The point of most loading screens is to show that progress is being made.  If all you have is a black screen, you're never sure if it's loading or just locked up.

ShawMishrak:

The point of most loading screens is to show that progress is being made.  If all you have is a black screen, you're never sure if it's loading or just locked up.

I think the "locked up" part is key here. There needs to be some sort of animation and that animation needs to actively poll to make sure the loading is "alive" and progressing. You WANT the animation to lock up if the loading actually stops. This way people get the hint and reboot :-)

So here I am late April 2008 without my game creators subscription yet, can I still subscribe and be able to access the ability to submit to community games online when available in fall on Xbox Live??

-Justin Wright
Gamer - Modeling and Simulation Software Developer

Of course! Anyone with a valid Creator's Club subscription will be able to participate (assuming you meet other requirements like geographical locations and whatnot) even if you wait until the release to sign up.

What is the status of the beta for LIVE Community Games?  The FAQ and Gamasutra article mention Spring 2008.

CaptainHangDawg:

What is the status of the beta for LIVE Community Games?  The FAQ and Gamasutra article mention Spring 2008.

Still spring 2008. Nothing new has been announced.

Spring 2008 ends June 30, 2008, and I think they're targeting a date well before that.

jwatte:

Spring 2008 ends June 30, 2008, and I think they're targeting a date well before that.

Might be worth to call The Zman for yet another bet thingy :]

Hello there

First thanks for opening the Xbox360 to hobbyists, even if I don't like the "Youtube for games" stuff, I'd rather say it's an adaptation of the freeware/shareware system from the PC world. Concerning the business model, if the creators will be able to set a price for their games, I suppose a preview/demo of the game would be a good start, following then the same process than the XBLA games. What about internet payment methods like Paypal to transfer money to the creators ?

The possibility for a XBC game to be promoted to a XBLA game is a good stuff too, maybe based on a couple rating/downloads, I'm sure that Xbox live guys like you will keep an eye on every game release.

You seem to expect quality games, that's fair to keep a high value on the Xboxlive, but I'm not sure it's compatible with "hobbyists". In that case, the set up of T"R"C ( technical "recommandation" checks ) and some basis for the gamedesign would be useful ( title screen, menu, playable game, to win, to lose, to restart, to quit, and of course no bug :).

After reading many posts here, I realised I was wrong on my first idea of the XNA for xbox, but now the Communauty games match my expectations. I look forward to the set up of this stuff soon ( especially in France :) ).

I read somewhere that Microsoft was trying to refrain the retrogaming on the XBLA, but with the Communauty Games it's a chance for small groups to make fine simple games. As for me, I'm still in love with old games from the 8/16 bits generations ( Thunderforce,Street of rage, Valis, Phantasy star... ), I'd really like to make something with XNA for the xbox,  even if I work as graphist in a french studio on nintendo DS, I have some skills in programming ( at least a tetris like game released on GP2X handheld this year, which is a good start lol ) and some ideas.

Let's see what the future brings !

Cheers.

Olivier Lunot / Phaxan

I don't get why there should be a limit on game sizes. Sure, bandwidth isn't free, but I see no reason why Microsoft couldn't implement a torrent-kind of download system for everything on Live. Would make it radically cheaper for them and give us, the users a higher download speed. It would also open up for games both on arcade and community games to be bigger.

I would be satisfied with a size limit at 1 GB. No less. 150 MB is a joke.

I don't see how it's a joke when it's the same limit they apply to full XBLA games. I believe the chief reason is that some users simply don't have hard drives so the games must be small enough to fit onto memory cards.

I for one would not want an arcade game or cc game that took up a gig of space...i only have a 20 gig drive and I have about 15 gigs used with games, music, videos, and so on :P