Microsoft Debuts XNA Game Studio Express, Creators

[leunas]

Microsoft has officially launched its XNA Game Studio Express and the XNA Creators Club, allowing anyone with Windows XP to sign up and create, build and play game content for the Xbox 360.

Following on from the recent Beta 2 release, this final release version of Game Studio Express, a software toolset based on Visual C# 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft .NET Compact Framework and aimed at PC and Xbox 360 homebrew programmers and students, XNA Creators Club is now live.

Creators Club is available for purchase on Xbox Live Marketplace for $49 for a four-month subscription, or $99 for an annual subscription, providing aspiring game developers access to thousands of game assets from Microsoft and key supporters such as Turbo Squid Inc., as well as "white papers, specialized starter kits, samples and technical product support to help turn [your game] into a reality."

As previously explained on Gamasutra, games created with Game Studio Express cannot yet be shared with all Xbox 360 users, but "there are four requirements that must be met in order to share a game targeting Xbox 360 which is developed with XNA Game Studio Express."

These requirements include that the intended recipient of the content must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club, must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360, and must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC.

In addition, to celebrate the worldwide launch of XNA Game Studio Express, the company announced an upcoming “Dream-Build-Play” contest, which 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 will offer a chance for the winner’s game to be published on Xbox Live Arcade, and the full Dream-Build-Play contest will be launched on its official website in January.

Finally, to coincide with the release of XNA Game Studio Express, XNA supporter GarageGames has launched an open beta for its Torque X platform, including Torque Game Builder. Based on the XNA Framework, the Torque X tools "bring drag-and-drop game development to Windows and Xbox 360." Final availability of the Torque X platform is scheduled for early 2007.


www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=12059

[leunas]

Indie Game Club Hits 360

Back in August Microsoft promised that they would be brining Indie game development to the masses, today they delivered.

The XNA Creators Club went live today, allowing subscribers access to thousands of game assets, support and the ability to actually play the games you create using Game Studio
Express on your Xbox 360.

The development software is free, but an annual subscription is $99, while a four-month subscription will cost you $49.

"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."

I think the XNA Creator's Club could be the most significant development in console gaming this generation, though a lot of the potential will depend on how Microsoft handles the rights and distribution of games developed using their tools.

Your World. Your Game.

With today's release of Microsoft(R) XNA(TM) Game Studio Express and the launch of the XNA Creators Club, this phrase has never been more true. Based on the easy-to-use Visual C#(R) 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft .NET

Compact Framework, XNA Game Studio Express opens up the world of game development to the masses and is now available for free to anyone with a Windows(R) XP-based PC at www.msdn.com/XNA . With the release of XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft Corp. unveiled the XNA Creators Club, opening up video game development to untapped creative minds, enabling anyone to affordably build and play amazing game ideas on Xbox 360 systems for the first time ever.

The XNA Creators Club is available on Xbox Live(R) Marketplace for $49 (U.S.) for a four-month subscription, or $99 (U.S.) for an annual subscription. Both subscriptions provide aspiring game developers with access to thousands of game assets from Microsoft and key supporters such as Turbo Squid Inc., as well as white papers, specialized starter kits, samples and technical product support to help turn Your World, Your Game into a reality.

"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 celebrate 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. Additional contest details will be available at www.dreambuildplay.com .

"Xbox Live Arcade has opened up a wealth of new publishing opportunities for established and independent developers alike, so it made perfect sense to also extend this privilege to hobbyists and amateur programmers," said Greg Canessa, group manager of Xbox Live Arcade at Microsoft. "We have a tremendous opportunity to shine the spotlight on up-and-coming talent through the 'Dream-Build-Play' contest, and we can't wait to share their creativity with our gaming community around the world."

To coincide with the release of XNA Game Studio Express, XNA supporter GarageGames has launched an open beta for its Torque X platform, including Torque Game Builder. Based on the XNA Framework, the easy-to-use Torque X tools bring drag-and-drop game development to Windows and Xbox 360. Final availability of the Torque X platform is scheduled for early 2007.


www.kotaku.com/gaming/game-studio-express/indie-game-club-hits-360-220979.php

[leunas]

Microsoft GM on XNA and the floodgate of games



It has been four months since XNA Game Studio Express was discussed to the public. In case you've been living under a God-knows-what, this software allows end users to develop, test, and share their prototype games. In other words, Microsoft opened its next-gen console to the homebrew community.

While this action alone speaks of how Microsoft feels towards the community, it is always good to hear what they actually have to say. Especially now that the XNA Creators Club just opened, a few words from the officials are expected. As if thinking the same thing, gaming site Kotaku sat down with Microsoft's Game Developer's Group GM, Chris Satchell, for a short interview.

Generally, Microsoft is happy with the way things are going. Satchell mentioned that to further encourage fans to create games, they will be hosting a competition next month. He explained:

Maybe their first game won't be groundbreaking, but it will get them into game design. Every time we see a road block we try to remove it. What we will do, we will take the best entry and work with them to get their game on Xbox Live. We want to make budding developers successful. We aren't talking yet about details on the financial side, how we can get some revenue and flow it back to the creator.

It's a good thing they are already thinking about the welfare of the community even in this early stages. After all, they are the very strong foundation that companies are built upon. Satchell perfectly understand this as he used YouTube as an explanation:

What we are working on next year is creating the YouTube of games. We need to figure out how people who aren't in the development community, aren't in the Creator's Club, can get to these games. We need to create the community arcade. Give people tools so they can communicate on it.

As Utopian as the plan sounds, the Microsoft officer is not naive about certain issues and he knows that a lot of problems are still needed to be fixed. He highlighted security and the market being flooded by needless material:

Those are a lot of the problems we need to solve to allow effective sharing. Not only are we learning on the technical sides, but we are also learning how do you let people search a lot of content.

Finally, Satchell is expecting that competitors Sony and Nintendo will soon follow suit. But this, he explained, shouldn't be a cause of alarm for them. He concluded that Microsoft is about fans and not competition.


feeds.feedburner.com/~r/qj/xbox/~3/61275558/76186

[leunas]

XNA Creators Club now open for UK's wannabe Xbox 360 game developers



How many times have you said "I could make a game better than that while eating a fried chicken with one hand and scratching my butt with the other!" Maybe not those exact words but you know what we mean. Well, here's good news.

If you're from UK, you can now put your money where your hand, err, mouth is by joining the XNA Creators Club.The club just opened is doors to all untapped creative minds who want to build and develop the Xbox 360 game of their dreams.

The XNA Creators Club is available on Xbox Live Marketplace for £ 30.00 (about US$ 58.00) for a four-month subscription or £ 65.00 (about US$ 127.00) for a yearly subscription. So what do you get for your money? Both subscriptions provide aspiring game developers access to thousands of game assets from Microsoft and key supporters such as Turbo Squid Inc. You also get white papers, specialized starter kits, samples and technical product support to help turn your game idea into reality.

There's more. To celebrate the global launch of XNA Game Studio Express, MS will launch the "Dream-Build-Play" contest in January. The contest is open to XNA Creators Club members and XNA Game Studio Express customers (on Windows). The winning entry will be published on Xbox Live Arcade.

Homebrew game developers, start revving your brain cells!


msdn.microsoft.com/directx/XNA/default.aspx