An Idea for the Ages

I have spent several of the last 24 hours pondering the Xbox Live Community Games announcement. Personally I believe that, if it's done right, Microsoft could radically alter the entire video game industry. It's only a matter of time before there are hundreds of thousands of games on XBLC and people are going to need a way to find the one that's just right. XBLC will need an interface similar to Youtube with games having ratings and number of downloads info as well as a way to see them all listed by top rated or most downloaded. Also people need a way to follow their favourite new indy dev so dev's need their own profile pages with links to their own games. There should also be a comment system on each games page so people can write mini-reviews and give feedback to indy-devs as well as a way to search by title, genre, or keywords in game descriptions(ball-busting action!). None of this is novel and should be part of the service on day one. If it is and their are some true gems, like most people think there will be, then we could see a huge new source of revenue for Microsoft. The revenue generated by these games could easily match or outperform XBLA and even full-size games. This of course will lead to all consoles attempting it and shifting focus towards community developed games.

Now for the really novel idea. This ones for the guys in Cupertino. Apple should release GarageBand(the recording/mixing/mastering program) for free with all Macs(everything with OSX). Here's the kicker though, for the low, low price of $100 per year(to keep retards out) you can join the Recording Artists Club. What this allows you to do is take any recordings that your "band" makes and release them on iTunes for $0.50 a song. Apple would take $0.10 from every song and the rest goes out to the person/people who submitted it. Once again stealing ideas from popular community sharing sites and programs (like youtube) this idea could radically alter the music industry and allow some of the newest and freshest sounds to be found. One important feature that would probably be necessary is a quick song preview. People love to support grassroots/indy music and this would be an excellent way to serve it to them. I think it would be a serious winner.

XNA Community Games fulfills all my wishes!

At a press event in Seattle Microsoft confirmed that XNA Community Games will launch later this year. What is XNA Community Games you ask?

In 2006 Microsoft released XNA Game Studio Express, a full game language and pipeline built on C# that allows average programmers to make video games for the Xbox 360 and Windows, for free. In 2007 they upgraded to XNA 2.0 which allows online gaming and cross-platform gaming from Xbox to Windows. In 2008 they will upgrade to XNA 3.0 which will allow Zune games to be made.

At the Game Developers Conference Microsoft announced XNA Community Games. A service that will allow "average joe's" to make games using XNA for the Xbox 360 and then release them for download to all Xbox Live members. All games are rated by fellow XNA users before being put on the service.

The new deets announced today are as follows:
All XNA games will be either 200($2.50) MS points, 400($5.00) MS points or 800($10.00) MS points.
The games will be limited to 150 MB file size.
The games can allow players to play over Xbox Live.
All games will have a free demo.
All games will have trailers.
Games will not have achievements.
The developer of the game will receive up to 70% of the revenue (MS take is based on advertising and promotion, the more they promote the game -> the more money they take)

I already have the ability to make incredibly simple games like pong and breakout with XNA and honing my skills this year could see me making actual money in game development by the fall! How sweet!

Deeply Disappointed

I just read on Joystiq that Bungie was supposed to announce a new project tomorrow morning but the announcement was canceled by Microsoft. This saddens me to my very core. I had been looking forward to this for quite sometime. Now I'll have to wait to find out about the Superintendent.

Microsoft at E3

Yesterday was Microsoft's Pre-E3 Press Conference and it was jam-packed full of megaton bomb-style announcements. I will try to list these announcements in order but I'm going entirely on memory so it may be sketch.

Fallout 3 will be awesome.
Resident Evil 5 will have online Co-op. March 13th release date.
Gears of War 2 will be awesome and have a new 5 person Co-op mode. Nov. 7th release date.
Fable 2 is finished and will launch in October. Online co-op confirmed.

Complete Dashboard refresh this fall.
Includes Avatars, Netflix partnership, Primetime gameshow games, Live Parties, 8 person group chat.

Community Games launches this fall.

Geometry Wars 2 next month.
Galaga Legions next month.
Banjo Kazooie original for XBLA.
Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts this winter.
Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise this winter with 100+ pinata species.

New Scene It game.
New Your in the Movies game with vision camera.
New Lips Karaoke game with strobe light microphones.

Infinite Undiscovery in September, 360 exclusive.
The Last Remnant this Holiday on 360 first.
Star Ocean 4 next spring, 360 exclusive.

Final Fantasy XIII day and date on Xbox 360 in NA and Europe.