. but by MK3, I stopped playing the series. Perhaps I was sick of the game.. perhaps I just stunk at it (which is probably the case). I loved MK2 the most actually. I remember playing against my good friend in college – it was Raiden (me) vs Kung Lao(my friend).. and yes.. Raiden always lost. BUT AT LEAST I BEAT THE COMPUTER!!! yay.

Ok.. that was weak.. but nevertheless.. MK3 on the 360 is somewhat fun.

There are some more “modern” games on the 360 of course.

One of the first games I ever purchased on the network was Geometry Wars Evolved. OMG – after the first play, my eyes nearly overloaded with all the shapes and colors flying across the screen! I seriously contemplated wearing sunglasses! But in all seriousness, I was the butt of all jokes at work. Here I had a $400 dollar game console and I was playing a $5 dollar 2D game on it. Yup. Sad but true.. and yet oh so much fun.

Cloning Clyde – this absurdly funny game is definitely a joy to look at on an HDTV set. The concept is simple really – Clone Clyde, solve some puzzles and find some things! I love the game play and I love the puzzle solving but most of all, I love the sound effects. Doesn’t it somehow remind you of a Lemmings game???

Finally.. the game I hate the most on the Live Arcade is….

Bejeweled 2. Why? Because it takes so DAMN long to play and when I’m not playing, my wife is playing and she takes so darn long to play!!! Plus.. when you finally die.. you realize how many MORE hours people ahead of you in the rankings played. WTH!!! Did someone really play 100+ hours of this game to reach the top 10?? Can someone please tell me why????

Yes.. it’s a damned game but omg it’s fun.

There is of course much much more on the Live Arcade – I’ve only touched the surface as to why I love and hate it so much. What about you?? What do you think of it?

So there you have it.. my bitterness towards the Xbox Live Arcade and my gratitude. It’s brought back memories of yesteryear.. yet it makes me realize that I’m getting old. Boo.

Finally.. if you want a real laugh, check out my Xbox gamer card here.

No Tags