Current Batch of Xbox Live Community Games Only Temporarily Available

As it turns out, the recently launched Community Games feature on Xbox Live isn’t quite a “lunch” so much as it is a preview event – and a preview event which is only available for a limited time. The seven games currently available on the Marketplace can only be downloaded until February 24 and will only be playable until March 9. After that, you’ll have to wait for the real release of Community Games (being referred to as a “holiday release”) to really have at it.

I must say, I’m pretty disappointed. While the current setup did seem to be rather inconvenient given how easy the Marketplace and dashboard typically work, it’s pretty lame that these games won’t be playable again until near the end of the year. From the sounds of it, this might be something launched alongside the fall dashboard update – pegging the release somewhere in the November – December timeframe.

Other details on Community Games were revealed on the XNA Team Blog, which included a system for developers to release games for free or for a price (meaning they’ll be able to make some money off of their work) and that there won’t be any achievements, gamerscore or leaderboards to be had in Community Games – those features are reserved for Xbox Live Arcade games.

So what do you make of this news? Are you disappointed that this is only a tease, or are you just too caught up in the excitement for the full release to care?