The Dream-Build-Play contest is certainly a trend indicator. Instead of the “in-house development” model, forward-looking game companies are beginning to encourage outside talents. Game making contests has been around for some time, HiddenAgenda.com, for example, has been running an annual game making contest (prize money: $25 000!) since 2003. [In case you are interested, past winners and their winning "stealth educational" games can be found here.] Other company-specific contests also not unheard of (e.g. Bioware held its first public game modding contest using NWN in 2005).

So Microsoft’s Dream-Build-Play contest is certainly not new. But hey, the prize money is good. XNA is, of course, Microsoft’s certified XBox360 development tool (available for $99 to students). [More information about XNA, can be found on the official site at Microsoft Developers' Network (MSDN), or the Wikipedia site for XNA.] You can also develop with Torque (by GarageGames.com), but you may risk losing out on certain XNA specific capabilities…

If you have been tinkering with XNA or Torque, the following is good news indeed. In the not so distant future we will probably see even more specialized categories: such as educational games, healthcare games… Will there ever be a Halo modding competition?

Microsoft also kicked off the Dream-Build-Play game development contest. Redmond is offering the winner a $10,000 grand prize and the opportunity to be published on Xbox Live Arcade. Dream-Build-Play is open to any user of XNA Game Studio Express, including the GarageGames Torque X platform. The contest ends July 2, 2007, and winners will be announced August 13 at Microsoft Gamefest 2007 in Seattle.

“This is an incentive, especially for amateur developers. Professional developers are lucky to have any idle time,” Cai noted. “However, this is in line Microsoft’s initiative to encourage user participation.”