nelly furtado - promiscuous

promiscuous by nelly furtado, Kaci with puppet timbaland

XNA = Indie EA?

OK the hype for Microsofts' XNA free toolset is still big in the news, but what does it mean to the Xbox 360 community as a whole? Well nothing tbh the initial 30th August release has no 360 support capabilities so it'll be another lets Clone defender Windows construction kit, like many other Games development kits available (google games development).

So lets jump forward to November (the full release is penciled in for Holidays 2006) and look at what we can expect to see then...

Well first we have to get the update to make it 360 compatible, get our $99 Creators Club Sub, and then download the 360 runtime which allows for unsigned code to be run on our 360s'... Huh what we need a runtime on our 360s' to run unsigned code? How do we share the game we write with our friends?

Well you get them to pay $99 to be part of the Creators Club, then follow the instructions from the XNA FAQ which reads :-

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.

• 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


• The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360


• The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC


• 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.

But that doesn't sound much like the youtube of games, it is if you remember that the free tool set allows Commercial release of Windows Games, but that's not what all the hype has been about, it has been about creating games that people who wouldn't play games on their PC can play on their 360s' well erm Microsoft can offer that too!! With you $99 sub in hand you get your hands on the XNA Pro tool set! This version includes everything you need to write your own Live Arcade game, Code libraries supporting Achievements, Leaderboards, Multi-player Woo Hoo!!! But wait there's more, quoting Dave Weller (of Lets Kill Dave) on the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) forums



Thanks for the compliment about XNA. We've only just begun :-)

XNA Game Studio Express is meant to enable hobbyists and students to build games for both Windows and the Xbox 360.

XNA Game Studio Professional is meant for professional developers that want to formally publish games through the Xbox Live Arcade system or create a retail Xbox 360 game. This requires entry into the Xbox Registered Developer Program, and it not for individuals or hobbyist developers.

Keep in mind that you can also release Windows versions of XNA Framework games commercially once the XNA Framework goes into initial release.

We are looking at ways to help XNA Game Studio Express developers gain visibility to the work that they are doing, and welcome your suggestions and thoughts.

So the Youtube of gaming is infact a crock it's a finance revenue, I'd put money on over 80% of stuff developed on the free tool set never gets seen off of the PC it was created on. I keep mentioning the free tool set the reson for this is I can see the XNA Game Studio Professional costing money due to the fact it opens the 360 libraries to developers, which is why you also need to be in the Xbox Registered Developer Program of which their are some slightly harsh entry requirements (taken from Xbox.com

Key Points

• The The Xbox RDP is open to established professional game development studios with a history of shipped titles and good industry references. If you represent a startup company, you may be considered if the team is made up of experienced individuals.


• Applications for entry to the Registered Developer Program may be requested by emailing a request to XboxUDev@microsoft.com.


• Please include complete contact information and a brief description of your company.


• Applying developers will be required to execute a non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft® prior to being considered for the program.


• If accepted, the developer will be allowed to purchase Xbox and/or Xbox 360 Development Kit licenses, subject to availability and the terms of the License Agreement.


• Developer support under this program is limited to access to Web-based information/materials and newsgroups access, and may include invitations to participate in Xbox technical seminars.

NOTE: Acceptance into the Xbox Registered Developer Program in no way implies any endorsement by Microsoft of the developer or their work, and does not guarantee approval of the work as an authorized Xbox title by Microsoft. NO XBOX SOFTWARE PRODUCT(S) MAY BE PUBLISHED, OR DISTRIBUTED TO END USERS, EXCEPT BY A LICENSED PUBLISHER PURSUANT TO AN XBOX DEVELOPMENT KIT AND XBOX PUBLISHER LICENSE AGREEMENT EXECUTED BY MICROSOFT.


Suddenly makes the claims of personal stalls on the market place look so far out of reach of the usual homebrew code team it looks like it was Microsoft drumming up publicity for a sub standard, limited usage product which is so totally unlike them pffft.

The only good thing I can see about the program is for the colleges who've signed up to it as it creates a proper development enviroment that many of the students could find themselves in once they leave and get jobs in the games development market but to hobbiests looking to break the 360? keep with what you know you've probably paid for that already anyway.

p.s.
Oh you found the title misleading? It was based on the fact that most home brew games are clones of another game with slightly improved gameplay and game mechanics something that we all have come to realize is what EA does with all it IP.

Fame At last?

w00t I've been made famous over at Xboxic, I was mentioned here and here.

I'm pretty sure I should of also got a mention over at Major Nelsons' blog for pointing him towards Official PS3 Magazine Editor to buy Xbox 360 Horror (horror added and empathsised by myself), but I'm not bitter about it grrrrrr.

In other news Microsoft are feeling a bit bullish with the 360 today with their XNA Game Studio announcement today, causing a bit of a stir

• Press buzz:
• 1up.com: Microsoft hopes to create a YouTube-like space on Live for user-created games.
• Gamespot.com: "Microsoft unveils 'anybody' XNA
• Slashdot: Microsoft To Enable User-Created Xbox 360 Games
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Microsoft aims for 'YouTube of games'
• Shacknews: Microsoft to Open Up Xbox 360 Development (plus a few more tidbits about the Garage Games announcement of Torque X for the XNA Framework)
• Gizmodo: Microsoft To Let Regular Joes Develop Xbox 360 Games
  
• Macworld: Microsoft allows anyone to create XBox games
• Gamesindustry.biz: Microsoft to "democratise game development" with new dev platfor
• BBC: Xbox outlines 'YouTube for games'
• New York Times: Microsoft Has a Starter Kit for Aspiring Game Developers

(the buzz was 'liberated' from letskilldave.com)

Dave is a Game Developer Community Manager working for Microsoft, so he won't mind my 'fair use' of his site ;)

Anyway that pretty much sums my day up so far... Apart from being signed of work for a week with whiplash, and having notification of my ISP migration later this week so all's rosey :-D.