Mobile/PDA About Us Advertise here


		User name	Password

		Not registered yet? Register here. Lost your password? Click here.

Browse by topic

News

User created games will help us beat out PSN and WiiWare, says Microsoft

20 May 2008 15:17 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 12 comments

Now that Nintendo's WiiWare program has launched in Japan, the US and Europe and Sony's PSN is increasing in popularity, Microsoft has said that Xbox Live Arcade will "leapfrog" its competitors by using user created games.

First announced in February the "Community Games" initiative will allow professional and amateur developers to to create games for XBL.

"I certainly think from an innovation perspective it's going to help us leapfrog the competition, effectively until they find a way to duplicate it, assuming they ever do," stated David Edery, Xbox Live Arcade's worldwide portfolio planner.

"To some extent it will certainly help us have more innovative content than either of them, just by definition. With all this random stuff coming from the community, every once in a while there's going to be a real gem in there that you just couldn't have found otherwise, it wouldn't have found its way on to a console," he added.

Edery says the initiative should go live by the end of 2008.

"The example I always like to give is will someone finally make that scuba diving game, where there's really only 15,000 people interested in a hardcore scuba diving simulation, but they really, really want one? And maybe through XNA someone can profitably get one out there," he said.

"Today, there's not really a venue for that. I'm not going to green light a hardcore scuba diving game for Xbox Live Arcade today because there are not enough people who are interested in that. But with XNA it's perfectly possible.

"So I'm much more interested in it from a perspective of can it be used to satisfy more people, with more diverse content, than anything else," he finally added.

Edery also hopes the service will be used as a way to put out experimental games and ideas, and that the service will allow audiences and gamers to give feeback.

"Who knows, maybe a guy like Will Wright will spin out a game in three weeks, toss it out on XNA and see what happens.

"This could become a wonderful test bed and you'll start to see super-cool stuff coming from guys who wouldn't really have that opportunity to do that kind of test marketing," offered Edery.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Consoles

NHK unveils Super Hi-Vision projection system (21 June 2008)

Nintendo dominates US console hardware sales for May (13 June 2008)

At least 100 WiiWare games are currently in development (2 June 2008)

Sony's Stringer talks out about PS3 profitability and Blu-ray (29 May 2008)

No Spring dashboard update coming, says Microsoft (25 May 2008)

Nintendo Wii sets software sales record (22 May 2008)

Sony announces golf ball sized surround sound (22 May 2008)

Nintendo launches WiiWare in Europe as well (13 May 2008)

Nintendo launches WiiWare, six games available (13 May 2008)

Blu-ray Xbox 360 coming for Christmas? (2 May 2008)

'Rock Band' will see full album download this week (18 April 2008)

Sony confirms updates to PS3 including new video service (16 April 2008)

WiiWare finally launched in Japan (26 March 2008)

« Previous news article
Comcast invests in P2P streaming startup

Next news article »
Broadcast flags were 'accidents', says NBC

Post your comment

Discuss this article!
nobrainer (Member) 20 May 2008 16:57
*Quote:* And maybe through XNA someone can profitably get one out there," he said. User generated content is the way forward, as long as its like the PC and FREE OF CHARGE, and not some anti-consumer approach like the current trend taken by the console makers, weapons or maps at an extra charge. The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above! The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 20 May 2008 17:04
iluvendo (AfterDawn Addict) 20 May 2008 20:12
So is M$ going to scam all the game designers and hog all the profits for themselves ? If it wasnt for bad luck, Id have no luck! "The flimsier the product,the higher the price" Ferengi 82nd rule of aquisition [ + quote]
rvinkebob (Member) 21 May 2008 0:38
*Originally posted by iluvendo:* So is M$ going to scam all the game designers and hog all the profits for themselves ? What to do you think? It's Microsoft.... [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 21 May 2008 8:36
dies ROTFLOL-ING oh please you have to pay MS to not only make the content but to play it, fck MS! ------------------ rvinkebob check your sig,I think the pic is to big...... [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21 May 2008 13:40
bdoggie08 (Newbie) 21 May 2008 12:03
GO VISTA!!! WHEW... [ + quote]
BludRayne (Junior Member) 21 May 2008 13:54
No way this content will be free, Microsoft is behind it. [ + quote]
magnets (Newbie) 21 May 2008 22:37
the content will be free, just as it is now, sort of. You're paying a subscription to use xbl. By having user generated content MS is increasing the number of people who want to pay and use the xbl service. Of course MS get the extra bonus of seeing (just as everyone else will) what type of games are most popular and when. They can then pass that info on to their games department. But take it a bit further...how powerful is the development kit? what happens if you can produce a 'game' that makes your xbox connect to a different server, not in the xbl domain...perhaps a bit torrent tracker, handy no? of course the flip side is true also, without verification of code and other checks, MS may inadvertently create the first ever console that needs anti virus... [ + quote]
dab0ne (Member) 21 May 2008 23:29
i dont know what is more amazing... the fact that microsoft charges for xbox live or the fact that people still pay for it. [ + quote]
lawndog (Member) 22 May 2008 0:34
actually this news is a bit old, people have been using XNA to create games on the microsoft zune. Trust me they are real crappy games right now, but it was only realeased a couple weeks ago, and yes the games a compatable over to the 360. The XNA program is used alongside of anouther program called C# Both of these programs are free. I have loaded numerous games onto my zune and not paid a cent for them. The articles I have read is that microsoft is hoping some game devlopers come out and make some good games, honestly I think its a great step forward in the technology industry cause frankly I'm tired of paying $40-$70 fo a freakin game, if some kid in a basement can make a good game offer it for $20 hell ya I would rather pay that for a game i may beat in a week rather than 50 for a game I play for a week and forget about. Brings some new blood into the gaming industry, really all there is.....football, baseball. hockey, drive, drive some more, shoot, shoot and drive, walk and shoot, all these games are getting to be the same, driver is a steal from GTA, Juiced is a steal from Gran terismo. New blood new games. [ + quote]
rvinkebob (Member) 22 May 2008 0:43
Actually, my sig is just barely acceptable. A mod told me to edit it a long while ago since it was 500x200 with 3 lines of text, so I just removed the text. A real developer(s) could use this program to possibly create future free games that aren't too bad. Though in my perspective, modders for the PS2 poured much more time and effort into the homebrew apps they made than the people for the original Xbox did. Damn Sony, just let us use the RSX already. Find a way to block people from running pirated executors, and give us RSX access. XNA will be pure crap compared to PS3 Linux if this happens in the future. Without homebrew, we could even run prebuilt PPC games, such as Nexuiz. Hehe, I used aptitude on Ubuntu to download it on the PS3 and tried to run it. I think it was running at something like 0.0001FPS :P [ + quote]
nobrainer (Member) 22 May 2008 9:50
*Originally posted by rvinkebob:* Damn Sony, just let us use the RSX already. Find a way to block people from running pirated executors, and give us RSX access. XNA will be pure crap compared to PS3 Linux if this happens in the future. Without homebrew, we could even run prebuilt PPC games, such as Nexuiz. Hehe, I used aptitude on Ubuntu to download it on the PS3 and tried to run it. I think it was running at something like 0.0001FPS :P that's going to be a real challenge, because linux is an open operating system, they have been blocked a licence to use blu-ray by aacs la, (al la sony and co) as it would open up ways to exploit the draconian DRM. AACS LA are, Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Matsushita (Panasonic), Warner Bros., IBM, Toshiba & Sony. The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above! The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22 May 2008 9:55
xtago (Newbie) 22 May 2008 10:05
*Originally posted by lawndog:* actually this news is a bit old, people have been using XNA to create games on the microsoft zune. Trust me they are real crappy games right now, but it was only realeased a couple weeks ago, and yes the games a compatable over to the 360. The XNA program is used alongside of anouther program called C# Both of these programs are free. I have loaded numerous games onto my zune and not paid a cent for them. C# isn't a program it's a programing language, which for windows isn't exactly free, XNA is free to download but from what I've read youcan't exactly go and dump up games for free on the 360 platform there's a price for the XNA games most as you said are crap, and most are just arcade game rip-offs such as pong, space invaders etc. As far as I know the XNA platform isn't about making top notch games but simply to make it look like the 360 has trillions of games when in fact it could 1 trill pong clones and 1 trillion space invader clones. I fail to see how this will topple the PSN which all the big devs are raving about unlike Live which has set limits on what can and can't be done. [ + quote]