New Xbox Experience Bringing Community Games Channel

Long-promised avenue for amateur games distribution coming on November 19.

Remember when Microsoft announced their Community Games initiative back in February, where amateur developers could create and release games over Xbox Live using the XNA development tools? Microsoft has remained quiet on the service ever since revealing a fuller set of details at Gamefest 2008 in July, but it turns out they haven't forgotten about it either -- they've confirmed that the service will finally be launching on November 19 as part of the New Xbox Experience.

Speaking to Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb in a video interview, XNA community manager (and 1UP alum) Kathleen Sanders explained how the service will work. Among the details revealed is that it'll be a new, separate channel all its own (pictured above), so community games won't co-mingle with XBLA games. Besides the fact that any amateur developer can create and submit a game for peer review, one of the main differences between XBLA certification and community games approval will be how long the approval process takes. "Unlike Xbox Live Arcade games, when a creator creates a game, from the time that they submit it for peer review to the time it appears on Xbox Live, is 48 hours. So it's a little bit quicker than the process of creating a game for Xbox Live Arcade," Sanders said.

"We're a little bit nervous, because we don't know what people are going to create -- we're leaving it all in their hands," Sanders explained. "What we've provided them is just a tool, a way to get out there to all the millions of Xbox Live subscribers." She also noted that because all the games on the service depend entirely on how many people choose to make and submit games, there isn't yet a set amount of titles planned to be available at launch.

You can check out the above news story from Gamefest for the full details on how being a part of the program works, but here's the gist: To develop and distribute a game over Xbox Live, you have to be a premium member of the XNA Creators Club, which will run you $49 for a four-month membership or $99 for a yearly membership. So what's in it for you? If you create and release a game on the Community Games service, you can set a price point (200, 400, and 800 Microsoft points, or $2.50, $5, and $10), and you'll receive 70 percent of all royalties (with Microsoft getting the other 30 percent). This also means, however, that no community games will be released for free.

If launching your game development career through the Community Games program sounds right up your alley, you can head to Microsoft's official webpage for more details.