Microsoft Announces XNA

[The Future]

Finally students and hobbyists can have a crack at developing console games for the XBox 360 on their computers and even releasing them commercially. How do you all think this will go over with the general technological community? Discuss

http://www.microsoft.com/xna/

 

[jaeusm]

I think it's an interesting move by Microsoft. What I find the most interesting is that they're writing a CLR for the Xbox. Looks like future games will be developed in C#, which has the potential to ease development (as compared to C++) and shorten the amount of time games spend in development.

 

[The Future]

I'm not very knowledgeable about the game development field. What were games developed in before this move? Is this the first step towards object-oriented design in console games, or has that already been a thing in the past? If this is a move toward OOP, it could mean a lot bigger volume of games, with fewer glitches and greater reliability, as well as titles coming out faster for (perhaps,) cheaper prices because it'll take programmers less time to code them.

 

[jaeusm]

Games have traditionally been developed in C/C++. Using C# is not a move toward OOP, as that's largely the paradigm already in use.

As for speeding up development time, that's strictly my opinion. In theory, developing with C# could yield an increase in programmer efficiency, but it may not speed development all that much in practice. Time will tell.

If you're interested in learning more about game development, you can take some online classes (they're not free, but they are cheap compared to university costs) at The Game Institute.

 

[hillbillybob]

C# you say....hmmm, sounds like a ploy to make you buy Visual Studio 2005.

Call me old fashiond, but C/C++ has been around, and probably won't die out nearly as quickly as something like Visual Basic. I wonder though if that's done with the CLR, as with .NET 1.1 or 2.0, if it wouldln't allow portability between languages. I mean, .NET 2.0, as long as you specify, with JIT and the ability to interpret any language that VS 2005 supports (VB, C#, J#, C++)

hmmm....Im a gonna have to get my hands on it. Now I am intrigued.

BTW...I know they offer Visual Studio Express Editions for free, but let's face it, when looking for free IDE's, your better off with something like Dev-CPP or Netbeans for free IDE's

 

[jaeusm]

I don't think C/C++ is in any danger of dying out. They definitely have their place. However, C# and .NET are easier to work with than C++ and win32.

Visual Basic hasn't died out yet. It has a strong presence in creating business apps. I've never used VB.NET, though, nor have I had a desire to.

As for different languages, .NET supports 19 or 20 the last time I checked. However, C# is Microsoft's baby. They would love to see it choke the life out of Java. Microsoft is making improvements to C# much faster than Sun is improving Java.

Speaking of free IDE's, you can use SharpDevelop for C# and VB.NET. It's very nice.

 

[hillbillybob]

I don't think C/C++ is in any danger of dying out. They definitely have their place. However, C# and .NET are easier to work with than C++ and win32.

Visual Basic hasn't died out yet. It has a strong presence in creating business apps. I've never used VB.NET, though, nor have I had a desire to.

As for different languages, .NET supports 19 or 20 the last time I checked. However, C# is Microsoft's baby. They would love to see it choke the life out of Java. Microsoft is making improvements to C# much faster than Sun is improving Java.

Speaking of free IDE's, you can use SharpDevelop for C# and VB.NET. It's very nice.

19 or 20...I only heard of four (C#, C++, VB.NET, J#)

I see what your saying on VB....I just don't think it's nearly as powerful. I had to take two classes in college (VB 6) and though it was easy and fun, I liked the inheirent power that is C++ and Java.

Yes, anything is easier to work with than C++ and Win32

Ya, .NET is MS baby, and they are pedling it pretty hard. I agree that MS is making more changes to .NET, and faster than Sun is making to Java........but let's face it, Java is still very powerful, and I believe they are or have made it open source.

I stand corrected on the issue of IDE's

One point I do want to bring up....why does MS seem to think they own the Standards on everything? VC++ does not follow ANSI/ISO C++ standards, MSXML does not follow W3C XML standards, and IE does not completly comply with web standards as well.

I apologize, this may seem off topic, but I do have a point. XNA....who wants to bet that in two years, according to MS it will be the standard in game development. XBOX 360, MS Windows PC, they are already leaning towards.

 

[jaeusm]

Here's a list of languages supported by .NET. There are actually 23 languages in this list.

 

[hillbillybob]

Thanks, that was enlightening - I stand corrected

*edit* -- I want to discuss something though. .NET does not support true Java....it will not be interoperable with Sun's Java, JNI, RNI, or the JVM for that matter. Most of the classes MS .NET J# will operate with is only applicable up to Java 1.2, and since we have Java 6 out now....I would say that's a long ways.

 

[jaeusm]

J# is not meant to be interoperable with Java per se. It's more of a means of coaxing/easing Java developers over to .NET. J# is not the focus of Microsoft, C# is the focus.

Remember Visual J++? At that time, Visual Studio was the best development environment for Java. However, Microsoft over-stepped their bounds (as they have a tendency to do), and started adding extensions to J++, which resulted in making J++/Java platform specific. Sun then threatened legal action. It was (and still is) Sun's goal to keep Java platform neutral.

As a result, Microsoft dropped support for J++ altogether. Thus the creation of C# (and its extreme similarity to Java). It has often been speculated and reported that Microsoft would have used Java to drive .NET had this incident not happened. So don't expect much out of J#.