Microsoft relaxes XBLA size limit for "Castlevania"

Xbox Live Arcade has been remained a destination to find, download, try, and buy only smaller games for the Xbox 360 console, but now it will also house a game that goes beyond the 50MB limit Microsoft had set for the maximum size of Xbox Live Arcade titles.

The large-scale game, titled “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” would be able to fit into the 50MB Xbox Live Arcade limit, according to Konami Corporation, which is a developer of the game.

Microsoft's previously strict size limit of 50MB was actually imposed to allow Xbox 360 users download games onto a memory card even without a hard drive. The gamers can put Live Arcade titles onto a portable memory unit, which has a maximum capacity of 64MB, and download the games within a few minutes.

Telling about the Microsoft's intentions for keeping the size smaller, group manager for Xbox Live Arcade, Greg Canessa stated that "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, 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."

"Castlevania: Symphony of the Night", which is one of the most popular games of all time and does not fit into the given limit, will though exceed the 50MB cap, but Microsoft will still keep a cap by relaxing the download limit as an exception and not the rule.

Developers would be allowed to exceed the limit in special circumstances where gameplay would suffer, Canessa said. "If any games do exceed 50 MB, it's for a very specific reason that would ensure that the gameplay experience is the best it can be, 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," he stated.

Not only the game, but also a free game demo will exceed the limit. In fact, it is likely that it will exceed even the 64MB limit generally available in memory cards.

Details about the release and pricing of the game are not available so far.