Paradox Interactive, the company who've funded games like City Life and developed the Europa Universalis series announced a very special agreement today - the release of its "Europa" engine to the public gaming community. If you thought the $14.95-99.95/mo. Blade3D engine was good news, get this: Europa is free. Not only that, independent developers wanting to get in on the action receive the same financial deals major developers do with online PC game download site GamersGate. Of course there will be a few minimum criteria for eligibility, but other than that, it's anyone's game (pun accidental).

While Paradox Interactive plans to set a few minimum criteria, anyone interested will get a shot at using the technique to develop games and then sell them on GamersGate.

Theodore Bergquist, CEO of Paradox Interactive had this comment:

"Through GamersGate, creative gamers worldwide will be given access to a development tool that will allow them to fulfill their game developer ambitions while getting access to a global distribution network without the costs and risks that are normally involved in game development and distribution. This initiative is a way for us to give back to the gaming community by facilitating for game developers to turn their hobbies into lucrative projects."

As most of us are aware of, the PC certainly has its troubles, which relate to the severely lagging sales. Maybe I'm overstating, but I think a public, free engine like this could actually give PC back a reasonable standing in the gaming community, in the long run. Maybe it will never be as financially successful as consoles (maybe this would help lead to that though), but the idea of an entirely open platform propelled in part by public engines without money in mind so much, well, that's just heartwarming. And maybe it will lead to more public engines, and even open source ones - now there's a true gaming community if I ever knew one.