blog

The mysterious sheet in Moscone North has been lifted, revealing Microsoft and XNA's big surprise. What could end up being the biggest announcement coming out of GDC, Microsoft will be throwing it's support behind independent game developers, and their "little games that could".

I got to spend some time with a few of these games; Jellycar, Little Gamers and The Dishwasher. While these games may appear basic, the charm and passion each was developed with gives each one a distinct experience.

While Jellycar could be described as a racing game, it has an element of physics gameplay that makes it truly unique. Your car is made of jelly, and can expand and contract with the press of the A button. Obstacles will need to be overcome with a mixture of acceleration and manipulating the size of your car. With it's crayon inspired design, Jellycar's simple gameplay makes it very easy to enjoy.

Little Gamers could be described as an incredibly violent South Park episode. You shoot, poke, prod, dismember and slice everything from hippies to zombies. This side-scrolling shooter is violent, fun and hilarious.

The Dishwasher seems to be the highlight of XNA. It's influence of early Ninja Gaiden make this hack-and-slash action sidescroller intense and nostalgic. It's obvious why Microsoft has chosen The Dishwasher and it's creator, James Silva, to be the new face of Xbox Live's Community Games.

This new portal of distribution is going to take independent game developement to a whole new level. Not only will the developers benefit from this partnership, but so will gamers. I get excited just thinking about all the creative and innovative games we will start to see in the upcoming months. The titles I checked out are available on Xbox LIVE Community Games right now, so go download and play.

Share this article: