No Xbox 360 Spring Dashboard update; Underperforming XBLA titles to be removed

jvm · (05-22-2008, 08:40 PM)

Quote:

"In this exclusive interview with general manager of Xbox Live Marc Whitten, Next-Gen gets all the first details on big changes to the service—including that there will be no spring dashboard update, and that underperforming XBLA titles will be removed from the service."

Full story.

More...

Quote:

a change to DRM policy and a tool released next month that will allow 360 owners to re-license content to onto a single console—finally fixing the issue that forced gamers playing XBLA games to be connected to Xbox if their 360 broke down and was replaced.

The Lamonster · (05-22-2008, 08:41 PM)

No spring dashboard update?

Originally Posted by jvm:

More...finally fixing the issue that forced gamers playing XBLA games to be connected

yay!

RBH · (05-22-2008, 08:41 PM)

Quote:

According to Whitten, XBLA titles that have been out for more than six months, have a Metacritic score of less than 65%, and have a conversion rate of less than 6% will be eligible for desliting. Microsoft will give three months of notice before these titles are removed.

Whoa.

Glad that they're fixing the DRM issue.

Brandon F · (05-22-2008, 08:42 PM)

Gotta clean out the fridge for the Cave titles!

jestro · (05-22-2008, 08:42 PM)

Originally Posted by RBH:

Whoa.

Smackdown!

I like this idea a lot. There's so much crap I hate scrolling through in there.

kenta · (05-22-2008, 08:42 PM)

Why not just put them in a Bargain Bin category or something, it seems like that's a complete dead end to the developers since they have nowhere else to go

Y2Kev · (05-22-2008, 08:42 PM)

Um, why? This is retarded. It removes one of the major strengths of DD, which is unlimited shelf space.

radjago · (05-22-2008, 08:42 PM)

If I paid for a game and deleted it to make room for more DLC, I'd better be able to download it again.

Narag · (05-22-2008, 08:43 PM)

Oops beaten.

DuckRacer · (05-22-2008, 08:43 PM)

XBLA games removed from the service?

Are you fucking kidding me?!

Quote:

According to Whitten, XBLA titles that have been out for more than six months, have a Metacritic score of less than 65%, and have a conversion rate of less than 6% will be eligible for desliting. Microsoft will give three months of notice before these titles are removed.

angelfly · (05-22-2008, 08:43 PM)

No spring update? WTF MS! What the hell happens if I need my system repaired how the hell am I supposed to recover if the title is delisted?

Otheradam · (05-22-2008, 08:43 PM)

Originally Posted by RBH:

According to Whitten, XBLA titles that have been out for more than six months, have a Metacritic score of less than 65%, and have a conversion rate of less than 6% will be eligible for desliting. Microsoft will give three months of notice before these titles are removed.

Joke? Let the floodgates open...

Crisis · (05-22-2008, 08:44 PM)

Why the fuck would they take off "underperforming" titles from XBLA? It's not like it's a physical copy taking up space. I guarantee you that they're doing to try to spur sales of the games but this is not the fucking way to do it. Jesus what a shitty decision.

monkspider · (05-22-2008, 08:47 PM)

Good to hear on both counts, glad they be cleaning out some of the XBLA garbage and fixing the annoying DRM issue.

Struct09 · (05-22-2008, 08:50 PM)

No spring update - :-(
Underperforming XBLA titles being removed - :-/
DRM issue being addressed - :-)

jestro · (05-22-2008, 08:50 PM)

Originally Posted by Crisis:

Why the fuck would they take off "underperforming" titles from XBLA? It's not like it's a physical copy taking up space. I guarantee you that they're doing to try to spur sales of the games but this is not the fucking way to do it. Jesus what a shitty decision.

You enjoy poo?

Jim · (05-22-2008, 08:51 PM)

Originally Posted by Duck:

XBLA games removed from the service?

It's not like that have 10,000 games up there. Just stuff them in an "Archive" directory, and make them permanently 50% - 75% off or something. At least the developers will make a little money.

DuckRacer · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

Quote:

... Finally, we are also going to be putting our money where our mouth is here and are launching a new fully funded 1st party studio which will be focused on high quality digital content creation.

Can you explain a little bit more the background on the new 1st party studio?

Well the main idea behind the concept is to invest deeply in developing original content that will be compelling and exclusive to Xbox LIVE. This is a place where we’ve redoubled our commitment and I’m putting both dollars and people behind new games that push the quality and the bounds of the system. Wish I could share more today, but definitely stay tuned on this, as we have some very exciting things in the works including some big original XBLA games we will be announcing soon.

Interesting...

The delisting thing is just stupid though. What's the point? Somehow I don't think keeping up Screwjumper is going to kill anyone.

MCD · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

So long Yaris.

Himuro · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

MS...

Don't make me post facepalm.gif

JonathanEx · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

"underperforming XBLA titles will be removed from the service."

THE POINT OF XBLA IS SO THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN

NME · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

I'd love to have a list of the underperforming titles before they go away, as I suspect I'd be interested in some of them. Of course, I haven't purchased as many titles as I think I might be interested in, since I was under the impression that titles would be available throughout the life of the console.

pr0cs · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

I better be able to always download the "underperforming" titles if I've already paid for it, even if it's delisted. The interviewer should have clarified what this delisting means to those people who bought those titles.

discoalucard · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

Would that mean stuff like Trigger Heart Exelica would get removed eventually? I hear it sold terribly and it probably didn't get the kindest reviews, even though it's a huge step up from the rest of the garbage on the service.

jester · (05-22-2008, 08:53 PM)

No spring dashboard update? So I'm guessing that list that was "leaked" was fake...

Good thing they are fixing the DRM issue though.

MicVlaD · (05-22-2008, 08:54 PM)

I'm all for it if they delete turds like Mr. Driller Online or Spongebob, to name a few.

Then again, I have a feeling they'd rather delete legitimately good games like Eets: Chowdown just because it isn't popular enough...

Confidence Man · (05-22-2008, 08:54 PM)

Quote:

Overall I think you will find this will focus the catalogue more on larger, more immersive games and make it much easier to find the games you are looking for.

This is good and all, but removing games is the dumbest idea I've heard yet from these guys.

AndyD · (05-22-2008, 08:54 PM)

Originally Posted by kenta:

Why not just put them in a Bargain Bin category or something, it seems like that's a complete dead end to the developers since they have nowhere else to go

Unless they get released from their contracts. In which case they can move to PSN or Wiiware. Unlikely...

Why don't they just discount them and place them in a "Archive" type shelf.

And the metacritic score thing is a little harsh. DL games are hard to compare to real games, and they often get weird scores. Especially redone classics. Just because the game no longer appeals to us today with its crappy 1980's graphics, that does not mean you can compare it fairly to modern Live games.

I feel the removal of low scoring games is simply to boost their PR resources. Then they can say 90% of our games score very well on Metacritic, better than the competition. Without mentioning that they got rid of a third or more of their games.

ipukespiders · (05-22-2008, 08:55 PM)

Originally Posted by angelfly:

What the hell happens if I need my system repaired how the hell am I supposed to recover if the title is delisted?

Are you admitting to buying crappy xbla titles?

Ermac · (05-22-2008, 08:55 PM)

Finally a DRM fix, and next month to boot.

border · (05-22-2008, 08:55 PM)

Goodbye Mr Driller Online! See you later, Contra!

http://www.metacritic.com/games/plat...rdrilleronline
http://www.metacritic.com/games/plat...xbox360/contra

Haning in there, TMNT Arcade! One more bad review and you get axed.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/plat...ntninjaturtles

harSon · (05-22-2008, 08:55 PM)

Jeff Minter is going to go nuts :(

Stumpokapow · (05-22-2008, 08:55 PM)

Summary:
- 1) No spring update
- 2) Microsoft launching 1st party XBLA studio
- 3) 1600 price point allowed for high end games like Penny Arcade

- 4) DRM fixing tool will be available at Xbox.com next month, can relicence any content to any 360
- 5) XBLA games older than 6 months old, with <65% metacritic score, and with <6% demo to full version buy-in rates will be delisted after a 3 month warning period.

Originally Posted by McDragon:

So long Yaris.

Yaris will not be removed because it does not have a <6% demo-to-full-version conversion rate, since there is no demo.

MirageDwarf · (05-22-2008, 08:56 PM)

WTF? Why would you remove titles? What a crap, MS?

Underperforming titles should be removed from active listings only. There must be some way to download old titles if I want to.

LiK · (05-22-2008, 08:56 PM)

nice, a DRM fix. but why remove XBLA titles? just provide them for $1 each and they'll sell.

eznark · (05-22-2008, 08:56 PM)

why is anyone in favor of content being removed?

Vaxadrin · (05-22-2008, 08:56 PM)

RIP Mr. Driller Offline

Also, if they have a method to reassign purchased titles to a new console, then it shouldn't be a concern about redownloading delisted titles if you get a refurb unit. That's actually probably why they're announcing the new DRM feature at the same time.

Not that I support delisting titles. I'm just sayin...

DuckRacer · (05-22-2008, 08:56 PM)

Originally Posted by MicVlaD:

I'm all for it if they delete turds like Mr. Driller Online or Spongebob, to name a few.

Then again, I have a feeling they'd rather delete legitimately good games like Eets: Chowdown just because it isn't popular enough...

Eets has a 77 metacritic rating so it wouldn't be delisted.

androvsky · (05-22-2008, 08:56 PM)

Removing underperforming XBLA games? Despite my enjoyment of the PS3, I still plan on getting a 360 eventually, mainly for jrpgs (wtf sony) and XBLA games. Given that I sometimes have odd taste in games, chances are decent I'd actually want one of those "underperforming" games. If scrolling through a bunch of titles that aren't doing well is such a problem, either redesign the store or put them in an alphabetically sorted "View All"; it's where Sony hides their crappy games. ;)

EDIT: CONTRA?!? That better be on the Wii's VC...

Kandrick · (05-22-2008, 08:56 PM)

No spring update ?

Good thing Live is free , or i would be pissed. Oh wait...

alr1ghtstart · (05-22-2008, 08:57 PM)

what are they thinking?

Deathcraze · (05-22-2008, 08:57 PM)

Quote:

According to Whitten, XBLA titles that have been out for more than six months, have a Metacritic score of less than 65%, and have a conversion rate of less than 6% will be eligible for desliting. Microsoft will give three months of notice before these titles are removed.

That is an absolutely retarded decision for a digital download service and probably won't please many developers or publishers.

Quote:

there will be no spring dashboard update

Very disappointing, there are a lot of things that can be improved.

Quote:

a change to DRM policy and a tool released next month that will allow 360 owners to re-license content to onto a single console—finally fixing the issue that forced gamers playing XBLA games to be connected to Xbox if their 360 broke down and was replaced.

This is awesome.

Crisis · (05-22-2008, 08:58 PM)

Originally Posted by jestro:

You enjoy poo?

No but that's not the issue. There is no "shelf" for digital titles. There is no reason to do this. They are making any small developer think twice about making an XBLA title and purposefully limiting what can be purchased on their system. After all their talk about digital distribution and how developer friendly they were, this is kind of a slap in the face. What about XNA titles? What about titles I've downloaded that didn't sell well?

diffusionx · (05-22-2008, 08:58 PM)

XBLA titles to be removed from service? Is that a joke? It's hard to believe that several layers of management all think this is a good idea.

You know, Microsoft is making it really hard to be a fan this gen.

Sir Fragula · (05-22-2008, 08:58 PM)

Boo-fucking-urns...

MirageDwarf · (05-22-2008, 08:58 PM)

I hope this becomes PR nightmare for MS.

MCD · (05-22-2008, 08:58 PM)

Originally Posted by Stumpokapow:

Yaris will not be removed because it does not have a <6% demo-to-full-version conversion rate, since there is no demo.

:suicide

Otheradam · (05-22-2008, 08:58 PM)

It's not a matter of if the game is good or bad, but I thought one of the points of digital distribution was that you can can find anything anytime and buy it. Unlike with how retail is now for games, where the shelf-life for the average game is like 6 months before it gets hard to find unless its a huge game. Good luck trying to find something that came out 2 years ago new and a niche title.

With digital distribution, in theory, this problem would be solved as you can access old or niche titles that you wouldn't be able to find otherwise. This delisting thing just sets a bad precedence.

steverulez · (05-22-2008, 08:59 PM)

Why are they de-listing stuff? Just put it at 100-200pts, they'll sell loads more...

Oh and:

Quote:

Finally, we are also going to be putting our money where our mouth is here and are launching a new fully funded 1st party studio which will be focused on high quality digital content creation.

Jacobi · (05-22-2008, 08:59 PM)

Are they stupid? XBLA games are tiny in size anyways... Ugh