Today NextGen.Biz, in a very casual interview with Marc Whitten – general manager of Xbox Live, some big and frankly frightening news was announced about the lifespan of titles on the Xbox Live Arcade.

In the interview, Mr. Whitten tells NextGen that “… in addition to allowing these bigger and better games we will be delisting older under performing titles in order to keep the service focused on a section of high quality games.“.

For a game to actually be delisted, a game requires “… to be at least 6 months old and have a Metacritic score below 65 and a conversion rate below 6% on the service.“

In my opinion, this is a bad, bad move. For one, it changed the entire process of the Xbox Live Arcade.

This isn’t a matter of not enough space – the Xbox Live Arcade is minuscule compared to either the Video Marketplace, Demos, DLC or Game Videos. This is a based on sale numbers – most likely dreamt up by the Xbox marketing collective – wanting to remove any bruises to the XBLA’s reputation. Some developers may claim that the XBLA lineup is “total shit” – but that’s one persons opinion. There are thousands of other people who did download those games. Sometimes those games aren’t meant for players like you and me – we would mostly ignore the presence of Bliss Island, Word Puzzle or Arkadian Warriors – but they’re not made for me! That’s the beauty of the Xbox Live Arcade.

But some of these games get panned by reviewers. I’m not a fan of them, but again they’re not made with me in mind – they’re made for kids who can have a far better time with it than me, or a ‘casual gamer’ who enjoys the newspaper crosswords, or someone with a Dungeon Crawl itch that needs scratching. Games like Cyberball 2072 or Speedball 2 really only appeal to Europeans, or for those who were ‘there’ at them time.

Microsoft even have an incredibly strict release structure – each title must be approved by them before it can even start creating the game. So any game that ends up being bad or poorly thought out, like the Tron games, were all approved of by Microsoft in the first place. While good games have been denied the chance to be on the service.

The way developers have been living off the XBLA is the ‘long tail’ effect. The way XBLA games sell is that they have a sales surge in their first week of release, then a pretty quick drop off. Previously released data in this GameSetWatch article revealed that “the first two months of Xbox Live Arcade titles only account for around a third of its sales, with revenues continuing to come in at a steady pace over the following year.”, and in this Gamasutra article from Gamefest shows off the long tail of downloadable games:

It’s the whole point of digital distribution – a service which never needs to go down, allowing people to continue buying games even after their previous sales period. From my understanding the Arcade games for the original Xbox, which used an entirely different system set – are still available for download, as well as downloadable content for Project Gotham Racing 2 despite the two Xbox 360 sequels and they’re not even free!

In fact, most of those games under the 65% line are classic games – games like Asteroids or Scramble – I didn’t buy them because they’re not for me!

In fact, according to Metacritic – 63 seperate games are below the 65% line already – that’s over half of the current XBLA lineup.

In this world of patches a opinions can also change – take Mr. Driller Online for instance. It’s single player campaign is fine with some poor graphics on top – but the Multiplayer is completely broken. So IGN end up giving the game a 2.5, a very poor review due to the broken online. Namco have said they will be patching the game though, the game would have likely changed after this was fixed. Still, the 2.5 remains. The recent Penny Arcade game has been getting some fine reviews, but EDGE Magazine also gave it a 4 out of 10, lowering the overall mark by a large margin, and due to the high price might not sell as well as other, cheaper games. If the game gets consistent 7 and 8′s like it is, that one score could throw them under that line.

Xbox Live Arcade games are not reviewed like every other game either! Arcade titles don’t tend to get reviews at all, not nearly as many as regular titles. Take Word Puzzle for instance – it has a Metacritic rating of 44%, but that’s out of 15 reviews total, hardly a large enough sum to warrant removal from the service. Gripshift – a game I found absolutely fantastic has a Metacritic score of 77% out of only 25 reviews. A true game like Project Gotham Racing 4 gets over 60 reviews.

The Metacritic audience is NOT the Xbox Live Arcade audience! I actually disagree with the way Arcade or downloadable titles are reviewed. For instance, Lost Winds just came out on WiiWare, and has gotten a lot of positive reviews – except a lot of them push on the fact that this title will only last 2 to 4 hours. I don’t expect games to last longer than 3 or 4 hours when they’re only $10US – I’m paying full price sometimes for titles which are much not much longer.

So what happens once the games I own get delisted? You are in fact able to download the games again, as written in this follow up, but using your download history is a huge pain and doesn’t allow new users to buy! If you have a friend who just bought a Xbox 360 and you’re recommending titles – they may not be able to buy it! This goes against the entire point of online distribution, where there IS no shelf space that needs emptying – it’s all there and anyone at any point can buy it!

It’s all very confusing and very unnecessary. Admittedly another company has done this before – Nintendo. Last year in Europe Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels for Wii Virtual Console – but only for a week. It was a limited time “get it while you can” release, but there was never any real reason for it – it’s digital! It’s disgusting.

Microsoft said that they would announce 3 months ahead of time whether or not a game will be removed – what’s the point of this? You’re going to remove it anyhow, the developer can’t start advertising it on marketplace since you’re removing it! All this ends up doing is scaring developers from doing something different and interesting, something that may not sell particularly well – the PS3 thrives on these bizarre games like flOw and the PixelJunk series which may not end up selling all that well – but they’re not going to stop you trying. This will.

I believe this is a very dumb decision – and I hope that this uproar – much like the Mass Effect DRM uproar and the Battlefield Bad Company “buy extra guns” uproar – will cause Microsoft to rethink their strategy.

Right now the main problem with getting more people on the Xbox Live Arcade is the – frankly confusing Xbox 360 Operating System which now hides away the Xbox Live Arcade and lumps it with everything else. The only source of official XBLA news is through Major Nelson and a press release – there is no actual community newsletter or way to preview something on Xbox without having to go through hoops. America might be different since they have the Inside Xbox program, but Microsoft haven’t been actively supporting a whole lot of Xbox Live Arcade. That’s why I made this site in the first place!

So start yelling and carrying on, start digging, make your voice heard on what you think of this plan. You may have to grab your copy of Roboblitz right now.

On a lighter note: Microsoft have made a new development team to work on internal XBLA titles, and the filesize has been expanded from 150 to 350 megabytes.

There have been plenty of other great articles on this topic, here are some link to what I thought were the best – they’re all must reads:

Gamasutra – Opinion: Why Artificial Scarcity Could Boost Digital Game Downloads

Angry-Gamer.net – Microsoft to XBLA Developers: “I Expect You To Die”

Mersey Remakes – More Clueless XBLA Decisions

Game|Life – Microsoft: Don’t Cut Off the Long Tail

And of course, the original interview:

Source: Next-Gen.Biz: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: MS to Delist XBLA Titles

Interesting concept – one of the cool additions on top of this is that you can play 4 player Coop Locally and online, trying to solve each puzzle together! This might be the girlfriend game you’ve been looking for!

Co-op is a little more interesting. Either on a single screen or on Xbox Live, up to four players can attempt to pass the levels together. Players alternate between the platforms they control, with their avatar appearing when it is their turn. It can be a little confusing for the first few seconds, but quickly becomes second nature. You get a sense of when it will be your turn. Though each player is working together, there is still a competitive aspect as all are trying to earn the highest score.

In the preview, Goldstein also writes that the game will be coming out June 4th – so in just two weeks time!

Source: Xbox @ IGN.com Roogoo Preview

Previous leaks via the Xbox newsletter have been fairly close to the mark – the September 07 Newsletter displayed Sonic 2 and Puzzle Quest, in which Sonic 2 was released, Puzzle Quest the month after. Neither of those games gave a specific date like this – so it’s looking pretty good!

The game has shown up on the official Xbox.com webpage – but no date there either. Hopefully the Capcom blog will have something to say over the weekend!

Don’t forget that Commando 3 will also include a limited release of the Super Street Fighter II HD Remix Online Beta – where you can play as either Ryu or Ken and fight players online!

Source: NeoGAF, Thanks to cjelly!

Oh, and who wouldn’t love a game with so many nods to classic Mario games? We’ve already mentioned the fruitless striving for the princess through multiple worlds, but Mario fans will also notice the green pipes with chomping plants, the fact that you can headbop enemies (which is integral for many of the movement puzzles), not to mention the influence of the original Donkey Kong on several of the level designs.

Hell, there’s even a puzzle screen called ‘Jumpman’ with an array of platforms to traverse and a gorilla and barrel motif at the top, where enemies are being fired into the level. Mind you, Mario isn’t the only reference – you receive an item later in the game on a level called ‘There and Back Again’. I’m sure you can work out what that item is… but not what it does.

Read the entire article here

Source: IGN

You can check out the new pictures here.

Click here for the official Xbox.com webpage

Click here for images of Penny Arcade Episode 1

Click here for the official NeoGAF forum topic

Click here, here, here and here for videos of the game

Source: Major Nelson

The interview discusses some very interesting topics, such as the upcoming XNA Community movement that should reappear in the near future for regular use, as well as the current set of games clogging the pipelines and amount of games being released per week. It’s a great read, click the source link below to read the whole thing.

One interesting announcement from this interview is that the game size has now been increased once more – not to 350 megabytes!

Q: And you’re upping the size of Xbox Live Arcade games as well to 350 megabytes?

David Edery: Yeah, it’s a steady progress. We’ve been listening to our partners, listening to our customers to try and get a feel for what’s right. We don’t want the size limit to hit the roof because we think there’s some value in promoting small pick and play experiences that don’t cost USD 20 million, it’s good for the ecosystem.

Good to know. When the Xbox Live Arcade was first announced games had a 50 Megabyte limit, that was changed to 150 with the release of Castlevania: SOTN last year, now with the release of Penny Arcade (supposely just over 150 Megabytes), Bionic Commando Rearmed and Street Fighter II HD, the need for higher resolution textures and audio has now become much more necessary to compete with the Playstation Network.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz – Xbox Live Arcade’s David Edery

Chair has been using Epic’s Unreal Engine for both games – and now this new partnership will allow Epic to find new ways of using their engine on smaller properties.

From the Kotaku story:

“Our team has long admired Epic for its ability to shape the game industry with its innovative technology and first-rate video game offerings,” said Chair’s Holmes. “We share Epic’s passion for creating ground-breaking game play experiences and are excited for the opportunity to partner with a truly visionary company.”

In the recent past Epic has had two teams – the Unreal Tournament Team and the Gears of War Team. The smaller development team of Chair may help to expand themselves in the “F YEAH” demographic.

Empire: Alpha Complex looks fantastic from what we’ve seen… maybe Epic can use these extra resources and… I dunno… do a port or make a new Jazz Jackrabbit game? Please? I’d be up for a remake of Jill of the Jungle or Xargon while your at it!

Source: Kotaku: Epic Snags Undertow Developer Chair Entertainment Group

The achievements can all be viewed here. From the design of the icons it appears that Konami have gone with a much more childlike style to Frogger than the previous Console Frogger games – more so than the weird backpack wearing bipedal Frogger character they’ve used recently.

We now know that the game contains a Story Mode of some sort – most of the achievements revolve around this. There are regular levels, bonus stages, and the ability to collect coins in each – though not necessary to complete a level. They may have run a little low on ideas for achievements however, as one is to collect every “Help Balloon“. Hmph.

There are also a Time Attack mode for every level – so this isn’t your regular Frogger.

Frogger 2 will also have 2 Multiplayer Modes – Jewel Duel and Race. How Jewel Duel will work is unknown, but Race is pretty self explanatory.

I guess we’ll have to wait until Konami finally announces the title… probably two weeks before release. As usual.

Source: 360Sync – Frogger 2 Feature

The first episodic RPG-Adventure game to grace Xbox LIVE Arcade, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is the result of a collaboration between Hothead Games and Penny Arcade. The first episode sends players to a deranged 1920s comic-book-meets-pulp-horror universe called New Arcadia. Armed with unconventional weaponry, players join forces with Gabe and Tycho of the Startling Developments Detective Agency to make war on bizarre enemies and solve the mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One offers players the ability to design their own customizable character, a dynamic turn-based combat system and the ability to transfer your customized character’s stats and inventories to future episodes, or start fresh with each episode. Fans of Penny Arcade will appreciate the authenticity of the game, which features distinctive artwork and characters designed by Mike “Gabe” Krahulik and a story and dialogue written by Jerry “Tycho” Holkins.

The game will be released worldwide (with the exception of Korea) for 1600 Microsoft Points this Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (1:00 a.m. PDT).

Click here for the official Xbox.com webpage!

Click here for more pictures of the game!

On top of this the game has been making the rounds with the press – Firstly, Penny Arcade Adventures had a preview on Gamespot’s On the Spot last week, which you can watch below:

As well as that, the Penny Arcade creators was a large part of this weeks Major Nelson podcast!

Show #279: Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade

This week’s show:

Co-host : e

Xbox News

This weeks announcements

NPD Numbers

Interview: Gabe and Tycho, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness (13:47–48:39)

Name the Game

Much more…

Download the podcast here or join the RSS feed!