GDC: A quick chat with XBLA's Greg Canessa
I met Xbox Live Arcade's Greg Canessa outside a casual gaming session this afternoon. We didn't talk long, but did manage to hit some of the larger points. Competition from Sony? They don't know what Sony has planned, so they don't know what to expect. You and all of us both. XNA and Xbox Live Arcade titles? The new programming tools have Arcade clearly in their sites. They want to attract game designers and increase the number and quality of original offerings for the Arcade service. They'll continue to manage the service and hand pick the available games. The glut of low quality cell-phone games? "Crappy." Blu-ray/HD-DVD format war? Downloadable content is the future.
Greg was a really amiable guy, genuinely passionate about his role in one of the most exciting spaces in gaming today. Of course I told him (again) how much we love Geometry Wars (though I'm sure he's heard this more times than he cares to count). I also pointed out that the insert in his GDC badge adverting Real as the largest distributor of casual games right above his name and title struck me as humorous. He agreed (note its absence).
I'd like to thank Greg for chatting; if I see him again I'll try and get him to spill the beans on Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting. No bad blood about that "trash talk" post, right Greg?
