sideshow wrote:Yes, Capcom has inked a deal with Microsoft to bypass the size limit but Microsoft claims they still want the generic rule to be 150MB standard for developers. Capcom is a huge videogame company so its easier for them to bend the rules. Especially releasing Street Fighter 2 HD which should be a huge hit for the LIVE community.
I guess you're right, big companies will have it easier but imo a lot of gamers think that allowing devs to come up with any size will automatically result in better looking games which I think doesn't necessarily have to be the case. I'm not a game designer so everything I write are nothing but (hopefully) educated guesses.
I'm pretty sure though this specific size limit is there for a (good) reason and might even have some advantages in the long run.
First of all, XBLA was never designed with PS2 style games in mind, it really is all about smaller projects that can be downloaded pretty fast and don't take up too much space on the hd which is rather small, unless you own an Elite unit. Letting the size limit go will undermine this concept especially as more and more games get released so the competition grows.
Another reason for this kind of size limit might also be MS's efforts to keep ALL the xbla releases available for as long as they can. PSN might be a more open environment but it lacks unification so expect to have stuff disappear much faster than on xbla. Having an hd failure in 2 to 3 years time might result here (PSN) in a rather unpleasant situation of loosing lots of games that you actually paid for. I once asked the main man behind the german xbox division the question how long they plan to keep xbla titles available and he couldn't aswer the question but compared to sony's network they have at least some kind of unification which should make keeping titles available easier.
My point in all this is that those restrictions, while sometimes problematic, are overall a reasonable thing to have, keeping the "game" fair (you can pump lots of resources into the development of your title but you can't stuff it full of fmv and tell the people "you're getting more for your money here") and helping MS in making them available for a longer time.
What does this have to do with the Raiden Fighters Comp? If it stays a JP-only disc release probably not much although the possibility of a later xbla release for us westerners hasn't been ruled out anywhere. In fact, if the current (and upcoming) shmups and boarderliners turn out profitable MS will consider releasing more of them and nothing is easier (and cheaper) than releasing something that's already finished and running just fine.
