Thankfully, despite the loads of crap on XBLA, the minority of good games seem to be doing really well - even if they don't have the sort of branding that bigger-name titles do. Recently, Rez HD, N+, and Assault Heroes have all done deservedly well, while even sleeper hits like Cloning Clyde, Wik: Fable of Souls, Catan, and Alien Hominid HD have all passed the 150k mark.
Meanwhile, most of the stinkers languish at the bottom of the sales charts, while the awful Bliss Island, Rocketmen, and Discs of Tron, all released in the past month, have bombed.
So, while there may be a quality control program on XBLA, I'd say that the console's fanbase - made up mostly of seasoned gamers - has done a pretty good job of sifting the wheat from the chaff themselves.
"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."
-Sean Malstrom
