State of Play

While I claim this blog was about an "Outsiders" view of the gaming industry, I've actually rarely touched upon this topic. So, in this entry I want to try and fix that little problem by talking about my current thoughts on the Xbox Community Network.

BXB was originally admitted to the XCN on recommendation of Ade at msxboxworld, something I'm very grateful for, and after chatting with the former XCN manager Gareth Morris I felt that being part of the Community was a very positive thing.

It seemed the original UK XCN wasn't simply a list of fansites, but a badge of honour for those admitted and I trumpted our acceptance a fair old amount when it first happened. And the great thing was that a person could visit each of the XCN sites and get something different from them all. Meaning that none of the sites were really in competition to get users.

The equilibrium was kept and stayed that way for a while. Shortly after BXB was admitted to the XCN Gareth Morris handed in his resignation and left. Leaving the Microsoft to appoint a company called Digital Outlook to run the XCN. Onto the scene stepped Crissie Ricotta - the new XCN Manager.

It was around same time Crissie began to manage the XCN that I encountered someone else who I believed intended to use the XCN to line their own pockets with cash.

They boasted in an e-mail to me: "...the XCN will have an 'exclusive interview' which will depend on if they contribute to it. Also you've got to understand that with the community work that I do, obviously I'm not going to do it 'all' for free."

This was something I couldn't abide and led to months of unrest, conflict and threats but I felt I was protecting something that I believed in, something that had been good to BXB. As an outsider looking in I saw this as a cynical way of making money - something that's on the increase in this industry.

Away, I digress. Back on topic, I've recently become very disgruntled with how the XCN is being run. At first Crissie offered us some great content and the chance to get review copies of games that we might have otherwise struggled to get. Two things that I'm very pleased about.

The main reason behind this swing in opinion is that the XCN Manager has totally failed to even acknowledge BXB's Join the Ghosts event. I've made my feelings known behind closed doors so I feel comfortable expressing them here.

BXB has been added to the Xbox.com Community Developers Program(XCDP); we've been added to the EMEA reviewers kit list and we're working closely with the second biggest publisher out there. How many other XCN sites are doing what we're doing?

One of the reasons I wanted to run this Join The Ghosts event was because I wanted to give XCN sites the chance to get great content and have a fun day - one of my stipulations with Chris Easton was that all XCN sites are invited (This was done before the recent update).

BXB is part of an attempt to grow an online community which will complement the Xbox Live community experience. That sentence is the very genesis upon which BXB was born and flourished. And after my chat with Gareth Morris I felt he was working to the same agenda. Digital Outlook, however, in my opinion, are not.

It seems increasingly apparent to me that BXB has fans within the Microsoft corporation itself as we've been added to the XCDP and, rumour has it, that the decision to add BXB to the EMEA reviewers kit list was taken higher up in the echelons of Microsoft where companies like Digital Outlook and Red have no influence. A rumour supported, perhaps, by the fact that our admission to the EMEA reviewers kit list was totally out of the blue.

The recent additions to the XCN have also caused me some concern. Many of these new sites are missing basic gaming website requirements like a reviews section or make absurd claims about their popularity and affiliates. I'm not attacking these new websites, I'm simply stating facts, which, with a little investigation are proven right.

Take www.xboxliveaddicts.co.uk, they claim to be the official forum for THQ's massive MotoGP 3, yet, if you take a look at their forums they have only around 1000 people signed up. The two don't match. If THQ were really backing this website, it'd be 100 times bigger than any other XCN site out there. Once again, I've spoken to the guys behind XBLA about this so I'm not concerned about saying this publicly.

What has irked me most about this new influx of websites is that the XCN is no longer a "Badge of Quality" awarded to sites that offer something unique to visitors and has essentially caused a massive increase in competition for all XCN sites. Now, we're all fighting to keep any new users we get via the Xbox.com link.

And recently content offered by Digital Outlook has become less and less impressive. For example, last year they offered an exclusive MotoGP 2 interview about six months after the game was out. I humoured. When the interview came back several months later (so much later I had forgotten about it) it was so utterly out of date that I've never bothered to publish it.

As Ash reliably informs me BXB gets almost no traffic from the Xbox.com link, I've actually considered removing BXB from the XCN because I don't want to be associated with some of the other XCN sites and we getting little to no comeback for our investment.

I realise I'm talking about the negative a lot here, and it's not all bad. The XCN supplied BXB with the European Xbox 360 launch advert which and we were the recognised first website in the world to feature this advert. Something that I'm proud to add to our Porfolio,

But this is a two way thing. I've carried the XCN's message time and time again but when I turn round and ask the XCN to help me carry BXB's message they don't even bother to reply to my e-mails. Not only is that frustrating but also plain rude.

I'm beginning to think that perhaps it's that what BXB is achieving is actually showing up Digital Outlook. They have a budget, they have man power and they have massive corporate backing. I've helped pull off the Join the Ghosts event from my bedroom on my days off from working for Tesco. Where are Digital Outlook's Community events?

I fought for the XCN, BXB has put itself out for the XCN and how are we repaid?

I will update you when I get a reply from Digital Outlook.