Yesterday, at GameFest 2007, Marc Whitten (General Manager for Casual Games) made some bold predictions about the future of XBLA. Or are they? Maybe not. Predictions below:

#1 -- 45 million downloads by the end of 2007

#2 -- More than 100 XBLA games by the end of 2007

#3 -- XBLA revenue to double in the next fiscal year

Besides those predictions he also revealed that XBLA games have an average financial return of 156% after 12 months on the service and that XBLA has raked in over $30 million.

Analysis and discussion after the break.

[via Gamasutra]

The title says it all. Microsoft has not plans to raise the limit any time soon. This reiteration comes in counterpoint to Sony's latest strategy of simultaneous retail and PSN release of Warhawk.

And not only is Microsoft unfazed by Sony's latest idea, but they think the limit is a good thing. Katie Stone (Senior Games Program Manager) was quoted at Gamefest 2007 as saying, "It [the 150MB cap] really lets you focus on the innovation."

Now, before the mob forms, torches are lit, pitchforks are hoisted, and people get out of control let me say this: I agree. As evidenced by the many games that already exist on the service and the many bizarre and innovative titles coming out of the Dream-Build-Play contest, the XBLA size limit does not hinder innovation. In fact, because the limit is there and expectations of XBLA are set appropriately, a small team (or even a single person) can develop for XBLA and make something great. That allows developers to take risks and go crazy. And that is why XBLA is a huge leap forward in the world of console gaming.

Okay. I am off the soapbox now. So, the mob may continue as it so pleases.

[via IGN, thanks Measure]

Schizoid was announced back at GDC as the first XNA game to reach XBLA. Well, it's been more than 5 months since that announcement and the first screens were shown. Now, Gamefest 2007 is underway and Torpex Games is using the conference to debut the game. And to calm those who aren't attending we've finally got some video to scour for details.

The gameplay consists of "players [teaming] up to protect each other from a seemingly endless stream of glowing enemies." Basically, co-op is king here and if you don't work together to take out these mysterious iridescent enemies (which remind me a lot of flOw) that match your color (either red or blue, although it looks like blue and gold to me) you will both perish. Fight together and die together. At this point it seems like a mashup of Ikaruga, fLOw, and Mutant Storm with co-op as the main feature. Sounds pretty good to me.

More useful info via quotations after the break.

Today, the winners of the Dream-Build-Play contest were finally announced at the launch of Gamefest 2007 (a Microsoft-run development conference focused on XNA). After whittling the field down to 20 finalists the panel of judges have finally selected the winner. Actually, I should really say winners because the top 4 contestants are all being offered publishing deals with Microsoft to bring their games to XBLA. So who won and what are the games like? Read More.