Alien Hominid this XBLA Wednesday, but XBLA not every Wednesday

Lately a number of eagerly awaited Xbox Live Arcade titles have slipped their schedules or are still MIA – Worms HD and Castlevania being two of the loudest requests everywhere. Xbox Live/360 Group Product Manager Aaron Greenberg confirmed to 1UP that there will be an XBLA Wednesday this week with Alien Hominid HD, which confirms previously-held suspicions. But that’s not the meat of the 1UP interview with Greenberg.

The meat was what was up with XBLA Wednesdays in the first place. Other people have been pointing to Xbox employees departing Microsoft, and “holes” in XBLA Wednesdays release schedules, as worrisome signs. When asked, Greenberg admitted that there have been some notable “holes” that need filling: “We hear the feedback, I can assure you that these last few weeks of Xbox Live Arcade releases was not the way we planned it.”

Greenberg then assured that March will be make-up month for XBLA, with “a storm of new releases.” Worms and Castlevania better be counted among them. Certification to make a game meet the high bar of expectations for XBLA is great and certainly expected, even at the expense of schedule-slipping, but “when it’s done” is not exactly a pleasing assurance to the gamer’s ears, either.

Lately a number of eagerly awaited Xbox Live Arcade titles have slipped their schedules or are still MIA – Worms HD and Castlevania being two of the loudest requests everywhere. Xbox Live/360 Group Product Manager Aaron Greenberg confirmed to 1UP that there will be an XBLA Wednesday this week with Alien Hominid HD, which confirms previously-held suspicions. But that’s not the meat of the 1UP interview with Greenberg.

The meat was what was up with XBLA Wednesdays in the first place. Other people have been pointing to Xbox employees departing Microsoft, and “holes” in XBLA Wednesdays release schedules, as worrisome signs. When asked, Greenberg admitted that there have been some notable “holes” that need filling: “We hear the feedback, I can assure you that these last few weeks of Xbox Live Arcade releases was not the way we planned it.”

Greenberg then assured that March will be make-up month for XBLA, with “a storm of new releases.” Worms and Castlevania better be counted among them. Certification to make a game meet the high bar of expectations for XBLA is great and certainly expected, even at the expense of schedule-slipping, but “when it’s done” is not exactly a pleasing assurance to the gamer’s ears, either.