Arcades were great. The carpet used to make you feel sick and chewing gum was always just where you happened to be leaning. The games were alright, though. It wasn’t as though someone always used to win on that coin-rolling machine you had just emptied all your ten-pences into, or that bigger kids seemed to know just when to muscle you off the game you had so very nearly finished.
No, arcades were great, at least according to some of you lot. I bet you smell of chips and vinegar too. But Microsoft has had a much better idea, and one it started to really get excited about with Xbox 360: Live Arcade. It’s all very simple: pop the sort of arcade games we like to play somewhere we can download them from and then play them on our Xbox 360s.
But what’s this? Now they’re going one better. Behold the Xbox 360 Arcade, a new family version of the console that costs under GBP 200 and has all you need to play some of the rather stonking games that have come out this year. It comes with an HDMI port for lots of pixies or something, a wireless pad, a 256MB memory card, and five free Live Arcade games: Pac-Man Championship Edition, UNO, Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy and Luxor. Coo.
Even better is that Microsoft is celebrating by holding our hand and offering you one for free. It is even throwing in Every Extend Extra Extreme and Tetris Splash for the winner and four runners-up. All you have to do is answer our silly old question below and you could be rolling in arcade memories this Christmas. I even have a holiday-themed jumper on to reinforce my point.
What are arcades famous for?
Wednesday 31st October
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