Today Microsoft kicked off the XNA Creators Club and officially released XNA Game Studio Express, the utility that gives anyone the power to create their own games for the PC and Xbox 360. Dave Mitchell, Director of Marketing for Microsoft's Game Development Group, says that this is the first of three key milestones that will lead to the ultimate goal the company has for XNA Game Studio Express. Today's milestone is specifically the release of the tools and technology necessary to make user content creation a reality. The second milestone will be to provide content for these users. This will include, but will not be limited to, 2D and 3D models, support tools, and other helpful utilities. The final milestone will be developing a community for all the content that is created by XNA Game Studio Express users.

The beta release of XNA Game Studio Express hit 250,000 downloads, a number that Microsoft sounds fairly pleased with. Mitchell tells us, "The first game using XNA Game Studio Express was created in five hours. It was a Breakout clone. In the first two weeks we saw a whole lot of Breakout and Pong clones, then after that we saw all kinds of different games that were 2D sprite-based side scrollers." Mitchell speculates that so far somewhere between 60 and 80 games have been developed using the beta. Now that the final version of the development software is out, those numbers should grow.


To help spur the use of XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft will hold a contest called "Dream-Build-Play" in January. To enter, you'll have to create an original game using XNA Game Studio Express. The grand prize winner will receive help from Microsoft to finish his or her game and be given a chance to get the game published on Xbox Live Arcade. You can find out more about the contest on the official Dream-Build-Play website. Eventually, Microsoft wants to be able to get the most popular user-created games onto Xbox Live Arcade. When this happens, the creator of the game will still get to keep ownership of his or her intellectual property. Mitchell says, "If your game is successful, we'll want to strike a business deal ... you'll get a percentage of the profits." He also adds, "When you sign up today, you're not assigning any rights to Microsoft for your IP." However, not all the fine details of how these deals will work are finalized.

Microsoft's ultimate goal is to create a YouTube-style community for games created with XNA Game Studio Express. How will it do this? Well, those details haven't been finalized yet. It may be on the Internet, it may be on Live, or both. It may take as much as three years to get this all set up. Until then, you can download XNA Game Studio Express at Microsoft's MSDN homepage and get to work on your very own homebrew Xbox 360 or PC title. Subscriptions for the XNA Creators Club are on Xbox Live Marketplace. Members will get access to game assets from Microsoft, including technical support and starter kits. A four-month subscription will run you $49 while $99 will get you an annual subscription. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start making games.