community-games
July 24th, 2009 at 11:30am
Under Xbox 360
Microsoft announced plans yesterday to change a variety of XNA Creators Club features in the coming weeks. First and foremost, the recently renamed Xbox Live Indie Games will get a new pricing structure: games will start at 80
($1) and cap off at 400 ($5). Second, the renaming of the service will take affect on Xbox Live and at the XNA Creators Club website.
Additionally, games on the Indie Games Channel can now receive automatic updates (a la Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox 360 games). Perhaps the most interesting piece of this update is the inclusion of 50 “tokens” for each creator per game; meaning that developers can now send out review codes of games to press (wink, wink), as well as giveaway copies of the game to fans. Interestingly, this is the same number of free codes that Apple grants its App Store developers. Well played, Microsoft.
[Via Xbox Indies]
Xbox Indie Games get new pricing structure, improved update system originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: community-games, indie-games, indie-games-channel, microsoft, xbla, xbox-live, xna, xna-creators-club
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Xbox Indie Games get new pricing structure, improved update system
July 16th, 2009 at 03:45pm
Under Xbox 360
After Clover developer Binary Tweed made its disappointment in the game’s sales clear, it laid a portion of the blame at the feet of Microsoft and its Community Games platform (soon to be renamed Indie Games). James Silva — head of Dishwasher developer Ska Studios — has posted something of a rebuttal on his company’s blog. His comments aren’t directed expressly toward Binary Tweed, but rather toward any developer that thinks the service is an instant goldmine.
Silva points out that, even with its faults, Community Games has many advantages over a Windows release, namely visibility, easy payment processing and piracy protection. Addressing complaints that Microsoft doesn’t do enough to market Community Games, Silva notes that many games simply won’t fly on the Xbox 360, as there are already better versions available for the platform. Paraphrasing Silva, putting a tower defense game on Community Games is “a step down” from other strategy titles available. Meanwhile, all the music generators and ridiculous massage applications really have no competition from Xbox 360 retail titles, allowing them to address an untapped market.
Of course, none of that matters if a Community Game lacks the most important factor: fun. Silva encourages developers to “make better games,” saying, “All of this blaming nonsense just hurts everyone, and tragically generates more blogroll buzz than any yay-XNA articles do.”
Dishwasher dev defends Xbox Community Games originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: community-games, indie-games, james-silva, microsoft, ska-studios, xbox-live
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Dishwasher dev defends Xbox Community Games
July 8th, 2009 at 10:27pm
Under Xbox 360
Daniel Jones of Binary Tweed, developer of the Xbox 360 Indie Game Clover, has a few choice things to say about Microsoft’s independent games service. Speaking to the UK’s X360 Magazine, Jones just doesn’t see a big enough audience in Indie Games to justify creating a game for it — Joystiq readers will recall similar comments after Clover sales failed to set the world on fire.
“We’re seeing even the best-selling Indie Games titles sell in the low five-figure numbers,” says Jones, laying the blame on “lack of marketing from us developers, Microsoft, and also on the dirge of massage ‘games’ that dilute the brand’s message.” (Don’t forget fart games!) He notes that the most popular titles on Indie Games are simple applications like music visualizers and digital aquariums, saying, “The marketing message clearly hasn’t gotten to the people that want to play games, and so one has to question if there’s any point making games for a service that gamers don’t buy from.”
Jones believes that the upcoming user ratings feature will help “immeasurably,” though he adds, “There’s still a lot of work to do in educating LIVE users about [what] Indie Games is about.”
We’re inclined to agree that the Indie Games channel needs a lot of work, especially if Microsoft ever expects it to become more than a Kodu delivery service.
Clover dev: Indie Games channel has a long way to go originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: binary-tweed, clover, community-games, daniel-jones, indie-games
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Clover dev: Indie Games channel has a long way to go
July 4th, 2009 at 11:00am
Under Xbox 360
Today is the day of independence for Joystiq readers in the United States, which also means it’s a day full of aerial explosions of light. You know, fireworks. For those not lucky enough to be in an area where one can witness this colorful spectacle, we figured we’d bring the explosive excitement to the internet, for all to share, with the help of the recently released Community Game, Kodu.
Enjoy the show and have a boom-tastic July 4th!
Celebrate July 4th with adorable Kodu fireworks originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: community-games, fireworks, fourth-of-july, indie-games, kodu
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Celebrate July 4th with adorable Kodu fireworks
July 2nd, 2009 at 06:30pm
Under Xbox 360
Microsoft released its Kodu Game Lab yesterday, giving gamers everywhere the opportunity to create their very own games. Just for you, we snapped up the tool and set to work creating the Next BIg Thing in video gaming. Well, either that or we created a dinky little 2D shooter. Still, it’s hard not to feel some pride after creating a real, honest-to-goodness, functioning game. And we did it all without laying a finger on a standard keyboard.
Check out our video tour and see what created.
Add the trial version of Kodu Game Lab to your Xbox 360 download queue
Video Tour: Kodu, Microsoft’s DIY game builder originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: community-games, indie-games, kodu, kodu-game-lab, microsoft
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Video Tour: Kodu, Microsoft’s DIY game builder
July 1st, 2009 at 01:40pm
Under Xbox 360
Just a quick reminder from your friends at Joystiq, if you wanted to try your hand at the totally cool visual game programming of Kodu Game Lab, the title is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace (though you’ll have to navigate over to the Community Games section to find it).
For just 400 MS points ($5) you can build your very own game from the ground up, all the while being reminded that no matter how hard you work at it, Sparrow still owns you. If you manage to make anything cool (though admittedly never as cool as what Sparrow makes) let us know in the comments below.
PSA: Kodu Game Lab is now live originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: community-games, kodu, kodu-game-lab, xblm, xbox-live
By Mister-X
Continue Reading PSA: Kodu Game Lab is now live
June 24th, 2009 at 05:00pm
Under Xbox 360
Developer Binary Tweed has admitted sales of its first Xbox Live Community title Clover have not met expectations. Speaking with Digital Spy, Binary Tweed community managing director Daniel Jones said his team “definitely won’t recoup costs” from Microsoft’s indie games service alone.
Despite strong critical reception for the title, Jones says the Xbox Live Community Games market — being re-branded ‘Indie Games‘ in July — is “prohibitively small to be financially viable.” According to Jones, Binary Tweed may only use the Community Games market as an “an arena for proving concepts” in the future.
While Clover has failed to capture much attention from gamers, Jones says having a salable product to showcase to publishers (rather than a demo) has helped open doors for the team’s future. “Although I can’t talk about specifics at the moment, Clover’s critical acclaim has opened doors to Binary Tweed.” Jones recommends Clover fans keep an eye on the developer’s official site for news in the coming weeks. We recommend you stop playing with that XBLCG Fart app and check out Clover.
Clover developer disappointed by poor sales originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: binary-tweed, clover, community-games, indie, sales, xbox-live, xbox-live-community-games
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Clover developer disappointed by poor sales
June 24th, 2009 at 03:30pm
Under Xbox 360
Update: Microsoft got back to us with the following: “We are going through the same peer-review process that every other developer has to go through, so there isn’t any way to determine when the game will actually post, but we hope that it will be somewhere near or on June 30.” So, everyone is trying their best to make sure Kodu makes the June 30 release, but don’t consider that date chiseled in stone.
When the official Kodu blog mentioned that the title would be available this month, it apparently wasn’t lying. Xboxic is reporting the game will be available for download on the last day of this month, June 30, for a reasonable 400. Oh, and if you’re scratching your head due to Microsoft’s penchant for Humpday releases, remember this is an Xbox 360 Community Game Indie Game, and not an Arcade release.
For clarification’s sake, we’ve put in word to Microsoft to confirm and will be sure to get back to you with what we find.
Kodu gets creative on Xbox 360 June 30 [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: community-games, indie-games, kodu
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Kodu gets creative on Xbox 360 June 30 [update]
