Microsoft has been boasting about its Xbox Arcade, a place for gamers to download titles for both the original Xbox and the 360.

Now they are touting the service—and a new version of the 360—as fun for the whole family. “We think this is great for families because in addition to games, DVD movies and music, we can provide all this on-demand entertainment as well,” said Xbox 360 global product manager Aaron Greenberg.

That’s all fine and dandy, but they are promoting a new $279.99 version of the Xbox 360 dubbed “Arcade” as part of the new package. It includes five games, but is not decorated with clowns or balloons, thank goodness. It does, however, have a wireless controller, the HDMI connection and 256MB of memory.

I love to get the kids together for a good old family grudge match of “Mutant Storm Reloaded,” don’t you? I guess when they say family it’s because someone has to pay for those games and constant console updates, right?

Seriously though, Reuters says that more than 100 family-friendly titles will be available soon. Expect kids to be begging for the $1.50 to $1.75 to create credits for “Backyardigans” and “Blue’s Clues” games and on-demand videos. I remember doing a dance for my dad to get quarters back in the day. They start ‘em young, don’t they?

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.