Dashboard Changes Frustrate XBL Indie Game Devs

Microsoft launched a new Xbox Live Dashboard yesterday which everyone seems fairly pleased with. Unfortunately, Microsoft appears to have upset the Xbox Live Indie Game developers. XBLIG’s position can now be found under a single tab with Speciality Shops, where previously it featured as its own strand under the Games Marketplace. Other changes that have left developers frustrated are that downloaded games have had their information reduced. This has included removing descriptions, box art and the ability to rate the game.

Mommy’s Best Games studio head Nathan Fouts said:

“It just… boggles the mind. Clearly it’s not based on even the simplest logic, which is what I’d assume gamers vaguely use when scrolling through those lists. I do think once someone accidentally wanders down the special alley to find Indie Games, the new layout is very nice. I love that you can click on the ‘All’ box at the end of any 50 list – that’s grand. But I’m here to mourn Indie Games being known as ‘games’, which I suppose we must now rename Indie Specialties.”

Daniel Jones, Binary Tweed’s managing director, added that the changes appeared to be a “hasty oversight that does nothing for the channel owner, content creator or consumer.”

I think some bridges will need to be mended pretty quickly.

Source: Digital Spy

11 Comments

  1. Release games on PSN or Steam then, duh.

    • That isn’t a easy thing to do…

  2. Did anyone else feel blinded by the new Dashboard? It’s just so…white!

    • I think its very prettyful :)

    • I like it. I see a lot of people complaining on other forums tho, so it’s not just you.

      But for me, so far I’m liking the update. No new feature really (i don’t live in the US so ESPN doesn’t help me) but the UI feels more mature (for lack of a better word) to me.

      • Really? I feel like it is dumbed down. It’s a clear attempt to go more towards a simple menu system that appeals to the casual Wii crowd they hope Kinect will draw in.

  3. Can’t say I’m too impressed with new style myself, it feels somehow cheaper than it was before. The panels make me think of placeholders, like the real panels will be along later. Also, the avatar awards that I’ve unlocked don’t seem to work anymore… Not sure what MS were aiming for with this, but it doesn’t do it for me. :/

  4. I’m looking at the Indie game section now on my Xbox with the new update and you can still rate it, view the box art and the descriptions are still in full detail.

    • All of them?

      • Yep, I’ve looked through most of them and they still have descriptions, box art and a rating system. Don’t see why they woudld get rid of that information anyway.

  5. I’ve heard lots of compaints about the new dashboard from my firends with 360s. They have claimed it’s too similar to the Wii but I haven’t checked it out yet myself to comment.

    I don’t like it when companies make aesthetic changes to something that was perfectly fine in the first place. If Sony changed the XMB without the option to keep the old one I might cry.

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