Microsoft announced the first annual Xbox Live Arcade Awards yesterday at a private reception at the Gamers Developer Conference. Awards were determined by feedback from over 26,000 fans as well as Live Arcade data. The following are the list of winners:

Best Overall Arcade Game: Bomberman Live

Best Classic Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Best Original Game: Pac-Man: Championship Edition

Best Family-Friendly Game: Pac-Man: Championship Edition

Best Competitive Multiplayer Game: Bomberman Live

Best Cooperative Multiplayer Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Best-Selling Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Most-Played Game: Worms

Highest-Rated Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Xbox Live Arcade Staff Choice: Pac-Man: Championship Edition

Judging by the awards, retro games are still the bread and butter of XBLA. As long as the Live Arcade keeps growing - the number of players using service increased 145% since last year - it's going to stay that way. Even though Xbox Live had a rocky 2007 with the wide outages during the holidays, Live Arcade has always performed well for Microsoft and I don't blame them for starting this award show/love fest.