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Microsoft Unlocks the Ability To Turn Xbox One Consoles Into 'Development Kits' (polygon.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the two-in-one dept.

Dave Knott writes: Today, Microsoft made good on a nearly three-year-old promise, unlocking the ability for all retail Xbox One consoles to become development kits. This mode will allow anyone to build, test and experiment with Universal Windows Program (UWP) development. Converting a console to Dev Mode requires no special equipment or fees, though to fully access the abilities, a user will need to create a Dev Center account. After setting up Dev Mode, a user simply pairs their Xbox One with Visual Studio, which sees the console as a Windows 10 machine to which it can deploy content directly through a wired connection. While this feature eases self-publishing on Xbox One, a developer will still have to go through Microsoft's concept approval, which usually takes about two weeks, before the game is eligible to be published on Xbox One. The big change here is that while traditionally Microsoft had to give a hopeful developer a dev kit, now a developer can just switch over their own retail console.

73 comments

  1. hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by FudRucker · · Score: 1

    that would be nice to dual boot Linux on my PS3 and use it for a multimedia center

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by KGIII · · Score: 1

      It seems like they might have to - if this catches on. If Microsoft does this well, and it is as good as it sounds it might be, then I'd guess that the rest of them would want to follow suit. That might mean a good thing for independent studios or just creative people.

      I am not, by any means, a gamer - not even remotely. However, this kind of makes me want one now. Why? Just so I can try to build a game. I'm really bad at graphics and game play methods would be awkward as hell because I'm about a great a designer as Corky. But, I've got the perfect video game in my head and would love to try to lay it out there.

      There are bound to be free and open source engines and frameworks, if there aren't already. I have no idea if they are available. I'd be willing to learn, perhaps. I just might see how it shakes out and pick one up just to play with it. Is there any special media required to make disks - for those who want to use/offer physical installation media? Are they still on DVD or are they on Blu-Ray or something proprietary?

      Literally, I've no idea how modern consoles work. I've not been a gamer in years but being able to access one as a developer just might be enough to make me want to own one. Of course, by the time I got done diagramming my game and getting a framework up - it'd be several console generations behind. But, I'd still enjoy playing with it. And, by "it" I mean the developer part.

      Anyhow, if you put Linux on your PS3 wouldn't that limit its ability to play PS3 games or are you wanting it to be able to still do both? I thought one of the PS' could run Linux and that the latest one was running BSD? Would you not just be better of using a SoC/SBC and making a media center from that? Or is this a, "It's there, it needs doing." Type of thing?

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    2. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see what you did there.

    3. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've got the perfect video game in my head and would love to try to lay it out there.

      Have you tried making it for a PC or mobile platform first? Those might be more inviting platforms to start out on, even after this announcement of an official softmod for development. You used to need a PC tech demo in order to score a devkit, and PC experience would probably still serve you well if you want to make the most of this softmod.

      Is there any special media required to make disks - for those who want to use/offer physical installation media?

      With all respect, if you have to ask about discs, you likely aren't quite ready to know. An indie startup's first commercial game isn't likely to exceed a few hundred MB at most. For comparison, N64 games maxed out at 32 MB with about two exceptions, and PS1 games that weren't sprawling RPGs largely fit on a 650 MB disc. You probably will not need physical installation media until it's several GB, so let's keep the proverbial cart behind the tractor until your tech demo is working.

      Literally, I've no idea how modern consoles work. I've not been a gamer in years but being able to access one as a developer just might be enough to make me want to own one.

      Do you know DirectX? There's a reason Microsoft calls it the "Xbox". Make a game for Windows 10 UWP and get it on the Windows Store, and there should be little problem building it for Xbox One.

    4. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sony is in no danger. The PS4 is already significantly more powerful than the Xbone and the PS4K is going to widen that performance gap. They can run games that the Xbone couldn't touch without lots of degradation.

    5. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can just target Unity on Universal Windows Platform (UWP) today using Visual Studio Community to target PC. All of this is free, at least for small scale personal use (read the licensing yourself to be sure.)

      Porting to the Xbox One using this dev environment should be extremely straightforward - the whole idea is the UWP is the same on Xbox, desktop PC and Phone, and doing exactly this (running a Unity/UWP game) is what is demonstrated in this article. The hard part should, in theory, be adding gamepad support rather than just mouse and/or touch!

    6. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      step 1) download unity.
      step 2) develop your idea.
      step 3) publish

      it's not free in the sense of freedom and not fully open source.. but it would get you your idea and be publishable to 10+ systems without that bad tradeoffs.

      they're fairly certain that this does NOT give the means to circumvent drm on disc based games.

      the xboxone, it's just a windows machine. literally. this is for testing universal apps, literally. you could mostly test your simple game on a windows 10 phone. or the emulator. or the machine you're developing on with a game pad attached and it would largely be the same. thats how modern game consoles work, eos.

      furthermore, this is not about disc based games, though you probably could use this as a means to develop something that would eventually get a disc based release.

      as for sony? they already got something similar https://www.playstation.com/en...

      you might be able to use this to sideload some uwp warez though. if for some reason someone wanted to.....

      guys, if you don't go check what sdk's are on offer and publish routes then you really aren't interested in them..

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    7. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck Unity, use Unreal engine instead. It's a better engine and the licensing terms are much more developer friendly.

    8. Re:hopefully Sony does it to PS3 & PS4 by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      In other words, this is Microsoft giving you a license to run Metro applications you've developed on Xbox One.

  2. Microsoft knows is it dying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Microsoft knows is it dying.
    What it doesn't know is it cannot be saved.

    1. Re:Microsoft knows is it dying. by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      For a dying company, they sure sell a shit-ton of consoles and make a metric fuck-ton of money.

      Sure, Sony is selling 2 shit-tons of consoles to their 1 shit-ton. But does that really matter when you're both sleeping on giant piles of gold?

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    2. Re:Microsoft knows is it dying. by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Now Nintendo on the other hand....

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    3. Re:Microsoft knows is it dying. by Penguinisto · · Score: 2

      First, in general agree with you, but only insofar as Netcraft has not yet confirmed it. ;)

      However, your argument isn't quite water-tight. You see, Microsoft has sunk $$$$billions into the XBox program over the years, and with each new console iteration they sink $$$$billions more. Meanwhile, they sell the hardware either at or below cost (forget which), which meant that they relied on licensing to make any profit off of it - which was $0.00 until like 2007-2008 or so. Even now, they *might* make enough to stop the bleeding, but nowhere near enough to make up for the massive pile of cash they've sunk into it to date, which has been accumulating since 1999 and is still piling up (albeit not as fast given the offset from licensing).

      IIRC the whole idea was to first launch a game console, then turn it into a home media center, then turn it again into a central computer for the home, where they would hold ultimate sway. Things didn't quite turn out as originally planned, but they're in it too damned deep to pull out now, especially with an eventual ROI coming (maybe a decade or two from now?), with a possible profit center coming from it in the moderate/long-term future.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    4. Re:Microsoft knows is it dying. by lgw · · Score: 1

      The total amount MS has sunk into the entire XBox program over its lifetime remains small compared to the size of the pile of money they sleep on.

      I think it would have fared better as a home media center if the voice/gesture recognition had been better. Not needing a remote is a very nice feature in concept.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    5. Re:Microsoft knows is it dying. by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      What about Nintendo's first hand?

    6. Re:Microsoft knows is it dying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you consider a "Fuck ton" to be HALF of the competition's sales. Sure. And does it matter when the division as a whole is losing money? The only way they got the Xbox Division to show a profit was to roll it up with "Devices and Services" so they could hide the bleeding from shareholders.

    7. Re:Microsoft knows is it dying. by DaHat · · Score: 1

      If you consider a "Fuck ton" to be HALF of the competition's sales

      You must be one of those 'progressives' who can only define success/failure based on the success/failures of others.

      Regardless of the % more consoles Sony sells, most companies would be quite happy to have a device with the current results of Xbox on their books.

      --
      Help Brendan pay off his student loans
  3. WILDCAT IS ON TEH SPOKE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    nbsp:

    1. Re:WILDCAT IS ON TEH SPOKE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mod parent up.

  4. Short Lived by StikyPad · · Score: 2

    As with Linux on the PS3, I predict this will end shortly after someone uses it to jailbreak the console. So, in 3... 2... 1...

    --
    https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    1. Re: Short Lived by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Either that or develops a root kit for them and turns all the consumer-dev xboxes in to a botnet

    2. Re:Short Lived by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

      I don't think that will necessarily be the case. This is different, because this is part of a strategic initiative to push the same Universal Windows OS core to all MS supported devices. Microsoft has every incentive to keep this program around to generate additional developer interest, especially since they're in the #2 console slot at the moment.

      In Sony's case, the "Other OS" was mostly likely a gimmick to avoid paying additional taxes in the EU (so it could be classified as a computer instead of a console). And once that didn't pan out (laws were re-written to prevent this tax dodge), they had little incentive to keep that feature around.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    3. Re: Short Lived by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it will end when kids use the feature to load hacks to enable cheating in online games.

    4. Re:Short Lived by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The PS3 was jailbroken AFTER the feature was removed.

    5. Re:Short Lived by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      In Sony's case, the "Other OS" was mostly likely a gimmick to avoid paying additional taxes in the EU (so it could be classified as a computer instead of a console).

      Why why why do people keep getting this wrong, it's 2016 for gosh sakes. You're thinking of YaBASIC on the EU PS2's, that one was the gimmick, because.....

      And once that didn't pan out (laws were re-written to prevent this tax dodge),

      The laws were re-written PRIOR to the release of Linux on the PS2 or OtherOS. Linux running PS2's and PS3's were never a tax dodge.

    6. Re:Short Lived by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Dang, looks like you're right. I did a bit of searching, and couldn't find any credible references to verify my claim - just random forum posts putting this theory out there. Thanks for setting the record straight.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  5. The death of the console writ large by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why own a console when your laptop is just as powerful and plays the same games?

    1. Re:The death of the console writ large by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 0

      Normal people don't want to mess around with an operating system, anti-virus software, etc.

      And your laptop does not play the same games as consoles.

    2. Re:The death of the console writ large by Xenx · · Score: 1

      Right now? Cost. You're going to pay at least twice as much for the laptop as for the console. However, it's at least close enough that it can be considered an option given the extra functionality.

    3. Re:The death of the console writ large by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Because owning as console means never having to figure out if your system has the right system specs to even play a game. I see that PS4 logo on the box, and I know I'm good to go.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    4. Re:The death of the console writ large by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      And your laptop does not play the same games as consoles.

      Many of the multi-platform games begin on the Sony PS4 before porting the codebase to other consoles and the PC.

    5. Re:The death of the console writ large by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      many != the same

    6. Re:The death of the console writ large by Your.Master · · Score: 1

      Why own a television when your phone has higher DPI and plays the same videos?

    7. Re:The death of the console writ large by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except my Xbox One does not play rock band 4 out of the box smoothly (it stutters half a second each 30 seconds or so). I have to turn off networking for it to work smoothly.

      Possibly the internal disk is to slow. It seems I am in the minority of xbox one users with rock band 4 that have this issue, but I am not the only one.

      The xbox os does too much stuff in the background.

      It took me pretty much two weeks of research before I found the turning networking off helped. In my research I found that other games on the XBox one have the same issue for some people.

      So I am guessing there is enough variability in the systems that I do need to figure out if my system specs are enough.

      It soured my taste so my much that I will never buy another console (neither microsoft, sony or any other). The whole point of consoles is that they are easier to use, but they lost that when I spend two weeks getting rock band 4 playable. Another problem is that when you want to play you first have to sit through 2 hours of downloading and installing updates (at 40mbit/s).

    8. Re:The death of the console writ large by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      many != the same

      A multi-platform game is the same game on consoles and the PC with minor tweaks.

    9. Re:The death of the console writ large by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      I have no idea about PS4 but I do know I wanted to play Final Fantasy after my son bought it and my laptop plays PS2 and PS3 just fine just plug in a decent controller, put the disc in, and play. Not the same as my cmd 64 did with atari games but I'm sure there is a PS4 emulator somewhere.

    10. Re:The death of the console writ large by tepples · · Score: 0

      How many people can fit around one television to watch a video or play a game? How many gamepads have been sold for use with a television?

      Now repeat the question on mobile.

    11. Re:The death of the console writ large by tepples · · Score: 1

      Unless the "minor tweaks" include features deliberately removed from the PC version, such as multi-gamepad shared-screen multiplayer because the publisher doesn't find it worthwhile to target Steam's Big Picture mode.

    12. Re:The death of the console writ large by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The same games?

      If multiplatform games, MMOs, the yearly first person shooter and indie shovelware are all you care about, then sure, PC will do you just fine. Enjoy. But the vast majority of games that I care about from the past 10 years have been exclusive to (one or multiple) consoles. There are far more that fit the same bill which I'm not into. When I think of PC-only games that I care about, the list is very, very short. I could count those off and have fingers to spare.

      So thanks but no thanks. I'll stick with whichever machine offers me the most games that I give a shit about at any given time. And for the past 25 years, it hasn't been PCs.

      (added bonus, no extraneous PC upkeep)

      I'd wager that many games feel the same way, or just aren't savvy enough to set up a PC to play a bunch of games without crashing constantly.

    13. Re:The death of the console writ large by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another problem is when you think sitting and waiting for the same amount of time while it's downloading (at the same speed) and then installing games somehow makes the sitting and waiting go faster when it's being done on a PC.

      Either way, you're sitting and waiting. Your bias is showing.

    14. Re:The death of the console writ large by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      When I worked at Accolade/Infogrames/Atari (same company, different owners, multiple personality disorder) in the early 2000's, the developers always got in trouble when they ported the code base from the Sony PlayStation 2 to the Nintendo GameCube without adapting the look-and-feel of the game. Nintendo kicked back the game for being a PS2 port, which they hated with a passion. It got so bad that Nintendo threaten to reject every submission out of hand. The developers fell in line — and Nintendo soon became irrelevant.

    15. Re:The death of the console writ large by DaHat · · Score: 1

      Plus, some of us are using the laptop while someone else in the house is using the console which is attached to the tv.

      --
      Help Brendan pay off his student loans
    16. Re: The death of the console writ large by jmac_the_man · · Score: 1

      the developers always got in trouble when they ported the code base from the Sony PlayStation 2 to the Nintendo GameCube without adapting the look-and-feel of the game. Nintendo kicked back the game for being a PS2 port, which they hated with a passion. It got so bad that Nintendo threaten to reject every submission out of hand. The developers fell in line â" and Nintendo soon became irrelevant.

      What? In the developer certification rules that I've seen, the difference between the "look and feel" of a GameCube game and that of a PS2 game is that GameCube controllers have buttons labeled "A, B, X, Y" but PS2 controllers have buttons labeled "X, Square, Circle, Triangle." If you were submitting games to Nintendo with in game prompts that reference the PS2 control scheme, you deserved to get kicked back.

    17. Re: The death of the console writ large by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If you were submitting games to Nintendo with in game prompts that reference the PS2 control scheme, you deserved to get kicked back.

      That's the fastest way to get a kick back from Nintendo. If the game came across as "this would play better on a PS2," it got kicked back. As a lead tester, I warned the developers about this but they never listen.

  6. Polish your own turds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks, MicroSoft!

  7. Don't forget the documentation... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    I remember reading the documentation for the original Xbox when I worked at Accolade/Infogrames/Atari (same company, different owners, multiple personality disorder). I always got a kick out of the A: and B: floppy drives being listed as legacy devices. Microsoft had more or less denied that the Xbox was a PC pretending to be a console.

    1. Re:Don't forget the documentation... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

      The whole point of UWP is that there's a single API (and hence a single set of docs) for all devices across the platform.

      https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

  8. Here's hoping for Luna Lander! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or Larn... that'd be cool

    1. Re:Here's hoping for Luna Lander! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Super Maze Wars
      Armor Alley
      Spectre

      Plenty of low-res awesome mac games could be re-rcreated.

    2. Re:Here's hoping for Luna Lander! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Super Star Trek! Gotta make some keyboard games, ya know. But you'll need the full 16K of memory first.

  9. Wired? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    to which it can deploy content directly through a wired connection.

    Wired? Pfft. Lame.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:Wired? by Barefoot+Monkey · · Score: 1

      Probably has more space than a Nomad though

  10. Does the phrase... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "A day late and a dollar short" ring any bells? No one is going to develop for Xbox with their market share TANKING this year! Xbox One is DONE, folks.

    1. Re:Does the phrase... by tepples · · Score: 1

      Two questions for you first: Is Xbox One tanking harder than Wii U? And is Xbox One tanking harder than Steam Machine and other living room PCs?

    2. Re:Does the phrase... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YES!

    3. Re:Does the phrase... by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      It's potentially interesting for applications which aren't aimed at the gamer market.

    4. Re:Does the phrase... by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Tanking as hard as the WiiU? No, that thing was/is SERIOUSLY going nowhere.

      Steam machines? I don't think there's much market for those, especially the ones running Linux.

  11. Microsoft is dead to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not selling up-to-date Mechassault for console... not really inclined to buy console.

    Also not compatible with older Mechassault? Definitely not buying console.

    In recent years, games have gained many pixels, and lost almost all the fun. Owning a 360 was a huge disappointment (and the intimation that it would be made backwards compatible via emulation... despicable lies); having read the online tales of how the One constantly drags out updates and downloads I see everywhere... they'd have to do something spectacular to get more money out of me. Like bring Mechassault back to life :)

    Add to that lack the callous dismissal of the money spent so far on the manufacturer's ecosystem... there are myriad better things to do than constantly feed an auto-obsolescence machine that doesn't run the stuff I want anyway.

    Fortunately, my old stuff works fine. Aside from the (very sad) loss of online play, I can still rock and roll in the best mech game ever any time I want to. Probably be a while before there are no more XBox consoles to be had, too, so... see ya, Microsoft.

    1. Re:Microsoft is dead to me by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      Not selling up-to-date Mechassault for console... not really inclined to buy console.

      Also not compatible with older Mechassault? Definitely not buying console.

      Microsoft must be devastated to know that they lost the market of people who only want to play one particular game. You know, the market that is the least profitable and least influential of all gamers.

      Won't they be surprised when some other company swoops in and makes a Mechassault-only console!

    2. Re:Microsoft is dead to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they built their entire game market on one single game.

      halo

  12. Cue skeleton with cobwebs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yah, and if you see that XBox One logo on a game, you know you're going to be sitting around all fucking day waiting for the thing to download "updates."

    Same for PS4, or did they have an attack of sanity and let games run off the discs without a network connection?

  13. Far more space than a Sega Nomad by tepples · · Score: 1

    Considering games for the Sega Nomad rarely exceeded 4 MB, compared to the 500,000 MB hard drive of the launch Xbox One, I suspect your guess is right.

  14. Rakin' in the dough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The big change here is that while traditionally Microsoft had to give a hopeful developer a dev kit, now a developer can just switch over their own retail console.

    So, the big change here is that now the dev needs to buy a retail unit, instead of being given some equipment.

    1. Re:Rakin' in the dough by SirSlud · · Score: 1

      You have to buy development kits, genius.

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
  15. It's a trap by kbg · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's a trap

    1. Re:It's a trap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it is! you're supposed to make "apps" not games.... according to ars; "anyone" can obtain $19 dev account and turn their console into a developer unit; but GAMES still requires id@xbox which is a separate registration and program, with qualifications. it's not open to 'everybody'.

  16. Open to Cordova Apps? by shri · · Score: 1

    Does that mean we can expect cordova based apps (perhaps even Meteor?) to run on an Xbox One?

  17. The Microsoft slashdot .. by khz6955 · · Score: 1

    Microsoft gets 6 free articles on the main page. Is this what slashdot is reduced to, shilling for the MICROS~1 organization?

    1. Re:The Microsoft slashdot .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If Microsoft does something newsworthy (which this clearly is), it's not shilling. Shilling does not mean "talking about things khz6955 does not like".

  18. Re:It's a home by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it was trap once, and you got caught.. but some time passed, you already forgot and now it's your home. fully equipped with windows and net and dot and stuff. but now m$ realizes that lot of you managed to escape that garbage and live happily in someone else's trap so what they are doing is just adding more honey to the trap :)

  19. The problem is they're loss leaders by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Consoles are almost always loss leaders. Even Nintendo gave in this Gen and lost money on the Wii U (something I don't think they've ever done). The last thing you want is a bunch of folks buying your razor blade hilt and no blades...

    --
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