Blog 10 Microsoft Future Products

Microsoft has developed a video game programming software for XBOX 360 Live called Kodu. It is a new visual programming language for creating games. It is geared towards kids and allows them to create their very own video games using programs that are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. Kids use icon based tool menus to create worlds by actually building land masses, water, trees, bridges, paths, etc. The terrain editor allows them to create arbitrary worlds that are unique to each child's imagination. They then determine what characters they are going to use and what characteristics each character will have. The kids determine the rules and outcomes of the actions of each character. I think this will be a great tool to introduce kids to programming and it will pull the creativity out of their minds and make them think about what they want to create. Individualism and creative expression while learning a new skill is a good idea for products such as video games that many people consider idle wastes of time.