MS launches game-maker Kodu on PC

By Robert Purchese Published 13 January, 2010

Free beta hopes to attract schools.

The public beta for Microsoft's easy-peasy game-making tool Kodu has been released on PC.

Dubbed the Technical Preview, this is available to anybody for free right now. The hope is that schools and educational facilities will snap this up.

You may remember Kodu being released for a few quid on Xbox Live's Indie Games Channel last year. That's because it was.

Since then improvements have been made, such as the installation of mouse and keyboard support, plus other enhancements too complicated for our brain - they're best read about on the Kodu website.

Give it a blast. Homework/housework/relationship can wait.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • gjgjg #1 2 years ago

    cool. im a game designer now

  • jag10 #2 2 years ago

    i'm a game designer, and i am 5 years old!

  • yupyup #3 2 years ago

    hawt

  • MeBrains #4 2 years ago

    there goes the sole reason for me to own a 360...

  • KDR_11k #5 2 years ago

    Finally, I wanted to get it for the 360 but since the Indie Games section isn't available in Germany I couldn't.

  • miiiguel #6 2 years ago

    @MeBrains : you said the same thing about Alan Wake, and in that case it was less ridicule. I do have Kodu.

  • MeBrains #7 2 years ago

    miiguel: good thinking and I might have indeed... did I phrase it as strong as I have here I wonder...

    edit: a very quick look only turns up a "color me intrigued" about Alan Wake.
    Edited by 1 at 13/01/10 @ 19:48

  • miiiguel #8 2 years ago

    Kodu isn't powerfull enough to make a "game" nor friendly enough to make "jokes", and while 200 eur. is not that big a deal, I can't imagine paying that amount to fool around in a 5 euro app. And then you have masterpieces like Bayonetta or Mass Effect on the same system, so I just found it odd.
    Maybe it was a joke ?

  • MeBrains #9 2 years ago

    miiiguel: no it was not a joke. I have kids - one 9y old. believe you me that PS2, Wii and PSP (and boxed up dreamcast, PS1, SNES, megadrive etc etc) more than largely suffice to entertain a kid that age. I do wonder on how to make the kid _think_ about games, instead of just play them and Kudo seemed like a potentially good way to go - although there are free alternatives like Alice. I just read this Edge article though and I'll try Löve one of these days.

    as for Bayonetta - it doesn't really appeal to me. I liked GoW too much for that - although not for the kid. As for Mass Effect - I am sure there are equally valuable alternatives on PS3. The latter machine appeals to me more - given Last Guardian and the Uncharteds. 360 is too "hardcore" to me - although it needs to be credited for Live. And... ... I really can not endorse MS with having released a faulty machine in the first place... sorry about the latter. I know it is largely beyond us - yet, do I need to forget them "selling" out to us customers?!?
    Edited by 1 at 13/01/10 @ 20:06

  • Salaminizer #10 2 years ago

    I'm sure it's better stick to Game Maker, Klik & Play (as old as it may be) and other ones.
    Edited by 1 at 13/01/10 @ 21:02

  • MeBrains #11 2 years ago

    salaminizer: what do you mean with "others"? why do you think point and click ones are better than something like Löve? "back in the days" i "learned" basic, starting with "hello world' and proceeding from there... using programs printed in magazines and such. it got me a thorough understanding of programming as well as learned me English. that was early eighties...

  • chiz #12 2 years ago

    Bring back Amos and Stos!

  • Salaminizer #13 2 years ago

    @MeBrains: well, to be honest I didn't even know LÖVE existed. Back when (not in the eighties lol) I was "playing" around with Multimedia Fusion, if you wanted something more "serious" (that is, a bit more than amateur - not "indie";), IIRC the (more known) alternatives were the likes of BlitzBasic and Dark Basic (going by Wikipedia's description, LÖVE sounds similar to those). I don't really think p&c tools are better than learning any language, but when you don't want to learn they're a good alternative.