Simple Games Vie for Live Arcade Glory

The Xbox 360 may be all about HD, but that doesn't mean everything needs to be overly complex. Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade game inside.

The Xbox 360's focus is on high-definition next-generation games, many of which are complex and intricate, but there's another, softer side to the story: Xbox Live Arcade. Here you'll find bite-sized games built around simple concepts.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is top of the Arcade chart

The virtual arcade, which will soon have games both new and old from dozens of publishers, has been going down a storm since the Xbox 360 launched in November and Microsoft has revealed the top games on the service.

Twitch gamers have been eating up No. 1 game Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, which was developed by Project Gotham Racing 3 creator Bizarre, but it is retro games, such as Midway's Gauntlet and Joust, and puzzle games, such as Bejewelled II, that are dominating the download charts.

There were concerns that Xbox Live Arcade would bomb again, as many would say the original Xbox version did, because prices were too high, but the points-based system, where gamers buy so-called Microsoft points that can be redeemed for Xbox Live Marketplace goods including games, seems to have helped hide the cost. Either that or gamers are now ready to pay up to £10 for downloadable games.

Earlier this year, Microsoft revealed that the Xbox Live Marketplace had already seen 4 million downloads in the month and a half since launch.

The Top 10 games on Xbox Live Arcade are given below:

1. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
2. Gauntlet
3. Smash TV
4. Bejewelled II
5. Zuma
6. Bankshot Billiards
7. Outpost Kaloki
8. Mutant Storm Reloaded
9. Joust
10. Wik: Fable of Souls

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games