NextPVR Forums

I just saw the press release that Microsoft will be opening up X360 game development to the public. I wonder if this will open up the X360 to a legit GB-PVR client.

Quote:SEATTLE -- Aug. 13, 2006 -- In the 30 years of video game development, the art of making console games has been reserved for those with big projects, big budgets and the backing of big game labels. Now Microsoft Corp. is bringing this art to the masses with a revolutionary new set of tools, called XNA Game Studio Express, based on the XNA platform. XNA Game Studio Express will democratize game development by delivering the necessary tools to hobbyists, students, indie developers and studios alike to help them bring their creative game ideas to life while nurturing game development talent, collaboration and sharing that will benefit the entire industry.

During his keynote presentation today at Gamefest 2006, a Microsoft game developer event hosted by Microsoft in Seattle, Chris Satchell, general manager of the Game Developer Group at Microsoft, announced details of the new technology, which will be broadly available this holiday season. XNA Game Studio Express will be available for free to anyone with a Windows XP-based PC and will provide them with Microsoft's next-generation platform for game development. By joining a "creators club" for an annual subscription fee of $99 (U.S.), users will be able to build, test and share their games on Xbox 360 and access a wealth of materials to help speed the game development progress. This represents the first significant opportunity for novice developers to make a console game without a significant investment in resources.

During his keynote, Satchell talked about academic institutions that are lining up to include XNA Game Studio Express in their course offerings. Also showcased was the work of key XNA supporters Autodesk Inc. and GarageGames. Through the Microsoft XNA relationship with Autodesk, the leading provider of 3-D authoring software, game developers and enthusiasts can now more easily incorporate content into XNA Game Studio Express via Autodesk's FBX file exchange format. Joining Satchell on stage was Mark Frohnmayer, president of GarageGames, who showcased ports of its next-generation Torque tools and technology over to the XNA Game Studio Express platform.

* XNA Game Studio Express Opens Up Game Creation to the World
By providing an integrated, seamless development environment based on Visual Studio Express and .NET that simplifies the integration and use of game content, XNA Game Studio Express makes game development easier to accomplish for smaller projects, strongly increasing the chance for great game ideas to make it out of the concept stage and into the hands of gamers everywhere.

The XNA Game Studio Express beta will be available Aug. 30, 2006, as a free download on Windows XP, for development on the Windows XP platform. XNA Game Studio Express will give anyone with a Windows XP-based PC access to a unified development tool that liberates the creation of great Xbox 360 and Windows XP-compatible games, providing a new alternative to the existing multithousand-dollar development kits that many console games require. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available this holiday season.
"XNA Game Studio Express will ignite innovation and accelerate prototyping, forever changing the way games are developed," Satchell said. "By unlocking retail Xbox 360 consoles for community-created games, we are ushering in a new era of cross-platform games based on the XNA platform. We are looking forward to the day when all the resulting talent-sharing and creativity transforms into a thriving community of user-created games on Xbox 360."
Not only will XNA Game Studio Express turn the community into creators, but a second XNA toolset geared toward game development professionals is scheduled to be available in spring 2007, fundamentally changing the way commercial games are developed.

* The Beginning of the Game Developer Revolution
From students at colleges, universities and high schools of the future to the proverbial "guys in the garage," Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express will liberate anyone with a great game idea to create titles for Xbox 360 and Windows XP simultaneously. More than 10 universities and their game development schools -- including University of Southern California, Georgia Tech College of Computing and Southern Methodist University Guildhall -- have already pledged to integrate console game development and XNA Game Studio Express into their curricula for the first time, and Xbox 360 will be the only console at the center of all coursework.

"Great game ideas are incubating in the minds of students everywhere," said Michael Zyda, director for Gamepipe Labs at the University of Southern California. "With XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft is investing in these next-generation innovators, creating the canvas for dreamers to express their powerful game ideas. In incorporating XNA Game Studio Express and Xbox 360 consoles into our Gamepipe program, USC will be able to better provide game studios and publishers around the world with a newfound wellspring of talent and opportunity. It's ingenious."

In addition, GarageGames, technology provider and developer of one of the most successful Xbox Live Arcade titles, "Marble Blast Ultra," has migrated both its Torque Shader Engine and new Torque Game Builder 2-D visual game designer over to the XNA Game Studio Express platform.

"The GarageGames mission has always been to provide top-tier technology, tools and community to independent and aspiring game developers," said Josh Williams, CEO of GarageGames. "We are excited that Microsoft is demonstrating leadership by taking the revolutionary step of opening up game development for Xbox 360 to hobbyists and students. In aligning our tools and technology with XNA Game Studio Express, we're helping even more individuals with the creativity and drive to make video games bring them to life on both Windows XP and Xbox 360."

Read the FAQ and found out some new stuff:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/faq/

It looks like it won't be doable out of the box, but maybe later on.

Quote: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.

But the deal kicker looks to be that it runs on C# and .NET.

Sub, Possible?

I did read this post elsewhere this morning, and I do have a 360, but I suspect it would be a bit too limited to enable a GB-PVR client. I'll see what other info comes out though.

The couple of things I didnt like about it were:

Quote:Q: How exactly can I share my 360 game to other 360 users? Will my game only be available to people with the XNA "Creators Club" subscription? Will it be available to all 360 users that have an Xbox Live account?
A: There is currently no supported way to share binaries on the Xbox 360. Currently, there are four requirements that must be met in order to share a game targeting Xbox 360 which is developed with XNA Game Studio Express.
1. The individual you are planning to share the game with must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club
2. The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360
3. The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC
4. The game project, including all source and content assets, must be shared with the receiving user. The receiving user then compiles and deploys the game to their Xbox 360.

Quote: The release version (at the end of the year) will let anyone with a "creator's club" membership ($99 per year) create builds on their PC to run on their Xbox 360.

Quote:Q: Does the XNA Framework include the ability to use Xbox Live?
A: The initial release of the XNA Framework on the Xbox 360 will not have any support for networking. We realize this is a big area of interest for game developers and are actively working on a solution for the next release.

So no way to easily distribute client to end users. I'd have to supply source code, and they would have build it themselves, using their own paid for XNA subscription. The no networking is a show stopper.

I agree, That would be a problem.
This is Microsoft, so they are not going to open it all up, not just yet, but maybe in time.
I was excited about the C# .NET part of the XBOX360 starting to be accessable, but with Microsoft there are always limits; at least in the first couple releases.

Yea I was really excited about this toolset. I just graduated from college and I wanted to make a project which I could show to potential buyers and producers but it sucks that you have to have a 100 dollar subscription. I thought they said this will help indipendant developers and college students. I also got excited about using live to get my foot in the door so to speak.

Easiest way to get Xbox360 to work with GB-PVR would be to write a MediaMVP emulator, or port one of the existing emulators (mvpmc)over to the 360. A bit clunky, but it works.

They currently dont provide network support, so even that wouldnt be possible.

Too bad. That would be sweet. They want everyone to buy Vista so they probably won't open it up too much.

jbyram2 Wrote:Easiest way to get Xbox360 to work with GB-PVR would be to write a MediaMVP emulator, or port one of the existing emulators (mvpmc)over to the 360. A bit clunky, but it works.

I think because the Playstation 3 supports linux with Sony support,there is already yellow dog http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/tss_home.shtml, this will be were my energy with mvpmc will take me, once the price drops a bit.

Martin

mvallevand Wrote:I think because the Playstation 3 supports linux with Sony support,there is already yellow dog http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/tss_home.shtml, this will be were my energy with mvpmc will take me, once the price drops a bit.

Martin

That'd be pretty cool...

Indeed, that would be great! I just read that PS3 is a lot less noisy than the Xbox 360, what makes it a very good option for a media extender.