Microsoft's new initiative: Something called "XNA"

[Ed Oscuro]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/501/501368p1.html?fromint=1

Hmm...

J Allard: Yeah, you're my general contractor and we're building a house together. What do you do? You go down to Sears and you buy a Stanley hammer, a Black and Decker saw, you're gonna buy a MAKITA drill, you're gonna mix and match tools that are appropriate for you. When you walk out the door, hopefully you don't have to make another trip. If you're remodeling the kitchen instead of building a new house you'll make a different set of selections; your budget is different and the scale of your team might be different. Every GC's trip to Sears looks a little different but Sears arranges everything on pegs and you're guaranteed that your power tools will all work in a three-prong outlet. There are standards in terms of nails and hammers and weights and gauges that allow interoperability between the guys that make the screws and the guys that make the screwdrivers.

If the three of us want to make a game, where's Sears? There isn't. We send you out to the Black and Decker store, and Dean to the Makita store and I go to the Craftsmen store. When we come back, hopefully, we have enough stuff to build the house but we'll probably have to make a few return trips. And then none of the stuff plugs into the same outlets. We have to rewire the freaking house before we even start to remodel. That's what game development is like today.

That's a sense of what this is about. They want to make game development easier, standardize things, and make it so the low-budget folks can compete once again. Sounds very interesting indeed!

[Gamereviewgod]

You know, I've seen the videos, but I still have no idea what I'm looking at. And if this is some sort of standardizing, isn't this just a way for Microsoft to control EVRYONE?

"Want to make games? Give us more money!"

[Oobgarm]

But after watching those 3 videos they have up, it's a damn good looking standard to build off of.

I laughed my ass off at the car crash one.

[Gzilla23]

Standard development tools would be a great thing. I'd love to see a game come out on time and not be rushed. Developers could do more creative things and not have to scrap multiplayer ,like in the upcoming Fable for Xbox, cause they dont have the time. And as far as this being a way for Microsoft to control everything, I doubt it....there will be competition.....someone else will jump on this idea as well and implement thier own evolving toolset.

[Jasoco]

I loved the Crash one. That's some pretty nice physics. I'd love it of racing games could have more realistic physics. Of course, Sony's Gran Turismo games will always remain "Damage Free" because of the stupid car companies not wanting their reputations tarnished. Bah.

I didn't get the Film Noir one. It made no sense. Same thing over and over. Can't that be done now? I mean really. And the woman looked really bad if you ask me.

The Creatures one was blah... BLAH. Boring. Blah.

[§ Gideon §]

J Allard: Yeah, you're my general contractor and we're building a house together. What do you do? You go down to Sears and you buy a Stanley hammer, a Black and Decker saw, you're gonna buy a MAKITA drill, you're gonna mix and match tools that are appropriate for you. When you walk out the door, hopefully you don't have to make another trip. If you're remodeling the kitchen instead of building a new house you'll make a different set of selections; your budget is different and the scale of your team might be different. Every GC's trip to Sears looks a little different but Sears arranges everything on pegs and you're guaranteed that your power tools will all work in a three-prong outlet. There are standards in terms of nails and hammers and weights and gauges that allow interoperability between the guys that make the screws and the guys that make the screwdrivers.

If the three of us want to make a game, where's Sears? There isn't. We send you out to the Black and Decker store, and Dean to the Makita store and I go to the Craftsmen store. When we come back, hopefully, we have enough stuff to build the house but we'll probably have to make a few return trips. And then none of the stuff plugs into the same outlets. We have to rewire the freaking house before we even start to remodel. That's what game development is like today.

That's a sense of what this is about. They want to make game development easier, standardize things, and make it so the low-budget folks can compete once again. Sounds very interesting indeed!

I find this analogy moot, and applying it to the game industry would stifle all innovation.

Think about it: When something new is made, new tools are required to make it. While the example above sounds dandy, realistically, we'd all be stuck with tables, chairs, and variations thereof. What happens when someone wants a fucking flying car? You can't make that with your Craftsman...