So we like Game Maker; it lets you get things done fast, and without hassle, and it makes things accessible to a broad audience with the simplest possible processes. Now Microsoft seem to be on a similar page to ol’ Overmars, as evidenced by their latest game development related experiment, Kodu.

While it appears that Kodu will target extremely young audiences with its extremely simple condition/action programming system (controlled entirely with an Xbox 360 gamepad, apparently. No typing), posts on the official kodu development blog hint at its true flexibility in a 3D environment.

Like Game Maker, Kodu is probably not going to be of interest to hardcore developers, but it’s another great stepping stone for those who are interested but do not know where to start. We’re going to be keeping an eye on this, so we’ll be sure to let you know when it’s available, mostly because we’re dying to try it out.