SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a landmark announcement during the keynote address at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), Microsoft Corp. promised to soon allow Xbox LIVE members to play, rate and share community-created games. As the first in the industry to pioneer high-speed online gaming and high-definition games, Xbox 360 once again broke new ground by introducing a new, open distribution service for games created by the community and soon playable by its 10 million Xbox LIVE members. Community-created games on Xbox LIVE will quickly double the size of the Xbox 360 game library. By the end of 2008, Xbox 360 owners will have access to more than 1,000 games, making it the largest, most creatively diverse library across all next-generation platforms.

"The time has come for the games industry to open its doors to all game creators, enabling anyone to share their creations with the world," said John Schappert, corporate vice president of LIVE, Software and Services for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "Our goal is to drive a creative and social revolution in games with the same transformative power that we've seen in digital music and video sharing."

Inviting Everyone to Share Their Own Games With Millions

Demonstrating a look into the future potential of community-created games on Xbox 360, Chris Satchell, general manager and chief XNA architect at Microsoft, announced that seven games created using XNA Game Studio 2.0 would be available immediately for Xbox 360 owners to download from Xbox LIVE Marketplace:

 -- "JellyCar." Created by Walaber from the United States, this game is
    about driving a squishy car through squishy worlds, trying to reach the
    exit.
 -- "Little Gamers." This is a 2-D high definition action side-scroller
    based on the famous Web comic "Little Gamers" created by Loic Dansart,
    a 24-year-old software developer from Belgium.
 -- "The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai." An intense 2-D action platform game
    created by James Silva from the United States, "The Dishwasher: Dead
    Samurai" has a unique, highly stylized look and fast and fluid action.
 -- "TriLinea." This puzzle game created by Edison S. Prata Jr., Renato
    Pelizzari da Silva and Davi da Silva Prata from Brazil mixes fast-paced
    action with strategy.
 -- "RocketBall." Created by Tyler Wanlass, Patrick Murty and Todd Barrons
    of the United States, this neighborhood game of dodgeball explodes onto
    the street with fast-paced multiplayer action.
 -- "ProximityHD." This game, created by Brian Cable from the United
    States, takes the essence of strategy games -- battles for control of
    territory and armies -- and distills it down to a simple,
    easy-to-understand set of rules for casual players.
 -- "Culture." Created by independent game development company Hidden Path
    Entertainment from the United States, "Culture" contains challenging
    games and puzzles based on beautiful flowers.

An Xbox 360 community game created using Microsoft's XNA Game Studio software and XNA Creators Club membership will be able to be submitted for distribution on Xbox LIVE. Each community-created game must then undergo a thorough peer-review process and be evaluated for accuracy in representation and appropriateness. Community game developers will be able to beta test the process this spring and will be able to distribute their games on Xbox LIVE by the end of this year.