First Xbox 360 Community Games to hit Live "immediately"

It wasn't all Zune gaming at Microsoft's GDC keynote this morning -- a lot of time was spent discussing Community Games, the new official name for XNA-based games. Amateur devs will get "creator identities" along with their gamertags, and Live members can rate, grade, and discuss your efforts. Of course, as we've heard, games can move from the 360 to PCs to second-gen Zunes, which is definitely pretty cool, but it'll be interesting to see what that means for devs who want to try and take advantage of the 360's horsepower -- will they be restrict their code to a specific platform? While we wait for those answers, it looks like we'll be able to get a taste of what Community Games have to offer right away -- Microsoft announced that the first seven XNA-based games are available immediately, with an open beta to begin in spring and full-on launch by the end of the year. List of games after the jump -- but what are you doing reading this when you could be playing?

Update: We just tried downloading RocketBall and the process is totally different than you'd expect. First you have to download the XNA Launcher, which is under New Arrivals in the Marketplace blade -- but you don't need a membership, so skip that, and the XNA ad that displays points you to the wrong thing, so ignore that as well. Then head over to the Games blade and select Games Library, but don't open the Launcher, cause it'll just kick you out. Instead, press Y to view the list of games and download one. So far the "YouTube of games" seems a bit convoluted -- hopefully the next Dashboard update makes this all a bit simpler.


"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.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/20/f...e-immediately/