Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Calling all independent developers: Microsoft's 2011 Dream. Build. Play Challenge is now open for registration.

The annual contest sees small independent developers compete for prizes of up to $40,000, as well as the chance to snag a Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing deal, with overall fun factor, creativity and uniqueness, and production quality playing a role in the judges decisions.

Sound like your kinda thing? Well, as with all contests/competitions, there are a few rules that participants must abide by, such as:

• Being at least 18 years old
• Create the game for Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio 4.0
• Create and submit the game in English
• Legally live within a qualifying region

That whole "qualifying region" may sound a bit ominous for South Africans, however, a closer inspection of the official rules states that the region restriction only applies to "Cuba; Iran; North Korea; Sudan; and Syria". Phew. Just made it.

Those looking to participate should head on over and register before the closing date of 17 May, with the cut off for final submissions of games ending on 14 June.

Hopefully a few South African developers will get in on the act, and if you're one of them, or know of one, let us know!