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Originally Posted by n00b
This makes absolutely no sense to me.
Not only does XBLA have a seperate portal for indie games (making your reasoning baseless), larger companies do contribute to it and PSN on a more regular basis than they do iOs platforms.
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I know there's a section for "indie" games, but it's really a bit more complicated than that. There are actually a lot of indie games in the "non-indie" section of XBLA... the difference is that they are games which have been made with a bit more of a budget (although nothing huge), and usually with a lot more talent involved. The stuff you find in the "indie" section (XBLIG) tends to be a tier below that. Derik Yu, for example, has a game coming out soon on XBLA, even though he's solidly in the indie camp (he runs TIGSource). There are basically two stores on xbox live: there's XBLA, which is professional quality, and XBLIG, which is more ameteur.
You're right that larger companies do contribute to it too. It's just that they don't usually tend to be companies like epic or id, who seem to mostly be interested in AAA titles and (perhaps moreso) developing new game engines. And, when they do put stuff on there, it's usually ports of older games (id for example has doom, quake, etc on there, but nothing new).
edit: oh yeah and I chose my words poorly in that post. I said XBLA is more of an "indie" thing but I should have said it's more of a small developer thing (many are owned by larger companies). Although there are still a lot of indie devs on it too. Just thought I'd add to the confusion a bit more.
That's why I think the iOS is a good choice: it's a new platform that they can develop new technology for (it's a good market to get into) and at the same time, they don't have to feel compelled to make a huge game that has to stand up to their console efforts.
I should have mentioned in my other post, I don't really care about a new jazz game, and probably won't play it if it's on the iphone. I just think it's a good platform for epic to get into, business wise, and a property like jazz jackrabbit would be a good choice to use for a game on it.
Weird side note: of the major companies that
have released new games on XBLA, most of them seem to be Japanese (eg konami, square-enix). The really big american companies seem to prefer to release their games on disc, except for a couple of shovelware pieces from companies that are already known for that kind of stuff.
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The main audience for a Jazz Jackrabbit game will be older gamers with nostalgia, I can't think of a better way to turn a good chunk of them off then by saying "And you use a touch screen to play it!". Most people do not like touch controls for a good number of genres, and the ones that typically do that Jazz would fit into would probably disappoint many people.
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I don't like touch screens either, but I think games using them can still make money. Granted, they won't control as well as on the a console, but I honestly doubt we'll ever see epic develop a downloadable game for consoles. They just don't seem like a company *interested* in doing that (and nothing they've done in the last 10 years suggests they would). One thing that is possible is for them to is let some other company develop it, like they did for that GBA Jazz game, but that's a different situation (and a more hopeful one if you want a 2d platformer).