I’ll just go ahead and say it: My faith in Xbox Live Arcade is restored. Just when I thought the service was on life support, it puts out two titles which are arguably the best it’s seen all year.

Roboblitz is a great platform puzzler in the same vein as Munch’s Odyssey. Yes, we know it runs on the Unreal 3 engine. Yes, we know it clocks in at an impressive 50MB. But more importantly, it plays great. Complaints run from it’s relatively short story campaign, to the slightly twitchy player controls, but I couldn’t disagree more. The single player game takes between a couple and a few hours to complete, which is absolutely acceptable for an arcade title. I think people are spoiled by the infinite replayability of earlier titles like Geometry Wars and Hexic. And the controls are intentional, like rolling a marble with brakes. You are controlling a robot with a rollerball for legs, after all. But it nails the things it needs to – like the ingenuity of its puzzles, the beautiful graphics and design, the wonderful sci-fi aesthetics, and exemplary music. Particuarly the music, as it hearkens the ethereal electronic vistas of Cosmos in the lulls and rises to the level and quality of Cold Storage‘s classic WipEout soundtracks. Even better, the developers revealed on a recent Major Nelson podcast a free download will be available soon enabling a multiplayer mode. The biggest issue with the game is the price, which I cannot rightly defend but was happy to support nonetheless. In an environment where denizens of the gaming world scour CheapAssGamer, $15 for a couple of hours of gameplay is not something most people will accept. I wonder if it will have an impact on overall sales, which would be unfortunate for a title of this caliber; perhaps $10 would have been the sweet spot for most gamers.

Assault Heroes is awesome, and it seems to be the consensus among the gaming community. $10 for a great, top-down shooter with weapon power-ups and amazing presentation. With Roboblitz, people are complaining about its length, but again I think it is a question of gamers’ expecatations as an XBLA title, it is completely within the range of other arcade titles. And although it is level-based and has a definitive ending, it’s fun to replay levels over and over again – the true sign of a great arcade experience.

XBLA rounded out the year with one last original title, and although Novadrome failed to impress, the service ended arguably on a strong note. But is it too little, too late? Nintendo’s Virtual Console service has been under similar criticism for rationing their quality titles, but they also have volume on their side – launching five to ten VC titles per week, regardless of quality, is much better than launching one overhyped, oft-delayed and underachieving retro title to a rabid consumer base. And Sony’s undercooked online service may have helped them in this regard, since no one really expects them to do anything with the PS3 to compete with Microsoft and Nintendo.

XBLA has a number of AAA original titles that have been announced but not yet released. If these make their way out next year, it would only be a marginal improvement over 2006. Other problems still remain, such as overpromising and underdelivering content, deceptive microtransactions, and quality control, which also need to be addressed with management. Whether original content alone will be enough to reinstate the thunder it had at the Xbox 360′s launch and attract gamers back to the service is still undecided.

‘Twas the night before the night before Christmas, and all through the house; not a creature was stirring, but my wife would beg to differ gaming doesn’t bring out the monster in me. So as my family was fast asleep, I decided to pull out my Sega Saturn to reminisce the classic days of Japanese gaming. And one game in particular – Christmas NiGHTs – to help me get into the spirit. Now, this was a momentous event, because for the past four years I’ve been separated from my old gaming systems as I’ve moved along the East Coast.

This year not only did I have my reunion with my Saturn, but I also splurged on an s-video cable for Good Old Black. “Saturn, meet my HDTV. HDTV, meet Saturn. No, this isn’t Virtual Console. This is the real deal. See that? Those aren’t wrinkles on the Saturn, those are battle scars. Yup, earned during the great war with Sony. Games? You wan’t to see 32-bit games? I’ll show you some classics.” And so I put the disc in, powered up the console, and…

…”Holy hell, this looks like shit!”

The guys at PlayerOne said the s-video ruined the Saturn for them, and after such a long absence and nothing but fond memories, it sure didn’t look like how I remembered it. I quickly swapped out the s-video cables with the trusty composite connectors of yesteryear. Suddenly, the snowflakes on Christmas NiGHTs looked like, well, more like snowflakes, rather than huge pixelated faux-transparent snowballs. Ah, and who could forget the not-ready-for-full-screen FMV? And the game itself? Well, I remembered I used to be pretty good, having memorized the stages and racking up combos for an “A” rating back in the day. Now, I was slogging along, getting a “C” and being honestly happy I had moved one step toward finishing the level and my obligatory play-through. Yes, it was a sad day to realize I was wearing Sega goggles throughout the entire 32-bit generation.

I wanted to redeem myself, so during my walk of shame back to my stash of games I decided to continue on with Viva Pinata. And I have to say, even though it’s a serious contender for Game of the Year, I’m getting disappointed with it the more I play. First, it makes you earn money to buy certain items in the garden in order to breed and attract new pinatas. This is a Rare game first and foremost, in that earning money is almost the same mundane gameplay mechanic as collecting items in their past games. It hurts Viva Pinata because it frequently takes you out of the garden; and into playing the same minigames over and over again, and navigating through menus and loading screens looking at items you need to buy but would take forever to afford. 1000 coins for milk? And I need two of them? Fuggetaboutit.

Another gripe I have against Viva is it never gives any indication as to where the game is going. I had to clutter my limited garden space with necessary houses and items, and when I achieved a certain level my garden space expanded. So now I have all these houses right in the center of my garden, with all this empty space on the fringes which will undoubtedly continue to grow. How can I organize my garden now? Do I keep building on the fringes? How do I know how to build paths and fences when I have no idea how they will interfere with other objects later on? It would have been nice to have the entire plot of land to work with at the onset.

I bought this game because I heard building up the garden was so much fun, but about four hours into it, I’ve found it to be a royal chore. There is so much that takes you out of the garden, such as the minigames and village menus, it’s difficult to make a connection with any of the creatures I’ve helped create. Yet, I’m oddly attracted to continuing on with the game, just to see if it gets any better or to make sure if I’m just not doing something I should be.

Wanting to rinse the bad taste of disappointment from my lips, I wrapped up my nightcap with a few levels of the irresistible Assault Heroes. Nothing like some mass destruction before I settled down for a cold winter’s nap. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night…of gaming!

Bet on me, loyal readers. I have yet to be proven wrong in my videogame analysis. Maybe because my interests have been firmly rooted in the national pastime of the Geek Republic for the past, oh, 30 years (really? damn!), I can walk the walk.

So let me highlight some choice gems in the news recently:

• Viva Pinata is brilliant – I said it back in March, and everyone is saying it now. ‘Nuff said.
• Wii FTW – Okay, so maybe my predictions were a stated in a roundabout way, but the gist of what I said 12 months ago is looking more and more right on. The Wii “will even challenge Sony for the top spot” in Japan; the PS3 “will undoubtedly succeed initially, but will be hurt in the long run by not having an online infrastructure to compete against Nintendo and Microsoft”; and Microsoft “will battle Sony for Western supremacy, while jockeying Nintendo in the content distribution wars worldwide, and staying afloat in Japan thanks to more cross-platform development and droves of developers leaving Sony for more fertile console land.”
• EA’s Man in the Mirror – When I said EA was jumping the shark about a year ago, I don’t think that was any great prediction. They are a juggernaut publisher that exists by moving millions of franchised and licensed titles across every platform imaginable. When someone thinks about EA, the first word that comes to mind isn’t “innovative”. But now they are taking pressure from analysts, enough to even respond to the criticisms. That’s the new EA, for sure.

Puh-leeze. Someone writes a preview about the nunchuck mechanics of Zelda and gets on the Gaming’s Top 50 Journalists list. I make a few timely, accurate and insightful predictions of the industry and get widely ignored. Oh well, I don’t care as long as I can keep saying, “I told you so.”

And to continue my lucky streak, this week’s lotto numbers are 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42. Don’t blame me if you subsequently get stranded on a deserted island.