14 DAY TRIAL // Game developers have often complained about the fact that the size limit of 250MB (even lower when the service was released) is not big enough for their games and many hoped that Microsoft would do something to repair the mistake. It seems that the time is about to come, but don't expect some huge changes in the program: a measly 100MB will be added and we really think that won't be enough for the most interesting projects. But, at least, it's a start and a proof that we can always expect size limit increases every now and then.
The information regarding the increase of the XBLA limit to 350MB was given by David Edery, Worldwide Games Portfolio Planner for Xbox Live Arcade, in an interview with website gameindustry.biz. When asked if the XBLA limit will be upped to 350MB, he answered:
"Yeah, it's a steady progress. We've been listening to our partners, listening to our customers to try and get a feel for what's right. We don't want the size limit to hit the roof because we think there's some value in promoting small pick and play experiences that don't cost USD 20 million, it's good for the ecosystem."
However, he gave no further details regarding a possible date when this limit becomes available for game developers, but it's definitely a good piece of news even though, as we've said before, it doesn't represent a huge leap forward. Still, it might be exactly what was needed by great titles to get their chance on the Xbox Live Arcade. And we are sure that this limit would've been much bigger from the start if, you know, there were HDD drives available everywhere. Yet again, having an arcade title (or port) of 1-2 GB would seem strange at the moment and wouldn't be exactly the best thing to happen.