Interview with Microsoft's Wacksman Talks about XBLA Business

March 2nd, 2008, 00:18 Posted By: wraggster

On the Friday of GDC, Gamasutra got a chance to talk to Microsoft's Jeremy Wacksman, global marketing manager of Xbox Live marketing.

* People are starting to bump up against the size limit again. It was raised once, and that was really beneficial, but I've been hearing more reports from developers as they try to get a little more ambitious as the service gets more mature that they are sort of banging against that size limit wall. What do you think about that?
* JW: We haven't heard that too much. We raised it when we did because of the ecosystem and the development community, but we have no plans to change that right now.
It ensures small, pick-up-and-play games, and I think people are finding... look at Undertow that just came out. Unreal Engine 3, single and multiplayer, with cutscenes in audio, under 50 [megs]. Not even under 150 megabytes. Developers are finding incredible ways to fit into our platform, and that's part of why I say that.

* Do you think it matters that the PlayStation 3 does not have a size limit? Some developers, if they're going to do a multiplatform download game, the way they're planning, or the issue of what they have to work with becomes more complex for them.
* JW: It's always case-by-case. I think we granted a one-time exception for Street Fighter [HD Remix], because it's such a good game with so much put into it, but in general, Live Arcade is all about pick-up-and-play games and accessible games.
That's part of that guideline. And like I said, look at the games that we have coming. Look at Castle Crashers. 20 levels, 4-player co-op, hand-drawn HD art... that's a game that fits well with the model.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=17667

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