I notice that the "XNA Club" carries with it a fairly steep price tag.  If there any way Joe Public can preview the tools that would be available or the type of resources that would be present if they forked up the cash?

Case in point:  I have a co-worker who is infinately more talented than I am at artistic works, and is creative and motivated enough to create a flash-based game to supplement his ongoing online webcomic.  Would somebody like him be able to find resources inside of these mythical XNA kits to make a simple PC KB/M game into a console mega-hit on XBLA?

Further, as an addendum to other posts, I for one appreciate your ability to consistently "keep it real" and "tell it like it is."  You haven't really been sugar-coating anything and your viewpoints are appreciated.

Just to throw out a random comment re the earlier poster:

"I notice that the "XNA Club" carries with it a fairly steep price tag"...."Would somebody like him [Joe Public] be able to find resources inside of these mythical XNA kits to make a simple PC KB/M game into a console mega-hit on XBLA?"

I think you justified your own comments about the "steep price tag" (which I personally dont find steep at all).  If it only costs 99/year to make "the next console mega-hit" then I think its totally worth it.

And also, a side note, I believe the price is only for access to the 360.  Correct me if Im wrong, but everything is totally free to create games on the PC?

Yes, the 99 is only needed to create content for the 360. The PC version of your 'game' is free.

" I have a co-worker who is infinately more talented than I am at artistic works, and is creative and motivated enough to create a flash-based game to supplement his ongoing online webcomic.  Would somebody like him be able to find resources inside of these mythical XNA kits to make a simple PC KB/M game into a console mega-hit on XBLA?"

I don't think Flash 'skills' transfer at all to XNA. It's pretty much written in C#, and there is little transfer from Flash to C#.

"And with this release comes the XNA Creator's Club - or the ability to share the code/games/applications you write with other subscribers of the club."

The question I have is then. If you want to play with your game with your friends, they also have to pay $99/year?

Re: "The question I have is then. If you want to play with your game with your friends, they also have to pay $99/year?"

From the XNA FAQ page (http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/faq/):

"Q: How can I share my Xbox 360 game built with XNA Game Studio Express with other Xbox 360 users?

A: To share your Xbox 360 game with friends, four requirements must be met:

   * The individual you are planning to share the game with must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club

   * The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360

   * The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC

   * The game project, including all source and content assets, must be shared with the receiving user. The receiving user then compiles and deploys the game to their Xbox 360.

We are actively working on other ways to allow you to more easily distribute your games and are very excited about the possibilities this will open up for independent game development."

Can anyone make me a diabolo?

Thanks Enzo304.

I guess I should've looked further. :P

That would be a 'showstopper' for now until they figure out how to share it with non-creator members.

Though it would also help if Live functionality was enabled. But I can see that would upset the people who buy the devkits.

:( now what could i do; and i didnt have a clue on what to click for beta version 1; would i be able to use xna gse???

Yay! You can make games for Xbox 360 now... if you fulfill all the requirements, that is. Today Microsoft launched...

I agree, Aedrin, it would be amazing if it were free for non-creators....

I tried learning how to program in school, but I could never fully understand what I was doing... So I won't be using this pretty cool sounding software for a while, until someone makes a game so amazing that it validates my spending of $49.00 plus however much they try charging for the game.

Until then, good luck to all you programmers that will make cool stuff!

Yeah, that's the current worm in this very scrumptious apple that Microsoft are tentatively preparing to create orchards from the very seed of. That if you want to try the game, YOU have to pay $99 as well...Then, according to the FAQ, you have to (know how to) compile your friends' project (assuming of course, you've got a PC in addition to a 360 yourself, to begin with!) Then you've got to download a bunch of software to your various platforms...uh, yeah.

Give me a yell when the wine tasting tour's of the XNA vineyard's announced, is all I can say, as I'm no developer, by any stretch of the imagination!

But, lest I give off the wrong impression, I'm really keen to see what this could do for console gaming moving forward, and am all for making game creation more accessible, to bright and talented souls that otherwise might not get their chance to shine. I was very interested by what I read of the comments of Chris Satchell today, and I liked the tone, and direction of his comments.

But, Rome was not built in a day, and I can see there's really little point in the average joe (like myself) having the chance to tinker about right now as  in order to get everyone in on this from the get-go, you'd probably have to focus less on the features that the most determined (realistically) would-be developer would most relish.

I believe our day will come, and I believe in Microsoft's direction on this. In time, this will be made steadily more inclusive, when the time's right for that, and we'll start to see the entertaining fruit of this labour become available to fans. But you do need something strong, and focussed to begin with if there's to be any success.

XNA racer's place is reserved on my Xbox 360 hard drive, for when it's publicly released.

It looks brilliant fun!

"...if you want to try the game, YOU have to pay $99 as well...Then, according to the FAQ, you have to (know how to) compile your friends' project (assuming of course, you've got a PC in addition to a 360 yourself, to begin with!) Then you've got to download a bunch of software to your various platforms..."

Well, to be fair, it *is* called the "Creator's Club". i.e. the people using it are hobbyists or aspiring indie developers. Rather than the average joes. That would be the "Consumer's Club".

I hope the "Consumer's Club" is on its way and will be free, or something like $15 to $25 a year.

Also, according to letskilldave.com, XNA Racer won't be ready for release for a few months.

I can't be bothered with anything recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing to speak of. Not that it matters.

Not much on my mind right now. Today was a complete loss. So it goes. I've just been sitting around waiting for something to happen. I've basically been doing nothing , but I guess it doesn't bother me.

Nothing notable going on. My life's been generally dull today. So it goes. Not much on my mind to speak of.

I've just been staying at home doing nothing, but pfft. Today was a total loss, but oh well. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.

I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning. Not that it matters. I just don't have anything to say these days. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen. Not much on my mind these days.

I can't be bothered with anything lately. Such is life. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. I haven't been up to anything today, but oh well. I haven't gotten much done lately.

I haven't been up to much today. Such is life. My life's been basically dull today, but that's how it is.

Pretty much nothing seems worth thinking about. Maybe tomorrow. My life's been generally bland today. Such is life. I've just been sitting around doing nothing, but eh.

I haven't been up to much lately. Eh. I just don't have anything to say right now. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning. That's how it is. I haven't gotten anything done.

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