This is, of course, NOT based on a true story…
Speaking of a true story, Microsoft released its XNA Game Studio Express two days ago. I haven`t checked it out myself, as I have enough things going on right now, but it appears to be a neat package for amateur game programmers who want to worry more about gameplay and logic than workign with DirectX to make everything appear. Apparently it will even abstract networking for PCs. Why mention for PCs? Because, apparently, it will allow you to develop, with minor changes in code (or the proper use of compiler directives), for the XBox 360! Now, there are some catches: You have to pay $100 to use your work on your XBox 360, and anyone with whom you want to share it must not only pay the $100 but have a complete copy of your code, or so it seems. Also, no commercial development, and Microsoft gets final say if you want to seriously distribute it (even freeware, as I understand it)
Personally? I think this is great. How else would you get your code onto an XBox 360? Sure, you have to pay for the privelege, but not $10,000, and you don`t have to “prove” you are a “competent” game studio. I use quotes because I find the definitions of these words in this context very flexible, but the point remains the same, and that is that for a small fee you can compile and run your code on your own console with not only the manufacturer`s blessing but their assistance? Yes, there are several homebrew efforts and you can “hack” your PS2/3 to gain access to Linux, but they don`t have a huge developer`s network with tons of sample code which they will provide to you.
That`s $100 well placed if you ask me, and even though I much prefer free to any cost, even a penny, I can`t imagine honestly finding this a bad deal if you wanted to get into your 360`s processing guts with Microsoft`s blessing. No warranties are voided here, friends. You`d have to have some truly dark spectacles to be so blind.
Plus, let`s not forget the PC side…It seems pretty much geared to distribute your finished projects. I don`t know if licensing issues apply here as well, but it will handle everything up to networking. Great place for the amateur code hack who wants to see how their game logic/ideas pan out quickly. Sure, it won`t build optimized code, but coders do have to learn to crawl before they walk, metaphorically speaking. After brief review, these appear to be great tools. And again, the PC side is free.
However, I could be wrong, so I remain skeptical. I`ll wait to see how this pans out for others first. Maybe in a few months I`ll have some disposable income and can drop some cash on it. I`d really like to. Right now, though, I have a Wii and several games in my queue. Plus, the holidays are always busy. I`m not a big fan of C# (Oh, right, you use C#, a compiler for which is available for free as well) but we can learn to get along.