Like just about everybody else, we’re hooked on the bite-sized gameplay and impulse-buy prices that make Xbox Live Arcade so appealing. But we say it’s time to start thinking beyond the traditional puzzle, card, and classic-coin-op categories and realize what Xbox Live Arcade can achieve that nobody else can. Here are someconcepts we want to download as soon as possible…somebody out there, please make them!

Let’s Make a Wheel of Jeopardy
Despite the genre’s renewable popularity, there are no trivia games on Xbox Live Arcade. What better way to fill that void than with a global game show offering new questions weekly? Having fresh shows every week would keep players coming back, and it should be easy to create a synchronized timer so three or four players could lock in their answers without it devolving into a contest of buzzer-ringing speed. You’ve already got rankings and can create seasons; surely there are more people than just us who want to prove how smart they are. And just because it’s brainy doesn’t mean it needs to be dorky: what are the folks behind the slick and witty You Don’t Know Jack series up to lately? Surely those guys have got families to feed. Combine that with the game-show-friendly Big Button Controller that comes with SceneIt! -- a great game that criminally does not support Live play -- and you've got nothing but excuses left.
WE’D PAY: 800 Points per month to subscribe to the show

You Don't Know Jack any more than Microsoft knows how to do a game show on Live.

An Arcade Party
There are already eight Mario Party titles on Nintendo consoles, with more undoubtedly on the way. Xbox Live Arcade games like Hardwood Backgammon are quaint, but they lack the adrenaline-fueled four-player action that only the Mario Party series seems to have really nailed. The board-game aspect would give our hoped-for Xbox Live Arcade equivalent some structure and a fairly leisurely pace, while the minigames would keep it from being, well, Hardwood Backgammon. Need a kick-start? Start with the best four-player contests from the original-Xbox launch title Fuzion Frenzy and let the ideas start building from there.
WE’D PAY: 400 Points

A Mario Party style board game with mini-games would be an instant XBLA hit.

Four for Fighting
Take another cue from Nintendo and look at the gameplay dynamic of Super Smash Bros. Melee. It’s wacky, it’s cute, it’s violent, and all four players share the screen at the same time. We don’t really want Microsoft’s stable of characters to step up to a similar smackdown (Conker vs. Blinx, anyone?), and we don't think Small Arms worked as well as it could have. Rather than watch the genre die, let’s see someone with a sadistic streak create a funny, more mature take on the same concept. Face it: If Nintendo had gotten its act together with online multiplayer, an Internet-enabled SSBM would make Live look foolish.
WE’D PAY: 800 Points

Small Arms: Good, but not great. Why not try again?

Fantasy Sports
Fantasy baseball (and football, and basketball, and hockey, and maybe even lacrosse) thrives in web communities; why not on Xbox Live? Forget for a moment that every major-league licensed sports game already supports multiplayer action and think instead about the power of the network. Live already connects a few million sports fans; give them an Arcade download that lets them set up leagues quickly and easily. The latest roster data and stats can easily be imported over the network, making it a hassle-free experience for the players. Put some Microsoft Points, team jerseys, and one-of-a-kind “season champ” gamer pictures up as prizes, and wham! — home run.
WE’D PAY: 1,600 Points to buy in for a whole season upfront

If fantasy sport leagues work on the web, why wouldn't they work for XBLA?

The Rare Museum
R.C. Pro-Am. Battletoads. Killer Instinct. There are some real gems in Rare’s back-catalog, and since Microsoft now owns Rare, it’d be dreamy if these treasures were released in a special wing of Xbox Live Arcade. Jetpac Refuelled was a nice tease; now go all the way. We’d be particularly keen to see rarities like the arcade version of Battletoads (not the impossibly difficult 16-bit version!) — which EA just barely produced as a coin-op in 1994 — make the cut.
WE’D PAY: 400 Points per game

Most people don't even know a coin-op Battletoads existed.

I Still Love Bees
Remember ilovebees? During the promotion of Halo 2, players loved searching websites, going to real-world locations, getting cryptic emails, even picking up random payphones to get the next clue in a long, twisted mystery plot — all part of a new genre called alternate-reality games (ARGs). The current hot examples are Perplex City, which mixes Mensa-style mental puzzles with secret blogs and a real-world treasure hunt, and Edoc Laundry, a mystery told in T-shirts (yes, really) that was created by ilovebees alumni.

Arcade could be the perfect delivery medium for a similar game: A game programmer disappears under mysterious circumstances. Turns out he was trying to reveal a conspiracy by planting subtle hints in his games, which are slowly released as Arcade titles. Each one features not only enjoyable gameplay, but also hidden easter eggs that are pieces of a larger puzzle. (Atari did this 20 years ago with the Swordquest series of games [Earthworld, Fireworld, et al.] on the 2600.) Trouble is, the folks who have the most to lose if the truth gets out are aware of what you’ve found, because your growing list of Achievements is sending up warning flags. That leads to players getting cryptic, perhaps threatening, text and voice messages via Xbox Live. (And isn’t that video camera coming out soon? Hmmm.) Make Xbox.com’s forums the official home of following the trail.

Of course, ARGs work best when they evolve naturally. Microsoft wouldn’t be able to announce to the world, “Hey, we’re launching an ARG, so, um, look here for the first clues!” Such a game would have to unfold at its own pace, with players noting the peculiarities and putting the pieces together for themselves, identifying the trail as they walk it. Then again, who’s to say something like this hasn’t already started...?
WE’D PAY: 400 Points per game, knowing that each one offers more than it seems

Earthworld on Atari 2600: The original ARG?

That's a handful of our ideas. How about yours?