14 DAY TRIAL // As all the gaming console makers are trying to add new services to their consoles in order to attract more buyers, Microsoft seems to be taking the lead once again. It has announced that the Community Games section of the Xbox Live service is currently in beta, and that it plans to expedite plans to bring community made games to the users of Xbox Live.
Microsoft has released XNA Game Studio 2.0 back in November of last year and has been working on a concept that would allow anyone in the community to create games using XNA and then to upload them to the Xbox Live service so that they become available to all gamers that have a Microsoft gaming console. XNA allows quick programming, because of the support for NET framework it offers, and should make it easier to create games for the PC, Xbox 360 and even the Zune media player.
This would take the concept of small, downloadable, indie games one step further than the current implementations. As Nintendo has just launched WiiWare, and with Sony offering something similar through the PlayStation Network, Microsoft really needs to take everything up a notch when it comes to quick game creation and then quick distribution.
A Creators Club currently exists, functioning on a paid subscription and which allows its members to submit, review and then share their game creations, but the initiative is rather limited, as it does not offer distribution through Xbox Live.
It seems that, with the launch of XNA version 3.0, the support for distribution will be added, and then we could assist to a real gaming revolution. A small team of dedicated people could create a game in a matter of weeks or months, then submit it to the Creators Club for reviews and limited distribution. Then, selected games would make their way to the Community Games feature on Xbox Live, from where any gamer could try them out and maybe even buy them. It could mean that more people got to play more varied and interesting games, while developers could create more with less.