This should give "more consistent ratings" for games. Those suspected of being 'abused' can't be rolled back said Microsoft. Why not limit to owners of the games?
"We've heard your feedback and have made some changes to the ratings system on Xbox.com," read the Microsoft XNA Game Studio Team Blog. The investigation began when devs of College Lacrosse: The Video Game asked fans to give 5 star ratings.
"Starting today, only users with Xbox Live Gold subscriptions will be allowed to rate content on the Xbox.com website. By implementing this change, we believe our customers will experience more consistent ratings and a significantly reduced potential for abuse across the entire Xbox catalogue." Shouldn't only owners of the titles be eligible to vote?
"We have also investigated rolling back suspect votes, however, we determined it will not be possible to do this." Any who violate the user agreement with the program will be banned from Xbox Live and have their games removed.
"We appreciate everyone's patience on this matter and are excited about the fantastic games being posted to Xbox 360 through the Xbox Live Indie Games program." Fans had targeted other popular XBL Indie games and swamped them with 1 star ratings.
Zeboyd Games' Robert Boyd complained to Microsoft over the trouble. "I have no idea how this sort of thing could be prevented, but I'm really upset," he said.