Is YouTube for Xbox 360 games on its way?
By John Pospisil
Microsoft has released a suite of free developer tools that, combined with a US$99 annual subscription to the Microsoft’s XNA Creators Club, allows amateur programmers to develop their own Xbox 360 games.
Based on Visual C# 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, XNA Game Studio Express is now available to anyone with a Windows XP-based PC.
The XNA Creators Club subscription provide aspiring game developers with access to thousands of tools from Microsoft and companies such as Turbo Squid, as well as white papers, specialized starter kits, samples and technical product support.
“The XNA Creators Club is really the first of its kind — an opportunity to join a community of other developers who are empowered to bring their game ideas to life on a next-generation console system,” said Chris Satchell, general manager of the Game Developer Group at Microsoft.
“When it comes to encouraging development on XNA Game Studio Express and through the XNA Creators Club, the limits are truly endless. What users will see today is just the beginning of the plans we have to revolutionize game development one creative game idea at a time.”
In addition, to coincide with the worldwide launch of XNA Game Studio Express, the “Dream-Build-Play” contest will be open to XNA Game Studio Express customers on Windows as well as those on Xbox 360 through the XNA Creators Club membership.
The contest offers the opportunity for the community to showcase its innovation and talent to the world, culminating in the incredible chance for the winner’s game to be published on Xbox Live Arcade, the premier source for downloadable independent, retro and original games. The “Dream-Build-Play” contest will be launched in January. Contest details will be available at http://www.dreambuildplay.com.
No doubt Microsoft is hoping that these initiative will facilitate the rise of a Xbox360 programmer community that gives its console extra street cred and momentum. Who knows maybe one day we may even see site like YouTube for the Xbox360 where we’ll be able to sample the latest efforts of game programmers around the world. Now, while that would be interesting, my only concern would be that most of the efforts would rival my pathetic attempts at writing Commodore 64 games when I was a teenager, rather than today’s polished commercial releases. Time will tell.
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