Greetings dearest readers! In our never ending quest to bring you guys the best gaming related news we can find, we're starting a new initiative at QJ called the Dev Blog. It's aimed at reaching out to smaller game developers, homebrew developers, independent publishers and XNA Game Studio Express by Microsoft">XNA creators, and putting them directly in touch with you, the fans, to let you know what awesome projects they've got cooking.

Intrigued? Read on to find out more about Dev Blog and our first partners in this venture, Wolfire Games develops innovative, independent games for Mac OS, Windows, and Linux.">Wolfire Games!

I'll tell you what: a whole lot more. That's why for this week's PC Weekend Warrior, we're tossing out the bottles, passing out the chips, and putting on our party hats for one heckava good time this week. There's a ton more interesting developments that have happened recently than there were in E3, and that deserves some celebration. We review just what PC gamers might call a toast to pretty soon at the full story.

We know - releasing Games for Windows LIVE for free looks something short of a desperate plea to get the platform running. But on top of that, it looks like Microsoft wants to take control of download content distribution on the PC as well. That's right - there a Windows LIVE Marketplace announced as well. But the biggest news we get from the XNA Gamefest 2008 is the fact that Windows LIVE Gold services are now completely free. Get the primary details at the full story.

It looks like Microsoft's trying to increase the must-have factor for the pricey Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 suite, because the XNA Team has just come up with a VS 2008-only rendition of XNA Game Studio - upgraded to version 3.0 But there's a lot of catches, and they aren't pretty for the average, budget-conscious, and possibly still studying,  indie dev. Prepare to be blown away (the wrong way, probably) at the full story.

Want to know more what's Microsoft's plans for the gaming scene? Well, Corporate Vice President of LIVE, John Schappert, will be one of the keynote speakers for the upcoming 2008 Game Developer Conference (GDC). His address "A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Community" will be setting the stage for changes in game development in 2008.

Details on John Schapperts upcoming keynote speech after the jump!

If you're an MMORPG player, you've probably found at least a couple of things that could've been done better as far as your favorite MMORPG is concerned.

Now, Microsoft is offering players a chance to create the kinds of online multiplayer games they want with XNA Game Studio 2.0 game development software for Xbox Live or Games for Windows. More game creation goodness after the jump!

For budding video game developers and designers who are fond of using the application framework XNA either for the Xbox 360 or the PC, Microsoft is sending out word that version 2.0 Beta of XNA Game Studio has just been released.

When this was first revealed, reports mentioned that the second build will be compatible with Visual Studio 2005 and that it will be packed with a networking API for the Xbox Live. More details and the link for the downloads after the jump!

Those wacky developers at Microsoft XNA have created a new 2D physics engine that shows a lot of promise for new applications on both the PC and the Xbox 360.

Dubbed the Farseer Physics Engine, this new physics engine seems quite fluid considering it's all in 2D. It renders features such as collision tracking and angled joints quite accurately. It can probably be used for a lot of small applications or even games on both platforms in addition to it being compatible with Microsoft's Silverlight browser-based multimedia platform.

What's more is that this is all open source and available through the via link below. It sports an easy to use debug mode with detailed graphical and numerical output so budding developers can try their hand out at a little freelance game designing if they think they're up to it.

You can check out the Farseer Physics Engine in action in this video we have about the basic functions the physics engine sports.

 

Through XNA boss Chris Satchell, Microsoft has revealed that it indeed has plans to someday create a community where games can be played or watched YouTube-style.

Satchell said in a recent interview with Develop that it has always been part of their goals to allow independent developers to show other users what they've got and the best way to allow the creativity to flow is by setting up the right channels where communities can converge.

"We use a music analogy – you know, it’s like we’ve given the instruments so they can go and play music now, but what’s the radio station where they can reach everyone?" asks Satchell. "It’s cool that they can invite people around and play in front of them, which is sort of the Creators Club, but hey, they want to play to the world."

One of the factors currently limiting the flexibility of the XNA community is the annual subscription fee and the rule that only Creators Club members can share software. Under the "YouTube XNA" vision, everyone can get a crack at playing user-made games for free.

Satchell said that opening up the Xbox 360 independent games scene is a major step towards attaining this goal and now a stage must be set where raw talents could be shown off.

"Now we need to provide people a stage to play on, a distribution medium so that they can show off their creativity to everyone," he says. "That’s always been our vision and remains our vision."

And fresh from the press wire, Microsoft has officially announced the winners of the Dream-Build-Play game development contest at this year's Game Technology Conference of Microsoft, dubbed GameFest 2007. And out of more than 4,500 budding XNA Game Studio minds and craftsmen from 100 countries worldwide, a shining 20 individuals have stepped gracefully into Microsoft's favor.

 

And two of them were tied for first place. David Flook of Ontario (Blazing Birds) and James Silva of New York (The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai) bagged the top prize - namely publishing contracts with Xbox LIVE Arcade, US$ 10,000 in cold cash each, and a slew of other unmentioned prizes.

Runner up positions were claimed by Steve Olofsson of Sweden (Gravitron Ultra) and Daniel McGuire of the UK (Yo Ho Kablammo!). The two were also invited to publish their games on Xbox LIVE Arcade, while being offered US$ 5,000 each in cash prize money and other unmentioned prizes. 16 others were recognized with the top four, although particulars were not revealed.

The results, it appears, has taken Microsoft by surprise. "The games we received in the Dream-Build-Play competition are truly inspiring. Created in just four short months using XNA Game Studio, these games demonstrate an incredible range of innovation, fun gameplay and technical achievement." said XNA general manager Chris Satchell.

The participation of many fledging game developers - together with their varied creativity, technical know-how and fusion of fun and concept in a short time span - has put the independent game development segment back into focus. "It’s aspiring, independent developers like these who are really driving our industry," said content director Bryan Tussel of Microsoft Casual Games, and we're inclined to agree.