MS announce major XNA design competition
10,000 USD contract up for grabs
Budding bedroom programmers rejoice, Microsoft wants you involved with the Xbox 360. Touting their XNA development platform, which allows even home-brewers to create titles for distribution and play on the Xbox 360, Microsoft have lifted the lid on a 10,000 USD publishing competition as part of their bid to get more upcoming game designers working on XNA.
The 'Dream-Build-Play' competition was unveiled at San Francisco's GDC event this week, with the winner of the big-money contract getting their game showcased on Xbox Live. Nineteen runners-up will share prizes from Alienware, AMD, Autodesk and Softimage, too, with 30,000 USD in goodies up for grabs.
MS describe the new competition as a mix between American Idol and YouTube, and the company isn't the first to draw upon the design talent in the community in order to create something unique, as Dave Perry announced a similar community-led game last week, an MMO that will see the top co-designer earning a big money games industry job.
The first XNA developed game has also emerged this week, with Torpex Games' Schizoid bound for the Live Arcade later this year. XNA allows even amateurs to craft games on a PC to be played on a 360 console, and MS clearly hope to build a successful community around the platform, having announced a raft of new tools for Creators Club subscribers.
The competition is open until July 2nd, results will be announced in August. More soon.
