Microsoft’s indie developer tool, XNA, is more than just a program that helps people create games. It can also create ambience … the smoky and crackly kind. Recently, a creator by the name of SniperED007 debutedhis latest masterpiece– theFireplace. It is a screensaver that mimics a real fireplace on your Xbox 360 for the low, low price of 400 Microsoft points.
If you’re skeptical that it isn’t amazing, check outthis videoof it in action.Fireplacegives users all the action of a real fireplace and excludes the mess. It also cuts out your father yelling at you to cut the wood, your mother crying because her drapes are being soiled, and the potential of burning things that aren’t wood.
While you could build an argument that theSnowglobeis a billion times more fun than theFireplace, we have to cede to the majesty of the embers’ glow. If only we could reach out and touch the virtual fire. XNA needs to get a handle on 3D projection.
[viaMajor Nelson]
