XBL Community Games relabeled Indie Games

The Xbox Live Community Games program offers Xbox 360 owners a catalog of more than 300 independently developed downloadable titles, but it has yet to produce a breakthrough hit. Microsoft is hoping to draw more attention to the oft-ignored corner of the Xbox Live Marketplace next month when it changes the program's name from Community Games to Indie Games.

Microsoft announced the changes as part of a news update to its XNA Creators Club page. The update also detailed the new 3.1 revision to the XNA Game Studio tools used to create Community Games.

"With your help," the news post told XNA developers, "hopefully this name change (along with other new features such as User Ratings!) will increase understanding and discoverability of your games!"

User ratings won't be the only new addition for XNA titles. XNA Game Studio 3.1 also lets creators use players' avatars in their games, add video playback, support for Xbox Live parties (group chats that exist across different games), and more. Developers can start submitting games using the 3.1 revision on July 23, and Xbox 360 owners should be able to try them out once the changes to the Indie Games section of Xbox Live Marketplace take effect this summer.