In the 30 years of video game development, the art of making console games has been reserved for those with big projects, big budgets and the backing of big game labels.

However, in 2006 Microsoft released a new set of tools, called XNA Game Studio Express, based on the XNAplatform. XNA Game Studio Express has given the necessary tools to hobbyists, students, indie developers and studios alike to help them bring their creative game ideas to life while nurturing game development talent, collaboration and sharing that will benefit the entire industry.

Finally, those games are on the verge of being released on the Xbox live arcade!

Today, Microsoft revealed that games developed by premium members of the XNA Creator's Club will be released this Autumn and will be available under three different price points.

Priced at 200, 400 or 800 Microsoft points, the catalogue of games will weigh in at between 50MB and 150MB and each game will be able to be demoed before purchase.

By the end of 2008, Microsoft says that the amount of games on the Xbox live arcade will double.

"The new Community Games channel is currently scheduled to launch in the United States, Canada and select European markets later this year. Other regions will be added over the course of 2009 and beyond," the company said.

Another point of interest to note is that developers will be pocketing 70% of the revenue taken by their games. The rest, they say, will be spent on marketing those games that really take off.

Source :: Eurogamer