CreatorsClub
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XNA Creators Club: see your game on XBLA
Announced months ago, the XNA Creators Club officially launched today. Available on Marketplace as a four month subscription for $49 or a yearly subscription at $99, the Creators Club allows programmers of all stripes to share their game ideas over Xbox Live. Subscriptions provide access to game assets, white papers, tech support, and even starter kits for aspiring programmers. Combined with Microsoft's free XNA Game Studio Express, the Creators Club allows almost anyone to create and share their game ideas with the world.In celebration of this ground breaking launch, Microsoft is hosting the "Dream-Build-Play" competition starting this January. Open to all XNA Game Studio Express users and Creators Club members, the winner of the competition will receive a chance to have his or her game published as an Xbox Live Arcade title. We were jazzed about the idea of a community arcade when the Creators Club was first announced, and it seems to be getting closer to fruition. XBLA really is an innovative platform and we hope that lots of people out there (including our readers) will participate in creating some new ideas. Is there anyone out there dabbling in XNA that wants to enter the contest? Send us a link to your game and we'll pimp it to the world. Also, if you'd like to streamline the development process, you might want to sign up for the beta of Garage Games' TorqueX tools.Full press release after the break.
XNA beta 2 released, send us games
The 2nd XNA beta was officially released yesterday, bringing with it a boatload of changes that a mere blogger could not possibly comprehend. I'm fairly sure it has something to do with code, pixels, and the relative position of the sun. Basically, it's bigger and badder and includes new 360 development support. You can find the goods on Gamerscore Blog. Also worth mentioning, a closed beta for the new Torque X toolset is beginning as well. Torque X is from GarageGames, creators of several Xbox Live Arcade titles, and contains tools for streamlining the game creation process.Wading through all this talk of assets, component architecture, and whatnot, I was lucky enough to find something I can understand: statistics -- something all bloggers crave with a passion. "The list of universities adopting XNA Game Studio Express into their curricula has grown to more than 30 worldwide. There have been 150,000 downloads of XNA Game Studio Express Beta 1, over 30 new XNA communities launched, 100 user generated tutorials shared online and more than 60 independent games already in development or completed."60 games in development? Wow. That dream of a user created Xbox Live Arcade may not be so far off after all. If you're reading this and you happen to be developing one of those 60 games, let us know. We'd love to check it out. Anyone else out there thinking about making a game?
