Microsoft wants you to

Mar 3, 2009 09:02 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft seems to be finally learning to engage its customer base. For the second year, the company is inviting all interested gamers to vote for their favorite title released in 2008 using the Xbox Live Arcade service for the Xbox 360 home gaming console.

Microsoft has set up nine categories, each being comprised of six nominees. The voting process will start on March 3 and will continue for one week, until March 10. Those interested can use the Spotlight Channel on Xbox Live. Microsoft has not announced so far the date on which the winners would be presented.

Nominated for Best Overall Arcade Game are Braid, Castle Crashers, Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2, Street Fighter II HD Remix and Portal: Still Alive.

For Best Family Game, players can choose from Castle Crashers, N+, Braid, Penny Arcade Episode 1, Schizoid and Age of Booty, while Best Co-operative Multiplayer Game nominees are Castle Crashers, Schizoid, Bionic Commando Rearmed, N+, Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2.

The time travel feature in Braid, the use of Avatars directly in A Kingdom for Keflings, retail integration for Fable II Pub Games, level sharing in N+ and the dynamic replay element of Duke Nukem 3D are up for the Best Innovation in XBLA award. Best Classic/Remake Game is a competition between Bionic Commando Rearmed, Street Fighter II HD Remix, Mega Man 9, Galaga Legions, and Rez HD.

The names of the nominees show just how much the XBLA titles took up the interest of gamers in 2008. Most of the releases have been talked about intensively and Microsoft is counting on Xbox Live Arcade as one of the most attractive services for the Xbox 360. At the moment, the three big home console makers, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, are trying to provide as much content as possible through digital distribution in order to attract gamers to their platforms.