Indie dev uses XBLA loophole to bypass MS certification

September 24th, 2010, 14:36 Posted By: wraggster

Upcoming Xbox Live Arcade platform game Super Meat Boy will be capable of downloading additional content which sidesteps Microsoft's standard approval processes.

By using the Title Managed Storage system, developers Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes (aka Team Meat) will be able to push new levels to the game, which players can download for free.

Because all new content is made using a standardised level creation tool, Microsoft will allow additional levels to be made available without going through the certification it otherwise forces onto all DLC.

"In a world where it costs $2 to unlock content in a game that you've already purchased," explained Refenes, "it is nice to have the power to totally say 'f--- you' to that system and go our own way."

Microsoft has not been resistant to Team Meat's unorthodox methods, Refenes claimed. "In the end they actually welcomed it because they want developers to do anything and everything with their service that makes them stand out.

"No one has ever done anything like this in the history of XBLA as far as we and our people at MS know." Team Meat have released a schedule of planned approval-free DLC running early next year.

Following the later release of a PC version with a level editor, the pair also intend to publish the best user-made content to the XBLA edition of Super Meat Boy.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-certification

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