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I wonder if...
because Jeff Minter came out, and he was really upset about how people
were buying remakes of stuff more than...
RB: Well...
(laughs)
Yeah, I know. But I wonder if Tempest sold better than
Space Giraffe. That's what I want to know. That would be the
final nail in the coffin.
RB: We saw something recently. It was
one of those really inaccurate... I forget what site it is, but they
just check the leaderboards.
NW: I saw that too. It was not really
fair, because it depends on how long it takes to get a leaderboard score.
I remember the Space Giraffe one was really low, but I'm not
sure if it's because it takes a while. I basically zoned out after two
deaths. I was like, "Okay."
RB: The retro games thing I also don't
get, because Double Dragon is not a game you ever need to play
again. It was great. It was so good. But who's buying that if there's
a demo? So many games since then... it's like, '40s movies you can appreciate,
but when you get into the early '20s and the teens, it stops being...
Well, there's some stuff in there.
RB: Oh no, but there's a lot of like,
"It's people walking out of a door!" because that was new
then. But that's been superseded to the point where you can't do it
anymore. I wish... was it you who came up with the idea? Like, why don't
they split-fork it so that there's Live Arcade Retro and Live Arcade
Original titles? That would eliminate 50 of the hundred things you have
to support.
NW: I think that would help anyway.
The way you sort through games right now is... they didn't change it.
RB: It's still better than Wii, where
it takes five minutes to load each three games or whatever, and it doesn't
remember where you were.
They also don't have a hard drive.
RB: Yeah, I don't know how WiiWare
is going to work for that. That doesn't make any sense.
They didn't really plan for that,
I don't think. But hey, that's all right!
 One stupid thing I want to say
with the Double Dragon thing
-- I did buy some of those little avatars, though, because they were
so disgusting-looking that I had to. There's some guy with big
giant eyebrows and he was drawn like by a five-year-old. In HD.
RB: The Abobo?
Yeah, I think it was. I had to buy
it.
RB: That's another thing. We wanted
to put our Gamerpics and themes, like the N+ ones, for free,
because we figured, "Who even buys themes?" It's not
worth 500 sales. Why not everyone have it for free?
Because then it's
good as marketing, and it's people who are fans who get something. It's
like, everyone wins. But apparently they have a policy where you're
not allowed to. But apparently that's a lie, because you can get
Halo...
MS: The Live Marketplace page says,
"Some of these you can get for free, and some of these will set
you back a few."
NW: You can get Halo themes
for free and Grand Theft Auto themes for free.
RB: Oh, really?
I
imagine the reason those are free is because Rockstar paid for free
themes. I'm not sure.
MS: But it's not an option for us.
Just blanket not an option. It's so superficial.
RB: It seems retarded to charge. Who buys those? Why not make it...
how much money are they making? It's like a hundred dollars.
MS: Then again, I guess they're pretty
desperate for money these days.
RB: If they changed the 60-watt bulbs
in their offices to 40, they'll make like ten times more money than
if they made all the themes for free.
NW: That's awesome. I like that.
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Looking forward to Robotology very much.
I have to say though, that there are a lot of fun games on XBLA. I wouldn't have bought all those games if I didnt enjoy them. I dont have Double Dragon, but I do own Uno, Word Puzzle, and a few others that the N+ crew mentioned. Oh, and I bought N+ as well. ;)
I'm probably not in the majority though as I watch for what comes out weekly on XBLA. I have to admit i didnt know what N was until I saw that it was coming to XBLA.
As for the demos conversation... I have had little experience with the PS3's online store, and I think the fact that not all PSN games have demos is pretty sad. There were a few games that I wouldve liked to have tried out, but im not handing any money over for something I've never played. I guess I feel the XBL Marketplace is the best we have so far. I like it.
I've explored both XBLA and PSN and have found great points about both. I can only speak from a gamer's perspective, but I get the impression that Live Arcade essentially goes for the 'throw as much shit at the wall and see what sticks' approach (and Rez HD most definitely sticks), while on PSN it's more delicately dealt with. I love the interface of Live Arcade, but found the overall quality of titles better on PSN (with PixelJunk Monsters and Everyday Shooter as shining examples).
From what I can see of the developer's side, Live Arcade is a right hassle, while PSN is vastly more caring and open to fresh ideas. As a gamer, I want those new ideas from the indie scene to counterbalance by Triple-A shooters and actioners, and as such I find PSN a more refreshing experience. After a session of Call of Duty 4, I’d be more inclined towards a quick play with flOw than of Geometry Wars, so for the future I’m more intrigued by what may come in Sony’s direction than Microsoft’s, or at least that’s how I feel at the moment. Nonetheless, I feel both could be improved upon greatly with a radical redesign and new business philosophy.