Microsoft Responds To Community Games Quality Concerns

When former XNA community manager David Weller expressed concerns about crowding and quality standards when the new Community Games launch on Xbox Live, it resembled some of the discussions that have been had in the past regarding Xbox Live Arcade.

However, a Microsoft representative was quick to respond to Weller's concern that the company has a quality control problem, highlighting a few key ways that it plans to ensure its users get the best experience.

"First, there will be free trials of every community game available on Xbox LIVE as well as a detailed description, because it is really important to us that consumers know what they are paying for," said the rep in a statement. "Second, we will have a thriving Xbox LIVE Community Games storefront for the top-rated games, highest sellers and most downloaded titles of the moment."

Current XNA community manager Chris Satchell also discussed the storefront with us during our recent interview with him. But with large volumes of content, it all comes down to the search interface:

"Consumers will be able to visit Xbox.com to view all of the games available on the service, easily search and sort titles by user-ratings, content and genre, rate games and even download them directly to their Xbox 360," the rep told us.

When we talked to Satchell, he mentioned the potential for real viral appeal that he felt Community Games had, and the focus on the web as central hub for these titles makes sense when you think of people IMing or emailing links to each other, or posting them on their blogs. The rep also said that this web-central methodology will help users separate the wheat from the chaff.

"You’ll even be able copy a game’s direct Xbox.com URL and post it on your Facebook page, or send in e-mail to all of your friends," said the statement. "If you want to search through hundreds of games, you can, but we’ll also be providing easy ways to find the freshest, most fun content on the console.”