Xbox Live Community Games Opens For Business Nov. 19

GeekSugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:00:18 PST

You already play games on your Xbox, download cool demos, even watch movies, but soon if you're an at-home game creator, you can upload your finished games to the Xbox Live Community Game center for purchase. Starting on November 19, independent game creators can make some serious dough by joining the new Xbox Creators Club to create their masterpieces, upload their finished games, and then sit back and check out XBox Live, where people from all across the globe can purchase the new DIY games.

I sat down to chat with Community Games Manager Boyd Multerer recently at a Community Games launch event, and he told me how the idea of selling DIY games got started. To see why he compares the video game industry to the movie industry, and to see my favorite game of the night, just

During my chat with Boyd Multerer, he explained to me how Community Games came about:

The cost of making games is rising quickly, which has caused the gaming industry to look a lot like the movie industry of the 80s - it's all blockbusters. But then Sex, Lies, and Videotape came out, and it was the first real smash independent film to make a lot of money followed by the Blair Witch Project. And now we sort of take for granted that there is a whole bunch of independent movies that you can go see. But we don't have that in the games industry. Community Games is going to allow indie games (and indie game makers) to get some exposure.

There were about 20 DIY games for me to play at the CG Event, but my favorite of the night was CarneyVale. It's a crazy-fun game where you toss a dummy clown from one clamp to another in the air, trying to collect balloons and coins to rack up your score! Look for it when Xbox Live Community Games opens for business on November 19!