New service to distribute Xbox games
Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it will make Xbox 360 video games developed by players available for download through the console’s online service.
The new service will double the size of the Xbox 360 game library, to 1,000 games within a year of its launch, scheduled for this holiday season, the company said.
To distribute a game on the Xbox Live service, game creators must use Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio software, which requires a $99 per-year subscription, or be an XNA Creators Club member. Each game will be vetted for quality and appropriateness by the online community itself. Creators Club members will be able to test a beta version starting this spring. In addition, Microsoft announced that game developers also will be able to build games for the software maker’s Zune digital media players.
Microsoft also said it will give students free access to its XNA Game Studio 2.0, its video game development program.
A unit of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., one of the world’s largest private-equity firms, on Wednesday said it has delayed payment on millions in loans and opened debt restructuring talks with creditors.
It was the second time the fixed-income fund KKR Financial Holdings LLC, an affiliate of the U.S. buyout shop, has put off repaying asset-backed commercial paper. The fund, which invests in corporate debt and mortgages, did not provide details of how much debt was affected or the amount of collateral securing the debt, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
KKR said it has postponed the repayment of some of its debt due Feb. 15 by two weeks in order to complete talks with noteholders.
The financial company said its exposure to the residential mortgage market was $337.6 million as of Dec. 31, and holds no investments that are off its balance sheet.
College Board, the New York-based owner of the SAT and PSAT exams, sued a Dallas-area test-preparation company Wednesday, accusing it of trying to give its customers an unfair edge on the tests by illegally obtaining “live” copies to help students practice.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that the Karen Dillard College Prep company got a copy of the PSAT administered last October from a Plano, Texas, high school principal whose brother works at the company.
The lawsuit, alleging copyright infringement, could bring attention to the burgeoning test-prep industry, which some critics contend gives well-off students an unfair advantage on entrance exams.