Blocks That Matter Wins Microsoft's Dream.Build.Play Competition

Microsoft has announced the winners of its annual Dream.Build.Play XNA game development competition, with Guillaume Martin's puzzle/platform game Blocks That Matter winning the grand prize of $40,000. Astronomical sandbox title Solar 2 won the first prize of $20,000, followed by artful action-adventure title TIC: Part 1, which won the $10,000 second prize, and rhythm-game/RPG Sequence earning $5,000 for third prize. The judges also granted honorable mention awards to 3D puzzle title Alien Jelly, for production quality; hybrid puzzle-platform title The Bridge, for innovation; and Balloon Fight-inspired competitive game Ninja Crash for fun factor. Winning titles were chosen from a group of 21 semi-finalists, and judged on criteria including fun factor, innovation and production quality. All semi-finalists titles are eligible to be considered for Xbox Live Arcade publishing contracts. This is Microsoft's fifth annual Dream.Build.Play competition, which was created in 2007 to give "aspiring game developers the opportunity to showcase their innovation and talent to the world." Previous winners include The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, which went on to see sales success on XBLA, and side-scrolling brawler Dust: An Elysian Tail, which is coming to the download service later this year.