Until now there has been a 50MB size limit for Live Arcade games. While the present may not be completely different, it is at least a little, thanks to Konami´s upcoming Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
This is what Microsoft´s own Greg Cannessa had to say to Gamespot on the formerly solid size restrictions:
”By keeping the file size small for Xbox Live Arcade games, gamers can put one or more games on a memory unit and easily bring those games to a friend´s house to share and play,” Canessa said. ”Small file sizes also mean fast download times, making it possible to download and begin playing any Xbox Live Arcade game within one or two minutes.”
The former 50MB limit still stands, but Canessa also added that they are willing to make an expection if it benefits playability:
”If any games do exceed 50MB, it´s for a very specific reason that would ensure that the gameplay experience is the best it can be,” he said.
In addition to this, Canessa concluded saying that players should expect the very best from Live Arcade in the future:
”Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the most popular games of all time, and you can [bet] that you´ll see similar high-quality games come to Xbox Live Arcade in the future,”
Free trial version of the game will, as always, accompany the game´s release and be downloadable from Xbox Live. The actual size of the download hasn´t been confirmed, and Microsoft´s representatives have said that the game (including the free trial demo) will not fit to a 64MB memory unit.