"Our initial plan was to port lots of good arcade titles to XBLA. We talked to IP holders of these titles, and persuaded them. We secured these licenses, and finally talked with Microsoft. There they rejected all of our proposals saying, 'We are going to cut down faithful arcade ports.' We felt so frustrated. We wanted to show them that their decision was wrong. So we switched our two most promising projects into retail."

Cutting down on faithful arcade ports? You have a developer like Cave -- makers of some of the richest shooter experiences out there and founders of the Bullet Hell genre -- come to you in search of a home for two of their best titles, and you turn them down? To make way for what, Boogie Bunnies 2?

As sad as it is to think we could have downloaded these two games on the cheap for XBLA, sadder still is the idea that Microsoft wishes to cut down on arcade ports. The company has done a fairly decent job of selecting quality titles for its adopted library of classics, and there was an insane amount of potential there for the future. 

While it makes sense to want to bring more original content to XBLA, (and I am in full support of this,) I don't quite understand the logic behind turning down such fantastic games when they would surely result in big bags of money for everyone involved. Furthermore, given Microsoft's track record for abysmal quality in its choices of original games, it makes even less sense.

[Via this thing]