The gaming community just got a huge leg up thanks to a new initiative delivered by Microsoft Sunday March 4th. The initiative is called the Dream-Build-Play contest that will reward 10,000 dollars to the winning developer. The winning game will also be added to the XBOX Live arcade that already carries a number of original and classic games.

The announcement was made at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) that is taking place in the second week of March 2007 in San Francisco, CA. Microsoft stated in a press release that they and their partners will continue to 'Deliver on its commitment to offer the best and most accessible hardware, software and services for developers on the Microsoft gaming platforms'. For fans of the XBOX 360 and the aforementioned XBOX Live arcade this can only be encouraging news.

The contest should attract even more attention to a burgeoning new market in the technology industry as more and more attention is being paid to gaming in the mainstream. Fully aware that they must maintain their competitive edge in the sometimes rough and tumble marketplace of the videogaming world, Dream-Build-Play plans to showcase talented entries from around the globe. More than 20 winners will be selected to win prizes that reportedly total close to 40,000 dollars from not only Microsoft but companies like Alienware, Advanced Micro Devices, and others. The grand prize also includes an XBOX Live Arcade publishing contract as well.

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 the winners will be announced August 13 at the Microsoft Gamefest 2007 in Seattle.

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