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Microsoft Opens Up Xbox Game Development to Anyone

 

 

The new service will double the size of the Xbox 360 game library, to 1,000 games within a year of its launch, scheduled for this holiday season, the company said.

To distribute a game on the Xbox Live service, game creators must use Microsoft's XNA Game Studio software, which requires a $99 per-year subscription, or be an XNA Creators Club member.

Each game will be vetted for quality and appropriateness by the online community itself.

Creators Club members will be able to test a beta version starting this spring.

In addition, Microsoft announced that game developers also will be able to build games for the software maker's Zune digital media players.

"The time has come for the games industry to open its doors to all game creators, enabling anyone to share their creations with the world," John Schappert, a vice president of gaming at Microsoft, told an audience of about 6,000 game developers at a San Francisco conference.

Microsoft also said this week it will give students free access to its XNA Game Studio 2.0, its video game development program.

The moves to encourage Xbox 360 game development come as the company faces fierce competition from Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation in the game console market. Nintendo last year unveiled its own game development tool, called WiiWare.

Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, said he didn't expect the Xbox download service to appeal to mass-market consumers, but it could encourage independent developers to create Xbox 360 games.

"This would appeal to the more independent developers, people who want to break into the market, and get them started on the Xbox," Sebastian said. "It makes the development and distribution of video games more accessible."

But Microsoft would not say Wednesday whether the downloads would be free, or if the service would generate revenue for game developers.

That's a key detail independent game creator Phil Fish says he wants to know. Fish, who with two others just launched Montreal-based Polytron Corp., has developed a game called "Fez" using XNA software.

He said even with Microsoft's tools, gaming development will never be easy. He hopes to reap $10 per download on his game, using his own Web site.

"I wouldn't like to give a year of work away just because Microsoft allows us to do it," Fish said.

Like musicians who struggle to get discovered by big recording studios, independent game developers traditionally have struggled to prove themselves to a publishing company to get a distribution contract.

The new Xbox download service could create a centralized platform for developers to show off their wares without the contract worries, said Jason DeGroot, also with Polytron. Under Microsoft's plan, developers would still own the rights to the games they post.

"It's about giving independent developers a mass, wide-appeal audience," DeGroot said.

Xbox Live has 10 million subscribers who could potentially play and rate the games.

 

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XNA Tutorial Links & PDF's

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XNA Tutorial Series Updated to C# 3.0
thehazymind.com — Michael Shuld has updated his XNA tutorial series to XNA 3.0 and C# 3.0. His series of tutorials cover the basics of XNA, cameras, input, model rendering, effects, post processing and much more. ...


Winforms example is drawing Model different from normal XNA app ...
In order to get the most of the WinForms example I converted it to XNA3 (which was quite a hassle at first, change all the version occurences to 3.0 instead of.


XNA - Advanced State System: Concept and Base - XNA Tutorial
John Sedlak has a new article online today focusing on building and advanced state system for use in your XNA games. In this article, John covers the basics of building a state system and how state transitions can be implemented. ...


XNA Creators Club Online - collision series 1: 2d rectangle collision
This tutorial details several simple techniques for constraining motion and collision detection in two dimensions. Tutorial Overview Games do not need to be complex to be fun and interesting. Obstacle avoidance games consist of a ...


2D XNA Tutorial Series: Shooters!
This part of the site shows you how easy it is to get a 2D XNA program up and running! This tutorial is aimed at people who would to start game programming in XNA and see some nice results in the shortest possible time.


The Wizard: A new XNA tutorial covering 2D game character movement
I've posted a new tutorial over at XNA Development covering character movement in 2D games. This tutorial covers the basics of making a character move around, jump, duck and shoot. It also demonstrates using a tile sheet for your ...


XNA Tutorial 3 Part 1
This is part one of tutorial 3. This tutorial focuses on the C# syntax. I cover returning methods, parameters and arguments, method overloading, and loops in this video. HD version is available at ...


XNA Tutorial 1 Part 2
Part 2 of tutorial 1. Go to http://www.phstudios.com/forums/ for more tutorials. HD version is here http://www.phstudios.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1244. Support PHStudios by joining our community ...

 

X Community Blogs

	XNA Team Blog For all the latest news and announcements directly from the XNA team, check out this blog!
	Shawn Hargreaves Better known as “The Shawn”, Shawn Hargreaves dispenses XNA development wit and wisdom like no other.
	Eli “Cornflower Blue” Tayrien Don’t let Eli’s unadorned blog page fool you – this XNA Game Studio developer offers some amazing advice.
	Michael Klucher A program manager on the XNA Community Game Platform team, Michael Klucher is an XNA team “veteran” who loves to help his readers with news and guidance.
	Stephen “BadCorporateLogo” Styrchak As a developer on the XNA Game Studio team, Stephen likes to share his vast knowledge of Visual Studio and some of the scarier aspects of cross-platform development. He also seems to have a penchant for strange pumpkin carvings.
	Nazeeh's Little Corner On The Web Nazeeh’s blog offers commentary on gaming and game development from a developer’s testing perspective. He also likes to corner hapless team members and interview them.
	(MVP) Glenn “Mykre” Wilson The “XNA Thunder from Down Under”, Glenn offers a unique perspective on XNA development, focusing on both development and art issues almost equally.
	(MVP) George Clingerman An MVP from Portland, Oregon, George likes to create tutorials aimed at helping news users get their heads around XNA Game Studio.
	Andy “The Zman” Dunn Long famous for his thezbuffer.com blog/news site, Andy brings a decidedly British perspective on XNA Game Studio development.
	Andre “Ozymandias” Vrignaud Andre is well-known for his thoughtful analysis and critiques of the gaming industry. Even though he works for Microsoft, he’s well-known for maintaining an unbiased, fair viewpoint on the gaming world.
	Gamerscoreblog The “un-PR” team of the Microsoft Games Global Marketing team offers informative and amusing articles and videos about the Xbox and Windows gaming industry.
	Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb As Xbox LIVE’s community personality and long-time blogger, Larry offers blogs, podcasts, and videos that will both surprise and delight. If you own an Xbox, you’ll want to keep up to date with Larry!

 

 

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