Kneedeep in Duty:I'm really confused on why you think that the 8 minute timer should somehow be negated by updating the review guidelines to exply that a game can't be given away for free in its entirety during that trial.
The updated guidelines were put in place to counter two things that were seen:
1) People locking you completely out of the trial. Some games (the video apps) had trials which were nothing more than a main menu. This is against the rules because users cannot trial your game, even within the framework enforced eight minute trial.
2) People giving the entire game away. Some games are completely playable in 8 minutes with no replayability and this is not allowed. Games should have a reason to purchase them, e.g. locked levels, modes, content, features, etc.
This means that every reviewer currently (with the mandatory eight minute trial) is required to make sure that there is a trial experience of some kind and that the trial doesn't give the entire game away. If we removed the mandatory timed trial, reviewers would still need to make sure there is a trial experience and that the trial doesn't give the entire game away. The duties of the reviewer don't change at all.
The reason the mandatory timed trial originally existed was to make sure that games weren't being given away for free. Now reviewers are required to test for that to make sure games aren't being given away for free within the time limit. If reviewers already have to test that a game isn't being given away for free, why not let developers have their pick of trial mode instead of forcing them into a timed system that might not work for their game?
Reviewers don't have any more work, developers get more freedom, and consumers get potentially better trial experiences. Couple that with an easy option for developers to just default to the normal timed mode (for developers whose games work with that timer or just the lazy developers) and you have a vast improvement in the quality of trial experience on XBLIG.
Kneedeep in Duty: If you want to make the argument that 8 minutes isn't enough then you really need to come correct and show how that isn't the case. I've yet to see anything on XBLIG that even comes close.
I've already given two examples of games on XBLIG that would benefit from longer trials. There's also the consideration that most games on XBLIG won't feel like they need more than 8 minutes because they've all been designed around that restriction. The types of games that require longer trials are likely the types of games developers are ignoring knowing that they won't be able to make an adequate trial experience. Tower defense and other strategy games will likely take a new player more than eight minutes to understand and feel comfortable enough to purchase.
