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CES 09: Is Kodu really that simple? Answer: Yes!

by Dustin Burg on Jan 10th 2009 6:00PM

Our homies over at Joystiq got a chance to sit in on a demo of Microsoft's recently announced and supposedly user friendly Community Game Kodu and were able to answer the still lingering question that's on everyone's mind: Is Kodu really that easy to use? Quick answer, yes ... yes it is.

According to Microsoft's Matthew MacLaurin, Kodu was created with kids in mind and describes the game as "programming as a fourth-grade art class." And Joystiq's Justin McElroy agrees that it really is basic and well, simple. Check out the informative (and totally factual) Kodu bullet points listed below:

Will ship with 20 different objects/characters.
20 pre-built (and editable) levels will be included.
Commands given to objects are called "Pages".
Kodu has been tested with kids for over a year.
Releasing this Spring for a yet to be disclosed price.

Source

Tags: ces-2009, community-games, kodu, xna

Reader Comments (27)

I think they're kind of shooting themselves in the foot by making it a digital download. I think they should make this a retail game for say $40-$50 and make it a Holiday release a la LBP. I really can't imagine having a game for digital download break the casual market. Many don't even have an inernet connection.

Is it as fast as easy?! IS IT FINALLY FAST?

FINALLY FAST.COM!

i hate you

I'm really looking forward to this. Hopefully it doesn't cost too much, but I have to agree with john paul above me that it would be better served as a retail release.

if Justin can do it, anyone can.

i keed i keed.

I have a horrible feeling this is going to cost a lot.

Community games (currently) cannot cost more than $10. And this being a MS product in the community games channel would be a big blow to the independent game developers who use that channel as a means of distributing their game.

I think of this as another tool not a game for the communities... imagine these guys can get their kids involved in what they love to do. I think it'll be awesome.

If it's released in the community games section I don't think it'll be a huge blow to people trying to sell their games. Right now most people pass over the community games section or don't even know where to find it. Once this releases it will get the word out and cause people to navigate there which will in turn give the other games exposure. Most of the community games are crappy, this could also cause those indie developers to step up their game.

You guys make good points. I hope that is the case. It would be great if MS released it for free. :)

that reminds me of that one program for pc called Alice... its basically the same but with toned down graphics and easy to use

I thought it was going to be free...

Ya, here's the link http://xbox.joystiq.com/2009/01/07/ces-09-game-making-made-easy-with-kodu/

It says, "It's sorta like Little Big Planet, but more open, free and targeted towards all age groups."
I'm not sure if the "free" in the quote means free of charge or not. Any comments?

I think they mean your free to do more.

That's what I was afraid of...

As a DD I don't think they will charge much but I hope this will be flexible enough to let me do lots of genres and if not at launch sometime later add in my own texture/graphics.

All righty? LBP has cornered this market and it has proven to be an niche.

Who knows, though? May be pretty cool.

So this is for US only...............

yes...unless you take 5 minutes and make an extra US silver account(like me)

Boring, don't want many accounts maybe I will get banned too. :(

From the looks of it, it ain't a big loss.

I get what they're trying to do here, but it's not for me.

you don't get banned for such a thing

where does it say U.S. only ?

Brian I see, xenocidic as the game is on community games I guess it wont come to Scandinavia.

I heard community games should be here too but it is not...

[..]According to Microsoft's Matthew MacLaurin, Kodu was created with kids in mind[...]

That puts me off the game completely.

is this also going to be for the pc??

Breaking News

CES 09: Is Kodu really that simple? Answer: Yes!

Reader Comments (27)

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 6:10PM johnpaul12 said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 6:13PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 8:49PM Demon G Sides said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 11:22PM spasewalkr said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 6:13PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 6:25PM MyAbsolution said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 6:33PM Omega Aero said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 6:46PM Kamal said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 2:51AM Cueil said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 7:32AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 9:29PM Kamal said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 6:48PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 8:10PM MrU2 said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 8:14PM MrU2 said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 8:51PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 9:33PM MrU2 said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 11:39PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 10th 2009 11:40PM Haizeus said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 7:33AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 8:21AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 9:23AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 11:23AM Rob Bourne said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 6:22PM x Prime x said

Posted: Jan 12th 2009 8:25AM xenocidic said

Posted: Jan 13th 2009 7:34AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 11th 2009 11:37AM x Prime x said

Posted: Jan 14th 2009 10:38AM (Unverified) said

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