GamerBytes picks top XNA Community Games
by Justin McElroy 
{ Dec 30th 2008 at 2:15PM }
Taking the top slots are Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp, Ultratron and vertical ragdoll platformer CarneyVale: Showtime, which you really have to see to "get." Don't worry, we've put a video of it after the break.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cynics @ Dec 30th 2008 3:06PM
XNA is a beautiful idea and hope springs the career of many aspiring gamers. BTW, Joystiq, the banner ads on the way to reading an article is super annoying and treads on the side of sleazy.
Jim Halpert DM @ Dec 30th 2008 2:28PM
The site has to be payed for some way.
Cynics @ Dec 30th 2008 2:36PM
It is a fine line to tread. Risk alienating your customers by crappy obtrusive ads, or by finding another way to advertise which makes everybody happy.
Burritoclock @ Dec 30th 2008 2:43PM
In fairness they tried the new invisible ads, but no one clicked on them for some reason....
Cynics @ Dec 30th 2008 3:04PM
Like I said, they have the right to put full page ads just as I have the right to not visit the site anymore because of it. Maybe a little creativity would help sell products more. For example, how about a super short mini flash game related to Fallout to help sell Coca-Cola (Nuka-Cola). There are creative solutions to these problems.
Ian Williams @ Dec 30th 2008 3:22PM
Use FireFox and AdBlock or some other ad blocking software.
I didn't even know there were annoying ads, anymore. I don't think I've seen one in a couple years.
Brian @ Dec 30th 2008 2:34PM
Sadly none of the XNA games have interested me. But this looks good
Burritoclock @ Dec 30th 2008 2:34PM
Biscuit Romp started life as a DS home brew, it was pretty good so I'll be sure to pick that up.
Actually this was much needed, it's hard getting the wheat from the chaff in the mess that is XNA...
Jcarpio @ Dec 30th 2008 3:05PM
It is seperated out a bit better than XBLA used to be. there are "Most Popular" and "New" lists
Ordeith @ Dec 30th 2008 2:37PM
The banner ads I am ok with.
The full page, site breaking, annoying, in your face, list of companies I am now boycotting, ads are the problem.
I got two on this page. One for AT&T which I won't buy (even switched carriers away from AT&T after seeing that ad a dozen times) and one for a pen from a company I fully expect to be in chapter 11 sometime next year.
Really, all I was trying to do was rank a comment and reply. Fix it.
While you are at it, fix the rest of the broken Javacript that litters your pages.
Ian Williams @ Dec 30th 2008 3:17PM
Step 1. Get Firefox
Step 2. Download AdBlock.
Step 3. Right click and block anything you don't want to see, and you'll never see it again.
rTwelve @ Dec 30th 2008 3:21PM
Step 1. Cut a hole in Firefox
Step 2. Put your AdBlock in Firefox
Step 3. Make Joystiq open in Firefox
Ordeith @ Dec 30th 2008 4:07PM
or...
Joystiq could make their site work in the browser the other 90% of the world uses.
Phillip @ Dec 30th 2008 5:34PM
@Ordeith
~80% according to:
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=1
Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Dec 30th 2008 6:44PM
I used to be the part of the AdBlock crowd, but seriously fuck it.
AdBlock is just a work-around, while we shouldn't have those fucking Ads in first place.
Jcarpio @ Dec 30th 2008 2:38PM
I've played CarneyVale a few times and liked it. I did enjoy a couple of more you didn't list. WordSoup and Artoon.
puffin @ Dec 30th 2008 4:23PM
Good choice on Word Soup. It is a great game for those word puzzle freaks.
Joe Smith @ Dec 30th 2008 2:40PM
the worst XNA community game still takes WAY more time, energy, and talent than I will ever be able to muster. I am impressed that anyone has the skills and time to do this stuff.
ice~ @ Dec 30th 2008 3:04PM
Okay i feel stupid for asking this question, but community games don't have achievements right?
Courtney @ Dec 30th 2008 3:08PM
Nope, no cheevos, which is probably for the best, as otherwise there would be probably be a ton of cheevo farming games.
But, MS has said that really standout titles could be elevated to the Arcade, at which point they would have achievements.
flameofdoom666 @ Dec 30th 2008 3:12PM
I was wondering about this too.... I need to know!
ice~ @ Dec 30th 2008 6:42PM
Yea, they don't have cheevos...so it's hard for me to justify buying one of these especially without only play or any lasting value. Though I would love to support the indie game creators....
Courtney @ Dec 30th 2008 3:04PM
I haven't tried any of these yet, will have to check them out. So far none of the community games have really grabbed me, but I'm hoping now that it's live, it will attract more attention and quality titles.
Dadidito @ Dec 30th 2008 3:18PM
Carneyvale and Wordsoup are both fun and worthy of being XBLA games on there own. Purchased both. Bad thing is no achievements. Hope they implement them in some way in the future.
Burritoclock @ Dec 30th 2008 4:05PM
The only problem would be games who's only selling point is easy achievements, like when LBP first came out and half the user made levels were "10 Trophies in 10 seconds" or "5 easy Trophies" etc...
ice~ @ Dec 30th 2008 6:44PM
What sucks is what happens if they make the carneyvalle game an XBLA game...will you get achievements? Will you have to re-buy the game? I'm very curious about this...
Mike @ Dec 30th 2008 3:23PM
I'd like to give a shout out for BLOW. That was worth my $$ and is a really fun game.
Cynics @ Dec 30th 2008 3:34PM
Ian Williams,
I am at work using a restricted version of IE 6. Anyways, it looks like the ads are embedded into the page and not an actually popup. This effectively makes the adblockers unable to stop them.
Ian Williams @ Dec 30th 2008 3:50PM
Hm, sorry to hear it.
I use FireFox, and I don't see the ads.
gb @ Dec 30th 2008 3:53PM
Have you used AdBlock before? I see no ads, not even the magic "embedded" ads :)
lrn2adblock
Cynics @ Dec 30th 2008 4:29PM
gb,
You prick. Read through my comment before making a wise ass comment. I am at work using a restricted browser. If you don't know what that means, take OS 101 at the local community college.
Zoinks @ Dec 30th 2008 8:14PM
You could always try running Firefox Portable off a USB flash drive if that is allowed.
http://www.portableapps.com
343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 30th 2008 3:46PM
Back about a year or so ago when there were some XNA games available for a brief time I played this one game that was super simple and crazy addictive. It involved a hex grid where you were given numbered tiles, when you put down a tile it increased the value of any of your adjacent tiles by 2 and decreased your opponents by 2. The object was to have the highest score at the end of the game. Does anyone know the name of this game and/or whether it's available as a community game?
343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 30th 2008 3:53PM
Ok, it's called Proximity HD, is this still available?
Nate @ Dec 30th 2008 4:57PM
Isn't it true that in order to produce an XNA game that'll run on the XBox, you have to pay $99 a year to become a "member"... and even then, only other "members" who also pay $99 a year can play it? What the hell's the point? Call me when I can make a game and give it to anyone with an XBox to play. It's a great idea, but it sounds like the execution is terrible.
Alikar @ Dec 30th 2008 5:14PM
You have not seen to new updated dashboard have you, Sir Trollock?
SurfMurph @ Dec 30th 2008 5:38PM
@Nate:
No, anyone can play the community games on their Xbox 360s. You don't have to pay $99. Only developers who want to run their apps and games on a 360 have to join the Creator's Club.
SurfMurph @ Dec 30th 2008 5:49PM
Sorry, I don't even see Proximity HD listed on the XNA site any longer. Not sure what that means. http://creators.xna.com
343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 30th 2008 6:22PM
I found a site where it says it's being prepped for the 360, but I don't know if the site is just old and that message is in regards to when it was originally available last year. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
Evan @ Dec 31st 2008 10:56AM
I'm really impressed by the XNA games. I've tried the free demos on a friend's 360 and I'd buy Biscuit Romp, and about 3 others, if I had a 360 instead of a PS3 which has nothing like XNA games.