Perhaps it's a bit unusual to be thinking of the Frito-Lay Company as a software developer. But since it officially issued a challenge for developers to create an Xbox Live game that "brings to life the bold spirit of the Doritos brand" was issued, five contest finalists have been working with professional development teams since August to realize their visions.

Available at the Doritos Web Site through November 18, these preliminary versions are playable and subject to user voting to determine the game that will be developed into a full Xbox Live arcade game for release next summer. Once chosen, the release candidate will be finalized at NinjaBee development studio, which is responsible for the current Xbox Live titles Cloning Clyde, Outpost Kaloki X, and Band of Bugs.

The winner will be said to be the first fully developed, consumer-created Xbox Live game ever.

Given the nature of this contest, and the course of development, "consumer-created" is a largely symbolic title. A synergy between advertising companies and video game producers has existed since the days of Atari 2600, (Kool Aid Man, anyone?) and while the resulting ad-games have never been blockbusters, they do tend to have a distinct purpose. With appropriate consumer testing, the outcome is an advertisement that replays itself hundreds of times directly to the targeted audience.

Fortunately, a couple of the submissions don't immediately involve Doritos in the gameplay and may actually turn into decent games with some additional work. For instance, among the finalists for "bringing to life the spirit of Doritos" is tentatively titled "Doritos Dash of Destruction."