Prince
03-24-2004, 03:23 PM
IGN has an interview with MS on their recently announced XNA dev tools. It's pretty long (5 pages) but there was some interesting things said. Here's some of the more interesting quotes.
The other question is "When am I going to get this stuff?" We've already delivered some of it, this summer will see the next wave and next year we have the next phase, phase three of the XNA deliverables. This is a ten-year investment. It's just going to keep coming.
One of the things holding back the Windows side is that keyboard and mouse are great for certain types of games but they're not appropriate for all types of games.
....
The new direction moving forward is that Windows and Xbox will share a family of controllers that will be exactly the same, literally. I can unplug it from one and plug it in the other and it will just work.
Since we brought Live to the Xbox [one of the big questions asked] was when are we going to be able to play across Xbox and Windows? The XNA initiative covers tools, technologies, peripherals and services. Live is the first of those services. It will allow Xbox and Windows users to have equivalent functionality and lots of interesting scenarios between them.
Link to full interview:
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/501/501373p1.html
Some quotes from GameSpots article:
"On the PC we have tools like HLSL. On Xbox we have tools like PIX. These are both really powerful, and XNA combines the power of the PC and the power of the console into a best-of-breed platform," said Gabe Newell, founder and managing director of Valve Software.
"We are pleased to see that Microsoft shares our vision of helping developers make better games, faster, through use of their favorite middleware," said David Lua-Kee, CEO of Criterion Software. "We look forward to leveraging XNA in the RenderWare toolchain to implement Windows- and Xbox-specific features."
"Anything that makes the game developer's job easier, and removes some of the risk and some of the trial and error, is a good thing," said Jez San, founder and CEO of Argonaut Games. "We can concentrate on what makes a game good--gameplay, content, and visuals--and not worry about fighting the hardware."
"We are extremely excited about XNA, both as a middleware provider and as a game developer. Tools are the only chance for future success in this industry, and never has this been more true than now. As we move into next-generation development, the expectations of gamers and the abilities of hardware open almost limitless possibilities for content creators. Without the right tools, developers will not be able to keep up with the pace -- XNA is what the industry needs right now." - Julian Eggebrecht, President of Factor 5 LLC
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It's good that they're making the next system very easy to develop for, that will be an important thing for next-gen consoles. Xbox Live being available on PC can lead to interesting things also.
I really like the controller idea. PC games like Prince of Persia/Tony Hawk/Beyond Good and Evil work much better with the Xbox pad then keyboard and mouse IMO (and some console flight games would be cool with one of those PC flight sim controllers), it would be awesome to them be plug and play compatible.
The other question is "When am I going to get this stuff?" We've already delivered some of it, this summer will see the next wave and next year we have the next phase, phase three of the XNA deliverables. This is a ten-year investment. It's just going to keep coming.
One of the things holding back the Windows side is that keyboard and mouse are great for certain types of games but they're not appropriate for all types of games.
....
The new direction moving forward is that Windows and Xbox will share a family of controllers that will be exactly the same, literally. I can unplug it from one and plug it in the other and it will just work.
Since we brought Live to the Xbox [one of the big questions asked] was when are we going to be able to play across Xbox and Windows? The XNA initiative covers tools, technologies, peripherals and services. Live is the first of those services. It will allow Xbox and Windows users to have equivalent functionality and lots of interesting scenarios between them.
Link to full interview:
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/501/501373p1.html
Some quotes from GameSpots article:
"On the PC we have tools like HLSL. On Xbox we have tools like PIX. These are both really powerful, and XNA combines the power of the PC and the power of the console into a best-of-breed platform," said Gabe Newell, founder and managing director of Valve Software.
"We are pleased to see that Microsoft shares our vision of helping developers make better games, faster, through use of their favorite middleware," said David Lua-Kee, CEO of Criterion Software. "We look forward to leveraging XNA in the RenderWare toolchain to implement Windows- and Xbox-specific features."
"Anything that makes the game developer's job easier, and removes some of the risk and some of the trial and error, is a good thing," said Jez San, founder and CEO of Argonaut Games. "We can concentrate on what makes a game good--gameplay, content, and visuals--and not worry about fighting the hardware."
"We are extremely excited about XNA, both as a middleware provider and as a game developer. Tools are the only chance for future success in this industry, and never has this been more true than now. As we move into next-generation development, the expectations of gamers and the abilities of hardware open almost limitless possibilities for content creators. Without the right tools, developers will not be able to keep up with the pace -- XNA is what the industry needs right now." - Julian Eggebrecht, President of Factor 5 LLC
------------------
It's good that they're making the next system very easy to develop for, that will be an important thing for next-gen consoles. Xbox Live being available on PC can lead to interesting things also.
I really like the controller idea. PC games like Prince of Persia/Tony Hawk/Beyond Good and Evil work much better with the Xbox pad then keyboard and mouse IMO (and some console flight games would be cool with one of those PC flight sim controllers), it would be awesome to them be plug and play compatible.