N+ developers Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard have strongly criticized Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade platform, branding the vast majority of its games "shit" and essentially accusing the company of betraying its own ideals. In an interview with Gamasutra, the ballsy game creators talked about how those with the power and the money have negatively influenced XBLA by watering it down as if it were no different than retail.
"There's all these big-budget [games] with big publishers making them, and the real problem, I think, is that the same people who are deciding what retail games get greenlit are deciding what Live Arcade games get greenlit," explained Burns. "I guess it's because they have a lot of power that no one has pointed out that that's the primary reason. Those decisions that are ruining Live Arcade ... it's like, who greenlit Word Puzzle? Who green-lit that hoverboard game that's just shit?"
Raigan was no more complimentary, stating that; "They all suck. It's like, when we started out, we were excited, just like with N. There were 30 games on Live Arcade. If N was one of them, it would stand out. Now there's like a hundred games, and they're all shit."
This last paragraph is usually where an associate editor would interject with his or her opinion, but frankly, why bother? Burns and Mare put it far more eloquently than I ever could, and you'd have to be an EA executive to disagree with them. Because they're absolutely right.
Contest:
9:45 PM on 03.21.2008
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SWEET!
Right, got that much,
But as we all know, people don't buy unique stuff, just ask Jeff Minter.
So people demand cheap and simple ports of classics, and some ports are stunning, Worms HD, Rez HD and Bomberman Live to name a few, but any service adding new games weekly is going to have to 'pad' it out with lesser fare.
I bought N+ on release day, despite playing through N numerous times in the past. Now I kinda wish I hadn't. I like my money to go towards either grateful up and comers, or good old fashioned evil corporate bastards.
I think it's sweet that they took the time to rant, but when Minter did it, and he pretty much said the same, Live arcade, full of shitty arcade ports, but was lamb-blasted (should that be llama-blasted?) for being a whining emo... but when same argument is directed at M$, well then it's admirable and correct of course...
All attention seeking fuck-wittery from another company that didn't break into the market as they would have liked.
Wankers.
Ultimately N+ is one of the treaures on the service, but without a sea of mediocrity alot of these gems would be fighting harder for attention.
We all know where to go to play the best indie games, and generally you only need a pc and a flash player to do so.
But people will always complain about a service that does not do them such a good service. You don't hear from the developers of Alien Hominid complaining, no, they just work on their next title.
Nor did the powers that be think that Rez was not mainstream enough.
Ultimately we as gamers have the power, buy the indie games, ignore the lazy slap dash efforts, and ultimately the service will change, but in comparison to the dusty shelf-like Wii V.C it is leaps and bounds ahead already.
And I bet those guys were wearing scarfs indoors during the interview Jim!
Super Puzzle Fighter (yes i know it was in the arcade, on the saturn and the playstation, but this version is nicer)
Bomberman
Trigger Heart Exelica (only a few of us got to play the dc version)
Omega 5
Space giraffe
Rez (Same as puzzle fighter, better version)
Geometry Wars
Then the old classics like golden axe, sonic, ecco, and the retro classics like pac man ect
Then great ones yet to come like Street fighter high def
And the almighty, "console buyingly good" Ikaruga HD
So yeah... apart from ALL of those and some more... its all shit lol...
If you look at any form of media, the majority is crap:
TV: filled with crap
Movies: filled with crap
Music: filled with crap
XBLA/ Video Games in general: filled with crap, but to a lesser extent than the other arts.
Every medium is mostly filled with crap, but we can only hope for those few good creations to balance everything out.
@Flibble- I think they mainly mean those crappy remakes like UNO and Frogger (Seriously, if you want to play UNO, you don't need a $400 game console.)
Hey guys im making 10,000 by Jan 09! you should praise my CrapBoxLive will have x10 on whats on XBL! so that make me ahead/better than the competition... (with more shittier games?)
F? No!
THE SPIRIT OF JIM HAS POSSESSED ME. HALP.
35% is very generous, in comparison to what percentage they would have gotten at retail, plus you get free advertising and word of mouth reviews.
If I were an indie developer I would more than welcome 35%
Larger companies may get more, but then hat helps pay for the service, and ensures exclusivity on the XBLA format.
While konami might be selling out by giving 360 SotN, which would sell more, and ultimately end up on more consoles? Ps3 or 360?
Economics = reality
Sony Fanboyism = happy illusion rainbow gumdroptown
So I keep my mouth shut and enjoy my Omega5, Assault Heroes, Bomberman, UNO, Puzzle Quest, ETC ETC
Fact is, XBLA is full of shit, and I don't get the people who say I'm complaining about it, because I simply agree. Ultimately, MS can approve as many shitty games as it wants, I'm simply not gonna buy them -- but don't expect me to care much about the service, that's all.
Geometry Wars
Wik and the Fable of Souls
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Pac-Man CE
Aegis Wing
Assault Heroes
Alien Hominid HD
Bomberman Live
Lumines Live
E4
Rez HD
Omega Five
RoboBlitz
Undertow
Carcassonne
Catan
Contra, Super Contra
Jetpac Refuelled
Metal Slug 3
Smash TV
Prince of Persia Classic
Sonic 1, 2
Streets of Rage 2
Exit
Eets: Chowdown
Hexic, Hexic 2
Puzzle Quest
Super Puzzle Fighter II
Zuma
Worms
Doom, Marathon
and quite a few more decent ones
Apart from these 30% of all games, it's all shit. Yeah. Feel the anti-corporate angst.
Sorry, I've actually bought stuff from XBLA. The PlayStation Store is shit. The Wii... well, if it's not shit, than its own name says it all.
I can't help but think that the prospect of a higher pay, and lower restrictions will result in far more 'shit' than on XBLA.
As for PSN, well, no-one buys PS3's to play games anyway, the buy it to watch Blu-ray movies and to cook bacon.
Mmmmmmmm bacon.
Indie developers should go where they feel they can the best deal and have the better chance of their product standing out. If they think XBLA isn't the ideal choice, well they'd know much more about it than me.
So, yeah a lot of the stuff sucks, and I love seeing titles like N+ and Castle Crashers. Microsoft needs to promote these types of games more.
Thing is though take a look at the other platforms and you quickly jump back to live.
It's MS we are talking about, not Clover. And the public has poor tastes but fat wallets, you have to deal with it. Jeff Minter has to deal with it, too, and Space Giraffe is honestly a bit of a mess.
Also, the Nintendo DS sees piles of crappy releases every week, but the big N doesn't seem to care about saturation and good games still come out _and_ stand out. Is it so hard to do the same?
Also, there's some irony in the fact that N+ is a commercial reincarnation of a free Flash game and their other game which MS bounced was apparently a clone of good ol' Iron Man Off Road Racing (hint: it was released for the ZX Spectrum).