In fact, I'm having a hard time believing it's playable. But considering Dust: An Elysian Tail appears to be based on the animated film Elysian Tail, likely giving the developers access to top notch animation, I'm willing to suspend disbelief.

Watch this gorgeous teaser. Don't let the XNA thing frighten you.

Released to minimal fanfare last year as a set of templates upon which people could build games with little or no programming experience, Popfly never really caught on. Which is why, come August 24, it'll be shut down, with users asked to direct their efforts towards XNA or, for those with less time for coding, Kodu.

Kodu Game Lab isn't a video game, per se, but a lot of the pre-packaged worlds that come with the Game Lab certainly count. There's a Frogger recreation, a bumper boat style game, and even an odd take on air hockey with really awesome controls. Also, since Kodu players can upload their own worlds, you're basically buying an eternal ticket to whatever games other users can come up with.

And if you don't like what they come up with, you can always make your own games.

Loved
Myriad Options: Kodu lets users change everything in the game world from the sky color to the topography of the terrain, as well as character behavior to game conditions for winning and losing. Far from being a simple exercise in matching colors and textures, or teaching a Kodu to move forward, the options lets users create a multitude of environments and game types. You could spend hours inventing your own environments—like the inside of a computer, a planet in deep space, etc.—or, like me, two hours trying to recreate the opening world from the original Super Mario Bros.

Cute Kodus: The default objects (apples, clouds, trees, etc.) and creatures (Kodus and Bots) are easily recognizable and very cute. The simplicity of the design makes it easier to come up with ideas for worlds. My first attempt was an adventure in which a motorcycle falls in love with a blimp on top of a castle and has to collect gold coins from a forest to enter the castle and reach the blimp. It was awesome—and by awesome, I mean ridiculously cute.

Hated
Lousy Interface: There are two primary interfaces users need to master to build words. The first is a drop-down listing of what the 360 controller buttons do that remains on screen whenever you go into Edit mode; the second is a side-scrolling menu where you can select all your world-editing tools. The two menus don't match up with each other stylistically and sometimes the side-scrolling menu will cover up the drop-down menu. This can make it especially tough for first-timers to figure out where to go in one menu and what to press once they get there to make the editing go. The interface can also make it hard for users to figure out what's breaking their world when they go to run it since there's no way to tell if it's the trees spitting coins or a mistake in the blimp's "express love" behavior programming that's ruining the frame rate.

Kodu Game Lab is a pretty spiffy tool for anyone with aspirations of game design. For anyone else, though, the myriad options and clunky interface might be overwhelming. Even if that's the case, I still think Kodu might be worth a look a week or two after its release, just to see what kind of games people have come up with.

Like I said, don't think of it as a one-time purchase kind of game – think of it as a ticket to the minds of fledgling game developers.

Kodu Game Lab was developed by Microsoft Research for Xbox Live Community Games on June 30. Retails for 400 Microsoft Points ($5). Played all tutorial and pre-packaged worlds and created one complete and one partial world of my own.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Here's a hint: not very.

Statistics for the service's games have been made available (and then collected by GamerBytes), showing how many times a game has been trialled, how many times it's been bought, and how much money it's made, both as total revenue then as how much the developer earned after Microsoft took a cut.

And those statistics are none too healthy. The "conversion rate" (ie the ratio of demos to purchases) is low, revenues for low sales are low, and earnings for the developer are even lower. Only three games cleared $5000.

Sure, this isn't a business. It's not meant as a rival to Xbox Live Arcade, nor as a means for these developers to make a living. But still, $5000 (at most) for a game that would have taken months to put together is a pretty poor return. And not a single game breaking the 4000-sale barrier, even at discount prices, is pretty poor as well.

What do you think's wrong with it? Pointless service, or just a poorly advertised one?

GamerBytes Analysis: XNA Community Games Sales Data Revealed [GamerBytes]

UPDATE - The developers behind Word Soup - an XNA game not listed on Gamebyte's chart - have contacted us to let us know that not every game has been a dud. Their title, released not long after the Community Games service went live, has earned $45,765 ($32,035 for the developer), and has been downloaded 46,405 times.

The Dishwasher has come quite a long way since it won Microsoft's 2007 Dream-Build-Play competition, but its core values remain intact. It's still a bloody good mess of sexy, stylish 2D action. Co-operative multiplayer using an Xbox 360 guitar controller only sweetens the deal.

The Dishwasher has arcade co-op, drop-in solo campaign co-op, and drop-in solo phantom guitar co-op using the guitar peripheral. Phantom guitar players can unload electric death by playing wicked solos, perform basic movement, and use the guitar's motion control to rip through enemies with a razor-sharp headstock.

All this, and another reason to drag the plastic guitar out of my closet? Sold.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai goes on sale April 1st (no really) for 800 Microsoft points.

Until now this XNA developing lark was confined to coders from the United States, Canada, England, France, Italy and Spain and the Nordic regions (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden & associated territories). All great, but all very northern hemisphere.

From December 15th, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand will be added to the roster, allowing independent developers from warmer climes to contribute their games to the network.

Microsoft to Offer Community Games in New Regions [Team Xbox]

We have mentioned In The Pit before - back when it was a 3-level Xbox 360 demo.

Described as "An 'audio-only' stealth action game", you are a monster hunting down unfortunate victims hurled into your pit by an evil king. It's a Grue simulator, basically.

The demo has been expanded into a full game, which will be one of the NXE Community Games launch titles. Check out the trailer. With your eyes closed.

In the Pit [XNA]

The winners are: First place, $40,000 prize: "Carneyvale Showtime," Team Gambit (Singapore); Second place, $20,000: "Battle Tennis," Jose Alberto Gomez and team (Venezuela); Third place, $10,000: "Weapon of Choice" Mommy's Best Games and Nathan Fouts (United States); and Fourth place, $5,000: "HurricaneX2," Hu Ling and team (China).

Last year’s first place winner David Flook of Canada, and a team from South Africa led by Roger Miller received honorable mentions for their games “Blow” and “Save Jack” respectively.

Video of the four winners' games is on the jump. Also for the record, XNA Game Studio has released , if you've got coder chops and want to take a swing at it.

Here is the winner, CarneyVale: Showtime

<a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=9c5941d9-8996-41e6-aaa1-e2c127bf19b2" target="_new" title="CarneyVale: Showtime trailer">Video: CarneyVale: Showtime trailer</a>

Second place: Battle Tennis

Third Place: Weapon of Choice:

and Fourth Place: HurricaneX2

GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Microsoft Reveals the Dream-Build-Play 2008 Winners and Makes Indie Game Development Dreams a Reality

Microsoft Corp. today announced the highly anticipated winners of its Dream-Build-Play 2008 game development contest, which encouraged independent and hobbyist game developers to create innovative and fun-to-play video games for Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio. Four winners received a total of more than $70,000 in cash prizes to pursue a development career, and will have the opportunity to receive an invitation to publish their games on Xbox LIVE Arcade. This year’s global Dream-Build-Play competition garnered more 350 games from over 100 countries, nearly doubling the number of community members who enrolled in and submitted Dream-Build-Play titles in last year’s competition. Many of those games will have the opportunity to appear on the Xbox LIVE Community Games Channel when it launches to millions on Nov. 19 as part of the New Xbox Experience.

Team Gambit of Singapore received the first place prize of $40,000 for “CarnyVale: Showtime” an acrobatic puzzle game where players are asked to complete various circus stunts. Chia even built-in a circus map editor for players to create their own obstacles to overcome, bringing user-generated content to a new a level.

Jose Alberto Gomez and his team from Venezuela took home second place and $20,000 for his stunning, 3D, action tennis submission, “Battle Tennis.”Mommy’s Best Games, led by Nathan Fouts received third place and $10,000 for the high-energy, side-scrolling “Weapon of Choice.” China’s Hu Ling and his team came in fourth place and received $5,000 for his stylized martial arts action game “HurricaneX.” Last year’s first place winner David Flook of Canada, and a team from South Africa led by Roger Miller received honorable mentions for their games “Blow” and “Save Jack” respectively.

“We’ve been absolutely blown away by the quality of games we received through Dream-Build-Play this year,” XNA General Manager Boyd Multerer said. “What is really exciting isn’t that we’ve unearthed all of this truly remarkable talent, but that many of these aspiring developers will have an opportunity to share their creations with millions when Xbox LIVE Community Games launches next month.”

Microsoft announced earlier this month that the next iteration of its industry leading game development toolset, XNA Game Studio 3.0 will be available for download on Oct. 30. Not only will the upgraded toolset allow developers to distribute their games to millions on Xbox LIVE Community Games on Nov. 19, but it will also allow developers to create and play games on Zune.

XNA Game Studio 3.0 also takes advantage of new improvements and support in Visual Studio 2008, C# 3.0, LINQ and broader partner support from Softimage and GarageGames. Softimage is now building on their relationship with XNA by offering a special version of the free Mod Tool for commercial use by Creators Club Members. GarageGames is releasing a brand new 3D editor for their Torque X3D game engine. Both the engine and the new 3D editor will be completely free to all Creators Club members. That means that Creators Club Members can use the XSI Mod Tool and Torque X 3D to create even more amazing titles for Xbox LIVE Community Games.

More detailed information about Dream-Build-Play and XNA Game Studio 3.0 and Creators Club Membership can be found by visiting creators.xna.com.

Microsoft Reveals the Dream-Build-Play 2008 Winners and Makes Indie Game Development Dreams a Reality [Gamerscoreblog]

Don't worry, it's not one of those 'bringing color back to the Kingdom Of Sad' lamefests. Instead, you need to reveal the landscape around you by firing blobs of ink against the contrast-free scenery. The paintballs seem to have some weight to them to, so objects in the world will react physically, adding to the puzzle.

This is just a tech demo, so it's not clear if there will be NPCs, traps, albino grues or whatever. Looks cool though, wouldn't you say?

[The Unfinished Swan]

New Xbox Experience: Community Games [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

Thanks to both DerrickDS and Lucas for pointing out the new additions!

Plain Sight is a multiplayer action title for PC and Xbox 360. Players control cute little robot skeletons that fly around a stylized environment and hit each other with swords to amass points. To 'bank' your points, you must blow yourself up - taking out as many of your rivals as possible.

Yes, it is essentially a game about suicide bombing robots. But it's ok - they are cute! And the background looks a bit like Tron, which can't be bad.

[Plain Sight]

Owl Boy is a 2D platforming adventure for the Xbox 360 and Windows PCs. Go with Otus on a free flying quest into the clouds and discover the secrets of the floating islands while preserving the Owls' integrity...

Pretty much sums it up. Good news is it looks pretty great! Better news is it's being entered into the IGF, so hopefully it can pick up a little more exposure while it's there.
Owlboy [D-pad Studio, via TIGS]

Being an ex-XNA member, I can still say, without a shadow of doubt, that Microsoft is offering a groundbreaking game channel, and that some people stand a chance to make great money from the system. It's an exciting opportunity, but the danger for consumers lies in Microsoft's deliberate steps to avoid discussions regarding game quality, even during peer review.

It's similar, actually, to quality concerns about Xbox Live Arcade that ultimately led to Microsoft's announcement that underperforming titles would be delisted from the service.

Is it as big an issue on the separate community games channel? Said Weller:

I firmly believe that avoiding commentary/ratings on game quality will result in frustrated consumers, who will have no way to discern the quality of a game among (ultimately) thousands. Of course, the game creator has the option of offering a trial game, but it will be interesting to see how many developers take advantage of that path, as it is not required [Edit: Peter Hatch points to a Wired article where Chris Satchell states that a timed trial will be enabled by default, but my concern about te lck of quality indicators still stands]. I doubt consumers will get a refund for buying a sucky game either.

Microsoft's position has always been that the community is self-policing; current XNA manager Chris Satchell told GamesIndustry that, "When you look at strong communities there is always a core that will work really hard to make sure community standards are maintained... a lot of submitted games do get rejected at first, due to either bugs or rating descriptors being inaccurate."

Making money from your XNA game: The good and not-so-good [Let'sKillDave! via GamesIndustry]

Now, just about anyone can be a game developer — and get paid for it, too. At its Gamefest 2008 event today, Microsoft announced that community games made using its XNA tools will be downloadable via either PC or Xbox 360, and that the creators will get 70 percent of the revenues, as we reported earlier today.

We spoke to game developers' group general manager Chris Satchell about the new community initiative. "We realized there was so much creativity out there in the community," he said. "So many people had great ideas, so we needed to give them a toolset to express themselves… and then we had to give them that worldwide stage where they could show it. And then the final step is, why not let them benefit from it?"

Microsoft saw, Satchell said, that incredible innovation came from viral communities of indie game designers across the web, and hoped to capture some of that community for its users. Satchell hopes that community games will become viral in the same way:

"You'll be able to take the url from the Community Games page and forward to a friend… for the same viral effect you get on the internet and in general, as with movies and music, but with gaming through the service," he said.

So, like YouTube, only where people can be paid for the creations they upload? "Well, I think YouTube... and other film services are all very viral, and sometimes you do searches, but often it’s your friend just sends you a link. Also, what we realize is a lot of people just want to sit down at their computer, and browse and see what's cool and new."

You'll be able to browse community games by genre, and creators can price their work at 200, 400 or 800 Microsoft Points. Additionally, there'll be a front-of-store section that will feature popular or promoted titles, though being front and center comes at a cost — Microsoft will take a marketing fee of anywhere from 10-30 percent for the duration that a title is so visible, but the creator's take goes back up to 70 percent once it's out of the highlight section.

Community games will have a separate storefront from Xbox Live Arcade, but will still be available to the audience of 12 million Xbox Live users. "That's tens of thousands creating games for millions to download," Satchell said. "In some ways, a good way to think about it is using a baseball analogy. Think about the community games... it's really like the minor leagues. Cool new talent, new ideas... and Xbox Live Arcade is the major leagues."

In baseball, often a star minor leaguer catches the eye of a big-league team, and gets plucked out of the minors to bat for the majors. Does Satchell see the potential for standout innovation in community games to catch the eye of big publishers?

"I think that will absolutely happen," he said. "We sort of do that with Dream-Build-Play… but I think that other publishers will obviously be looking. Games that come up will be brilliant... but maybe not fully fleshed out yet, needing more hours of content and more features, but [publishers will say], 'why don’t we go and work with this person or indie studio and help blow it out to a major release,' and so I absolutely think that will happen."

The community games storefront will launch this holiday season, Satchell says, though an official date has yet to be announced. A thriving homebrew scene on a thriving console can only be a good thing for the industry, as high risk and rising budgets limit innovation somewhat among the major publishers, and we look to talented indies for brand-new aesthetics and game mechanics. Bored with this year's E3 slate? Go make your own.

Microsoft Transforms Community Game Developers Into Entrepreneurs

Xbox 360 creates marketplace for user-generated content with Xbox LIVE Community Games.

SEATTLE — July 22, 2008 — During the keynote address today at the Gamefest 2008 Microsoft Game Technology Conference, Microsoft Corp. revealed that it will allow anyone to turn the hobby of game-making into a full-fledged career. Through what is now officially called “Xbox LIVE Community Games,” Microsoft makes its marketplace of millions available to members of the XNA Creators Club to create, sell and share in the profits generated by their unique creations.

Microsoft has already opened up game development to the masses by offering the easy-to-use, affordable XNA Game Studio toolset. With this newly announced business model, Microsoft will have truly democratized game distribution by enabling XNA Creators Club members to participate in the multibillion-dollar-a-year console gaming industry.

Newly appointed to his role as Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business Group Chris Satchell said the business model was designed to create the best possible experience for both consumers and developers. Community games that have been submitted by XNA Creators Club Premium members and have successfully passed a rigorous peer-review system will be added to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace catalog for sale to consumers. Creators will be able to choose from three suggested preset retail price points varying from 200 to 800 Microsoft Points to sell their creations and will receive up to 70 percent of the total revenue generated by their game.

“Not only are we democratizing game development with Xbox LIVE Community Games later this year, but we’re creating an opportunity for aspiring developers to start their careers on the world stage,” Satchell said. “It is really a win for both developers and consumers because this will no doubt act as an incentive for game creators to continue to develop the best, most innovative games for Xbox 360.”

A host of new and creative ideas are already appearing on the Xbox LIVE Community Games beta. When the service launches for consumers this fall, community-created games on Xbox LIVE are expected to double the size of the Xbox 360 video game library, offering some of the most inventive, quirky and unexpected games ever seen on consoles. By the end of 2008, Xbox 360 owners are expected to have access to the largest, most creatively diverse game library across all next-generation platforms, with more than 1,000 titles spanning Community Games, Xbox LIVE Arcade and retail blockbuster titles.

When the bold new Xbox experience, a re-launch of the largest online social network on TV that is fun and approachable, is released late this fall, the Community Games storefront will be an easy-to-use addition to the existing marketplace on Xbox LIVE. 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. Consumers will also be able to view and rate community games on Xbox.com, watch trailers, and even play a trial of each game before buying it.

“Since first launching XNA Game Studio in 2006, we have been working hard on improving the toolset and building resources for the community, and the response has been amazing. To date, we’ve had more than 1 million downloads of XNA Game Studio and adoption in more than 700 universities,” said Boyd Multerer, general manager of XNA. “For some perspective, the incredible creative community we’ve unleashed worldwide is more than 25 times the number of professional developers in the industry.”

Microsoft also is giving aspiring developers a hand with the second annual Dream-Build-Play game development contest based on XNA Game Studio projects. The competition will yield prizes in excess of $70,000 and an opportunity for one of the winners to sign an Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing contract. Three of last year’s top performers and winners, “The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai,” “Blazing Birds” and “Yo Ho Kablammo!” from the United States, Canada, Sweden and United Kingdom, respectively, are all slated for release on Xbox LIVE Arcade in the near future. For more details and Dream-Build-Play Official Rules, see http://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/Rules.aspx. For more information on XNA Game Studio, head over to http://creators.xna.com.

Prices will be set at 200 MS points for games 50MB and under, with larger games priced at 400 or 800 MS points. Creators will receive 70% of the revenue generated mailed to them via check on a quarterly basis, though Microsoft will be randomly promoting XNA games, for which they will take an extra 10-20% based on traffic generated.

An interesting fact that is pointed out in the FAQ (linked below) is that even big name publishers can submit their games via the Creators Club, meaning a game that might not pass muster with Xbox proper could theoretically make it into the community section. Hit the link below for the full details!

Introducing Xbox LIVE Community Games [XNA Creators Club Online - Thanks Epsicode!]

Microsoft recently showcased the finalists at the 2008 Games For Change event in New York, and Mother Gaia took home the Game Development prize with City Rain, the company announced today. Australia's Team SOAK won the Worldwide Software Design invitational, and Singapore’s Team Trail Blazers won the Embedded Development invitational.

Said Microsoft:

A total of 370 students from 124 teams representing 61 countries and regions competed in the worldwide Imagine Cup finals in nine categories: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, “Project Hoshimi” (Programming Battle), IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film and Interface Design. The student teams were asked to undertake a series of challenges relating to digital media or technology depending on the invitational.

Full announcement and details on the winners after the jump!

Microsoft Announces Imagine Cup 2008 Winners

Students address environmental sustainability with innovative technology; torch passes to Egypt for Imagine Cup 2009.

PARIS — July 8, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the winners of Imagine Cup 2008 at the Musée du Louvre, after a week of intense competition among finalists chosen from a pool of more than 200,000 students from over 100 countries and regions. Celebrating first place, Australia’s Team SOAK won the worldwide Software Design invitational, Singapore’s Team Trail Blazers won the Embedded Development invitational, and Brazil’s Mother Gaia Studio won the Game Development challenge. Imagine Cup, the world’s premier competition for technology students, gives students the chance to unlock their creative genius and build solutions that tackle real-world issues facing society today.

“Imagine Cup provides a forum for students around the world to explore new ways to use the power of software to help address some of the world’s toughest challenges,” said S. Somasegar, senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. “The high caliber of the students and their projects is evidence of the high level of innovation seen in the student community today, with a clear potential for real-world impact.”

The software design, embedded development and game development finalist teams created applications, devices and games using the Microsoft platform and Microsoft tools based on the Imagine Cup competition theme “Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment.”

A total of 370 students from 124 teams representing 61 countries and regions competed in the worldwide Imagine Cup finals in nine categories: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, “Project Hoshimi” (Programming Battle), IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film and Interface Design. The student teams were asked to undertake a series of challenges relating to digital media or technology depending on the invitational.

The winners were announced in a gala awards ceremony this afternoon during the Imagine Cup World Festival, a celebration drawing Imagine Cup competitors, mentors and other key attendees. It featured keynote addresses from several dignitaries from around the world. The following are the top three finalists by invitational in finishing order:

Software Design

· First place: Australia — Team SOAK

Team Members: David Burela, Dimaz Pramudya, Ed Hooper, Long Zheng

· Second place: Slovakia — Team Housekeepers

Team Members: Marián Hönsch, Michal Kompan, Jakub Šimko, Dušan Zeleník

· Third place: Hungary — Team DigitalMania

Team Members: Ákos Kapui, Laszló Zöld, Bálint Orosz, Gergely Orosz

Embedded Development

· First place: Singapore — Team Trail Blazers

Team Members: Pinto James Dominic, Shi Ben Yong, Hu Shuhan, Denver Lim

· Second place: TIE

Ireland — Team AcidRain

Team Members: Brian Byrne, Aodhan Coffey, Karl O’Dwyer

China — Team Wings

Team Members: Shibiao Xu, Junjie Li, Zhongjie Wang, Lei Yan

· Third place: Poland — Team Aero@PUT

Team Members: Piotr Kryger, Mikołaj Małaczyński, Jakub Pawłowski, Piotr Slęzak

Game Development

· First place: Brazil — Team Mother Gaia Studio

Team Members: Guilherme Campos, Helena Van Kampen, Rafael F. Costa, Túlio Sória

· Second place: Belgium — Team Drunk Puppy Productions

Team Members: Kenny Deriemaeker, Filip Van Bouwel, Timothy Vanherberghen, Jeroen van Raevels

· Third place: Korea — Team GOMZ

Team Members: Kim Dong Hoon, Kim Ki Hwan, Park Min Kyu

“Project Hoshimi” (Programming Battle)

· First place: Russia — Team Red Devils

Team Members: Ilya Grebnov, Sergei Grebnov

· Second place: China — Team Zephyr

Team Members: Peng Guo, Jiaze Huang

· Third place: Ukraine — Team Dream Team

Team Members: Pavlo Liapota, Margaryta Skrypachova

IT Challenge

· First place: France — Jean-Benoit Paux

· Second place: Romania — Cosmin-Viorel Ilie

· Third place: China — Yan Liu

Algorithm

· First place: Ukraine — Roman Koshlyak

· Second place: Hungary — Szilveszter Szebeni

· Third place: Japan — Naohiro Takahashi

Photography

· First place: United States — Team Provisio

Team Members: Jennifer Hui, Melissa Hui

· Second place: Austria — Team Austria

Team Members: Rosa Maria Binder, Benedikt Wurth

· Third place: Croatia — Team Voodoo Delirum

Team Members: Duje Nebojša Pandžić, Martin Štokić

Short Film

· First place: Korea — Team NEIP

Team Members: Il Jin Joung, Seong Ran An, Yeun Jun Choo, Sung Wook Lee

· Second place: Mexico — Team Lava Lamp

Team Members: Grace Montoya, Aldo Murillo

· Third place: Canada — Robotree

Team Members: Drake Birmann, Ryan Morrison, Media Ridha, Dan Tran

Interface Design

· First place: United States — Team IU EcoVis

Team Member: David Roedl, William Odom

· Second place: Canada — TeamGreeNet

Team Members: Jin Fan, Kevin Muise

· Third place: France — Team Edelweiss

Team Members: Johanna Rowe, Steven Muhr

In addition to the category awards, five Achievement Awards were presented.

· The Rural Innovation Achievement Award, sponsored by Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Group, is designed to recognize the software solution that contributes toward a more sustainable environment and best helps promote the social and economic growth of underserved populations in developing countries and regions and best helps them better meet their basic needs. It was won by Indonesia’s Antarmuka: Arief Widhiyasa, Dimas Yusuf Danurwenda, Ella Madanella Dwi Mustika and Erga Ghaniya.

· The Accessible Technology Achievement Award, designed to recognize the interface design solution that makes it easier for anyone to see, hear and use a computer, and to customize their computing environment according to their own preferences, needs and abilities, was won by Jeffrey Bigham, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science from the University of Washington, United States, for Project WebAnywhere. An additional onsite challenge was won by France’s Team JivAd: Jivane Rajabaly and Adrien Ossorguine.

· The Interoperability Achievement Award, designed to recognize the software solution that best leverages Microsoft technologies to connect people, data or diverse systems to help address real-world customer needs, was won by India’s Team SKAN: Sameet Singh Khajuria, Karun AB, Amith George, Noel Sequeira.

· The Windows Live Achievement Award, designed to recognize the software solution that makes the best use of the Windows Live platform and adds new social dimensions to both new and old Web sites and Web projects, was won by Spain’s Windows Drive: Carlos Junquera Cachero, David Rodriguez, Héctor Juan and Miguel Llopis.

· The Engineering Excellence Achievement Award, sponsored by Microsoft’s Enterprise Engineering Center, is designed to recognize three outstanding teams from the Software Development category that have created solutions that demonstrate the potential to be developed to scale with focused guidance from a Microsoft engineer, was won by the following:

o Bulgaria — Team Atlas

Team Members: Boryana Miloshevska, Dobromira Ivanova, Martin Damyanov, Yordan Pavlov

o USA — Team Sparx

Team Members: Adam Risi, Zachery Shivers, Ziyan Zhou

o Russia — Team Ignition

Team Members: Anatoly Nikitin, Roman Belov, Daria Elkina

Furthermore, six finalist teams will have the opportunity to explore how their software solutions could potentially turn into business realities. The teams will receive intense business and technology training as part of the Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator program, co-sponsored by Microsoft and British Telecommunications plc (BT).

“The creativity demonstrated by the competitors this year has shown that tomorrow’s technology leaders are ready to apply their solutions to real-world issues,” said Joe Black, director of Business Development for Emerging Technologies, BT. “The Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator is an exceptional opportunity for young developers to explore the entrepreneurial possibilities of their software solutions. We are excited to offer our encouragement, guidance, and support to these talented students through comprehensive training sessions to help students bring their ideas to fruition.”

The six teams chosen to participate in the Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator program are the following:

· Australia — Team SOAK (Smart Operational Agricultural toolKit)

Team members: David Burela, Dimaz Pramudya, Ed Hooper, Long Zheng

· France — Team Well K’Home

Team Members: Regis Hanol, Gauthier Chanliau, Sebastien Warin, Jean-Noel Gauthier

· Germany — Team PoinT-Power in Time

Team Members: Daniel Franke, Jörn Schindler, Vasilios Filippidis, Axel Ernst

· Hungary — Team Digital Mania

Team Members: Ákos Kapui, Laszló Zöld, Bálint Orosz, Gergely Orosz

· Slovakia — Team Housekeepers

Team Members: Marián Hönsch, Michal Kompan, Jakub Šimko, Dušan Zeleník

· South Africa — Team Smile

Team Members: Devin de Vries, Christopher King, Nabeel Nazeer, Nadeem Isaacs

Imagine Cup 2009 will be held in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt. The theme will be “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems facing us today.” Students will be asked to create software solutions that are aligned to one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight MDGs range from halving extreme poverty and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS to providing universal primary education. More information about the MDGs can be found at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals.

Registrations for Imagine Cup 2009 open today, July 8, 2008. More information about Imagine Cup can be found at http://www.imaginecup.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

"We have social causes we care about, but we don't have the means to connect with people who can do something about them. We're not there, but its a world that's possible to see unless actvities like we're doing here today really gain some momentum."

Satchell was at the 2008 annual Games For Change festival, discussing the ways Microsoft hopes its XNA development platform will help provide creative activists and educators the tools and opportunities to connect with the young, energetic audience passionate about new media and world issues.

"People will base their lives around gaming experiences; gaming experiences will permeate their lives," he said, stressing just how important it was for the culture to recognize games as agents of genuine social impact.

So what is Microsoft doing?

"We can't solve everything, and won't even try. But what Microsoft can do is can help with a couple of key issues," Satchell said. Creativity struggles to reach the masses, he said, because it takes a long time for a single idea to make it all the way to the top of the industry.

Instead, he said, "We took everything we knew about professional tools and put it in a free product, and made it easy to use."

Social change games need to be built on the same console that people are playing games on already, he said. XNA is "not a silver bullet by any means - it's just one tool they have now to teach sciences or to teach the science of gaming."

Last year Microsoft announced its Imagine Cup competition, challenging users to submit XNA-built games around the theme of environmental sustainability. Over100 submissions were received from 60 different countries, and the winner will be chosen during the finals in Paris later this year.

And at Microsoft's XNA Creators' Club, people can submit new creations or mod existing ones, and then the community moderates and reviews the material.

"You can have a great game that is fun but says something social," said Satchell.