Update: As pointed out by some others, there have been 1600 Microsoft Points priced games in the past, including Sam & Max episodes and that, uh, let's say questionable Watchmen game.

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Sans Alan Wake, Microsoft’s slate of Xbox Live Arcade releases for the recent House Party promotion were a bit underwhelming, but I’m already feeling better about the next one: Arcade Next.

Okay, so maybe the name’s terrible, but the games sounds pretty good: Trials Evolution, Minecraft, Fable Heroes, and Bloodforge.

There are a couple of firsts happening with Arcade Next, too. Minecraft, unless I’m mistaken, is the first game to charge $20 (1600 Microsoft Points) on Xbox Live Arcade, and all of them will allow you to earn up to 400 points. Yeah, buddy, 400.

• Trials Evolution (1200 Microsoft Points / $15) -- April 18
• Bloodforge (1200 Microsoft Points / $15) -- April 25
• Fable Heroes (800 Microsoft Points / $10) -- May 2
• Minecraft: Xbox Edition (1600 Microsoft Points / $20) -- May 9

One of the big selling points for Minecraft has been Kinect support, but that's coming in a patch after release.

Update: As pointed out by some others, there have been 1600 Microsoft Points priced games in the past, including Sam & Max episodes and that, uh, let's say questionable Watchmen game.

--

Sans Alan Wake, Microsoft’s slate of Xbox Live Arcade releases for the recent House Party promotion were a bit underwhelming, but I’m already feeling better about the next one: Arcade Next.

Okay, so maybe the name’s terrible, but the games sounds pretty good: Trials Evolution, Minecraft, Fable Heroes, and Bloodforge.

There are a couple of firsts happening with Arcade Next, too. Minecraft, unless I’m mistaken, is the first game to charge $20 (1600 Microsoft Points) on Xbox Live Arcade, and all of them will allow you to earn up to 400 points. Yeah, buddy, 400.

• Trials Evolution (1200 Microsoft Points / $15) -- April 18
• Bloodforge (1200 Microsoft Points / $15) -- April 25
• Fable Heroes (800 Microsoft Points / $10) -- May 2
• Minecraft: Xbox Edition (1600 Microsoft Points / $20) -- May 9

One of the big selling points for Minecraft has been Kinect support, but that's coming in a patch after release.

Lots of stuff.

Very cool

I WANT TRIALS EVOLUTION ALL OVER MY FACE

If Fable Heroes is actually 800 MS Points, then it's $10.

if memory serves, there was a Watchmen game that was $20 a few years ago.

Puzzle Quest Galactrix and Sam & Max, and I think maybe one other XBLA game was priced at 1600 before.

Naming conventions are on a new low.

I feel it should be formatted thusly: arcade NEXT!

@rjayb89 said:

I WANT TRIALS EVOLUTION ALL OVER MY FACE

I NEED TRIALS ALL OVER MY FACE!

@thellama042 said:

If Fable Heroes is actually 800 MS Points, then it's $10.

It's Microsoft's funny-money points system at play, throwing the consumer off. The demeaning and insulting system has scored a point today against Patrick.

I will definitely buy Trials Evolution. Loved Trials HD. I even got gold medal on all the Extreme tracks.

NEED TRIALS!

The Penny-Arcade game was 1600 points I believe.

@NuclearMusic said:

Breaking Brad: Trials Evolution

This is a beautiful idea. GB, plz make it happen!

@patrickklepek Someone else mentioned it, but both Sam & Max Save the World and Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space were 1600 points, as well as Puzzle Quest Galatrix. So no, you're mistaken.

Bloodforge.

BLOOD-FORGE

That is like the name of a fake table top RPG in Dethklok.

@Tylea002 said:

I feel it should be formatted thusly: arcade NEXT!

Yeah, I've either played these or have no interest in them. NEXT!

I hope for their sake they have the sense to go into the indiecade and pull all of the Minecraft clones that are available for a dollar or something, it makes the $20 asking price absolutely ridiculous, especially for a sandbox game with no actual campaign or goal.

Lol at first ever 1600 point game when google alone shows you otherwise. News at its finest...

I'm gonna get Trials. That multitplayer looks like some serious fun.

Trials Evolution will be day-one purchase

These all look pretty great. However i have no interest in Minecraft so i'll skip that one.

I'm kind of pumped for Minecraft on Xbox, I don't know why. I could've played it on the PC, but never did. Now I'll just play it this way.

Also, Trials.

Also, 400 points a game. That's kinda cool.

$20 for Minecraft on the Xbox seems a little too much..

Was looking forward to Minecraft, but $20 is probably too high a price. Will wait and see how it pans out.

APRIL 18TH!!!! Bring it!

I got a chance to play Trials at GDC this year and damn was it fun. Felt great like the last one, and the local multi-player is crazing fun. Blowing up your bike to launch yourself into first place at the finish line, netting the win is fun that just wasn't getting old.

I believe the actual first game to go for $20/1600msp was the first Penny Arcade game

Minecraft on Xbox is $10 cheaper than the PC version. I don't see how that's not fair.

@MormonWarrior said:

@patrickklepek Someone else mentioned it, but both Sam & Max Save the World and Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space were 1600 points, as well as Puzzle Quest Galatrix. So no, you're mistaken.

So was the first episode of Watchmen: The End is Nigh, and I'm pretty sure Penny Arcade Adventures might've been $20 too.

Trials: Breaking Brad edition please.

Bloodforge looks extremely promising. I've been following it ever since it's reveal and I love the concept of it - hopefully it'll turn out good.

@okand said:

The Penny-Arcade game was 1600 points I believe.

Yeah, the first one was. The second episode dropped down to 1,200.

@mrsmiley said:

Minecraft on Xbox is $10 cheaper than the PC version. I don't see how that's not fair.

Thank you. I'm glad somebody else said it.

@xobballox said:

Trials: Breaking Brad edition please.

YES

@NuclearMusic said:

Breaking Brad: Trials Evolution

Yes!! 8 hour live marathon!!

Every XBLA release is a special event! And when everything is special, everything is special!

The only thing that's got my attention here is Trials Evolution.

A ton of people, including myself, have been debunking the apparently very common misconception that Minecraft is the first 1600 msp game on the service. One would think that if you had to type something like, "unless I'm mistaken," into a news article you'd go ahead and spend 3 minutes with google to fact check yourself.

Why exactly is the name terrible? Seems like your typical promotional name? It's fitting, at least. These are the next Arcade games to be released. Do we really need to complain about something as small as the name of a promotion now? Get SOME kind of dig in on everything? Is knowing we've got some neat games coming down the pipeline not enough? Could I use any more question marks? The answer is yes?

Also, I think the Sam & Max seasons are 1,600 points.

i spy a typo!

Patrick it takes no effort to look up something if you're not sure about it. Makes you look super lazy. Read over these articles before you put them up too Jesus.

I wonder if there will be a Minecraft-edition Xbox on which I can play Minecraft: Xbox Edition. I'll just leave this here.

1600 is definitely worth it for Minecraft if it's your kind of game, but I think I'm contempt with my PC version.

@YOUNGLINK said:

@NuclearMusic said:

Breaking Brad: Trials Evolution

This is a beautiful idea. GB, plz make it happen!

Brad wants this too happen . We can quote him on this :D

@Autechresaint said:

$20 for Minecraft on the Xbox seems a little too much..

You're aware it's $30 on PC/Mac now, right?

That Fable game looks pretty questionable.

If you are constantly running a promotion, is it really a promotion?

I cannot believe they are not doing promotion for Skullgirls...