I’m not the biggest Microsoft fan out there but I think they might actually have done something right for the first time in several years (ever?): XNA.  Like many software developers out there, I one day envisioned creating my own game.  The scale of game development has dramatically risen in the past several years and it’s almost impossible for small developer teams to finance a game.  There are options out there like Flash and WildTangent that are still manageable by solo/smaller development teams but puts the onus on the end-users to download and install a plugin or runtime.  In addition, they are both more suited toward casual game development as opposed to the more conventional games I’m more interested in.

XNA is much more interesting.  It’s designed to simplify general game development and allow smaller teams to develop a “real” game.  I’ve been following it from a distance but today at GDC, Microsoft is having a press conference where they are talking about XNA.  Already, they have announced that XNA games will be publicly available through Live.  I have a friend working on an XNA title that he was hoping to get published next year so I’m sure that will be a great help for him.

Sony and Nintendo (well… soon enough) each have their own “indie” game development platforms though Microsoft’s Live service seems to be the most successful.  The accessibility and (now) the distribution of XNA games is really intriguing — Perhaps I’ll have to look into diverting my focus to this for a short time as opposed to my other goals.