Brandon Live!

How would you like to write your own Xbox 360 games?

Well it looks like soon enough you’ll be able to…

Microsoft announced a full-on embrace of the “Homebrew” gaming community.

XNA Game Studio Express will be available for free to anyone with a Windows^® XP-based PC and will provide them with Microsoft’s next-generation platform for game development. By joining a “creators club” for an annual subscription fee of $99 (U.S.), users will be able to build, test and share their games on Xbox 360™ and access a wealth of materials to help speed the game development progress. This represents the first significant opportunity for novice developers to make a console game without a significant investment in resources.

 

Full press release here.

Also, here’s an FAQ about the program.  It sounds like there aren’t yet plans to make it easy to distribute games you’ve written - and that only other “Creator’s Club” members will be able to see your work However, I think and hope that is only the beginning.  I could see a vast community and ecosystem of “indie” developers, hobbyists, or open source collaborations becoming a huge part of the Xbox 360’s long-term success.