Humans usually demand perfection when they are paying for just about everything.  Gamers are also human beings, and we demand perfection in our games.  Each and every one of us has ideas and suggestions that we would like to express to the developers directly so they could make their game better.  Last year, Microsoft finally went big with XNA and brought Community Games to the dashboard enabling just about anyone to be able to create a game.  However, you do need some basic knowledge of programming to be able to use XNA, if you don’t have this knowledge, you have to either learn it or have someone else do it for you.  This is where Blade3D comes into play.

A group of ex-Microsoft executives who helped to found the Microsoft Visual Studios division in the early 90’s determined that the XNA Studio was still a bit complex for those of us without a formal education in game programming and design. They created the Blade3D engine, platform and asset marketplace, with the goal of offering an affordable subscription-based service that can be used by amateur hobbyists to indy and professional game developers to create high-quality titles made available through XNA. At its most basic level, a $14.95 per month subscription allows you to create a game in a matter of hours without the need for C# programming (optional) and an opportunity to publish your game on Xbox Live and Windows. Yet, the engine is powerful enough, full-featured, and customizable for professional studios to use in creating triple-A titles. There’s no longer a barrier to entry requiring tens of thousands of dollars in an engine to create a great game that is commercially successful. Blade3D is ready to bring game development to the masses.

It is a little expensive if you’re just getting started, but it can get you off to a very good start.  Also Blade3d is hosting the 2009 Blade3D Community Games Contest.  Here’s a little informnation about the contest:

The contest is open to all Blade3D users, both individuals and teams, who submit original games made with Blade3D by February 24th, 2009. The grand prize is a trip for one person to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco from March 25th-27th of 2009, including airfare and hotel accommodations as well as the opportunity to showcase their game on a dedicated demo station in the Blade3D booth. Complete information on the 2009 Blade3D Community Games Contest, including entry guidelines and judging criteria, are available on the Blade3D website http://Blade3D.com.

Sound appealing to you? Make sure you get your start soon! The deadline for submissions is only a month away!