XNA Contest Offers $10K, XBLA Contract

[leunas]

Aspiring developers using XNA development tools have a chance to win $10,000 and an Xbox Live Arcade publishing contract, Microsoft announced today.



The Dream-Build-Play contest is open to any user of XNA Game Studio Express, including the GarageGames Torque X platform.

Microsoft will select over 20 winners and will distribute over $40,000 worth of prizes from Microsoft, Alienware, AMD, Autodesk and Softimage.

Dream-Build-Play will end July 2, 2007 and winners will be announced at Microsoft’s Gamefest 2007 in Seattle on August 13.

During this week’s Game Developers Conference, Microsoft will be displaying XNA-produced games during the XNA Game Studio Express Challenge, which will have developers gather to create four games in four days using the development tools.

In addition, Microsoft announced Schizoid from Torpex Games, the first XNA-created game that will be hitting Xbox Live Arcade. The game will launch later this year.


www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4869&Itemid=2

[leunas]

Microsoft's XNA Dream-Build-Play Contest

A week after flash-gamed-turned-real-game Alien Hominid HD was released on XBLA, Microsoft announce that they're running an XNA game design competition for budding developers. Coincidental? Probably not.

The way I see it, Alien Hominid HD has set a precedent. It's living proof that independent games developers can get ahead with Microsoft. While the game has been around since its Flash game prototype in 2002, the original console release in 2005 was virtually impossible to acquire in stores (I certainly didn't spot one) and this re-release on XBLA gives it the potential to reach a very significant audience, many of whom are more than likely prepared to drop 800 Microsoft points for it.

This ties in well with XBLA itself; it really needs more indie games. Josh over at Cathode Tan has an article up about what the XNA competition might mean for developers, and that's well worth a read, but this should also affect gamers. People are going on the record stating how digital distribution is becoming the only real way for independent developers and Microsoft should really be listening to this. Seriously listening, not just running a little competition for good PR.

Microsoft have people eating out of their hands right now when it comes to XBLA: a mere mention of the notion of porting some classic game over (no matter how much of an April Fools it's likely to turn out to be) is enough to satiate our lust for speculation. Clever independent games would be a godsend, certainly beating seemingly endless reams of arguably lousy retro titles, hastily updated with HD graphics. The mistake Microsoft are making with the XNA competition is saying how only one game will get released on XBLA. They should be more accommodating: it should be many games.

Imagine a year where something unique is released every other week. It would be incredible. Alien Hominid is a start, but it's an update of a game that's already been released twice. Original, new, independent games would be a great way forward. Quality isn't exactly an issue: if people are prepared to pay for Time Pilot and Root Beer Tapper they're probably willing to buy whatever Microsoft decide to sell. It would turn XBLA into a varied, interesting distribution platform instead of a retro dumping ground with the occasional decent title.

Article:
curmudgeongamer.com/2007/03/microsofts-dream-build-play-contest.html

[leunas]

XNA Creator's Club Site Launched

The new site has samples, a new Starter Kit, mini-game, and new forums. The XNA Team blog post that talked about the new site also mentions several other interesting pieces of information, one of which is a free license to Garage Games' Torque X engine, including the Torque Game Builder toolset, and the fact that the Dream-Build-Play's main competition has gone live. The Dream-Build-Play site contains information on the prizes for the main competition.


www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=438355