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Microsoft, Can You Please Take the Xbox Live Indie Games Channel Seriously?

TheIndependintShowFor a long ass time, here at DIY HQ, we’ve complained about Microsoft’s lack of marketing for their oft-maligned and forgotten Indie Games channel. I mean, when it was announced, it was a big deal for Microsoft as they announced it would be the “YouTube of video games.” Unfortunately, shortly upon launching the service, Microsoft almost immediately forgot about it, remembering it existed a few months only long enough to simply rename it from “Community Games” to “Indie Games.”

So, suffice it to say, at this point we don’t ever really expect Microsoft to do much in regard to marketing the actual service or any of the hundreds of decent games on the service. I mean it’s clearly not a priority, right? Well maybe it kind of is…

Earlier today, Microsoft announced a new mini-show coming to Xbox Live — starting with Xbox Live UK, I believe — called the Independint (sic, meant to be spelled that way) Charles Show. Upon first hearing about this I was kind of impressed and excited to see what Microsoft had in mind. I mean, they were making an honest attempt to market the XBLIG channel?

So, butt seated firmly into my chair (in case I was knocked off my feet), I watched the preview trailer for the first episode:

Needless to say by my title above, I wasn’t exactly blown off my feet. Instead, I was left, dismayed that Microsoft is taking a swipe at it’s own Indie Games channel in order to hopefully drum up some more sales in the area.

Now before I begin, let me start by saying, I have no problem against Robert Florence and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of both ConsoleVania and VideoGaiden. But this… this is no fucking way to market the XBLIG channel.

As a supposed serious part of the Xbox, Microsoft have done absolutely dick to help any of the people on the service to actually market their games, instead relying on a site like IGN to only sometimes update their top 10 list. Now, all of a sudden, they think they can co-produce a 5 minute comedy bit show where the host will casually recommend/make fun of various indie games? What the hell?

Can you please take your own platform seriously Microsoft? The Xbox Live Indie Games service isn’t a joke. It’s not a joke to me, and it certainly isn’t a joke to the hundreds of developers who have spent countless hours making games for the service. And yet, you hire a comedian/jokester to run a mini-show about the platform? Do you honestly think that’s going to drum up sales?

Look, I’ve no doubt the show will be funny. Even that bit above was pretty good. But I absolutely don’t want to try a game, let alone buy one, after somebody has just spent five minutes degrading it with dry British humor.

You know what I would have enjoyed? An honest mini-show that highlights a few games each week. There’s some damn good games on the service that deserve their fair share in the spotlight and not the joke encrusted “reviews” Robert is sure to pile on them.

Have a good rebuttal? Well profess your thoughts, share em with us and, if it’s good enough, we’ll even publish the rebuttal. If you have a serious entry, email it to me. My email is in the sidebar.

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Comments

  • http://giveusthisdayourdailygame.blogspot.com/ Ben

    Yeah, they should have gotten nick the duderino to do this thing.

  • Grumpy Moose

    It would also be nice if they would finally make the indies channel available to ALL countries. Here in Belgium I still can’t publish or buy games from XBLIG… Which is very, very sad.

    • Geoff Gibson

      That is sad because there’s some really fun ones. :(

  • http://www.darkzero.co.uk Sean

    There’s a difference between making jokes *about* something, and making jokes at its expense. Robert mostly sticks to the former, and wouldn’t be doing the show – for free – at all if he didn’t believe in or appreciate the Indie Games channel.

  • http://www.dalagonash.com James Bowden

    I actually enjoyed the Independint Charles show and have to say you’ve kind of got the wrong end of the stick.

    The show isn’t made to make fun of the service but to highlight one odd game and one good game each week, I personally downloaded and enjoyed Run Away after its appearance on the show.

  • Dan

    It seems to me that some people really need a sense of humour. I thought it was really funny and it does what it sets out to do, shows great imaginative game and gives you a good laugh!

  • Geoff Gibson

    I wouldn’t have a problem with the show if this wasn’t Microsoft’s first and only answer to marketing the channel.

    Like I said above, I’m a fan of ConsoleVania and VideoGaiden. Robs a funny guy, but there are some honest-to-god good/deep games on the service that can’t/don’t need humor to market them. Games like Clover and Groov for instance. How will Rob approach those?

  • Gary

    I’m not sure how familiar you are with the UK’s Inside Xbox channel but almost all of the shows we get here – Sent U A Message and The Insiders, in particular – have a focus on slightly awkward humour to carry the show through. It breaks up the monotony of straight-up information.

    So, while I understand that you may not be happy with indie games getting this kind of show; you should understand that, in the context of our line-up, it is a decent fit.

    Honestly, I think the show reflects the unique nature of the indie channel and for me it served its purpose – to inform me that for every bit of guff like Don’t Be Nervous Talking to Girls there’s a quality game like Run Away which I downloaded and enjoyed on the strength of the show.

    • Geoff Gibson

      But that’s ultimately my problem with the show. Not that it’s making light of the channel, or that some games will be made fun of. It’s that this is Microsoft’s first and only method of advertising the channel. This idea would have been an infinitely better idea had Microsoft not relied on it completely for marketing XBLIG. It’s funny and light hearted, we agree, but to the average Xbox gamer (the Halo and CoD gamers of the world) I honestly don’t believe that this is effective marketing and won’t bring in more sales, but rather bring in more ridicule from the common gamer who doesn’t even know the channel exists.

  • Steven

    But isn’t that the point? They don’t know the channel exists now, but after watching this, they will? I thought it was excellent and downloaded Run Away on the basis of the show’s recommendation.

    • Geoff Gibson

      You may have, but then again, you may not be an average game (considering your reading this blog now). Think about the type of gamer who goes into a store and only buys the truly epic games: Gears of War, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty. These gamers are in the majority on the Xbox 360. After watching that show do you honestly think they’ll be inclined to check out any other games on the service? I’d wager not because to them, it’s a joke, it’s a quick laugh at a game’s expensve.

      Now I don’t know about you, but after I sink considerable time into game development, I don’t want to rely on jokes to sell my game. I want something a bit more stable and predictable. Jokes are funny, and they can do a lot of marketing, but my itself it just comes off like the whole service is a joke, which doesn’t help.

      You may have checked out the game Run Away, which is a funny little title, but how many “core” gamers simply saw that game and thought to themselves that it was funny, but not because of the light hearted jokes being tossed about, but rather because, to them, the game actually does look bad and making fun of the game only reinforced their stereotypes about indie games?

      I’m telling you, the show is funny, and it may be a good idea, but Microsoft seriously needs to supplement this with something. You can’t rely on jokes solely to market something like this, it won’t work.

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  • SporkFuMaster

    Haven’t been around for a bit, but here’s my 2 cents. I’m going to have to agree with Geoff here. This is hardly the best way to spotlight the indie channel for the first time. Sure, there have been a 1-2 of other promotions, but they certainly weren’t attempting to draw any real notice to the section. While there may be a small percentage that enjoyed the show, from what I’m seeing there are a whole lot more that felt it was just not that appealing (or worse). On the other hand, I’m not from the UK and the show was not tailored towards me in any way.
    I guess that my main issue is that the US has nothing like this. With such a large base of 360′s in the US, how is it that they aren’t attempting to make a few more people aware of the channel?
    Did this guy contact MS with the idea and they approved it? And is that the only answer for getting something similar out here by making it ourselves and trying to get it approved? If that’s the case, I think this site should try to get their own “Top Picks” section out on the indie channel. It seems quite obvious that IGN can’t even afford a monkey to pull some better games out of a hat for their list (seriously, who puts a massage app as a top pick?).

  • hurihenra

    i play xbox and until today did not know what indie gamer was. i’m probably a bit off the cultural radar compared to most gamers but i’ve played games all my life and am interested in the retro appeal and the personal and touch charm of these games.

    the gripe with microsoft for not promoting the service is a very valid one for me. i should have heard about it much sooner. however, i’m a fan of Robert Florence and will watch anything with him in it. i never would have heard about the service if it was not for his show. i imagine that i’m the kind of gamer that microsoft wants to attract to the service as opposed to the halo/gears type blockbuster only types.

    so, yes, MS needs to explore other avenues but i think the indipendint charles show is a great start. it got me interested at least. ‘ghost of remembered happiness”, classic.