[casual_games] Casual games using XNA

[Ed Fear]

I'm not from Microsoft, but I've been following XNA since its
inception and I've had the pleasure of talking to XNA head Chris
Satchell, so I can at least say a few things.

Mark is right in saying that getting the .NET Framework and XNA
runtimes are a big barrier - but I don't know if MS will do anything
about that. Given that the Framework is available through Windows
Update and packaged in with Vista, I think their view might be that
eventually everyone will have it. Could be wrong though.

The other thing is distribution. I interviewed Satchell a while back,
and we talked about the distribution problem - largely that while PC
games can be distributed, Xbox binaries can only be run by Creators
Club members. Satchell confirmed that Microsoft are actively working
on a proper distribution platform - which people (falsely) are
referring to as a 'YouTube for Games' (although I think Kongregate
would fulfill that role better, even though it's a stupidly
unapplicable soundbite), and will make the distribution problem a lot
simpler. I don't know what form it'll take, and whether it'll be
PC-based, 360-based or both, but it's encouraging that they're working
on the problem.

XNA is still pretty embryonic, and I think it's fair to say that the
team think so too - it's constantly being iterated upon, and they
really genuinely do listen to feedback and take their future feature
considerations from that. So, while it might not be a feasible
platform for commercial casual development yet (unless you're
targeting Live Arcade in which case it is), there's every chance that
it will be soon.

Forgive my hawking, but if anyone wants to know more about the service
and future plans for XNA,  you can check out the interview here:
http://www.developmag.com/interviews/72/XNAbling-everyone-Part-1

Cheers!

Ed
Staff Writer
Develop Magazine
http://www.developmag.com

On 15/11/2007, Ellen Beeman <guonbeeman at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I hope someone from Microsoft who is more current than

> myself in their knowledge of the state of XNA will

> respond to this thread, but XNA has a great future

> ahead of it.  Schizoid is the first XNA title shipping

> on Xbox Live Arcade.

>

> ---Ellen

>

>

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