Microsoft Corp.’s
Xbox 360 may exemplify the high-tech future of video game consoles, but the company is hoping some of its avid players still pine for the good old days of Pac-Man and Frogger.
Microsoft plans Wednesday to offer some additional updated versions of popular 1980s-era games through Xbox Live Arcade, an online service that lets people download free trial games and buy them for $5 to $15.
The company will offer a game every Wednesday for the next five weeks, including some retro games with higher-end graphics and new ways to play together. The first game on offer is the log-hopping, traffic-dodging classic, Frogger.
Greg Canessa, a group manager for Xbox Live Arcade, said the downloadable games service has been surprisingly successful for the company. About 5 million free trial games have been downloaded by Xbox 360 owners, he said, and 21.7 percent of those have been “converted,” meaning a person decided to pay for the permanent version.
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