From Gamasutra: As part of an in-depth Gamasutra interview published today, outspoken N+ creators Raigan Burns and Mare Sheppard have questioned the state of Xbox Live Arcade, suggesting quality issues and publisher-guided games are overwhelming its innovation.

The duo, which worked with Slick Entertainment's Nick Waanders to publish ninja action game N+ for XBLA release last month, had sharp words for the games released on the Xbox 360 digital download service, with Burns explaining:

"I think the thing with Live Arcade, though, is that I remember the last year and the year before. Two years ago was when we were first talking with Microsoft about doing it, it was really exciting, because Live Arcade had just came out, and they were like, "Oh, it's new. It's not going to be like retail. There's not going to be all this crap. There's going to be all these small, great, fun things."

I guess it's because they have a lot of power that no one has pointed out that that's the primary reason. Those decisions that are ruining Live Arcade... it's like, who greenlit Word Puzzle? Who green-lit that hoverboard game that's just shit?

The full interview with the trio is available today on Gamasutra, including lots more detail into the making of N+ for Xbox Live Arcade and their thoughts on the state of the digital download market.

N+ Creators Speak Out On XBLA Quality Issues