Not happy just to aim for families (and the Wii) via its Xbox 360 Arcade bundle, Microsoft is now talking up, "The democratization of game development, and the democratization of game distribution". Sounds pretty bloody political to us...

Of course, it's not though. The idea is to enable Xbox LIVE members to contribute self-made games to the LIVE service via an 'initiative' called 'Creators Club'.

Speaking during Microsoft's Game Developer Conference (GDC) keynote in San Francisco last night, Chris Satchell, the head of Microsoft's game development studio, introduced the 'Creators Club' - which will go into Beta on Xbox Live this Spring. The plan then is to get 1,000 Creator Club games available for download by the end of 2008.

This follows the news that the company's game-creation software, XNA Studio 2, is going to be made available free to students.

As far as we're aware, you the gamer (with your pals, such as the quiet one who is good at graphics) create a game, upload it and get it peer reviewed before it goes live (or doesn't). Microsoft, itself, is apparently going to play no part in the review process. As Satchell pointed out, "I'm not going to be the arbiter of what the community does". Sounds great. However, it does bring up the question of game content. Are there going to be any limits? Are we allowed, for example, violent, sexually explicit, politically charged games about Taliban fighters in Atlantic City?^*

Satchell told the conference, "We are not saying don't have these things, we're saying be honest about it, tell people what's in the game."

(We've got to make it clear here, that he wasn't referring exactly to "violent, sexually explicit, politically charged games about Taliban fighters in Atlantic City" but more generally to the violence and 'controversial content in general.)

Surely that's what a peer-review would find out?

But don't get us wrong; the fact that game design is being thrown open to a community of gamers makes us feel very positive about the future. The issue is going to be whether gamers will take the opportunity to actually create games.

As an initiative, it's a welcome one and will hopefully shake the industry out of its current torpid reliance on franchised properties and sequels. What we need, however, are details regarding payments (including royalties); sight of any contract assigning rights of community-created games; and, as importantly, how games ratings across territories will work.

Once those details are cleared up, we'll remain optimistic about the Creators Club, but won't quite see it as, the "...creative and social revolution in games with the same transformative power that we’ve seen in digital music and video sharing", that John Schappert, (corporate vice president of LIVE, Software and Services for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft... phew!) tells us it is.

Will you be contributing? Tell us in the Forum below.

Microsoft has made details of seven such games available for immediate download. These are:

• 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 Loïc 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 neighbourhood 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 distils 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.


^{*(We've got to make it clear here, that he wasn't referring exactly to "violent, sexually explicit, politically charged games about Taliban fighters in Atlantic City" but more generally to the violence and 'controversial content... we just thought our example put some flesh on the bones.)}