\Managed DirectX and XNA Framework news
Well finally XNA framework is released and finally I can talk a bit more about my last top secret project. Yes I was one of the '3 guys in 3 weeks' that put together the Space Wars Demo that was shown at GameFest in the keynote no less. Even cooler Microsoft decided to ship the demo code as a starter kit with the beta. It's a little nerve wracking to know my code will be pulled to bit by thousands of people but I'll take the glory while it lasts.
More info later... ask questions in the XNA Framework and XNA Express forums
The XNA framework, otherwise known as 'the most exciting thing to happen to Managed DirectX since The ZMan quit his job last June', is Microsoft's newest managed game development platform:
FAQ
Where can I learn more?
Watch The ZBuffer of course, as the #1 Managed DirectX Community site we will be covering everything as it happens. But if you want more you can watch the following:
- Microsoft XNA site
- Tom Miller's blog (XNA framework developer)
- David Weller's blog (Community Manager, Microsoft Game Technology Group)
- Al (XNA Program Manager)
- Brian Keller (XNA Program Manager)
- Julien Ellie (XNA team)
- Mike Zintel (Compact Framework team)
Anything cool to see?
Culture and Pocket Jongg screenshots from GDC, Hexic in Managed Code screen shots and movies. Right now there is just media, however David Weller has stated that they hope to ship demo games and source code with the SDK when it is released.
Where can I ask questions?
At the moment most stuff is under NDA to anyone who knows but you can email me or the contact people above through their blog. If its something I can answer I will put the answer up here. There is a thread on channel 9 if you want to hypothesize about NDA stuff.
When will this be released?
Currently nothing is announced.
What are the licensing terms for XNA Framework? Can we use the XNA Framework without paying a fortune for licensing? Will there be some sort of free XNA Framework SDK, just like the good old DirectX SDK ?
This technology is at a very early stage right now. Based on my experience of other Microsoft products from when I worked there I doubt details like this are anything other than an idea right now. Nothing has been announced about licensing or pricing.
What about the CNet article that said it would cost $100
This is speculation as far as I know - notice that 'Microsoft did not respond to multiple requests for comment.'
Will we be able to develop MDX2 applications that not only would run on XBOX360 but also could be deployed to XBOX360 by us?
Nothing has been announced other than CLR is running on a 360 dev kit and Tom Miller has moved to the XNA team.
Are there any media reports with the facts?
Gamespot has a decent interview with Chris Satchell which seems neither over hyped or speculative.
Will it be possible to run the exact same binaries on a Windows PC as well as on XBOX360?
Not sure, though given that .Net programs are just IL and a CLR exists in both places it would seem to make sense.
Except the namespaces defined by CLI standard (Base Class Library), what other namespaces that we got used to in the .NET Framework will be available for that CLR ? For example will we be able to run Windows Forms apllications on that CLR? (I am assuming correctly, that the XBOX360-CLR is CLI compliant, right ?)
The product is still in development so this is a moving target. However notice that development of it is being done by the Compact framework team who generally work on cut down versions of the framework. Plus there are some bits of the CLR such as System.Data that really have no reason to exist on the 360.
I highly doubt there will be anything from System.Windows.Forms on Xbox360 Not unless they have also reimplemented GDI+ and User32. It'll be MDX or nothing.
Maybe now the comment about the removal of Windows.Forms makes a little more sense! In addtion read Tom's post which explains that MDX gets folded into XNA framework and what is currently MDX 2.0 beta will never ship as MDX 2.0, but will appear as XNA framework. Al also has some information on which parts of Managed DirectX will make it across.
So what happens to Managed DirectX?
How will this affect Sony and the PS3? Any chance of C# running on there?
Hopefully (being a Microsoft fanboy), Sony are having a lot of very confused meetings right now worrying about the prospect of a homebrew 360 scene. Sure Microsoft have not announced this is the direction they are going but based on the emails I have got lots of you think this is a likely direction so Sony have to too. As for C# running on the PS3.... yes I know your teacher told you there is no such thing as a stupid questions but she was wrong!
As you've probably noticed, its been a little quiet round here lately which you may find odd given that 2 weeks ago we had the biggest Managed DirectX news since Tom Miller announced he was quitting world of warcraft.
Well the reason wasn't because I have given up. I was, in fact, visiting family in the UK and and having some vacation time in in a place that didn't actually have any internet access. I was very impressed to see the XNA framework was mentioned on the BBC while I was away.
But now I'm back and just in time for the launch of the beta that will probably help cause world peace. I mean how can anyone waste time having a war when there are xbox 360 games to be written. Many many things to update you on in the next couple of days and of course many many more once the release is public and I can talk about some of the things I have had to keep secret for so long.
Well today is the first day of Gamefest where we are expecting some news regarding the XNA framework. Sadly The ZMan is not able to attend, nor update the site with the news as it happens. So until I return I suggest you watch the microsoft xna site or gamedev.net for new announcements.
If you've not already found it then go and download it from Microsoft.com
Looks like the big news for this release is shader debugging is back, but its in PIX not within visual studio so I'm not sure if it works the same or not. No changes in the managed status.
As I've previously mentioned I will, of course, be covering XNA Framework in just as much detail. It appears to be the future of managed code and gaming and 100% in line with my goals for the site. I'm not sure of exactly what will happen to Managed DirectX 1.1 (2.0 is known to be dead), nor what managed APIs will exist for DirectX 10 but those will also continue to be covered.
With that in mind I've changed the the tags for the site so that I should move up the search rankings for XNA framework a little. If you have a blog or website you can help by linking to http://www.thezbuffer.com with 'XNA framework' in the link.
