Next-Gen news and rumours of ‘always-on’ connections are all well and good, but what concerning the games?

The Xbox 360 commenced with Xbox Live and Indie games as a core portion of the experience, but will that come again as a core feature within the next-gen?

While our regular trawl of the Indie Games channel usually ends with us playing dross like Are You Smarter Than A Cheerleader?, we do come upon the odd gem.

Hardcore action-platformer Bleed is one such game, a slick 2D variant at the Devil May Cry template and a title so polished that it wouldn’t look misplaced on XBLA.

We caught up with the single-man-team behind the sport, Ian Campbell, to profit about Bleed’s journey from notepad doodles to finished article…

What is your experience of Xbox Live Indie Games as a platform? Do you observed the volume of joke/gimmick/awful games on there prevent people from finding gems like Bleed?

I have mixed feelings in regards to the XBLIG platform. On one hand, it’s incredible that Microsoft spread out console development to aspiring indies, especially since they made it so user-friendly.

On the alternative hand… there certainly is a glut of sub-par games on there, which hurts our credibility and makes it harder to be noticed. XBLIG devs are answerable for deciding what gets released at the platform, though, so it’s hard to understand where to indicate the finger.

At 400 Points, Bleed sits towards the pinnacle end of the Indie Games finances. Did you are feeling this was risky when such a lot of indie games are available in at 80 Points?

It was definitely of venture, because – as you are saying – there are such a lot of other Indie Games at a far lower cost point.

However, i believe Bleed is an absolutely-featured, legitimate game, and that it might be a disservice to myself and the product to not charge a valid price for it.

Hopefully, it intrigued players and made them approach the sport a bit more seriously.

With Microsoft phasing out XNA, what do you suspect the long run will hold for indie games on Xbox 360 and beyond?

I honestly don’t know what it means for Microsoft Indie Games, but i’m hoping they’ll try something similar on their next console. XBLIG has its problems, but i believe the theory behind it’s great and hope it gets a second chance.

What’s next for Bootdisk Revolution?

More games… or getting a ‘real’ job, haha. i suppose we’ll see how Bleed finally ends up selling! i actually like to do a game with a time loop, like City Tuesday, but who knows how lucrative that could be.