Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread

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I think I asked this before (a long time ago), but for the uninformed, how does Catan play? Is it a board game like Monopoly? Is it resource management/trading like M.U.L.E.? Is it turn-based strategy like Civilization? I'm likely to pick it up based on the hype, but I'd like to know more what I'm getting myself into.
 
So about an hour a game? I foresee lots of people dropping. I've never played, but I'm interested in a game probably Thursday night.

Hopefully there are enough bodies for a NeoGAF game...
 
shpankey said:
quake 3 team arena
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It wasn't me this time.

In all seriousness, MS has done a stellar job of listening to their community and addressing all of the gripes people have had with the XBLA service. It looks like they are finally hitting their stride and they are offering a service that really differentiates them from Nintendo and Sony.

This is what XBLA should be.
 
I guess we are seeing the effects of the new XBLA manager over that guy who got dumped and ended up at Popcap.
 
Schafer said:
I guess we are seeing the effects of the new XBLA manager over that guy who got dumped and ended up at Popcap.
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He left, what a month or two ago? The games coming out now have been in the pipe for a long time - he probably has more to do with them coming out than the new guy.
 
GhaleonEB said:
He left, what a month or two ago? The games coming out now have been in the pipe for a long time - he probably has more to do with them coming out than the new guy.
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not really. Certification takes 1-2 weeks... A -ton- of the problems were stemming from certification... if the game fails cert it'll be at least another week or 2 before it has a chance to clear again.

A month is plenty of time to fix the mess of all the games in certification limbo, and to start releasing the games.
 
DopeyFish said:
not really. Certification takes 1-2 weeks... A -ton- of the problems were stemming from certification... if the game fails cert it'll be at least another week or 2 before it has a chance to clear again.

A month is plenty of time to fix the mess of all the games in certification limbo, and to start releasing the games.
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you have no idea how long is both slated for certification and how long it actually takes.
beyond that, you also have no idea how many and when any of these games were put into cert.

just saying.
 
DopeyFish said:
not really. Certification takes 1-2 weeks... A -ton- of the problems were stemming from certification... if the game fails cert it'll be at least another week or 2 before it has a chance to clear again.

A month is plenty of time to fix the mess of all the games in certification limbo, and to start releasing the games.
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A month for a new manager to arrive and diagnose, implement and execute a new process for certification is not nearly long enough. By all account the cert process is a complex one, involving many steps and parties. I do business process design for a living, driving process improvements (in my case, finance processes). Pulling together everyone to document the end-end process, identify problem statements, design change recommendations and then implement them is a Herculean task for large processes. That kind of change management is not something a new manager pulls of in a month. It's not something very experienced managers pull off in a month.
 
arne said:
you have no idea how long is both slated for certification and how long it actually takes.
beyond that, you also have no idea how many and when any of these games were put into cert.

just saying.
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when something is submitted to certification, to the eyes of the developer and to the publisher and to the consumers, that's when certification begins. Not when the team finally stops eating their crunchies or stops playing Halo 2... or when the project managers finish yapping about the backlog. It's when Microsoft receives the product for certification.

GhaleonEB said:
A month for a new manager to arrive and diagnose, implement and execute a new process for certification is not nearly long enough.
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How is a month not nearly long enough? Managers aren't trained to walk around greeting everyone for a month straight.
 
arne said:
you have no idea how long is both slated for certification and how long it actually takes.
beyond that, you also have no idea how many and when any of these games were put into cert.

just saying.
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Hey Arne, since you have insight into things we have no idea about, what is the deal with the 360 d-pad issues still not being addressed? We’ve known for a year and a half that all Microsoft would have to do is make the plastic rim surrounding the d-pad narrower and everything would work fine. I can’t imagine it would be difficult to implement, but this mistake still hasn’t been addressed. A properly functioning d-pad is pretty important for many of the XBLA titles.
 
DopeyFish said:
How is a month not nearly long enough? Managers aren't trained to walk around greeting everyone for a month straight.
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Read Ghaleons post above yours. He has much more knowledge of Management than you do. A couple of months is nothing in terms of implementing a new plan on that sort of level. Everything we see now is due to the previous regime, whatever GAF would like to think
 
a Master Ninja said:
Hey Arne, since you have insight into things we have no idea about, what is the deal with the 360 d-pad issues still not being addressed? We’ve known for a year and a half that all Microsoft would have to do is make the plastic rim surrounding the d-pad narrower and everything would work fine. I can’t imagine it would be difficult to implement, but this mistake still hasn’t been addressed. A properly functioning d-pad is pretty important for many of the XBLA titles.
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Yes, that's a good question.
 
a Master Ninja said:
Hey Arne, since you have insight into things we have no idea about, what is the deal with the 360 d-pad issues still not being addressed? We’ve known for a year and a half that all Microsoft would have to do is make the plastic rim surrounding the d-pad narrower and everything would work fine. I can’t imagine it would be difficult to implement, but this mistake still hasn’t been addressed. A properly functioning d-pad is pretty important for many of the XBLA titles.
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Quoting for answers please, arne.
 
GhaleonEB said:
A month for a new manager to arrive and diagnose, implement and execute a new process for certification is not nearly long enough. By all account the cert process is a complex one, involving many steps and parties. I do business process design for a living, driving process improvements (in my case, finance processes). Pulling together everyone to document the end-end process, identify problem statements, design change recommendations and then implement them is a Herculean task for large processes. That kind of change management is not something a new manager pulls of in a month. It's not something very experienced managers pull off in a month.
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another thing is that a lot of XBLA developers probably don't have the funds for their own large in-house testing team, so "certification" for an XBLA game may be very different for "certification" for an EA game that has a dedicated testing lab or whatever.
 
Just to chime in on this certification talk, one of the Pinball FX developers said, in an interview with Major Nelson, that certification took 4 months for that game.
 
Yep, the time for certification depends on the quality/size of the internal testing (among other things). With an independent developer with no experience on the platform, working with extra hardware like the camera, it will take a long time. With a publisher who's been on the platform and has the resources to test thoroughly before submission, it will be shorter. Since many XBLA games are from small, indy types, it usually takes a lot longer than for retail games.
 
Open Source said:
Yep, the time for certification depends on the quality/size of the internal testing (among other things). With an independent developer with no experience on the platform, working with extra hardware like the camera, it will take a long time. With a publisher who's been on the platform and has the resources to test thoroughly before submission, it will be shorter. Since many XBLA games are from small, indy types, it usually takes a lot longer than for retail games.
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This makes a lot of sense. Works for me.
 
DopeyFish said:
How is a month not nearly long enough? Managers aren't trained to walk around greeting everyone for a month straight.
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Did you read the rest of my post? Process change management takes TIME, especially for complex processes. You don't jump in and start making changes right away and *poof* it's all fixed. Every single issue I've worked on where that was the approach was met with utter failure. You've got to map the process, identify the solutions, make system/IT changes where necessary (which takes time), develop training materials, roll out and train the stakeholders...that stuff takes time, and it's all work people do on top of their existing jobs. It's not just a manager running around fixing problems. I do this stuff for a living and I wish to god it was that easy.
 
a Master Ninja said:
Hey Arne, since you have insight into things we have no idea about, what is the deal with the 360 d-pad issues still not being addressed? We’ve known for a year and a half that all Microsoft would have to do is make the plastic rim surrounding the d-pad narrower and everything would work fine. I can’t imagine it would be difficult to implement, but this mistake still hasn’t been addressed. A properly functioning d-pad is pretty important for many of the XBLA titles.
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It's not the ideal solution (ideal being MS fixing it), but the screwdriver shaving method worked extremely well for both my wired and wireless pads. D-pad issues are basically gone as a result.
 
Segata Sanshiro said:
CATAN CATAN CATAN CATAN

WHY DID THEY WAIT TIL JUST BEFORE I GO TO JAPAN

PILONV PRACTICE UP, THERE WILL BE WAR WHEN I GET BACK AT THE END OF MAY
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CATAN

happy.gif


Timezones may ruin our games though. THIS IS THE BEST MONTH OF XBLA EVER!
 
I really hope Catan sells well enough to warrant at least 50 more board games on XBLA. I also hope I find lots of new people to play with/against for said games.

Really I'd be happy with all of the top 10 from BGG. I mean really how much can coding this stuff cost.
 
snack said:
Wow, looks really good. I liked what NinjaBee did with Cloning Clyde, so I will be sure to check this out once this hits the arcade.
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The XBLA could use a good dosage of turn-based strategy.
 
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