Download Free Microsoft Kodu Beta for PC

Microsoft has ported a very special game it actually regards as a game-creation tool from Xbox to the PC and made it available for download at no charge. Today, January 12th, 2009, the Redmond company started offering the first public Beta of Kodu, a Microsoft Research project previously codenamed Boku. Unlike traditional games, Kodu is designed to let children not only play, but also create their own games, all the while teaching them the basic skills associated with programming. According to the software giant, the decision to tailor Kodu, a tool which was offered initially only for the Xbox console, to the PC, was catalyzed by the need to get the program into schools.

Kodu is the brainchild of Matthew MacLaurin, director of the Redmond FUSE (Future Social Experiences) Lab, who notes that in addition to programming, the tool can help children advance their design, math, and problem-solving skills. “Today, it seems like the simple magic of programming has been completely lost in the shuffle,” MacLaurin explained. “We need to show kids how exciting and creative it can be.”

Microsoft initially demonstrated Kodu in January 2009 at the International Consumer Electronics Show, and subsequently made it available the same spring via Xbox LIVE Community Games. According to statistics from the Redmond company, in approximately the first year since it was released, Kodu has been downloaded over 200,000 times.

“I think there’s a pretty common feeling that programming is when you directly get in touch with the magic that computers are capable of,” MacLaurin added. “For me and people of my generation, we were introduced to computers in that magical mode of creating something out of nothing through code.”

Now that Kodu is available for the PC, MacLaurin revealed that he hoped schools would embrace the tool for their students. The Beta build of Kodu can be downloaded via Microsoft Connect. Early adopters will need to fill the Kodu Academic Program Questionnaire. “If you wind the clock back to the ‘70s and ‘80s, we talked about how software was going to change the world. Today, technology is changing the world, but we need to get that sentiment back into education. I think it's good for Microsoft and for the world to open the door to programming more widely,” he added.

UPDATE: Availability correction: "Actually the download is here and does not require the connect program. That's for the previous closed beta," from a Microsoft representative.