I know Dave, Tom, and Boyd had stated that they were pleasantly surprised that the announcements coming out at GameFest tomorrow hadn't been leaked. Well, close but no cigar (if this is indeed the announcement they were talking about). Of course, considering that it is already "tomorrow" on the east coast (and many of you won't read this post until "tomorrow" anyway), it's probably close enough :).
So, check out that link above :).
As a hobbyist developer myself, I have to admit that I did entertain thoughts in the back of my mind that it perhaps wasn't going to get any easier for us. Well, I'm happy to say that it looks like that thought was totally false. Not only was that thought wrong, it was WAY wrong. Microsoft (according to the Joystiq article) will release a free version of XNA Game Studio inline with their current Express products. So, for those of you enjoying writing games with totally free tools like Visual C# Express, you will be able to apparently continue doing so when XNA is released.
That isn't the most exciting part though. From what it sounds like, Microsoft is indeed going to support hobbyist game development on XBox Live Arcade. Of course, that isn't free. However, it currently appears that it will be fairly cheap, just $99/year. This could be HUGE. I mean HUUUUGGGGEEE. This opens the door for a Community-Powered XBLA, all in Managed Code nonetheless!!! Oh my, I'm getting tingles just talking about it :).
Imagine being able to write a game for your 360 yourself, AND be able to share it with friends. Heck, I can't imagine what the possible ramifications for the game industry are. If done properly, it could be history all over again. It could be "the next" Shareware model that will see a level of innovation not truly seen since the days of Commander Keen, Wolfenstein, and Doom. Will the next iD grow out of this new model. Could this be the next opportunity for hobbyists to be able to make a living of their game programming. Okay, I won't get carried away here, I can't imagine the same boom happening that happened in the 80s/90s. But geez, in some ways it could be even better.
I, for one, will HAVE to check this out when I can get my hands on it. Oh boy, good luck getting me to sleep tonight! Thanks guys!
(Andy, I can't wait to see you start writing about this stuff :P).
Update: I found this Microsoft PressPass Announcement