Microsoft XNA Looks Pretty Sweet

Very cool, I use Visual Studio. The debugging was especially neat for me, and the fact that programming a game for 360 is just like programming a C++ program.

Game, Set, and Match 360?

Could this possibly open up modding for the 360, at the very least it provides an incredibly accessible way for homebrew games on the 360.
 
What's the limit to the complexity of these games? Are we talking Halo 3 capabilities here, or something closer to Super Mario 64? ;)
 
jaguax said:
What's the limit to the complexity of these games? Are we talking Halo 3 capabilities here, or something closer to Super Mario 64? ;)
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Theoretically, Halo 3 capabilities. The limit is really what you are capable of. There is no crippling of the development at all. If you simply use the provided back end it isn't as flexible but that is to be expected. You still have access to all the low level functionality if you want it however.
 
Did anybody else notice the 60gig hard drive? (34:50 mins)

Woohoo, now they just have to release it!
 
I imagine youll be able to make mods like rocket arena on 360 now right? I didn't catch how levels are made though? is there a graphic interface involved? or is everything just strictly lines of code?
 
JSC450 said:
I imagine youll be able to make mods like rocket arena on 360 now right? I didn't catch how levels are made though? is there a graphic interface involved? or is everything just strictly lines of code?
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You can basically do whatever you want with XNA. There is not a defacto graphical interface involved, XNA just gives you code. However you can then use other tools such as Garage Games' Torque Shader engine to create your games. Shoot you could even use UE3 if you had the money to license it. The Garage Games engine is much cheaper though, and not too shabby either.

I am not sure if you can actually do mods to games right now, only create your own. However it wouldn't surprise me if some people find out how, or if some devs start opening things up on some older games allowing people to create custom maps and what not.
 
The question I have is whether XNA would allow the port Xbox Media Center (XBMC) team to legally port over the program for use on the 360. If that could be done I would ditch my Xbox 1 in a heartbeat. The only reason I keep it around is because it is modded to use XBMC and I use it as a media hub in my home theater system. I can't remember the last time I actually played a game on it. If I could get XBMC on the 360 I could get around the pesky issue of not being able to connect my 360 to my 2k3 file server in my house and I would finally be able to play Divx and DVD ISO images on my 360 without transcoding.

Eh, who am I kidding, this is only a pipe dream.
 
Sounds like a nice idea, but they should allow regular XBL users to DL the games they make, change the EULA to reflect that it's a beta or whatever. What's the point of developing a game that only other developers can see? This was the major problem with the PS2 Linux Kit Dev scene: Only the few thousand who got the kit could play the games.

The whole point of most indie development is to get the game out to end users for little to no fee.

Nice idea, but needs more thought. I'd rather have this $100 per year pay for a seat of the tools I need to get a game out (art/programming) on a subscription basis as well than just access and support.
 
Lamont said:
Sounds like a nice idea, but they should allow regular XBL users to DL the games they make, change the EULA to reflect that it's a beta or whatever. What's the point of developing a game that only other developers can see? This was the major problem with the PS2 Linux Kit Dev scene: Only the few thousand who got the kit could play the games.

The whole point of most indie development is to get the game out to end users for little to no fee.

Nice idea, but needs more thought. I'd rather have this $100 per year pay for a seat of the tools I need to get a game out (art/programming) on a subscription basis as well than just access and support.
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Microsoft already has a distribution system, XBox Live. Didn't you notice that the Demo section is now called "Demos and More". That "and More" is XNA and indie games. That is what they have stated they eventually want these developers to be able to do. Put the game up on XBL and let others download it, shoot it even provides an easy method of payment. Microsoft just hasn't been able to update XBL for this. I would much rather have MS release the dev stuff now, and get the distribution figured out a year or two from now, then to wait until the entire thing is ready. Games will take time to develop before they are even ready for distribution anyways so I dont see much of an issue here.

100$ is an incredibly low price of entry for developing games on any console. Considering this works with any retail 360, and just about any PC. No need to buy custom devkits here. I think it has been thought out pretty darn well if you ask me. Too bad they dont have a free trial for the XNA 360 stuff...I want to set a break point on my 360 :(.
 
pr0pensity said:
So what is XNA?
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XNA is basically a developer suite tailored for game design/creation/programming. Many game development teams spend lots of time and money creating or modifying tools that let them build their games. Microsoft wants to help shift resources that are spent on tool creation and move it where it should be which is game creation.

The other big thing with XNA is the feature that was shown in the video which gives consoles something that the PC has had for years; amateur game development. Consoles have been closed systems and if you wanted to develop for a console, you would have to have had lots of money to be able to develop for any given console. With XNA, Microsoft is opening up the Xbox 360 through the PC.
 
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