MS: XBLA and XNA will 'leapfrog' the competition

by Dustin Burg { May 20th 2008 at 2:15PM }

In the same interview that brought word of the 350MB XBLA restriction increase, Microsoft's David Edery wanted to make it known that the Xbox Live Arcade is where it's at and thinks that it will "leapfrog" the competition with the user-created XNA roll-out later this year.

Speaking about both Nintendo's WiiWare and Sony's PSN, Edery mentioned that XBLA's XNA component "from an innovation perspective it's going to help us leapfrog the competition, effectively until they find a way to duplicate it, assuming they ever do." Zing! Zing! Zing! But before we begin the mudslinging, we have a bunch of questions that need to be answered. Questions like: Can user-created XNA content releasing to the XBLA differentiate it from what Nintendo and Sony are doing? Will it be easy to use and navigate? Will the XNA integration actually happen in 2008? Will it rain today? We can only hope our mountain of questions will be answered soon ...

Tags: microsoft, nintendo, sony, xbla

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

J.R. @ May 20th 2008 2:25PM

I'm actually a little disappointed... From the image, I thought this meant some LeapFrog games were coming to the XBLA. I have a 2 year old daughter who would have loved that. :-(

Leathersoup @ May 20th 2008 3:34PM

leapfrog... DEATHMATCH!!!

iRoy @ May 20th 2008 4:03PM

I'm in the UK, and had a XNA membership then, all the test games were available for a fixed period to both XNA members and Live members. May have been Gold only.

SadisticHam @ May 20th 2008 2:26PM

Not being a dick but i think most arcade titles are crap. I don't hold out any hope for XNA.

ZEBRA NINER @ May 20th 2008 2:34PM

Did you try any of those XNA games? Dead Samurai, Jelly Car, etc? I liked those games a lot. :)

Oh, and we all know that Schizoid is going to be freakin' awesome!

SadisticHam @ May 20th 2008 2:51PM

Not sure if it was open to Europe or not but i couldn't get access to them, no.

I wasn't condemning them to be bad, I'm just not holding out hope on them being much good. Heres hoping they prove me wrong.

Mr Ed @ May 20th 2008 2:58PM

So by Microsoft's own admission, XBLA sucks and is currently inferior to WiiWare and PSN.

But it's OK, they are gonna leapfrog it soon, with a how boat load of shovelware..

Yippee...

Knight Marquise @ May 20th 2008 3:58PM

So Mr. Ed...are you really that stupid, or are you just being a fucktard?

guttertalk @ May 20th 2008 5:50PM

Knight: you might want to look up the meaning of "leapfrog." You don't do it from a lead position.

I have a 360 and a Wii, and they're different. (I played the XNA when they were available, and they were markedly more interesting than their regular Arcade games, but getting them was really obtuse but proably just because it was 'temporary.')

That said, I've played nothing on Arcade that is as entertaining as My Life as King.

But I play a lot of homebrew, and I think XNA has the potential to indeed make a difference. True, we'll see reincarnations of Asteroids and Pong, but homebrew developers are capable of making some outstanding (though often shallow) games. But at this point, it's just speculation.

If Nintendo were to embrace homebrew development, though, the potential there is probably just as interesting if not more, given the possibility of bringing in the DS.

As far as I'm concerned, competition is good.

Easo @ May 20th 2008 3:26PM

Q.Can user-created XNA content releasing to the XBLA differentiate it from what Nintendo and Sony are doing?

A.Dishwasher Dead Samurai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lscKqMsnpJY

diamondxp @ May 20th 2008 4:41PM

PSN Has Pain and games of that quality so untill that happens I do not hold out too much hope for the XBLA. That said I still would not get a PS3.

360 till I die..... or a new console from MS comes out.

James @ May 21st 2008 9:09AM

Seriously, Pain is your trump card? You could have said they have Fl0w, or even Super Stardust. But a ragdoll slingshot simulator? Ick.

Anyway, the way I look at it, XBLA has about a hundred crap games and a dozen good ones; PSN has about a dozen crap games and half a dozen good ones. By that measure, XBLA still wins.