How to download the XNA Community Games Trials

You may have heard the GDC buzz about some XNA Community Games trials available RIGHT NOW for all Xbox Live users. But where are they!?! You need to download the “XNA Creators Club Game Launcher” to get access. This will only be available until February 24th! After that, the launcher will no longer be available for download, but the trials will continue to function until some time next month (17 days from the time of this posting).

To get the Game Launcher, head to the Marketplace. Here is where it’s nested: Game Store | All Games | XNA Creators Club | XNA Creators Club Game Launcher. The naming is particular, since the similarly titled downloads require a Creators Club membership.

Once installed, you will have a new tab titled “XNA Creators Club” in your Games Library under My Games. Navigate to this new category, and hit Y to download games. This should take you to the XNA Creators Club Content download page. There are seven trial games available for download.

This is a very nice taste of whats to come, where independently developed games using XNA will be available for free and pay. From what I gather, publication will be contingent on some type of peer review, rather than the stringent Live Arcade requirements/verification process.

And I urge all college students to cash in on the free XNA Creators Club subscription offering I recently posted about. The free 12-month subscription has a $100 value, and will let you get games RIGHT NOW for free. You will be able to legally install any XNA software freely available on the web onto your 360. What kind of games? How about an NES emulator? No modding, and no getting banned from Xbox Live.

Medal of Honor Airborne demo parachutes onto XBL Marketplace

If Medal of Honor is your cup of tea, a demo for the latest brew is now up for download. While I’m feeling FPS over saturation onsetting, a demo is always worth checking out. Plus, I can’t think of many better ways to start a level then jumping out of a plane. The demo weighs in at 970+ MB, so prepare for the usual Xbox Live download agony.

Skate demo out now (Xbox 360)

After a short delay, the demo for EA’s Skate is is now available for download on Xbox Live. While the download is 1.09GB, the Live seems to be speedy this morning and the download is flying (no repeat of BioShock 24 hour download). I believe this demo will allow you upload your skate videos to the skate.reel at skate.ea.com, so show us what you’ve got. Although EA’s website appears to be down right now, surely from from skate fanboys dancing with glee on the forums.

BioShock demo released

After the very anti-climatic (translation: weak sauce) trailer on Spike, the BioShock demo went live. Hop aboard the slow train if you want to play any time soon. I thought the trailer did a terrible job showing off the game, but actual gameplay should more than make up for it. I’ll have my impressions up if this download ever finishes.

Note to self: Stranglehold kicks major ass

I couldn’t have been less excited about Stranglehold. That all turned around when I played the demo today. Good lord. What it lacks in graphics (which, despite what I’ve read from some people, aren’t too shabby) it more than makes up in production values. It totally captures that ass-kicking, action movie feel. Except you are at the controls. The ass kickin controls, that is.

I don’t know what else to say, just play the demo yourself and get hooked. After that moment of glee, the sorrow will kick in when you realize that’s another $60 hole in your pocket this holiday season.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Demo up on PSN

Fire up your download queue, because Ninja Gaiden Sigma is up for download at the Playstation Store. The download weighs in at 983MB, so expect a wait.

Also available is a demo for Virtua Tennis 3, if anyone actually cares.

I just got a PS3 yesterday–good timing for me. I got a now-extinct 20GB on ebay for $400. So far I’ve had fun unlocking everything in the GT HD concept demo. My biggest complaint is how slow the downloads are! That, and the lack of trials for downloadable games For free (PSN), I can’t complain. Although, demos and trials are free on XBL for silver members, too. Anyway, back to waiting for Ninja Gaiden to finish download.