Per an excellent article from Shacknews, Xbox Live Arcade may be moving away from playing the ideal platform for indie developers to test their games and more towards a "safer approach" to Live titles:
''Under conditions of anonymity, developers from other studios have indicated to Shacknews similar observations about Xbox Live Arcade's shift towards a more traditional, less "indie" publishing environment, citing high royalties, steep competition for room on the service, and a priority on safer projects."
Wow, that's not depressing (end sarcasm.) Another home run for the businessmen and strike for the creative types. it makes my heart sink, but it is surely an inevitability of an industry that has become more focused on dollars grossed than ever before. I am naturally supportive of indie titles as they have often been brave enough to break new ground, but it seems XBLA may not be the right enviroment for it any more.
Frozen Codebase's director of design, Norb Rozek, had more to share on the topic:
"I think Xbox Live Arcade has gotten to the point where the dreaded realities of business models are setting in. The wild wild west period is over...things aren't quite as 'yee-haw, kick down the doors, let's going in with our guns blazing' as you would like to hope. But what the hell, that's just the way things are, man."
Lots of ports and generic crowd pleasers to look forward to, I suppose? I guess I better start drinking.
[Via Shacknews]
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Contest:
4:19 PM on 10.29.2007
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The only thing that James Van Der Beek was ever good in was Varsity Blues, and he wasn’t even that good in that.
castle crashers will sell like hot cakes and they'll be singin a different tune, but seriously, other than space giraffe (which is really just a tempest clone) has there been any 'origonal' content on xbla?
Actually I think his best role was in Rules of Attraction which is an outstanding movie. Also, you get to see Jessica Biel in her underwear. Bonus!
As for the article, SUCK! How many times can one play galaga?
The GIF is so much better.
:)
licensed games and crossword puzzles on xbla...long live thq and thier 9001 crap games
And I'd point out that the royalty system had not been disclosed.
There are already about a zillion old Midway arcade game ports, most of them developed by Digital Eclipse or some other Backbone/Foundation 9 shop.
Gee, wonder why the Midway Arcade Treasures Xbox version isn't compatible yet. Come to think of it, neither are the Sega or Capcom old-game compilations ...
Their music sucks.
The same is true for the majority of indie developers out there... they just aren't that good. Did you see their great games when you stopped by Kentia hall to grab some air at the E3 before it jumped the shark? Yah, me neither. Kudos to Microsoft from cutting out the grubby homeless of the games world.
Also all you cocksuckers that think "indie games" are like shitty myspace bands, don't have any clue what those games are and have never played them. Many are a lot better than the multi-million dollar shitfests that see retail release every week.
I call BS, We might not see a crapload of original Ip's
I say nothing changes. its just as it is now 85% ports and remakes, 15 Original content.
It's hard for indie developers in general, and it always has been in multiple industries. They're called "independent" because they don't have gobs of cash for promotion and advertising and sometimes do offbeat things that don't appeal to a wide audience. They are always going to be the underdogs.
As more titles show up on XBLA, the promotion issue will really become obvious. Maybe instead of sorting everything the traditional way by genre (Adventure, Racing, Puzzle, etc), MS should offer some highlights (5 random, new developers, offbeat picks, etc.) Browsing XBLA is cumbersome, as you only have an icon and a description by which to judge whether to download a demo or not. Perhaps gameplay footage clips (not trailers)?
And, yes, sometimes the developers are inexperienced, and sometimes they just plain suck.