XBLA file size limit increases to 350MB

Good. I was thinking a doubling up to 300 would have been fine, but this is even better. It still fits on the larger memory card, so everyone is happy.

thank god for this!

lets hope that 350mb is enough for a xbla portal release !!

charleytony

I was just about to say Portal too! w00t!

They should have made it 360 MB for the corny joke.

yuk yuk yuk

It's... a start.
I think the limit, at the very least, if there has to be a god damned limit, it should be 700MB.
But a limit is absurd. Especially when XBOX Originals can be 5GB+, and when the most direct competition (the PSN) has no limits at all, and allows for retail-quality games to be released openly on it.

I think this is awesome. It should be up to developers to decide who they want to market to. Anyone can upgrade their system if they want to, but they know how many memory cards are out in the wild.

Also games which are standard length like Castlevania will be much easier to produce for people looking for a meatier game experience with more robust graphics and sound.

I'm tired of developers complaining how much it costs to make games for this generation. Look at PSP games being turned into PS2 games, and all of the DS games that really could be released for a home console. Their budgets are usually around a couple million dollars. How about PS2 and Saturn games? I'd love to see some more games like PAA: OtRPoD. Why can't a new SNK vs Capcom, Powerstone, Rayman or even better, RPG be developed and released for XBLA?

There are a number of games that are suited for arcade, because of their obscurity. This way they don't have to worry about being removed from the shelf after a few months or not having any copies at all when customers do want to buy. Everyparty may not have been a big seller in Japan, but if MS released it worldwide through arcade, I know that I'm not the only person who may have bought it. Look at Scene it!, Cataan, and Carcassonne. They seem to be doing well, and there aren't many games like it available.

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant.

Oh god the last time they increased the size limit, we didnt hear from Castle Crashers for a whole year!!!

Celebrations all round!

A toast to Micro ^^

This is starting to feel like and auction. Can I get a 400 cap, 400 - 500 cap... 1g. We have 1g cap now.

Seriously, it's a good thing as we'll benefit from better games; provided they stay in the $10-20 price range.

Why even have a limit at all? I mean the PS3 has amazing download games that have no such limits on what makes them amazing.

The more they raise the limit, the more pissed I'm going to be until they drop the price of the 120GB drive to something more reasonable.

This is so absurd, they should have just raised it to 350MB LAST YEAR. How ironic is it that they raise the limit to 350 just days after Castle Crashers (which was delayed in the wake of last year's increase to 150) is finished.

I'm sure if the Behemoth had 350MB to work with from last year the game could've been even better. Hopefully they were notified of this change long enough ago for them to take advantage of it.

I'm half and half on this issue. One I like the limit because it forces developers to make use of as little resource as possible, which is supposed to be the point, even for the Indie scene.

On the other, I feel that if a developer can honestly show that a game needs more space they should be given that option with little effort.

heh, this news was a long time comming and I am glad to hear it has finally come to pass.

I think we have the release of Nintendo Wii-Ware + Capcom's complaints with Bionic Commando and SSFIITHDR to thank for this. Can't say abot Castle Crashers until we see the size...

I just hope optimization is still a priority, and that the larger size limit doesn't simply mean that games are going to cost more. Shrek and Roll isn't worth more than Ikaruga just because it's over twice it's size in megs...

Even if 350megs is available, if a game as awesome as Ikaruga can fit into about 50 megs, Then it proves you don't need More megs to make a game properly.

If something like Omega Five can have such high-quality graphics, within the previous restrictions, I hope future games aren't just bloated messes that lack perfection.

I really hope this opens the XBLA up to new Genres. I'd LOVE to see some original 2D or even 3D fighting games coming to the service. 2D games that weren't done in flash were apparently not a good fit for the service before. Original, new, high-res sprite games would just be great. (Or just "Guardian Heroes". Please?)

I'd assume profitability will keep prices and sizes in check, though. I hope the size is used for fleshing out ideas, and taking things that where previously restricted, to the level they always where intended to be at.

Is this necessarily a good thing? What is 'arcade'? Small side games made for a quick play. Increasing the size limit all the time will just result in big arcade games. What's the use of it then? Arcade should be quick downloads. Not everyone is blessed with a high speed internet connection. 350mb is fine...but going on increasing...like 700-1GB...that's too much. Heck, it will be equal to a retail game demo!

I don't care what the limit is, I just want SSFIITHD Remix already!

honestly if they do this they have to increase the arcades memory and the pros' because i know that my 20gb is resonably full and i still haven't been taking advantage of any movie rentals etc...
i mean my 'games' bit of my hdd is already nearly 8gbs with all the dlc and stuff... and thats without the new cod4 maps and halo maps.
also with rock band dlc coming this week i really think i may need to upgrade by years end...
PRICE CUT FTW!
then i can get an elite=]

Lower the price of the 120 gb or release a new 200 gb hard drive for some price but we should see something now along these lines.

next thing is too get rid of the core pack arcade or make the price of getting a hard drive affordable

This is great. I never understood why the majority of stuff on Marketplace are huge files (demos, videos, Xbox Originals) but the XBLA games absolutely had to stay small. +1 for common sense.

holy shit dustin, bad image.

Does THAT MEAN MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2 CAN BE PUT IN SOME TIME I HOPE SOOOO THAT WOULD BE SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they shouldn't pander to the lowest features, provide arcade owners reasons to upgrade to a 20 gig HDD, or even past that. If they lowered the price of the 120 gig HDD, people would be buying it more. Having a HDD only makes it easier to want to buy more content off XBL anyways. MS will get their money in the end without gouging gamers with their BS proprietary HDD's.

It would be awesome to get some larger games that are neither xbox originals, or fit under the old XBLA limit. How about some Sega "classics" from the Dreamcast?

What if MS kicked the size limit and streamed it to your 360. So you could make a 5GB game and instead of downloading it, you download content as you need it. The game could be limited to 256 MB on your harddrive/ memory card and be cleared and replaced as needed. This would require a constant internet connection, however.