About 2 years ago the first Dream Build Play contest was held by Microsoft, with the intent of finding the best XNA games the public could create for the Xbox 360. I went into greater detail in my previous post on Dream Build Play here.

Just announced, The Dishwasher Dead Samurai, winner of the first Dream Build Play contest, will be arriving (finally) on Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday 1st April. Click here to watch the trailer for the game. A warning ahead of time, this game contains rather large amounts of blood, and certainly is not intended for young audiences.

The game has been written entirely in XNA, and from the looks of it, should be fun to play. I will be sure to review the game once I have played through it a bit.

From the press release:

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is a 2-D stylistic action platformer for Xbox LIVE® Arcade showcasing fast action, deep gameplay, and a unique visual style. An undead samurai dishwasher in a dystopian universe is on a quest for revenge against the evil cyborg army. To dispatch hordes of zombies, cyborgs, and robots, the Dishwasher has at his fingertips a devastating array of attacks using ancient blades, disturbing machinery, and screen-obliterating Dish Magic. Compete with the rest of the world in a variety of speed run and high score challenges to become the most formidable Dishwasher yet!

• Fresh take on gameplay: Gameplay in The Dishwasher is a fresh take on popular stylistic action combat, taking combo- and timing-intensive combat into a 2-D, blood-soaked environment emphasizing speed, vertical movement, and manoeuvrability, and player-driven pacing to create a truly unique, fluid and visceral experience, with an appealingly psychotic art style.
• New game modes with guitar peripheral: The Dishwasher has arcade co-op, drop-in solo campaign co-op, and drop-in solo phantom guitar co-op using the guitar peripheral. Phantom guitar players can unload electric death by playing wicked solos, perform basic movement, and use the guitar’s motion control to rip through enemies with a razor-sharp headstock.
• The power of XNA: The Dishwasher is a testament to the power of XNA. The game was created by one guy with no professional game development experience (and a self-described lousy programmer) in about a year and a half.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai releases for the Xbox LIVE Arcade on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 for 800 MS Points.

So get on Live and give the trial a shot, would be great to hear your thoughts on the game. You can also tell the creator of the game directly via his blog, I am sure he will accept feedback.