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Microsoft Announces XNA Studio
simoniker writes "Microsoft has announced XNA Studio at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Based on Visual Studio 2005 Team System, XNA Studio is an integrated, team-based development environment tailored specifically for video game development, and will likely launch as a PC retail product early in 2006. Gamasutra has an interview with XNA's Chris Satchell with more details on what Microsoft sees as a solution for ever-expanding cost and complexity in game development."
VS .NET 2005 has implemented all sorts of bells and whistles for "collaborative" development which hasn't been getting much traction in the beta tests and this is just a respin of that to try to make it "sex-ay".
.NET can run on any platform just like COM could."
C'mon, when the marketspeak says:
"In answering this question, Satchell makes it clear that, while XNA Studio runs on Windows for development purposes, there's no reason why any exported data shouldn't be used anywhere, much as Visual Studio data can be compiled for many purposes. However, Microsoft has built or is building more tools closer to the run-time end of the business to give XNA Studio users significant ease in building content for Microsoft platforms, because exported XNA Studio data can be specifically designed to work with these tools."
That's standard Microspeak for "Yeah,
While this isn't a bad thing, the reality is that it would be FASTER to develop on a platform where the API's were open and the tools put out open and WELL DOCUMENTED file formats that anyone could make tools in the tool chain for.
These kind of tactics? You mean the horribly unethical practice of offering the kind of tools developers need at price they don't mind paying? Dude, wake the fuck up. MS isn't doing a goddamned thing the fucking SDL developers aren't doing. They're providing a framework. Why should MS do a damn thing that benefits anyone else? THEY ARE A FUCKING BUSINESS. If people don't want to use XNA, get this, THEY DON'T HAVE TO. I don't see Carmack being forced to use D3D, DO YOU?
'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
Nope, Bungie did.
There's nothing I hate more than when someone says a game is made by a publisher...that's like saying, oh hey man, did you hear that new Sony song? Yeah, man but what about the new Dreamworks album? Or, those Warner Brothers sure know how to direct a good movie...
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
"Businesses" can choose to use ethics too.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
You want to really "help" the gaming industry? Start working on Open GL instead of Direct3D.
No troll intended, but how will this help the community? How does DirectX not suit their needs? Sure, using OpenGL would ease portability issues a bit, but portability to _what_? After Loki's demise, I don't think many publishers are keen on linux. Mac? Maybe. Game developers don't use OpenGL on PS2 or GC, so OpenGL doesn't get you anything there.
I recall that it was fashionable for OpenGL advocates to bash DX as a technically inferior solution waaay back in the DX5 days. A lot has changed since then, though. Except for the bashing, it seems.
Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
I for one do want them there. i like the xbox. dont like it dont buy it. I dont really know where you get this idea that no one wants them there. they seem to be doing reasonably well from my point of view.
I'd like to see more games based on innovative concepts or gameplay rather than just having better graphics so the sword you are wielding in SoulCalibur 9 has glints of light that look more realistic. I think it is strange that the Myst concept hasn't resulted in more games like that. Personally, the attraction of Myst for me was less the puzzle solving than the attractive visual design, the music, and the story telling.
My point here is that I don't care that MS has started pushing their game writing system. As long as the console business is based on the blockbuster concept borrowed from Hollywood we're going to continue to get more of the same.
"Lack of technical competence coupled with the arrogance of power, as usual, leads to no good end."
However, we are still anxiously awaiting a deathmatch-based development environment. Teams are great and all, but one "TKer" can spoil the entire experience. As a programmer, I prefer to work alone. Some idiot will always mess up the plan, be it with bad warthog driving or malformed code.
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
But Bungie is owned by Microsoft. So, yes, Microsoft did indeed re(write) halo and write halo 2. They also happened to publish it themselves. The 2 are not mutually exclusive.
AlienBrain is shit, slow, and not cost effective. It's a closed system. Its support for binary art resources is poor. It's buggy. Its Visual Studio integration is flimsy. Its licensing is unreasonable.
We switched back to crappy old Visual SourceSafe, and wrote our own resource management tool which took a few months of programmer hours, and eliminated the cost and annoyance of AlienBrain. Sounds like XNA might enable one to further integrate one's own tools to meet one's unique requirements.
Yeah and guess what -- those things alone would probably make it a worthwhile investment for gaming companies today. Nowadays everyone's releasing their games across as many platforms as they can. If this can make it easier for a company to develop games for two of those (arguably two of the most popular), don't you think that makes it worth at least a look?
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn