Microsoft to offer community-created games on Xbox 360

Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday that it will offer games developed by hobbyist game developers on the Xbox Live online network.

Seven games, created using XNA Game Studio 2.0, will be available immediately for Xbox 360 users to download from the Xbox Live marketplace. New community-created games will soon be playable by Microsoft's 10 million Xbox Live members.

The games, expected to exceed 1,000 by the end of 2008, would double the size of the Xbox 360's game library.

To distribute a game on the Xbox Live service, game creators must use Microsoft's XNA Game Studio software, which requires a 99 U.S. dollar per-year subscription, or be an XNA Creators Club member. Each game will be vetted for quality and appropriateness by the online community itself.

In addition, Microsoft announced that game developers also will be able to build games for the software maker's Zune digital media players.

The announcement heralds a new push by Microsoft to bring the community closer to the development process. Neither Nintendo nor Sony has announced a similar program for their respective next generation consoles.