I have mentioned before that I can be a bit of a closet gamer on the side, and I have even in the distant pass tried to code some basic games. Nowadays I would never have the time to sit and play games, much less sit and spend the time trying to code something.

But I have to admit that I have always had an secret ambition to create my own “empire“ type of game in Python or some other “simple” coding language. If you don’t know what game I am talking about try searching for “classic empire” on Wikipedia or Google. Empire a game I used to play for hours while working night shifts a very long time ago! Actually programming games is really quite hard and you need to be reasonable fluent in a computer language to really get going. This is something that has proved a barrier for myself and my kids.

Things are changing slightly with initiatives like Metaplace which will eventually allow for the easier building of online worlds and games. I the present the ability to create and share homemade games is being easier for Xbox 360 and Windows users with Microsoft announcing the release of a community oriented service based on a set of tools called XNA, which gives amateur game coders a framework through which it is easier to build games. The new community based service will allow people to proudly share their efforts online.

Of course if you really want to take advantage of this new initiative you will really need to get hold of a Xbox 360 if you haven’t already got one. Perhaps it is time to create an XNA version of empire!