I think there's a lot of shit on Live Arcade. Not to jump on any bandwagons or anything...

Yeah, tons of them are crap...

Most of them are.

But the good ones then stand out more, right?

Yea, I read it at apache's site and was taken back a little. I am sure he is swimming in his royalties; but to make such a claim AFTER N+ sales topped out will bring another impression :/

Halving the royalty rates will piss devs off like that, but still if nearly all the games on the 360 arcade are shit , well every game has a demo so no need to worry about that shit

There are a lot of crap games on the 360 itself and people still make games that sell good. We are in the information age here.. if it's a good game on arcade, people will eventually know.

If you don't like what M$ provides with XBL and such.. don't use it! Fn crybabies...

@Abdar: "There are a lot of crap games on the 360 itself and people still make games that sell good."

One and the same, Abdar. One and the same. ;)

A lot of shit... But not enough to complain if you're a competitor, that's just unsportsmanlike. Commend then move on. Hate? Keep it to yourself then one up them.

There's something about this guy that's really annoying. I think it might be that there's a touch of superiority in his tone of voice. Like he's appalled that his brilliant games must take a seat amongst such filth. Whatever, Raigan. N+ is a great game, so why don't you treat yourself to a nice tall glass of STFU?

I'm sorry, he just sounds bitter that his game isn't selling as well as he would like. While I'm no fan of the games he mentioned, having variety isn't a bad thing ... and trying new things with games, even if it doesn't work out well, isn't a bad thing, either.

Every medium has competition ... to blame that his game doesn't stand out isn't Live's fault. Look at books, DVDs, and CDs ... everyone is fighting for the consumer's eye. Unfortunately, as good as N and N+ might be, they are niche games. Games like that will always have problems in some regard.

For example, I spent 400 points on the TMNT arcade ... it's an old game, but has tons of nostalgia for me. I could buy 2 games like that for the 800 points of N+. Maybe they should have considered a better price point or a marketing component.

I'm sorry if this seems like a rant, I just don't have much patience for people who while about the delivery system for their product when they knew full well what the environment was like.

then put N+ on PSN!

NAAAOOO!!!

Im sure most everyone avoids the "shit" arcade games. And it's not like there is a flood of titles being released every week. There are like 1 or 2 each week. And those titles, if good enough, will gain exposure and through word of mouth sell well.

Look at Castle Crashers. That game isnt even close to being out yet and there is like a virtual line of people ready to gobble that game down for every cent that it's worth

Funny, because when I think "shit on XBLA" I think "ported flash games that you pay ten dollars for". RING A BELL, N+ DEVELOPERS?

I don't understand this argument. There's tons of shit in every form of entertainment and media in the world, and the N+ guys (and girl) point out that Xbox Live is simply no different. How and why did they expect it to be different? The whole idea is if your product is good, it gets noticed and sells well. Which N+ did. Where's the problem here?

I guess they're just wishing there was a higher quality bar for XBL games. I could get behind that. Microsoft allowing runny, reeky, TOXIC shit like that Yaris game on XBL isn't doing anybody any favors.

@jayntampa: That's just the thing though, his game DOES stand out. N+ is currently the top-selling game on XBLA and is, in the opinions of many (Myself included), the best game available on the service.

It makes his statements that much more arrogant. He's already got massive success with his game, but he can't stop himself from complaining that the rest of Arcade isn't as good as he is.

So we're all in agreement that Live Arcade is mostly shit but there's a few diamonds in the rough? It's funny, that sounds overwhelmingly similar to GAMES IN GENERAL.

I agree, there is an assload of horrible titles on Live Arcade...but the few that I grew up with; Streets of Rage, Sonic, TMNT, are just priceless. Also there are some great games on Live Arcade that are fairly new. Geometry Wars is an excellent title, I loved Alien Hominid.

@jayntampa: I agree with you as well. He does sound like his temper may have gotten the best of him. You know what else I find strange. Burns goes on to say; "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."

If that's the case wouldn't his game stand out even more. I know that I personally noticed N+ above the rest of the cookie cutter content. So why is he complaining?

@The Cat With Two Heads: Playing that flash game natively with a game controller, HD, from the comfort of you couch, with lots of online and offline multiplayer options certainly makes it worth it.

hahaha only game that I bought from XBL is REZ, the one and only game Im interested in. So far I got like 4 games for PSN. I do prefer the stuffs they offer on PSN better because quality >>>>>>> quantity.

Every service has its' share of horrible games. The Wii will probably have quite a few of them too. One can only hope that it doesn't end up like the shovelware issue that the Wii has right now.

@The Cat With Two Heads: Haha yeah that's what I was going to say.

I hope that if he DOES move on to the Wii, he realizes just how much his game gets trounced by Super Mario Bros. 3 every single week.

And I don't know why I'd buy an N+ download, considering it's A) coming to DS and PSP in physical media, and B)Available for FREE on PC.

If you read the interview, it's clear he's not the guy from the Develop article because he says a couple of times that they don't get how WiiWare is supposed to work, and you'd think they'd know if they were willing to be anonymously quoted as WiiWare developers.
@QualityJeverage: The interview was done before the game was out, so he didn't know how well he would do.

Devs, if you're looking for the holy grail, keep looking. XBLA is not it.

Ok, what dev thought otherwise? Take a look at all the crappy games you can get free/cheap on PC. With memory constraints and low budget a majority of the games are going to be less then enjoyable. Expect big name devs with existing IPs/content will be able to produce XBLA games cheaper and faster making more money then the smaller studios. In this way is what makes XBLA counterproductive to what MS says it wants. This could be said for PSN as well.

While I'll admit there is some bad games on XBLA, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "full of shit." This is the service that has brought gamers Puzzle Quest, Geometry Wars, and Rez HD. Hell, I'd even throw N+ in that group because it is a good game.

I think many devs are getting a little bent out of shape because many of the games they consider "shit," are the classics that are selling so well.

If Microsoft would just get its head out of its ass and focus on getting a set release schedule at least a month in advance. Also, sales would rise if MS would at least give many of these titles out for review purposes.

Every week we hear about what's coming out, but 95% of the people that use XBLA have no clue what the titles are. Hence the reason that Dig Dug sells so well.

Do people actually understand that what these developers are arguing for is about the worst thing possible situation for the consumers? They want to limit our choice of content to what they think is worthy... mainly their games. Ok, they'll move to WiiWare or PSN as if those guys have a solution for a large portfolio of games. Perhaps they do right now but this is a solution on its way to a problem so who will they talk shit about then? Perhaps when there game is cut to trim down the portfolio to "expose" newer and clearly "better" games, they will find all is right with the world. I'm not sure that developers who like to speak to what the consumer likes to see are always thinking about the consumer; in fact, I don't think those kinds of people could ever speak for the consumer.

The one thing I find about this guys views are the pure hypocrisy of it. Sure he's made a lot of money on XBLA but when things are standing in the way of him making more from the massive amount of press his game is getting compared to the typical Arcade game, I'm sure he has a lot to be unhappy about. What a fucking shame.

[www.dcemu.co.uk]

N+ will come to PSN, I think the developers will probably move on to that for what they have commented.

I thought this article was written fairly deceptively. Simply because this guy has some problems with the XBLM in no way means he was the one who was saying it was shit before, and I think it's a little misleading to make that assumption in the post. And if you read the whole article, he explains that Nintendo has been little more helpful than Microsoft has to them, so it seems highly unlikely that the two are the same.

I just thought that was a very misleadingly-worded post myself.

lol, what? The xbox team was supposed to wait and deny tons of developers just until N+ gets on there? Isn't that game just a flash game? lmao.

Sure there's a lot of shit games on Live Arcade. There are also a lot of shit trials so we don't have to spend our shit MS Points.

@Torgen thinks AAA means "Costs $60": I think that's even more pitiful that he said this before only because if you listen to his Major Nelson interview (I think it was Major Nelson) you see he's on the whole more DLC bandwagon. He's driven by money and rightly so... he's running a business here but I'll tell you what I hate: This guy is clearly in support of ideas that take choices from the consumer for the sake of raising his bottom line.

That doesn't surprise me, i mean, Pixel Junk Monsters! PSN has all the cool little garage games.

Didn't we hear the same rhetoric when Space Giraffe tanked? Personally, I think it has more to do with the developer than the service.

There are indeed a lot of shit games on XBLA. There are a lot of shit 360 games available on DVD for 360 too. And a lot of shit games for Wii. Seeing a pattern?

By the way I love N+, and XBLA would be a much higher % of shit without it.

Heeeey ... I like Word Puzzle. I think the range of games on Arcade means that there are different things for different people to enjoy. And they may not all be up Raigan Burns' street.

Except Yaris. Yeah. Just AWFUL.

@supercrap: But nothing beats the amount of shit on the PS3/PSN

Honestly... I think there is a lot of poo on store shelves... just like XBLA. But there is some great stuff too... For every Spongebob there is a Pac Man championship or Puzzle Quest... well.. maybey not a one to one ratio... but still. Wii has a ton of poo and then some great standouts. I think it's more a matter of overall product quality everywhere than anything else.... now as far as Msoft cutting the profit margin of XBLA evelopers... That is poo!

I was struck by the arrogance of the developer. Is it so difficult to consider that your personal tastes might not be the same as a casual gamer or people over 30/under 18?

Can't argue about the the Yaris game though, I find it hard to believe anyone could like it.

@joelface: [www.ps3fanboy.com]

It will happen, just in time.

@c-lin' Fanboy:
the quote was taken out of context, but i know they are interested in making it for psn.

i just hope sony doesn't put their head up their ass, and instead, actively pursue metanet about getting N+ or even a new version (n++, maybe?) when the xbla exclusivity contract ends..

@The Cat With Two Heads: Agreed.

Sure there's crap on XBLA, but there's bound to be anywhere there's more than a few games.

Oh, and come on, you can't dump on Yaris too much, it is free after all :P

@joelface: I have a feeling that it won't matter for me anyway because by the time it comes out for PSN it will already be out for PSP, which I finally picked up today.

In an industry where sharing code and communicating with other developers is a pretty common practise, what in the hell is he doing? Why would you chastise other game developers' stuff like that? What a nut.

N+ was shit, so why complain about other people's shit?

If you read the article, there are some good points in there, about the approval process and who is making the decision of what to put on XBLA, and how with digital distribution like that it's incredibly hard to stand out.

@Oyn: But that's the problem, if a good racing game gets shot down because "we already have too much racing" because they greenlit a bunch of shit racing games, then Yaris IS an issue.

@Taco Bell™: bandwagon you say!

I am a first time poster but I usually admire and enjoy the comments posted on this site. I am amazed that nobody has just looked at the facts. Based on Metacritic there are 37 XBL titles that have a score greater than 75%. These 37 tiles represent 10.5% of the total Xbox catalog listed on Metacritic. There are 7 PSN titles that have a score greater than 75%. These 7 titles represent 4.5% of the PS3 catalog listed on Metacritic. Based on this I think it would be hard to conclude that from a commerical perspective XBL is full of crap in comparision to i