14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that Microsoft will only be offering the newly announced Destination Arcade interface for Xbox Live Arcade, for a limited period. The new browsing service has been delayed to July 21, in order to be introduced when the Summer of Arcade promotion kicks off, and Microsoft plans to take it off line on August 18, when the same promotion ends. Apparently only those Xbox 360 users who are in North America will be able to try out this alternative XBLA concept.
Larry Hryb aka Major Nelson, who is the director of programming for the Xbox Live service offered by Microsoft, posted on his official blog that “I wanted to let you know that the Destination Arcade release date has been moved to next Wednesday to kick off the launch of the Summer of Arcade.” Later he updated his message to read that, “I have learned that the Destination Arcade app will only be available for the duration of the Summer of Arcade promotion which ends August 18th.”
Destination Arcade will allow gamers who like top pick up games from Xbox Live Arcade with alternative ways of sorting the titles offered on the service. Price and ratings offered by the users could be used as search criteria and Destination Arcade was also set to offer a news feed about new releases. It's not clear why Microsoft would offer the alternative browser for such a short period but the company might be only testing the features and might incorporate them in the normal version of XBLA later in the year.
The Summer of Arcade promotion is set to include titles like Limbo, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Castlevania Harmony of Despair, Monday Night Combat and, finally, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. All will be offered with important price reductions and those who get them all are also set to get a kickback of 1200 Microsoft Points, which is 15 dollars in real world money.