This article discusses resolution independence while this article illustrates the per-application volume settings in Vista. Additionally, Microsoft released today the XNA Game Studio Express.
Audio/Video Improvements in Vista; Gaming SDK Released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Don’t get all excited about using XNA to build Xbox 360 games just yet — if you read the FAQ, they explain that the only way to deploy Xbox 360 games written with XNA is…
…
…
…if the other person is an XNA Developer.
Eg, “deployment” for XNA w/Xbox 360 is basically sending the project (source and all) over to someone so they can compile and install it on their own Xbox 360. They have to be a member of the “XNA Creators Club” ($99 a year), of course.
No, not the awesome Xbox Live Arcade integration we were expecting to happen…
That’s actually kind of disappointing, to be brutually honest, but sadly not that unexpected.
From the same FAQ: “We are actively working on other ways to allow you to more easily distribute your games and are very excited about the possibilities this will open up for independent game development.”
Yeah this is something that should be expected to have completed for a 1.0 launch, but who can be shocked that MS is dragging their feet these days with new products?
So until they clean this up, most indie developers will be making their demos for Windows PCs then port it to Xbox360 when it’s more feasible. No crying shame really.
I know, what a shame!
Microsoft, after releasing a full and fully functional range of software development tools for free (Visual C++, C#, Basic, J# Express, along with SQL Server 2005 Express) is now releasing a game development environment allowing hobbyists to write software both for PCs and XBox 360 (for a fraction of the cost of a dev kit).
We should all march in the streets against that… Maybe even issue a fatwa against evil Microsoft!
Let’s be serious people. They’re the first ones to allow pretty much anybody to program their console with officially supported tools. That’s very exciting news for anybody interested in writing games. For the others, why not spare us the pointless comments?
As for the “they’re only doing that because they want to crush Linux” crowd, well duh! They’re a business, it’s their job to take/keep the lead in their field. If you don’t want Linux to be crushed then quit whining and do something to improve Linux.
Grow up people!
They’re the first ones to allow pretty much anybody to program their console with officially supported tools.
Sorry but that honor goes to the GP2X.
How about the Cybiko? That was out years ago and had official tools to let you develop for it.
No TV out, the palm IIIc on my belt has about 50 games in it, have codewarrior for it too but I cannot call it a console.
Sorry but that honor goes to the GP2X.
Thats a handheld, not a console.
I think its safe to say that MS is the first vendor with any real market/mindshare to offer officially supported dev tools for their platform to anybody.
I’m sure we can all come up with obscure game devices that barely anyone uses as examples of all sorts of things, but really whats the point.
The line blurs, when I’m sitting here playing it on a 32 inch lcd tv it sure looks like a lot more than a handheld.
That’s actually kind of disappointing, to be brutually honest, but sadly not that unexpected.
Now if only Sony would allow people to access to the full power of the PS3 hardware via Linux, they could really punish MS for this…
Now if only Sony would allow people to access to the full power of the PS3 hardware via Linux, they could really punish MS for this…
Yeah, let’s “punish MS” for providing capabilities that hobbyists have never had before. Damn them, capitalist pigs! Hey, maybe Sony will open source its rootkit!
/sarcasm
“Q: Can I use the XNA Game Studio Express or XNA Framework to build a commercial Xbox 360 game?
A: XNA Game Studio Express lets you create Windows and now Xbox 360 console games much more easily. These games are limited to non-commercial scenarios for 360 titles created with XNA Game Studio Express. However, XNA Game Studio Express may be used to create commercial games which target Windows. We plan to release XNA Game Studio Professional next year which will allow developers to create commercial games for the Xbox 360 in addition to Windows.”
Windows games now. XBOX 360 games later. Seems like a great start to me!
Microsoft could be sodomizing goats and it would sound like a great start to you.
NotParker could be saving a baby from a burning building and you would say he does it to kiss up to MS… crétin
The only problem is, he does kind a kiss up to MS, regardless of him saving babies or not.
Which I’d of course applaud, if he did. It’s just not really relevant in this context.
Microsoft could be sodomizing goats…
You’re projecting.
What? The bitter truth?
How long have you been dreaming about sodomizing goats? Why goats? Must be a deep-seated fantasy.
Who said anything about Me or dreaming.
If anyone is “projecting,” I’d say it’s you.
Really, it didn’t have to be goats, it could have been anything. Let’s say a city bus. But you probably wouldn’t have been so apt to comment if I hadn’t said goat…
Really, it didn’t have to be goats, it could have been anything.
Yeah, but it was goats. So, you must have been thinking about them, for some strange reason. Go figure.
I think goat sodomy is a whole new OSNews low. Thanks man.
No problem.
That’s why they pay me the big bucks.
lol Linux, uhuh.
I believe that they will be creating some kinda marketplace on Live. I think I saw it on Channel 9 a while back, not sure tho.
I guess it will take some time but eventually it will get there.
Gonna be interesting to see if some of the larger mod teams start developing for the 360!
That’s what I heard, too. My bet is that, eventually, you’ll be able to not only distribute your games on Live, but you may even be able to sell them (with MS getting a share of the action, ‘natch). 😉
This is cool. Write your own media player.
“Q: Can I create non-gaming applications (such as a Media Center/Player) with XNA Game Studio Express?
A: On Windows this is possible, but the initial release on Xbox 360 is tuned to writing games. This is an area we are actively looking to the community for feedback on the types of applications they want to write for their Xbox 360”
Maybe someone could write an Active Directory client for the 360 to restrict kids logon time and push group policies
Or maybe this marks the beginning of spyware and viruses for consoles!
Hooray! I’m buying me some Symantec stock….
Or maybe this marks the beginning of spyware and viruses for consoles!
If you actually read the article, you’d realize that XNA apps are written in C# which is sandboxed.
C# isn’t forced to run as managed code (which in a way is cool… but this is Microsoft who have a terrible security track record)
Not only that, but a C# virus would own your console as easy as one written in assembly or C.
Maybe someone could write an Active Directory client for the 360 to restrict kids logon time
Well … surprise!
“Each parent makes different decisions about what games his or her children play and the movies they watch. If you’re worried about your kids making that decision without your input, you might want to investigate the Xbox 360 parental controls. The parental control system blocks access to material rated beyond certain limits by requiring a password. This way, you can watch any movie of any rating yourself and give permission for specific movies or games.”
http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/parental-controls-limiting-access-to-your-…
(PS Goat movies can be controlled too … just kidding. Normal people don’t watch goat porn)
Edited 2006-12-12 06:47
“The parental control system blocks access to material rated beyond certain limits”
Rated by *who*? The same ratings does not apply uniformly across the globe.
Rated by *who*? The same ratings does not apply uniformly across the globe.
It varies by activity and the region of the content. See below for examples:
US – ESRB, MPAA, etc.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/familysettings/xbox360/familysett…
UK – PEGI, BBFC, etc.
http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/support/xbox360/familysettings/consolefam…
Family Settings Video (WMV stream):
http://www.xbox.com/NR/rdonlyres/56AF3FC8-6C51-4DA8-B27A-750ADCF0F4…
Vista’s parental controls similarly use each respective region’s ratings systems where applicable.
Well I used XNA beta 2 and I just wanted to de-hype this thing a bit.
Don’t get me wrong, the game engine (or framework if you prefer, I still think it’s a lower-level game engine) is pretty good but nothing fancy.
The biggest asset is of course that your games are well about 90% ready to be run on XBox. On the other hand the thing isn’t any kind of revolutionary innovation.
If we compare with PC engines and frameworks there are other completely free (in both meanings of the word) which are better, higher level and feature better integration with an IDE. (to name one, GLScene)
Of course that’s comparing apples with pears, because XNA is ment 1st and foremost for the consoles. So on that front it’s a nice new thing to enable low-budget or even hobby games to be deployed and perhaps even make some money off.
So all in all a nice effort, but please don’t over-hype it.
From what i heard, in vista the audio sistem after getting another rewrite and rethinking is now all running in user mode, and DIRECTSOUND IS NO LONGER HARDWARE ACCELERATED. this excludes other api such as asio / gsif & openal.
That is indeed a potential drawback to running [older] DirectSound-based games on Vista: there’s no support for EAX or other hardware features. However, many games use OpenAL or their own libraries, as you noted.
Creative’s also working on an OpenAL based driver/wrapper for their cards; we’ll see how that goes.
Creative has its hardware openal wrappers functional for a while now, and so does nvidia for their nforce chipset onboard cards. both work great! and openal is ported to every major platform out there (consoles too! ) I hope more games / companies use openal in the future.
what a feature… hmm wait there… déjà vu !
http://www.birdhouse.org/beos/byte/01_02-mainstream/mixer.full.gif
😀
what a feature… hmm wait there… déjà vu !
Cool, that makes me want to go out and use that defunct OS immediately…
defunct ? certainly not.
http://www.zeta-os.com/
http://haiku-os.org/