ExL Studios previews Xbox LIVE Indie Game,  Duality ZF.

ExL Studios previewed Duality ZF, our upcoming Xbox 360 arcade shooter.  I caught a blurb that made me think our marketing efforts are starting to work:

Over the months that Duality ZF has been in development, its popularity has grown. When it releases it will probably be the most popular indie game available on Xbox Live. Its innovative, groundbreaking style is reminiscent of an Xbox Live Arcade game. The only difference? This game provides a lot more content for a lower price than many Arcade games available on Xbox Live.

(Bolding by me.)  Read the entire preview here:  http://exlstudios.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/exl-update-duality-zf/

Introducing Xbox LIVE Indie Games

Xbox LIVE Community Games (XBLCG) will be renamed to Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG) within the next few months, according to xna.com news.  We support this change one hundred percent.  We are an indie game developer, making indie games, so it fits.  We no longer have to painstakenly explain what a "community game" is to those who could care less, the gamers.  We at Xona Games requested an XBLCG rename in the xna.com forums, even though efforts to rename the platform were already well underway.  Interesting that Jason's suggested name was the name chosen by the XNA team behind the scenes.  When the Xbox LIVE Indie Games name becomes official, the XNA team will also launch a user rating system for all Xbox LIVE Marketplace content, including Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

What does all this mean?  Easy to find, great, indie games on your Xbox 360.

Future Predictions of the XNA Team:

Leaderboards, Achievements, and Gamerscore points!  (These are predictions from Xona Games of the XNA team.)

Preview Duality ZF?

Preview Duality ZF with our promotional materials and contact us if there's anything else you need.  We will also do pre- and post-release interviews on Duality ZF development, XNA and XBLCG (XBLIG) development, indie game development, shoot'em up (shmup) development and genre choice, XBLA efforts, and much more...

Also See:

• Duality ZF (official xona.com developer site)
• Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer (video)
• New Duality ZF Screenshots
• Duality ZF FAQ Answers

External Links:

• Duality ZF (official dualityzf.com game site)
• Duality ZF Forums (hosted on xbox.com)
• Xona Games (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo)
• Xbox LIVE Community Games* (xbox.com, Xbox Forums)
• Imphenzia Music (creator of the Duality ZF soundtrack)
• ExL Studios

*Soon to be renamed to Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

About the Author:  I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning, team-of-two indie studio concentrating on "intense retro" games (Xbox LIVE, PSN, WiiWare, and Windows PC). We've released Decimation X (XBLIG), a 1-4 player shmup, #1 best selling and #1 top rated XBLIG in Japan. We're working on Duality ZF (XBLA), a groundbreaking 1-4 player shmup, which placed #1 in Canada and #5 in the world in Microsoft's Dream Build Play 2010 contest. It features dual play, the ability to control two fighters at once, and a massively upgradable 32-stage spread/laser weapon system. 4 player dual play allows up to eight fighters at once.  Many of these features are never before seen shoot'em up firsts. Both games feature beautiful electronic Imphenzia soundtracks.  Help spread the word with our official dualityzf.com and decimationx.com websites.

P.S. Watch out for Score Rush (official website scorerush.com), another 1-4 player shmup. Coming soon to XBLIG.

*Shmup also known as: shoot'em up, 2D shooter, scrolling shooter, space shooter, spaceship shooter, retro shooter, etc.