Xbox Live Arcade has been a random field of quality tiles and junk, not unlike the mainstream retail market. However, Live’s mandatory requirement of demo mode for each game makes it easier to separate the quality from the chaff.

With company over to my house one night recently, I was showing off some games to a pair of father and son gamers. Zombie Apocalypse came up in conversation.

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a game company, spun off from a movie studio, which was a think tank for a new generation of video games.