How to (better) promote Arena?

Ironduke

Spaceman
These are the top 10 arcade titles being played on XBLA as of September 1 (according to Major Nelson):

1 Streets of Rage 2
2 Puzzle Fighter HD
3 Bomberman LIVE
4 Track and Field
5 Sonic The Hedgehog
6 Space Giraffe
7 Hexic 2
8 TMNT 1989 Arcade
9 Spyglass Board Games
10 UNO

Now I don't know how good Arena sold, but it obviously didn't make it into the top 10 of XBLA gamers' favorite titles. I'm also bound to notice that there are next to zero players online whenever I want to host or join a multiplayer match. (ANY multiplayer match, mind you.) EA's Arena forums also seem to have a catnap. And last, but not least, the game itself got some really bad reviews as well, as most of you are certainly aware of.
I'm just wondering what we as a WC community could possibly do to promote Arena. I mean, we all want EA/Gaia to release some gamer pics along with new maps, ships, game modes - and in the long run, a new full-fledged WC title. Well, it's probably safe to claim that it's not going to happen as long as Arena isn't commercially successful. (And besides, we all want to play 16-player matches, don't we?)

I hope we can come up with something to shed new light on this IMHO underrated game and convince other gamers that it's well worth playing - as well as 800 MSP. Maybe someone can make a video showing some of our "Arena vets" battling it out in different multiplayer matches (possibly including chatter) or doing the ring game or whatever. Maybe we have to create more Arena fan art to generate interest... I'm sure YOU can come up with better ideas than I can! I just feel we have to do something about it. What do you think?
 
I just got my first online go on WC Arena. Now since it wasn't on my own network I couldn't change the firewall settings, but I couldn't find a single other game. Found one other player.

Grabbed the themes and will wait until our new net connection is setup, but how hard is to find a game with decent settings?

If its always this bad everyone please add Maverick Alex asap so I'll actually be able to get a game :)
 
I just got my first online go on WC Arena. Now since it wasn't on my own network I couldn't change the firewall settings, but I couldn't find a single other game. Found one other player.

Grabbed the themes and will wait until our new net connection is setup, but how hard is to find a game with decent settings?

If its always this bad everyone please add Maverick Alex asap so I'll actually be able to get a game :)

I think this past weekend was particularly slow because of the holiday in North america. Hopefully it will pick up during the week and after the CIC gang is back from dragoncon (who otherwise probably would have been up for some arena).

Though typically it is slow in the middle of the night as far as games go. What I find annoying is that people keep quiting the games I start before we can get enough people to actually start. Just hang around for a few extra minutes and eventualy there should be enough people.
 
I've noticed it as well. A few weeks ago it seems like there was always at least 1 or 2 games ready to go when i'd logon in the evenings. Now i find a game with 1 or 2 players, or nothing at all. When there is a game, there isn't enough players to get started so two of us spend awhile flying around hoping another couple of people will pop in.

I wish there were more people online, I loved the large battles that could be found when I first started playing, be it capship or another team match, free for all, or the bearpit. I don't know why players have fallen off so much, if they've lost interest or are busy. I really hope that they are just busy because of the holiday and because school is starting up again. Funny thing is, I've been playing Spyglass board games as well and over the last week I have been having trouble finding people to play chess or checkers as well, so maybe there is a drop in X-box live players overall?
 
I'm doing my part.. I'm telling all my friends at other forums how bloody great of a game arena is now that I finally get to play it!
 
I'm doing my part.. I'm telling all my friends at other forums how bloody great of a game arena is now that I finally get to play it!

As am I. Unfortunally most of them won't even give it a chance. They either say "It's just a crappy arcade game with WC stamped on it (which I tell them is completely false and diehard wignuts love it....to no avail) or that the demo sucked (which I tell them that the full game in multiplayer is nothing compared to the demo....also to no avail).

Changing the subject: does anyone know how many copies have been sold so far. I know it's not in the top ten this week but I remember it being the week it was released.
 
This is a real problem, if it doesn't recover no new players will start as there are no games for them to get involved in.

I think the best thing we can do is ensure we're online as much as possible so that other people can find games.

Heaven only knows how I'm going to earn the achievement which requires 16 players.
 
I have to admit, I haven't been playing Arena for at least a week but I was very busy and hope it gets better at the end of the week or at least next week.

I have been advertising the game to every person I know who owns a XBox 360 and they all bought it. Sadly, that's only two people. One of them does not like the game, the other one thinks it's ok but he's a very casual game (sort of like me) with absolutely no WC experience who favours sports games. He does not even have a XBox live abonnement yet, we've been only playing with his one month try out. Though he said he would buy a Live abonnement when he returns which will take more than a month sadly. He played with me everytime I asked him but to be honest, I think he's more doing me a favour than being a real fan of the game.

I also very rarely find games and when I do, it's mostly only with one or two people in it.

With so many WingNuts though, it should not be so hard to find games. Maybe we could make a fix Arena hour each week or have some sort of calendar when people will be playing. Sadly I am in a phase of life where very few things happen spontaneously.

I for one still need the 16-player Cap ship battle award (TCS Tiger's Claw) and I guess enough others do as well to be motivated.
 
Starting something like a "CIC Arena Tournament" on a regular basis sounds good to me... The only drawback would be the different time zones we're all in.
Concerning the TCS Tiger's Claw achievement: I only got that one because I was online when the game was initially released. There sure were a lot more games hosted at that time... ;)
(Then again, I was online during 3 to 5 a.m., which certainly won't happen too often.)
 
Feel free to add me to your friends list, I usually try to pop on at least once in the evening just to see if there are any matches going between 7 and 9pm central US time. If there are, I would be sure to stay around and play for awhile.
 
Starting something like a "CIC Arena Tournament" on a regular basis sounds good to me... The only drawback would be the different time zones we're all in.
Concerning the TCS Tiger's Claw achievement: I only got that one because I was online when the game was initially released. There sure were a lot more games hosted at that time... ;)
(Then again, I was online during 3 to 5 a.m., which certainly won't happen too often.)

Some of us were toying around with this possibility, organizing an event around Arena, WCP and Armada MP and have a little contest. We definitely should try organize a CIC Arena time a few times a week so that we can get some good sized games going and get the TC achievement for those who still need it.
 
Concerning the TCS Tiger's Claw achievement: I only got that one because I was online when the game was initially released. There sure were a lot more games hosted at that time... ;)
(Then again, I was online during 3 to 5 a.m., which certainly won't happen too often.)

Well, the games I joined for Cap ship battle (two or three) never reached 16 even on that day - they stopped between 12 and 15! :mad:

Feel free to add me to your friends list, I usually try to pop on at least once in the evening just to see if there are any matches going between 7 and 9pm central US time. If there are, I would be sure to stay around and play for awhile.

I've just done so, but it seems I won't get to play XBox already this weekend. I hope for next week.
Though between 7and 9 pm CST means between 2 and 4 am here - chances are high I am sleeping. ;)

Some of us were toying around with this possibility, organizing an event around Arena, WCP and Armada MP and have a little contest. We definitely should try organize a CIC Arena time a few times a week so that we can get some good sized games going and get the TC achievement for those who still need it.

Some sort of weekly Arena time would be awesome and shouldn't be too hard. Tournaments...why not. But I am not very competetive.
 
A quick note about some annoyances: Just last night we had a few matches going in arena (though we had to wait a bit till people were aware of our match). We started da played match so people could see it and join after it was started and so we could invite people. However there was this one guy who played the first round and then it seemed he ignored all his messages and/or had his notifications off

It was like he kept starting matches without checking for new games. So we figured maybe we'd join one of his matches (we had at that point gone back to three players and needed one more which got filled by someone else anyway) but by the time we tried to join his match he switched game modes again to single player...

People, if you are really interested in playing more than one arena match, First, make sure you check your messages because We'll almost certainly invite you to the next match. All the players you just played will be on the third tab when you press the big green x button. So you will be able to invite anyone you just played and can see them online. Second, hang around after the match on the score screen for a few extra minutes before going back to the menu. Even on team matches, everyone will be able to chat during the score screen and it's an excellent place to tell people about plans for your next match - especially if you want to start a ranked match.
 
Some sort of weekly Arena time would be awesome and shouldn't be too hard. Tournaments...why not. But I am not very competetive.
I second that thought. Regular Arena matches would be great!
My main problem with any XBLA game is: I have a headset, but either it's not working properly or I can't use it because my wife's already in bed and I don't want to wake her up. :D Yet online multiplayer is much more fun if you can actually chat with the people you're playing with...
 
Yeah, online play without yelling at the other players (as long as you know them) is not very fun.

Is your XBox in the bedroom or are just talking that loudly? :)

Edit: A thought just occured. Maybe we could make several fixed Arena hours for the different timezones. E.g. the Europeans get a day and hour, the west, central and east US-Americans get one and so on.
 
Wooo my first ever online game, by some random coincidence the first game I managed to get onto seemed to be a wingnut organised one. Every time I took on LOAF I regretted it.
Now if we can just get our internet sorted maybe I'll find more games are available to an open NAT.
I'm surprised how quickly I'm getting to grips with the controls. I think this could be the problem, we just need more people online. Its rocking so far! :)
 
Yeah, online play without yelling at the other players (as long as you know them) is not very fun.

Is your XBox in the bedroom or are just talking that loudly? :)
It's in the living room, but our bedroom is right next to it - with no door in between, so... ;)
 
Id say the game needs expansion. Content being all the original material they planned from the start SP campaign etc.
 
I wish i could play this more too. I'm at college again and xbox live is not supported on the schools network. Any chance i get when i go home i will be on there. Ive got a few of my friends to by it. When it comes to creating a video or something to promote it I'm totally in on it. I love that game, one of the best ten bucks i've spent. I would love more maps, definitly, gamer pics. More ships, anything to help would be great. Single player modes are needed. The ones on there are good but it needs a little more meat on it.
 
Had an interesting "game" today.

We couldn't get enough players but I was chatting to someone on live as he told me how fantastic it was when there were enough people for 16 player capship games. Apparently it was really busy to begin with? (Does match the supposed trend of XBL players migrating from game to game).
Eurgh I'm so gutted I missed the launch, sounds like it was awesome.

Wingnut tournament please! :)
 
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