Microsoft Dangles Xbox Tools To Lure Developers

The hobbyist-aimed XNA Game Studio Express toolkit enables developers to build games for Xbox 360 and Windows XP using an IDE based on Microsoft's Visual Studio Express and .Net platform. It's scheduled for beta release Aug. 30 and for full availability before the holiday season.

Though PC game development is a fertile field for hobbyists, console companies have traditionally kept a tight lock on their platforms. Microsoft's toolkit will be free, but developers won't have full distribution rights for the Xbox games they build. At least initially, Microsoft is restricting distribution to fellow subscribers to its "creators club," a community network carrying a $99 annual subscription fee. Members will be able to test and swap their game creations.

A Microsoft spokeswoman compared the planned network to YouTube, a video-sharing Web site backed by an active community. Licensing arrangements for Xbox game distribution beyond the creators' network remain up in the air, according to Microsoft.

To evangelize its toolkit, Microsoft is reaching out to small, independent game developers and educational institutions with game-development programs, including the University of Southern California and the Georgia Tech College of Computing. The push is aimed at expanding the Xbox's mind share against rivals like the PlayStation and Nintendo, but it's also part of a broader effort by Microsoft to entice fledgling developers to build around Microsoft technologies.

Microsoft released several free Express editions of its Visual Studio IDE last year and maintains a Coding4Fun Web site aimed at hobbyists and novice programmers.

PlayStation maker Sony previously tried to tap the indie development market. In 1997, it released Net Yaroze, a $750 kit with the hardware and software tools needed to build games for its original PlayStation console. A cult community developed around user-created games, but Sony didn't release a Net Yaroze successor for its PlayStation 2.