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Microsoft's XNA Creator's Club is now 'App Hub'
If you fancy yourself an Xbox Live Indie Games developer, you might have noticed a change to the XNA Creators Club today. In conjunction with the unveiling of Windows Phone 7, it appears that Microsoft has quietly changed the Creators Club to the much more generalized "App Hub." The site purports to offer resources for developers to create applications for both Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360, though the site currently seems to favor the former. In fact, the Education Roadmap section -- which introduces would-be programmers to XNA Game Studio -- only offers tutorials for Windows Phone 7. Of course, it's understandable that Microsoft would want to recruit as many programmers as possible for its new baby. There are still examples and code snippets for Windows and Xbox 360 programming, but hopefully we'll see some more robust introductory tutorials in the future. [Thanks, Niko]
Impressions: Rock Band Network (Creation)
Within seconds, it's clear that Rock Band Network isn't for amateurs. The tools being offered by Harmonix are fully-featured, professional programs that are meant for artists serious about getting their content into Rock Band and, yes, making money. With Harmonix admitting that first-time users will take 20-40 hours to finish a single song "all the way," it's clear that this isn't meant for the average gamers that have a bit of spare time on their hands.There are four main steps in getting a song onto the upcoming Rock Band Network Store. The most important (and most time-consuming) part of the process is creating the note tracks. Harmonix has partnered with Reaper to create a Rock Band-specific plug-in that allows music producers to start creating Rock Band tracks. Caleb Epps demonstrated the program to us, noting, "what you see is what we use at Harmonix."For anyone that's produced MIDI music, the interface should be incredibly familiar. What makes the Rock Band version of Reaper special is how everything is already clearly laid out and labeled: each color of each instrument has its own specific track. Producers simply add notes to each of the tracks, and a separate playback window will show how it will look like in-game. It's a time-consuming process made even more complicated by the fact that new tracks must be created for every difficulty: you won't be able to upload an Expert-only song, for example.%Gallery-71018%
Xbox Live Community Games launches beta test
After being announced at GDC 08 the only questioned that lingered about Microsoft's new Community Games initiative was when the program would officially begin. Today Microsoft inched the program closer to launch by announcing the Beta test for Community Games is available to premium XNA membership owners and the new XNA Creators Club Online community site.The beta allows creators to submit games for review to the newly formed creators site and once reviewed and approved the game is made available on Xbox Live.According to Microsoft during GDC, Community Games will land on all Xbox Live connected consoles this holiday season and hopefully the early beta means we can have a healthy catalog of titles to choose from.Make sure to check out the XNA Community Games tutorial video after the jump.
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?
