The developer for The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai has published the first official review for the game and, boy, is he not happy. Taking a cue from Peter Molyneux, the developer of the XNA title, James Silva, decided to just go ahead and review his own game. From the sounds of thing, it’s going to be one spectacularly terrible game. I mean really: it’s in 2D, doesn’t have whack-a-mole minigames, and it’s not a dating sim!? Other offenses include the omission of nudity and the misleading title — just where does the dishwashing come in? The game just barely scrapes by with a Superman 64-esque 1/10.

To read the whole account of his horrendous ordeal, just hit the link below.

Via James Silva DevBlog

As details continue to pour on out regarding XNA Community Games, I pointed out that Microsoft made no mention of being able to release a game for free. That news has been confirmed by MTV Multiplayer in an interview with (former head of XNA and now CTO) Chris Satchell and new XNA head Boyd Multerer.

The two emphasized that, unlike existing platforms like Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and PlayStation Network, Community Games is going to emphasize having as much as content as possible. That naturally means lots of crap, but the hope is that the good stuff will rise up to the top, and that’s why there are going to be trials of every game.

“One of the goals of the entire program has always been to have the greatest diversity and the greatest amount of content coming through,” said Multerer. “We very purposely don’t want to be trying to guess what’s going to be a good game and what’s not, and preventing people from coming in. We’re not going to say no to any games that follow the terms of service. We’re going to let the community completely manage what games go in and how quickly.”

I’m actually glad that Microsoft won’t be filtering games out because they don’t approve. Doing that stifles innovation because developers don’t want their games to be rejected, so they go the safe route. For all the crappy games we’ll be seeing, it’ll also lead to some of the mind-blowingly original stuff, which I’m looking forward to.

It’s just a shame that none of it will be free.

Microsoft is going to be pushing their XNA initiative hard on the Xbox 360 front, and while the tools are out there for development on Zune, don’t expect to see XNA community games on your iPod wannabe anytime soon.

“At the moment Zune for us is really just a development target,” Chris Satchell told 1UP. “We haven’t really thought about the game programs for it. It’s more, “Hey, this is a really interesting piece of hardware. It could be really fun to game on. Let’s take that first step like we did with Xbox 360 of opening up the platform to the community developer.” And so in May we launched our community tech preview of XNA Game Studio for Zune. And it’s really just to open up that hardware for the community and see where they go with it.”

When asked how close we were to having a broader distribution system for XNA games on Zune, Satchell explained, “The only mechanism right now is sort of how it started on Xbox 360. You can package it up and send it to other people who have downloaded the toolset, and then they can push it to their Zune and play it. We haven’t decided about a marketplace yet. We’re really just focused on the development side first.”

That’s pretty disappointing to hear as a Zune owner, but it’s not like Microsoft has a lingering promise about Zune games hanging out there. Hopefully the XNA Community Games launch goes smoothly this holiday on Xbox 360 so that Microsoft can shift its efforts to bringing XNA games to PC and Zune.

PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade are always looked at in completely different games. While there is crossover between the two and many similarities, PSN is generally regarded as the more original platform. With games like flOw and the PixelJunk series, you’ve got a number of games that would have never been given the green light by Microsoft for Xbox Live Arcade.

XNA is Microsoft’s shot at challenging PSN as far as innovation and independent developers go. In fact, Microsoft’s Chris Satchell believes XNA is already at PSN’s level of innovative concepts and giving anyone the opportunity to publish a game.

“It’s sort of funny,” Satchell told 1UP. “I mean, it’s great that Sony has some sort of independent developers, but there’s just this handful of titles. You can go sit on the beta and see like 60 different games in a few weeks or 200 games last year for Dream, Build, Play with all sorts of innovative concepts. I think we’re kind of already there in terms of breaking it down and giving people the opportunity.

“And now you’ve got a pipeline where you don’t have to go through any sort of permission stage other than your peers in the community. I think there’s a big difference between getting a few innovative games and taking 300,000 developers that are out using our software and allowing them to get onto the system and sell their great creations. And very rapidly we will see a huge amount of creativity pouring onto Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.”

He might be might that we’ll be able to see the same level of creativity, but with the technical restrictions that are placed on XNA games, will they ever be able to achieve the same things as a PixelJunk or Everyday Shooter?

Following the announcement that XNA Creators Club members would be able to sell their games over Xbox Live, Microsoft’s Chris Satchell spoke with 1UP about the potential a platform like this has for Average Joe Game Creator. It sounds quite promising; the obvious result from releasing a game is that you’ll be able to make money, but the possibility that a developer could then seek you out is very exciting, albeit unlikely.

1UP: One of the key points we see in the first sentence of the press release — obviously this is an important touchstone — is “turning a hobby into a full-fledged career.” There’s a real strong implication in the language there. What do you think the real earning potential would be for someone working in the XNA?

Chris Satchell: I think there’s a couple ways to look at that. So, let’s take what I think the intention of the question is. Maybe I’m doing a different job, and in my spare time I’m building games, and what is my potential for being part of this developer community, being able to take my games and distribute them to the 12 million people on Xbox Live, and sell them. It’s hard to know because no one’s ever done this. But, 70% revenue split for the creator, that’s pretty impressive. That means at 400 Microsoft Points ($5), you’re getting 280 Points ($3.50). It’s hard to do the exact translation to dollars, but three and half dollars, something like that, per unit. You don’t have to sell many units before that becomes pretty meaningful, imagine if you sold 10,000. That’s close to $40,000 right there, a good piece of money already. And it might not have taken you that long to build the game because we do so much in the terms of framework to make it productive.

So, there’s that side of it, where there is some real earning potential here for the best people. The other side of this is, of course, you’re getting noticed. Professional development studios are noticing you. Companies are noticing you. So it’s a case of the other side of the earning potential. Perhaps you want to get into the industry full-time as part of a larger studio, or spotted by a publisher, and I think that’s the secondary side, where you can start with what was perhaps a hobby or an interest, and you start making money off it. You get known in the community, and the next thing you know you get picked up by a publisher, or you’re joining a top studio, and I think there’s earning potential either way.

$40 grand is hardly anything to sneeze at. He also went on to talk about the transaction-based revenue model and how Microsoft isn’t opposed to other models, such as advertising. Money is clearly a driving factor here which — while it might not be an absolute ideal situation for consumers — poses a very interesting (and lucrative) future for indie game developers.

Microsoft made an exciting announcement yesterday, confirming that premium members of the XNA Creators Club will be able to sell their created games through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The process will be fairly simple: once the game is completed, you’ll submit it through the peer review process and then be able to set a price between 200 and 800 Microsoft points. Once you’ve done that, the game will be listed on Xbox Live and you’ll still reaping the rewards, to the tune of up to 70% of the game’s total revenue, paid quarterly. Successful games might even be advertised, which should help to bring in a pretty penny.

“Not only are we democratizing game development with Xbox LIVE Community Games later this year, but we’re creating an opportunity for aspiring developers to start their careers on the world stage,” said Chris Satchell, CTO of the Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business Group.. “It is really a win for both developers and consumers because this will no doubt act as an incentive for game creators to continue to develop the best, most innovative games for Xbox 360.”

“Since first launching XNA Game Studio in 2006, we have been working hard on improving the toolset and building resources for the community, and the response has been amazing. To date, we’ve had more than 1 million downloads of XNA Game Studio and adoption in more than 700 universities,” said Boyd Multerer, general manager of XNA. “For some perspective, the incredible creative community we’ve unleashed worldwide is more than 25 times the number of professional developers in the industry.”

There’s no mention if you can release a game for free, though, which really worries me. If the game’s creator wants to release the game for free, let him or her do it — surely hosting a 50MB file isn’t going to wreak havoc on Microsoft.

You can read more about the announcement at the official XNA website.

Among the many complains people have had about Games for Windows Live, having to pay for certain features and a lack of a Marketplace similar to Xbox Live’s have been among the biggest. With Microsoft’s announcement that Games for Windows Live is now entirely free out of the way, they’ve also announced that a Marketplace is coming go GFW Live.

Over on Gamerscore Blog, Kevin Unangst said, “We also announced that this fall we’ll be delivering a new Marketplace for Games for Windows – LIVE.  I’m excited because we’ll have a central place to get great new content for existing games (including free content of course) and demos, trailers and more.”

I’m not sure how much of a need there is for a service to download demos on PC; that’s why you’ve got FileFront. But this hopefully means that we’ll see the Xbox Live Arcade and XNA Community Games come with it.

It’s Wednesday which means gamers can count on new games to download from the Xbox Live
Arcade. This week’s new additions include Schizoid, the first XBL Arcade game created with Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio.

“Torpex Games assembled an all-star team that truly believed in the vision of this singular game, and they ended up creating a unique and innovative game that embodies Xbox LIVE Arcade,” said Jeremy Wacksman, Microsoft’s Global Product Manager, Xbox LIVE. “We are very happy that Schizoid is the superb first result of our XNA Game Studio initiative on Xbox Live Arcade.”

“Schizoid is a landmark co-op gaming experience, unlike any other game. It’s a new experience that you’ve got to try,” says Bill Dugan, Torpex Games’ president. “And although it has been reported that Schizoid will ‘make your brain melt and ooze out of your ears’, I want to reassure gamers that in our testing we found no evidence of actual brain liquefaction.”

Also new on XBL Arcade is Activision’s Golf: Tee It Up! developed by Housemarque. Gamers can create custom characters, then challenge their friends to play 36 unique holes set in “lush, panoramic courses”. You can check out Business Wire for more specifics on this zany golf game.

via Business Wire

It’s one thing to hear about Schizoid’s unique gameplay, but it’s quite another to actually see it in action. This is the first title made using Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio that will be released on the XBLA. The game looks like you’re typical shooter, except that you don’t really shoot anything. Instead you and a friend (or AI) will ram into enemies that match your color, while avoiding those that don’t. You’ll also be able to link up a tether to yourselves and sweep through hordes of baddies that way. It seems like the sort of thing that will make for one fairly in-depth co-op experience (hence the odd tagline: “The most co-op game ever”). You can check out a couple more trailers after the break and download the game this Wednesday.

Read the full article

It looks like this Wednesday is going to feature both innovation and mediocrity as far as the Xbox Live Arcade is concerned. First up there’s Schizoid, which has the distinction of being the first game to be released on the XBLA that was created using the XNA Game Studio tools. You and a friend (or AI) will team up to ram into enemies the same color as you and avoid ones that are a different color. It sounds kind of like a more suicidal Ikaruga. Next up is Golf: Tee It Up! which is…well, it’s another golf game. I still can’t see how this is any different from any other golf game out there really. But both games should be available Wednesday morning for 800 MS points each.