Microsoft’s Project Spark Beta Comes To Xbox One, Offering Cross-Platform Game Creation

Microsoft’s ambitious Project Spark open world game creator launched in beta on Windows 8.1 back in December, with the promise that it would make its way to the Xbox One eventually, too. Today is the day that it ships on the next-generation gaming console, making it possible for Spark creators to build games on Windows 8.1 and play on their Xbox One, or vice versa.

The beta so far has amassed 250,000 sign-ups, according to Microsoft, with “hundreds” more adding their names to the list daily. Microsoft is gating access to the open game building tool, which is likely a wise idea given that it’s a collaborative game creation engine that must carry a heavy server load, and also likely brings a number of challenges in terms of making sure user-created content is appropriate, fun and engaging.

Expansion to Xbox One could open up the gates to a new audience of potential creators, but it’s probably more interesting as a way to get gamers thinking about designing for different platforms, and evaluating their creations in light of the specific demands of console tech. This is also a prime example of how Microsoft’s decision to go with x86-based processor architecture makes it easier to build cross-platform experiences that extend to both Windows and Xbox – seamless cross-platform play like this likely would’ve been far more technically challenging, if not impossible, with the Xbox 360.

To get started with the Spark beta, you still have to go sign up at Microsoft’s teaser page.

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Facebook Officially Joins The S&P 500, Prices Follow-On Offering At $55.05 Per Share

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Facebook said this afternoon that it has priced its previously-announced secondary offering of 70 million shares of Class A stock at $55.05 per share. At this price, some $3.85 billion in stock will be offered in the sale. The offering is expected to close on December 26th.

Facebook also said that Standard & Poor’s has officially added Facebook’s stock to the venerated ranks of the S&P 500 Index, as of market close today.

Here’s the breakdown of where the 70 million shares are coming from: “A total of 27,004,761 shares are being offered by Facebook, and a total of 42,995,239 shares are being offered by certain selling stockholders, including 41,350,000 shares offered by Mark Zuckerberg.” Facebook says that the money it makes in the sale will be utilized for “working capital and other general corporate purposes.”

It’s important to note that Zuckerberg’s participation in this stock sale does not mean that he’s cashing out of the company he helped found. This week Zuckerberg exercised a stock option to purchase 60 million shares of Class B stock, and Facebook says that the bulk of proceeds from his Class A sale will be used to “satisfy taxes that he incurred” with the Class B purchase. CEO problems, I guess.

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