"We're big believers in the community," asserts Dave Mitchell following his company's announcement to pursue an aggressive strategy to bolster its online gaming marketplace. As Microsoft's Director of XNA Game Platform Marketing, Mitchell understands that the growing base of Xbox 360 owners and over 10 million Xbox Live subscribers need more than a handful of triple-A retail games a year. Original downloadable games are the future of the industry and Microsoft plans on leading the way; in fact, they're already doing so. Xbox Live Marketplace houses the most successful downloadable games of any current platform.
Competition from Sony and Nintendo threatens that leadership with unique games, many of which come from small, independent developers. This grassroots initiative was originally the spirit behind Xbox Live Arcade. In the course of the service's five years though, that focus has been slowly lost in favor of remakes and re-releases of nostalgic games. That isn't to say that original titles are totally absent from Xbox Live. Chair Interactive's Undertow comes immediately to mind, joining Eets: Chowdown, Band of Bugs, and a handful of others. The number of independently developed game, however, is quite small.
Band of Bugs
Money has played an instrumental role in shaping what content goes live on Xbox Live. The vast majority of top-sellers on Xbox Live Arcade are arcade ports. Releasing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night promises Konami more profit at a fraction of development costs than taking a risk with the Behemoth's Castle Crashers. Not only are the costs for development higher, but the unproven nature of the title makes it a wild card. It's a rather logical assumption, one that Microsoft has held fast to during the explosive growth of its online marketplace.
Sony's strategy with PlayStation Network, however, has proven this line of thinking inaccurate. Original titles have performed remarkably well, both critically and commercially. Microsoft recognizes the potential for growth and is wisely seizing the opportunity. New games like Schizoid and Castle Crashers represent a revitalized vision for Xbox Live Arcade that aims to provide a diverse range of games, not simply arcade ports. Community Games broadens the approach even more. Ultimately, the aim is to ensure the coexistence of independent games and re-releases in the same marketplace. "As gamers, it means we're going to have a greater variety of games," says Mitchell, "We're looking at about a thousand titles before year end between Xbox 360 retail, Arcade, and Community."
Schizoid
The success of Xbox Live Arcade and Community Games depends entirely on how these games are received by the buying public. Should Xbox Live Arcade games fail to fly off the virtual shelves, expect a reversion back to an arcade port business model. That, however, is unlikely to happen. Castle Crashers, for instance, demonstrates a clear commitment to quality original games. The Behemoth's follow up to Alien Hominid takes the same high energy side-scrolling action and gives it a multiplayer twist. Up to four players can work together, wailing on bizarre creatures that populate the game's incredibly unique world. It's stylish, innovative, and simply fun to play.
Schizoid embarks on a dramatically different approach, offering stage-based puzzles solved in real-time. You control a miniature creature--which happens to look a lot like a prehistoric trilobite--chomping on colored markers scattered about each level. In many ways it mirrors Pac-Man, although you're not constrained to specific pathways. Mimicking the ghosts in Namco's classic, minute enemies interfere with your collecting. The core gameplay is exceedingly basic, but two player cooperative up the ante. Additionally, a special dual thumbstick mode has you controlling two creatures at the same time for an extra challenge.
Introducing games like Castle Crashers and Schizoid is just a start. Microsoft has read the writing on the wall and understands the importance of drawing creative independent talent to develop exclusive titles for their network. Recently at the Game Developers Conference, the company unveiled Xbox Live Community Games as a means to achieve that goal. Seven games highlighted the announcement: The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Little Gamers, Proximity HD, Rocketball, TriLinea, Jelly Car, and Culture. It's a varied bunch of games from the bloody side-scroller Dishwasher to serene gardening of Culture. Of particular note is Little Gamers, a hilariously sardonic side-scrolling action game that takes gaming clichés and warps them into funny levels. None of these games possesses a huge amount of depth, but that's more than made up in their creativity and style. Even more, there's an enormous range of gameplay among these seven game--something difficult to achieve with big retail releases.
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
