Create Xbox 360 games for *free*

[Wrestlevania]

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."

Full story: Microsoft To Enable User-Created Xbox 360 Games

[Twilo]

The other Express versions of visual studios that Microsoft make available are pretty decent, the limitations are usually pretty fair (like max 2 connections to a server etc., stuff that doesn't impact development but wouldn't make it viable for a proper release).

I think the biggest w00t about this news is that Microsoft are looking like they're finally opening up the Live Marketplace to real people. I sure wouldn't mind selling a one-man one-month game on Marketplace to a market of millions of people.

In the meantime, it's a good launchpad for getting your game released officially with the other Arcade releases (or at least getting a lot of work done before the Game Studio Professional release) so overall it's a Good Thing.

[SpiderMonkey]

Create Xbox 360 games for *free*

Let's get it right ... this thing is awesome, but the one thing it isn't is free. It's a $99 annual subscription, both to make the games and to play them. I even read talk of them selling booster packs. They say you keep the rights to anything you make, but I wonder if you can even play your own games if you stop paying the subscription?

This seems to be the fashion this generation. No free lunch anymore. The exorbitant costs of the competition between Sony and Microsoft are being passed directly to the customer this time. As if gaming wasn't already many people's most expensive hobby.

[elmuerte]

I sure wouldn't mind selling a one-man one-month game on Marketplace to a market of millions of people.

And if 10.000 others have the same idea you'll have 60.000 games within 6 months. A whole new problem.

[Wrestlevania]

Microsoft are pushing it as "free" off the back of the studio software costing nothing. But $99 a year is still a lot cheaper than investing in a fully licenced development agreement with Microsoft though.

Managing the huge number of potentially lucrative projects will be difficult too, but MS may be smart and simply use the "XNA community" to filter out the most promising titles worthy of attention.

[Twilo]

Managing the huge number of potentially lucrative projects will be difficult too, but MS may be smart and simply use the "XNA community" to filter out the most promising titles worthy of attention.

I think this is pretty much what will end up happening in the months after Christmas. If they did decide to pick your game up, you would decide the licensing deal at that point and get yourself on Live Arcade. Until then, your game is playable on the community by anyone who pays the membership (and MS of course). It's a win-win for Microsoft because half the people will be paying money to MAKE games and the other half will be paying money to PLAY games. All the money is going to Microsoft. $$

My feeling is that the Pro version will incorporate a "Microsoft Approved Merchant" membership in the pricing, which would allow you to publish to Live. The cost for this will be appropriately prohibitive. Microsoft "Scholarships" may follow: unfair deals where MS takes a 90% cut of sales in exchange for free tools for the developer. Still good for a one-man-one-month game though. Nice for students or anyone trying to make a name for themselves.

[Wrestlevania]

[bump]

A beta version of XNA Games Studio Express is now available for download. Might be time I finally give in to Microsoft and learn C#.