Wednesday, November 17, 2010
By: Matthew Doucette

Please vote on this proposal to improve traffic flow to XBLA and XBLIG games under the Xbox LIVE dashboard. The proposal reads:

Change Game Marketplace's lists from...

- Featured
- Games & Demos (contains Arcade, Games on Demand, Demos, and Indie Games)
- Add-Ons & Extras
- Genres
- Titles A-Z
- Specialty Shops

...to...

- Featured
- Arcade
- Games on Demand
- Demos
- Indie Games
- Miscellaneous
- Search

...or something of that nature. Let me explain:

As is, game add-ons, extras, miscellaneous, and search dominate and squish off the actual games into 1 of 6 tabs. Worse, they bump them a level deeper, which cuts of traffic according to the laws of traffic flow.

With my suggestion, games will dominate having 4 of 7 tabs, exist one level higher, and squish of searches and game extras instead. The tabs under the 4 games lists would be in similar style to the old dashboard (Newest, Top Downloaded, Top Rated, etc.)

Make games first priority. If anything should be squished together and pushed a level deeper it should be searches and extras.

Vote here: https://connect.microsoft.com/site226/feedback/details/622586/restructure-game-marketplace-of-xbla-god-demos-xblig-to-improve-traffic-flow-to-games (requires free Microsoft Connect membership)

Discuss here: http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/64698/408187.aspx#408187

Addition Microsoft Connect Issues:

You should vote on these issues, too, if you love XBLIG. This is how Microsoft hears us:

• Improve the face of XBLIG: Modify XBLIG to use a Digg-like quality assurance system based on user ratings
• Game Library Lacks Rating System: Difficult To Rate Games After You've Played Them
• XBLIG Leaderboard/Highscore Access
• XBLIG Achievement Access
• Kinect for XNA is the right thing to do

That is all.

About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.