Morning Discussion

The battle between Schwarzenegger and the EMA/ESA kicked off yesterday. According to some reports, the pendulum is not swinging in either notable direction. Some judges appear to favor California state's position, others don't, and some aren't showing their cards just yet.

It's going to be a long process and we plan to follow it all very closely.

Xav de Matos was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
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    November 3, 2010 5:07 AM

    [deleted]

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      November 3, 2010 5:12 AM

      I looked at this yesterday and can't see the big deal. It's just like a click to the right instead of a click upwards.

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      November 3, 2010 5:24 AM

      Honest question: as an indie dev, why are you targeting a console? Or is this just in addition to a PC version of whatever your game is? I know one of the deals with XNA is the ability to target the 360 but relying on Microsoft to stay on your side just seems like having a tiger in the house - seems fine at first but at some point the thing will eat you.

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        November 3, 2010 5:34 AM

        Static platform so you don't have to worry about hardware compatibility? That is, through XNA, you can focus on *game development* rather than things like engine optimization and compatability, and the like.

        And MS only takes a fixed share of the sales and does nothing else. There's no deal with the devil here as one would have to doing XBLA games.

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        November 3, 2010 5:39 AM

        [deleted]

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          November 3, 2010 5:41 AM

          [deleted]

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            November 3, 2010 6:19 AM

            Makes sense. I just figure that indie Xbox devs are in the same boat as PC devs in Microsoft's eyes - small potatoes in comparison to the annual Halo/GoW release. But at least PC devs aren't completely at Microsoft's mercy (i.e., Minecraft)

            Apple does iPhone development because it helps them sell iPhones. But if Microsoft decides indie XNA development doesn't help them sell 360's, then it makes sense it becomes a second class citizen.

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      November 3, 2010 5:28 AM

      Voted up and marked "can reproduce this bug" (even though it's not a true "bug").

      I agree this is a terrible decision. Yes, 90% of the XBLIG are crap (judging by artwork :) ) but remember that at least 2 shackers have published their games through there (I know Flotilla was one, the other had 2 games that I can't remember who or what it was). Given how locked out that MS has made getting a title into the regular XBLA chain, XBLIG needs to at least be in the same tab as the XBLIG games - ie it is more than just "click up" vs "click left".

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      November 3, 2010 6:21 AM

      This is what MS is saying about it:

      http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-02-microsoft-new-dash-helps-indies

      "So people shop for avatar items, and the XBLIG shop is literally next door! See, tons of sales!"

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      November 3, 2010 9:29 AM

      Voted. Hope this gets sorted. They get bad enough coverage as it is and there are some nice little games on there. My friend just completed The Impossible Game. he is too good at games. i dislike him.

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