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As mentioned in a post before, Microsoft announced earlier today that they would be allowing for developers to publish games created on the XNA as Community Games onto the Xbox Live Arcade. Community members will soon be able to not only make games, but also share and rate them with other members of Xbox Live. Some of these titles will also be able to be played on the Microsoft Zune and Windows Platforms as well. That is all well and good, but what does it all mean?

It means that Microsoft is truly embracing the gaming community and creating a Youtube for games. The XNA Game Studio tool set is embarrassingly inexpensive compared to many others, giving small studios the chance they have asked for to create games for a low price and break into the community. The tool set creates games specifically for Xbox, so no additional coding is needed to get it to work on the system. In the past, games like Alien Hominid, N+, and Line Rider all started as free flash games and have been adapted (or are being adapted) into full blown games. These were all done without game development programs or the means of distribution that XNA Community games will receive. Just imagine the possibilities of this new, amazing feature.



Some of the details are still a little bit sketchy, and questions like pricing details and exactly how the submitting process will go have yet to be answered, but if all goes well this announcement could be the biggest thing at GDC. Sure, things like Gears of War 2 and the impending In Game XMB for PS3 announcement are sure to create a buzz, but neither will truly be as industry moving as this could prove to be.

HeyKidNiceRobot had some hands on time with some of the games available for play that were created using the XNA Game Studio, and will post details in a little bit.

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