To coincide with the retail launch of the shiny new Zune HD, Microsoft has released extensions for XNA Game Studio 3.1 to aid indie developers in creating games for the mobile media player.
Microsoft makes game development easier for all levels of Xbox 360 developers, with new development kits for professionals and updated XNA Game Studio software that adds avatar and Live Party support.
The XNA Community Games program continues to be a wealth of innovation on the Xbox 360, as a new program available for download (in North America, at least) turns your 360 controller into a “portable massager”.
Now owners of Xbox 360 consoles with temperature control issues can finally put that extra heat to practical use with the innovative Xbox Live Community game, Fireplace.
Several readers have emailed us to let us know that two games have appeared on Xbox Live under the XNA Creator’s Club banner. A space shooter called Net Rumble and a letters game called Netters are both available for download as we speak, as I just verified, in both free demo and full versions priced at 100 Microsoft Points a pop. Unfortunately we’ve also verified that the two titles seem unplayable to the average users, with XNA Creator’s Club launcher errors popping up even if you have the program installed. I suppose I’ll just let them sit there on my hard disk until I figure out what to do with them. Lovely.
Yeah! Homebrew Xbox 360 games made by XNA Creators Club members on Xbox Live! Sounds radical. Neat even. Shame Australia won’t be getting it at launch. From the XNA website:
In which regions will Xbox LIVE Community Games be available when it launches this holiday? Consumers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain will be able to download Xbox LIVE Community Games at launch. We’ll be adding support for other regions later in 2009 and beyond.
Well, that’s a bit crappy, isn’t it? We pinged Microsoft’s local presence about the issue, and it was unable to provide a reason for the delay or an exact date.
[Thanks Dominic]
