Crap Live Arcade games "trivialising" the service - Denki

Denki Games boss Colin Anderson reckons Microsoft's willingness to allow so many rubbish games onto Xbox Live Arcade is "trivialising" the service.

"We're already beginning to see the traditional games publishers flood these new channels with re-hashed versions of the same tired old products," Anderson wrote in his GamesIndustry.biz column on casual gaming.

"They don't even appear to be 'sympathetic re-interpretations', they're just knock-offs of familiar products, uncaringly converted with just enough 'enhanced' features to plausibly deny accusations of not caring about the product or audience.

"What's worse is that Microsoft appears to be permitting this. Perhaps not deliberately, but whether through choice or simply a lack of long-term vision they appear to be trivialising their service."

That doesn't mean that the games appearing on Xbox Live Arcade aren't part of something big though, with Anderson arguing that they "may just help to expand the possibilities for new game experiences - for both industry and audience alike".

For more on his views about casual gaming and how perceptions have changed - partly thanks to services like Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation 3's eDistribution Initiative - be sure to take in the rest of the column.