The First Place prizewinner of Microsoft’s Dream.Build.Play 2010 XNA game competition is now available on PC. A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda is a side-scrolling action game with gorgeous 2D characters and 3D environments and lighting effects. Defeat enemies and recycle them into new items and weapon upgrades for the A.R.E.S. robot. Try the demo for free or purchase for the price of $14.95 direct from Extend Studio (PayPal Only), or for $14.99 through GamersGate.com

The listed Minimum System Requirements are an intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1.5GB RAM, 300MB hard drive space, Nvidia Geforce 7600 series graphics card, and Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7.

The FAQ has markedly-lower listed Minimum Requirements, most likely posted during development. People with earlier dual-core CPUs like the Pentium D and Athlon 64 x2 should definitely try the demo before purchasing to verify support and satisfactory performance on their system.

What a difference a year makes…  Xbox Live Community Games launched on November 19th, 2008, populated with many titles from Microsoft’s first two Dream.Build.Play competitions (2007,2008).  Launching with amazing games like CarneyVale Showtime and Weapon of Choice, quality titles quickly became lost in a sea of mediocrity.

The Community Games channel was overwhelmed with more clones than Star Wars, from Pong, to Breakout, Asteroids, and beyond.  Not to mention all the “me-too” apps.  Sadly, controller massage apps are one of the great success stories of this grand experiment.

Things have greatly improved since Microsoft introduced the rating system over the summer.  Microsoft implemented a bit of a reboot, changing the name and pricing scheme of Community Games.  Quality titles are seeing dramatically improved sales through increased exposure.

While I despise the onslaught of shovel-ware, I love Xbox LIVE Indie Games.  It is one of my favorite features of the Xbox 360 platform.  Each year, Microsoft’s Dream.Build.Play competition shows more and more of the potential of XNA and Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

Have you tried any Indie Games?  What are your favorites?