The self-described “manic-yet-playable shooter” is from the developer of indie efforts Weapon of Choice and the forthcoming Grapple Buggy, focusing heavily on building an armada of ships that can give colourful bullets as well as they get.

Shoot 1UP’s debut trailer highlights some of the gameplay mechanics, including two-player co-op, the mirroring “ghost” power up and the ability to steal ships from a friend, all coated in a thick layer of brightly coloured bullets. Keep an eye on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel in January for the game.

Ever since Community Games launched, there have been complaints that the minimum asking price of some titles was too steep, so Microsoft have now allowed developers to charge as little as 80 MS Points (USD$1) for a game.

In addition to the new name and pricing, Microsoft also announced that the number of nations included in the Xbox Indies program is expanding, with Japan and Germany added to the list.

Kotaku AU Note: Still no Australia though…

Xbox LIVE Indie Games Transition Has Begun [Xbox Indies]

Kodu Game Lab isn’t a video game, per se, but a lot of the pre-packaged worlds that come with the Game Lab certainly count. There’s a Frogger recreation, a bumper boat style game, and even an odd take on air hockey with really awesome controls. Also, since Kodu players can upload their own worlds, you’re basically buying an eternal ticket to whatever games other users can come up with.

And if you don’t like what they come up with, you can always make your own games.

Loved
Myriad Options: Kodu lets users change everything in the game world from the sky colour to the topography of the terrain, as well as character behaviour to game conditions for winning and losing. Far from being a simple exercise in matching colours and textures, or teaching a Kodu to move forward, the options lets users create a multitude of environments and game types. You could spend hours inventing your own environments—like the inside of a computer, a planet in deep space, etc.—or, like me, two hours trying to recreate the opening world from the original Super Mario Bros.

Cute Kodus: The default objects (apples, clouds, trees, etc.) and creatures (Kodus and Bots) are easily recognisable and very cute. The simplicity of the design makes it easier to come up with ideas for worlds. My first attempt was an adventure in which a motorcycle falls in love with a blimp on top of a castle and has to collect gold coins from a forest to enter the castle and reach the blimp. It was awesome—and by awesome, I mean ridiculously cute.

Hated
Lousy Interface: There are two primary interfaces users need to master to build worlds. The first is a drop-down listing of what the 360 controller buttons do that remains on screen whenever you go into Edit mode; the second is a side-scrolling menu where you can select all your world-editing tools. The two menus don’t match up with each other stylistically and sometimes the side-scrolling menu will cover up the drop-down menu. This can make it especially tough for first-timers to figure out where to go in one menu and what to press once they get there to make the editing go. The interface can also make it hard for users to figure out what’s breaking their world when they go to run it since there’s no way to tell if it’s the trees spitting coins or a mistake in the blimp’s “express love” behaviour programming that’s ruining the frame rate.

Kodu Game Lab is a pretty spiffy tool for anyone with aspirations of game design. For anyone else, though, the myriad options and clunky interface might be overwhelming. Even if that’s the case, I still think Kodu might be worth a look a week or two after its release, just to see what kind of games people have come up with.

Like I said, don’t think of it as a one-time purchase kind of game – think of it as a ticket to the minds of fledgling game developers.

Kodu Game Lab was developed by Microsoft Research for Xbox Live Community Games on June 30. Retails for 400 Microsoft Points ($5). Played all tutorial and pre-packaged worlds and created one complete and one partial world of my own.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Goodbye Xbox Live Community Games, and hello Xbox Live Indie Games. The name is being changed in response to community feedback, in order to increase understanding and promote… here, just read:

The launch of XNA Game Studio 3.1 begins the process of renaming Xbox LIVE Community Games to Xbox LIVE Indie Games. We’re starting the communication about this transition with you – our incredible Creators. With your help hopefully this name change (along with other new features such as User Ratings!) will increase understanding and discoverability of your games! Late July, when we update Creators Club Online, we will begin revealing the name change to the Consumer side of our business. We believe this name better represents the independent spirit of XNA Game Studio gaming and creations!

I for one think the new name is a huge improvement. Now we can simply call them Xbox Indies now and folks will know what we are referring to, instead of having to spell out Xbox Live Community Games every time someone releases a particularly interesting massager.

XNA Game Studio 3.1 is here! [XNA Creators Club - Thanks Nick!]

Prices will be set at 200 MS points for games 50MB and under, with larger games priced at 400 or 800 MS points. Creators will receive 70% of the revenue generated mailed to them via check on a quarterly basis, though Microsoft will be randomly promoting XNA games, for which they will take an extra 10-20% based on traffic generated.

An interesting fact that is pointed out in the FAQ (linked below) is that even big name publishers can submit their games via the Creators Club, meaning a game that might not pass muster with Xbox proper could theoretically make it into the community section. Hit the link below for the full details!

Introducing Xbox LIVE Community Games [XNA Creators Club Online - Thanks Epsicode!]