Microsoft's XNA development tools are giving rise to a slew of interesting games from up-and-coming developers. To further increase interest in these tools and the resulting games, Microsoft is making demos for several of these titles available for download for a limited time. One of these games, Rocketball, makes the following disclaimer: "Game experience may change while playing on the couch with friends." Nevertheless, even those with the most foul-mouthed buddies will probably want to keep an eye on this upcoming 2D dodgeball title.
Rocketball, Samurai Showdown 2, and Shotest Shogi are available now on Xbox LIVE Arcade!
In summary:
- Rocketball - 800 Microsoft Points
- Samurai Showdown 2 - 800 Microsoft Points
- Shotest Shogi - 800 Microsoft Points
Stotest Shogi is a strategic chess-like game that is a massive hit over in Japan and supports Xbox LIVE play.
I loved this game in the arcade back in the day. If it plays the same, I will download it. I wish I had some free MS points though.
At GDC, Microsoft released their plans for the XNA Community Games platform and 7 trial games went live on the service. They are:
• Dishwasher: Dead Samurai
• Culture
• JellyCar
• Little Gamers
• ProximityHD
• Rocket Ball
• Trilinea
After the jump, X-Play's interview with Microsoft on XNA.
We can all make games with 2 years of C# Programming under our belt. ::rolls eyes::
You viewing it in the wrong way. To a person like me that has no programing experience it just means a lot more games to play for free.
and the entry fee $$$$$ are going to kill this before it even has a chance to grow into a community. Now with MS cutting the royality rates down it is even less appealing. I like MS is trying to push things like this but their methods leave much to be desired.
So, many moons after the XNA (Xbox Nautical Acclimatiser) was first announced, we're finally getting to see the fruits of all those amateur coders, beavering away over a hot keyboard. Seven preview versions of XNA titles are available from the Xbox Live Marketplace, but will turn into smoke and be blown away on a fragrant breeze in just over two weeks time.
The games are, as you'd expect, a mixed bag. Some have their amateur roots proudly on display, others could be added to Live Arcade tomorrow and fit right in. This, then, is not a review but a sort of "previewy roundup", a critical overview to see what sort of content is being created, how it's shaping up and what we might start seeing once Microsoft's peer-reviewed developer community really starts cranking them out.
