This week is the annual Game Developers Conference, which I love, not for game announcements like we get with the other game shows, but for all the geeky developer stuff we get to see. There’s some awesome stuff coming out of the conference so far, and one of my favorites so far is the announcement of the XNA Community Games from Microsoft.

The XNA Creators Club has been around for a while now as a way for indie game developers, as well as anyone else who is interested, to start developing games for Windows and the Xbox 360. Until now, the only way to play games created by other Creators Club members has been to be a member of the club. However, Microsoft has announced that these games be available later this year to the Xbox LIVE community at large, and there will be a way for developers to self-publish games to Xbox LIVE. This is great news for indie developers, as well as the gaming community - some of the best and most addicting games don’t always come from the giant studios with the multi-million dollar budgets. A lot of the time they come from the guy who just can’t sleep at night or is spending all of their free time writing code down in the basement for fun.

For a limited time, you can download the XNA Creators Club Game Launcher - until February 24. Read the instructions on how to download it, and give these games a try while you can - they’re only demos, and only playable for about two weeks, but they’re worth checking out while you can.

One of the games, Culture, is an interesting game where you kill weeds on a small planet by planting flowers around them. It also allows you to cultivate your own flower garden.

Another game, JellyCar (pictured below), borrows from the familiar mechanic of driving a vehicle along uneven terrain, and you need to maintain the balance of your vehicle to keep from rolling over, but it’s a lot of fun - but really short. What sets this version of that type of game apart is the graphic style of the game: it can either look like it was drawn in crayon, as a blueprint, vector art, etc. Also, everything is “squishy” and a little bouncy, meaning that there are a few gaps that your car can almost ooze through if you’re not careful. The sound design is awesome as well - it sounds just right for it’s graphics - like a guy making car noises with his mouth. In truth, it’s friggin’ hilarious.


image from Joystiq

Again, this stuff is only available on Xbox LIVE for a limited time, so check it out while you can.

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