You can see it on xbox.com but you can't get it. Unless you have a US account.

I've just downloaded it from the community games section of the marketplace on my 360 here in the UK.

Do you have to be a paying member of the xna creators club to access then?

No you don't have to be an xna member, the trial version is free with a time limit, the full version is 400 points. It is designed with kids in mind so it may seem overly simplified.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/games/media/66ac...

Hopefully the above link will lead you to it

ok So that's confirmed for UK at least. It better be there when I get home tonight. I always kept an eye on this. I wanted Little Big Planet so bad and this should help me wait until I get a PS3.

I've played with it for about an hour or so, before going to work this morning. I mostly messed around through the tutorials, so that I could properly learn the language itself.

It may be simplified, but it is actually pretty nice.

One of the first things that impressed me, that also happened to clearly set this apart from LittleBigPlanet, was the inclusion of programmable, AI routines and sub-routines. LittleBigPlanet has no NPC AI. You can trick it and make stuff that looks like AI, and I know at least one person who created a calculator in LittleBigPlanet, and then beefed that up so that it would calculate some rudimentary AI that worked pretty good in his project, but comparing his work to create his own AI for LBP vs. Kodu's built-in AI toolset, would be like comparing programming a game for PS3 vs. programming a game for Xbox 360; there is a huge world of difference, it is a lot harder in LBP, with so much more effort and time needed to get the similar results, than in Kodu. I think it took the guy are week or two worth of work to get those AI calculators running in LBP, where it is quite evident, even from my short play-thru this morning, that even a novice can do the same things within hours in Kodu. That is a huge difference in the workload, just to get similar results.

I suspect that if the rest of Kodu is designed in a similar manner (like it is good 'middleware' for beginners), not only are we likely to see some pretty interesting things show up in the Kodu community, but

From my preliminary hour play test, I am thinking already that programming LBP vs programing Kodu, may turn out to be more of a microcosmic version of programming PS3 vs programming Xbox 360, than anyone could have imagined initially - the fact that is completely unintentional, is kinda ironic. I know a lot of pro developers like Valve catch a lot of flak for not porting their games over to PS3, but as a gamer, it's easy to give developers hell, when you are not the one who has to do the work yourself. If Kodu works the way that I think it does, it may be possible to get a better idea of what programmers have to go through for a simple port, by owning both Kodu and LBP. Spend a month mucking about with both programs, so that you are intimately familiar with both, and then create a type of game in Kodu, using some pretty intricate AI, and then try replicating that type of game in LBP, complete with the same AI (without faking it). I think potentially gamers will have a much better understanding of all the shit a developer has to go through when a 1st party company decides arbitrarily and unilaterally, to make their console difficult to program for. And more importantly, why some developers simply chose not to bother. After spending a few hours programming in several complicated sets of AI of their game in Kodu, I suspect that not many gamers are going to want to spend the next week or two, programming AI calculators from the ground up, to run the same AI routines in LBP.

Don't get me wrong, I love what Media Molecule has done with LittleBigPlanet. I've been saying for almost a decade now, that someone needed to do something similar for consoles, and it is finally done and done well, as anyone who has played LBP can tell you. However, just messing about with the AI routines in Kodu, it is quite obvious that this $5 program, is much better suited for game development than LBP. It's single, biggest limitation being the lack of usable objects, tiles, music/sounds and bots, at the disposal for aspiring programmer types . . . however, according to numerous interviews with the development team that created Kodu, those, along with more AI choices, actions, etc., are updatable as Kodu will see future DLC that will continue to augment and enhance the package. Even so, if you have never programmed a thing in your life, I think they have given you enough to get a good start, without being overwhelmed by too much thrown at you all at once.

Anyway, I cannot wait until I get out of work so that I can spend the rest of the night getting a little more acquainted with Kodu's programming environment.

gave this a spin last night, LOVED IT, absolutely loved it. this is a sleeper hit, I encourage everyone to at least try the demo. Huge potential!

Ok, three people like it, I'll try the damn demo. I have yet to play something that encourages creativity as much as Garry's Mod does, but we'll see.

True but surely this is a VERY VERY good start.

indeed. Which they would offer it for free though. It's cheap, mind you, but being free would have encourage a LOT more people to get it.

I actually see myself spending quite a bit of time with it.

Joystiq creates a 2D shooter - http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/02/video-tour-kodu-...

It's like a poor mans Little Big Planet.

Seems the budget in what they give you is too small to make anything decent.

Maybe the next version will be a bit more robust. (maybe one for the adults)

Well considering the price Yeah of course. One is a full fledged game and the other is a mere tiny tool.

In some ways you are right, in that with this you seem to be able to make 3D landscapes and move around them, unlike with LBP (I could be wrong)

The budget thing is always going to restrict how big the levels are though so I think 3D enviroments will be a no go anyway.Which is kind of my point, this just seems rushed to counter LBP, if they released a more comprehensive version later down the road though and this was used as a lite version so people can get to grips with it then that would be a good thing.

I agree, I think comparing the two is probably unfair to them both. I havent played LBP, my comparison is only based on what I saw of the game but they do seem to have different goals.

They are obviously different in what they provide but they go after the same community, build your own experience ... so yes they do have a lot in common, so I will compare the two.