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Microsoft To Enable User-Created Xbox 360 Games

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the play-nice dept.

simoniker writes "Talking on the eve of its Gamefest event in Seattle, Microsoft has revealed XNA Game Studio Express, a new product which will allow indie developers and students to develop simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PC, and share their games to others in a new Xbox 360 'Creators Club'. XNA Game Studio Express will be available for free to anyone with a Windows XP-based PC, and will provide them with what's described as "Microsoft's next-generation platform for game development." In addition, by joining a "creators club" for an annual subscription fee of $99, users will be able to build, test and share their games on Xbox 360, as well as access a wealth of materials to help speed the game development progress."

19 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. Great! by Spunkemeyer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I can finally work on that "ringworld" game I've been kicking around in my head...

    1. Re:Great! by montyzooooma · · Score: 4, Funny

      We should collaborate - I have an idea for a baking game featuring a Master Chef...

  2. My game will be called... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 5, Funny

    .... "Linux kernel"

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:My game will be called... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

      Game registration error

      Microsoft has detected an error in the naming of your game.
      The term 'Linux' is a trademarked entity and as such cannot be used as the title of your game.

      Sincerely

      Billy boy

      ps, even if it weren't trademarked, we still wouldn't let you have it you commie pig :P

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:My game will be called... by jkrise · · Score: 4, Funny

      and mine will be titled: CHAIR-MAN's Flying CHAIRS ... fasten your CHAIR-Belts, 'coz this is gonna' CRASH!! It'll be like Tetris, only instead of bricks, there'll be chairs of different shapes and sizes.

      --
      If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
    3. Re:My game will be called... by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

      Someone should make a Donkey Kong clone, only instead of barrels, there are chairs. And well, you can guess who Donkey Kong is...And Mario should be replaced with interchangable sprites, so you can play as whoever's going to be fucking killed that day...

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    4. Re:My game will be called... by quitcherbitchen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Who cares?

      This is designed for the hobbyist/amateur game developer. A managed environment built on top of a decent framework from Microsoft will allow a much broader audience of enthusiasts out there to create games. Instead of fumbling with buggy or complicated code, they will actually get to express their creativity and fresh designs.

  3. Killer Feature by hyfe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This could be a killer feature.

    There's so many extremely simple games that are insanely fun multiplayer, and will probably never, ever be released as stand-alone games.

    I'm still praying the Nintendo Wii will be opened up like this, but if it isn't, this might be what tips me over to XBOX 360. Programming for the Wii-controllers would be fun though, and I really, really want to play Pong with them :).

    --
    "" How about taking the safety labels off everything, and let the stupidity-problem solve itself? """
    1. Re:Killer Feature by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, the good news, is that the Nintendo Wii Dev Kit will cost somewhere around $1700. That's not too bad a price, considering the PS3 kit is rumoured to cost between $30,000 and $50,000. I'm not sure how much the full dev kit on the XBox 360 goes for. I think this could open up a lot of possiblities for the Wii. You get the full dev kit for under $2000. Not some rinky dink homebrew version, the whole thing. At this price, there could be WiiNux before we know it. And it would probably sell if it offered good multimedia functionality to the Wii, such as playing downloaded movies, and Linux games. Although I don't think Nintendo would let that fly, as people would just install an emulator, and play the Old NES games for free instead of paying for them.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:Killer Feature by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      1) Nintendo's not just going to give a dev kit to every random Joe who asks for one. You're either going to have to be an established game company, or have an agreement with a decently big publisher before you're added to the list.

      2) Even if Nintendo does give you a dev kit, that doesn't mean you'll be able to release games for their system. All consoles have a logo program, and games that aren't vetted and approved can't be run. That's not to say it'll be trivial for you to get Microsoft to approve your game, but at least Microsoft is out there assuring people that it'll happen.

      3) $1700 vs. $99/year. If you're paying $1700 for something, you're basically already a full-time game developer. $99/year is cheap enough so that Microsoft is going to have tons and tons of people on their kit, and they'll be able to pick and choose the best from the lot. Plus, you can start development of your game for free... the $99 is just for access to more documentation and Xbox portability. You can develop and release you PC version for free, THEN decide to pay $99 to port to Xbox and try to get it on Live.

      4) Isn't it telling that every time Microsoft announces something truly innovative and, frankly, pretty damn refreshing, there has to be a counter-post saying that Nintendo has the same thing... even if they don't? I love Slashdot. Give credit where credit is due... this is a great move on Microsoft's part, and a win-win for every gamer out there.

      --
      Comment of the year
  4. Well color me impressed... by Stachybotris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But this seems like a good idea in many ways. I'm a bit taken aback that MicroSoft is doing something to let hobbists flex their creative muscle, especially in such a (relatively) open way. I mean, development for X-Box and PC? That's a pretty sweet deal.

    Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure a lot of the games will probably suck eggs, but it might just turn out that we'd see some real innovation in design and concept with an infusion of fresh development blood. Because you never know, one of those hobbists/indie designers might crank out something good enough to either a) get picked up by an existing studio or b) generate enough interest from others to start up their own studio. Then it just becomes a matter of being a good enough businessman to keep things working.

    1. Re:Well color me impressed... by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think this is fantastic news, if only because it offers a cool and enticing way into programming for the younger generation (shit that makes me sound old ...)

      If you interview a random sample of programmers in the world today I bet a lot of the 25-30 aged ones will have got started by writing cheesy games as kids for their {Commodore 64/Sinclair Spectrum/BBC Micro}, even if they then went into corporate software, operating systems, embedded work or whatever. Learning to write software by doing databases in Visual Basic is boring. Learning to write software by doing cool games you can add multiplayer to and beat your friends at is a much better proposition.

      Wasn't the head of Nintendo saying that it's a shame games are no longer feasable for hobbyists and entry level studios? It's surprising Microsoft beat them to it, but then Visual Studio Express was designed for the home/hobbyist developer as well if I remember correctly so maybe not too surprising. Here's hoping it becomes a trend and the next generation of coders are learning threading by actually doing it, instead of memorizing lecture slides.

  5. Developers, Developers, Developers by hey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Developers, Developers, Developers.

  6. XNA & Your Rights by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The XNA site they have a FAQ that doesn't really address my big question: If you create a game using XNA and distribute it to the community, who owns it? Are you forced into a licensing agreement? If so, is it one closer to the GPL or Microsoft's? This is very interesting because Microsoft may be claiming publishing rights to these games in the TOS for XNA.

    So it could be a standard American Idol style:
    1) trick contestants into signing away all rights they have to their work
    2) let the community decide who is the best
    3) publish their work and profit!

    If you have preliminary questions about the XBox 360, you can find it on their forums.

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:XNA & Your Rights by andrew_j_w · · Score: 5, Informative
      The BBC article about this quotes Microsoft executive Peter Moore as saying:
      Microsoft would regulate the content for appropriateness and intellectual property issues, but users would own their work, Mr Moore said.
      It definitely looks like 1 is not the case, and given that he also says "I'd love to send a royalty cheque to a kid" 3 could well be it.

      Andrew
  7. Who says Slashdot always bashes Microsoft? by John+Nowak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The comments in this thread show that, when MS does something good, Slashdot (with the exception of a few idiots) heaps on the praise.

  8. Re:Why a subscription fee? by macrom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Companies tend to have these low-cost barriers to entry simply to keep every random person with a game idea from throwing stuff onto their development site. In addition, if it's free, one is more likely to sign up, piddle around and then never create anything. At least with a small entry fee there is a slight financial incentive for you to actually go through with creating and deploying something. To me, $99 is nothing, but it seems like this is targeted at younger kids in their late teens/early twenties. Depending on your family's financial background, $99 is a lot of money to a student with little to no income stream and will ensure that you at least have a vested interest in their program.

    Weight Watchers (the only example I can think of right now) has the same principle. They charge you $10-12 a week for their program whether you attend or not. They don't really do anything but weigh you and give you some rah-rah speeches to keep you motivated. The financial cost is there because, psychologically, people who have a vested financial interest in something tend to follow through with it more often and more completely.

  9. Painful distribution.... by james_bray · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the XNA FAQ:

    Q: How exactly can I share my 360 game to other 360 users? Will my game only be available to people with the XNA "Creators Club" subscription? Will it be available to all 360 users that have an Xbox Live account?
    A: There is currently no supported way to share binaries on the Xbox 360. Currently, 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.

          1. The individual you are planning to share the game with must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club
          2. The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360
          3. The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC
          4. The game project, including all source and content assets, must be shared with the receiving user. The receiving user then compiles and deploys the game to their Xbox 360.

    Doesnt exactly sound like a barrel of laughs to distribute to friends etc...

    --
    http://www.reeb.freeserve.co.uk
  10. you haters are incredible. this is GREAT news. by PeeweeJD · · Score: 5, Insightful

    why all the hate?

    did you guys say "oh great now we can have shitty mods" when the iD guys gave access to the WAD files?

    How about when Valve let people have access to the half-life engine? Isn't counterstrike still the most played online game? I'm willing to bet that a serious portion of the half life cds have been sold just to play counterstrick.

    What happened to the guys who made the Desert Combat mod for BF1942? Oh yeah, they got hired by the company and improved the game.

    Look at the success of Xbox Live Arcade. You have a plethora of PC game developers making games and selling them on the Xbox system. These are all guys who could never make console games in the past.

    MS made a bunch of tools to help developers make their PC games work on 360 and vice versa.

    So now MS wants to let even more people in, and you guys bitch about it? Why because you have to pay $99? or because some kid will make a donkey kong clone with steve jobs and bill gates? or because you have to have a 360?

    I'm willing to bet that some kick ass games come out as a result of this. Maybe some kid gets hired by a company and makes a truly kick ass game like Geometry Wars. Maybe some game comes out and gets noticed and picked up for Arcade. Who knows.

    If you dont want to do it, keep the $99 in your pocket. But only good stuff can come out of this.