Napalm Riot

One of the dangers of building your house upon a soft foundation is the possibility that cracks will start developing down the line after everything has had a chance to settle down.

Such seems to be the case with Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade strategy and its now infamous file size cap. What started out as a 50MB file size concession to the 'hard drive-free' Xbox 360 core unit has now become a right pain in the butt for both software publishers and consumers chomping at the bit for juicy digital content. While recent company policy has upped the download cap on XBLA titles to a self-described "pretty darn great" 150 MB, that number is still proving restrictive to console developers looking to bring their A-game to the download-only scene.

By way of example, consider the recent revelation made by Valve's marketing director Doug Lombardi to the effect that 2007's "Game of the Year" Portal was actually offered and subsequently rejected by Microsoft as a potential Xbox Live Arcade title. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Lombardi said that file size and bandwidth concerns on the part of Microsoft kept Portal from console digital distribuion. In Lombardi's own words:

(Continuation Source: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3167600)