XNA

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Well if you guys have any plans for a XNA release after its all completed I think that would be pretty sweet. And if you don't know what XNA is its microsoft's new approach to free games, fans can make games and have them distributed through xbox live for the 360

Yes, but I read that although the XNA compiler is free, you need to be a member of their pricey club in order to actually play the game on your 360. So that's hardly free.

But once the game is finished, we will look into these things.

A free gift from Microsoft should be approached with the same expectations as a free gift from Satan. 

Creation and distribution on Windows XP is free, but distribution on XBL requires the $99 signup fee.
However, it uses C#, which is not quite the same as C. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would be.

I haven't done anything with C# yet, so I don't know what's different about it either. But taking into account that Microsoft preferred VBscript over Javascript and based ASP on VB as well, C# is likely to be C++'s retarded half brother.

I read that it is $99,- a year....

Wow is this thread really that old? 2006? I guess so, well, in that I can't blame the old posts for being badly informed.

I'm sure all of you know by now that XNA is an excellent product, and it is not expensive to develop for.

Please dont release it on the XBOX. Dreamcast only please!!!!

AOTB has never been anounced as a DC only title... the plan was to have a special edition for Dreamcast, but still have the game available for PC and other platforms.

... Though I could imagine that it might change depending on ST's experiences with R4.

C# is essentially Java.  It's very easy to program.  XNA is also very easy to program for.  You can get the free compiler (and Visual C# Express) at http://creators.xna.com/en-US/downloads.  The creator's club is largely for testing and tweaking a beta product, though you can get really good advice and help from there as well. 

I'm not a big 360 fan, but the fanbase is rather large.  A good four player beat-em-up would be welcomed, I think.  I know I'd probably get it.  A stat from the XBLA wikipedia page  "Nearly 70 percent of Xbox 360 owners connected to Xbox Live have downloaded an Arcade title[21][22] with the attach rate being 6-7 titles per user.[23] Original games typically receive 350,000 downloads in the first month.[24] Titles have an average 156% financial return over twelve months with the first two months of sales accounting for just 35% of total volume. " (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBLA)

Game pricing ranges from 1-5 USD (Wiki says 200-1600 points, so maybe its a bit higher now) I believe MS takes 30%  (or 40%), I can't seem to find where I found that info anymore. 

David Weller of Nvidia had this to say in a forum thread "Your first step is to get hooked up with a publisher that already has an agreement with Microsoft to publish Xbox-based games, or you can build your prototype game (if you haven't already) and contact people at arcade@microsoft.com.  Do NOT attempt to contact them before you have something ready to demonstrate.  The Xbox Live Arcade team does not function as an investor nor as a publisher." in regards to an indy dev's question on making XBLA games. (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/gametechnologiesgeneral/thread/e566662d-6d06-4154-8214-32e4ff35fc7d)

I have no idea why I decided to post all this, but what the hell.  Been keeping an eye on Age of the Beast since its announcement, I would love to see Senile Team be successful.  Other possbilities include using a digital distributor like Impulse or (god fobid) Steam.  Either way, good luck and have fun.

Just realized I completely zombied this thread.  Sorry about that.

Since this thread keeps attracting necromancers, it is now locked.

Thanks for the info, though.