It wasn't that long ago that Xbox Live Arcade releases were few and far between. Oftentimes, delays to our favorite titles were blamed on Microsoft's certification process. Unfortunately, that's really all we ever heard about it. Jeff Minter, creator of Tempest 2000 and the upcoming Space Giraffe for XBLA, has solved that problem by venting about the certification process on his personal blog. In doing so, Minter has also given us the most detailed explanation of the cert process that we've seen.
It seems that Microsoft's certification process is a long and drawn out affair. According to Minter, he now considers the Microsoft certification process to be the most stressful thing he's ever done in the game industry: "I used to tell how final test on T2K for Atari was the most stressful thing I'd ever done in the biz. I now wholeheartedly rescind that. Final test at Atari was a holiday, it was a finite process with an end that occurred in just a few weeks." Suffice it to say, Minter has few kind words for the cert process. He does have plenty of curse words though. Here's hoping Space Giraffe hits its mark and Minter can regain some of his sanity.
