It's clear that Microsoft believes in its Xbox Live Arcade service and that XNA is seen as a real last hope for those "little young developers" who just want to create a game.

XNA Game Studio Express is, indeed, a free and easy tool that can be of help in developing games for Windows and Xbox 360 platforms but it does particularly fit the Xbox Live Arcade platform.

XNA

Hence, this is the goal of the first contest Microsoft has announced during the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. Via the Dream Build Play - strange name, uh? - we'll be able to show Microsoft our games developed in XNA and Torque X by GarageGames (optional) and if we'll be among those 20 lucky winners, we'll bring home a slice of the total prize, 40.000$ (32.000€), Microsoft offers with its partners: Alienware, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc., Autodesk Inc. and Softimage Co.

The contest ends on the 2nd of July and Microsoft will announce the winners on the 13th of August during the Seattle Game Fest '07. Hurry up, everything in completely free and the winner will have the possibility of having his/her work published on Xbox Live Arcade.

For more info about the contest, please visit www.dreambuildplay.com.