Power to the people

One of my favourite video games of all time is Worms on a Tightrope. It's an all-action shooter where worms crawl along a tightrope while you try to blast them off. Doesn't ring any bells? That's because Worms on a Tightrope was the first video game I ever wrote myself, punching at the rubber keys of my ZX Spectrum.

Today's games cost millions and take teams of programmers years to develop. Companies avoid gambling on innovation because, like Hollywood blockbusters, video games are no place to take a risk. But now the glory days of the single man programmer look set to return, thanks to a piece of downloadable software called XNA Game Studio created by Microsoft. You'll need a pretty good knowledge of computers but the basic version is free, and you can use it to build 3D objects and invent your very own games.

Nintendo is in on the act, too, with its Wii games console, which has motion-sensing control. Check out WiiCade for games and advice on how to use simple flash programming to create your own Wii games on the net and then play them using the Wii's own internet browser (free to download from the Wii shop until the end of this month).

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So what's in it for the software companies? Well, it's one way round the creative impasse of risk-averse video game building. Microsoft is hoping people will use XNA to create innovative new games, which will keep Xbox players happy.

The XNA software takes the grunt-work out of design and the internet allows games to be distributed for next to nothing. If XNA throws up the video game equivalent of the Blair Witch Project, Microsoft will be very happy indeed.