"Microsoft XNA is the catalyst for a new ecosystem of interchangeable, interoperable software tools and technologies from Microsoft, middleware and game development companies. By integrating software innovations across Microsoft platforms and across the industry, XNA forms a common environment that liberates developers from spending too much time writing mundane, repetitive boilerplate code. Instead, XNA frees game creators to spend their time where it matters most -on the creativity that differentiates their games. The XNA development platform will serve as the foundation for future game platforms from Microsoft, including Windows, Xbox and Windows Mobile-based devices. Games on future iterations of Microsoft game platforms will be powered by tools and technologies from the XNA ecosystem. XNA dramatically improves the way games are produced, helping contain skyrocketing development costs by reducing the amount of time developers spend writing mundane, repetitive boilerplate code for complex new hardware. The XNA ecosystem integrates new and existing tools and technologies from Microsoft and its partners so that developers can make better games, faster. Illustrating the potential of the XNA development platform, Microsoft made a series of announcements about its own video game tools and technologies in four key areas: online, input, graphics and audio. In response to strong customer demand, Xbox Live? development tools for functionality such as billing, security, login, friends and matchmaking will be made available to Windows developers. The tools will make it easier to create the same social, unified online gaming experiences on Windows that game players have come to expect on Xbox. On the input front, as part of XNA, Microsoft will develop a common controller interface and unify input APIs and button standards across multiple platforms. The result will be a family of common controllers for Windows and Xbox game players. In addition, the move will fuel a whole new wave of compelling, cross-platform input devices from peripheral manufacturers. In graphics and audio, many tools such as PIX (an analysis tool) and XACT (an audio authoring tool) - previously available only to Xbox developers - now will be available on Windows as part of the XNA development platform. Likewise, innovations from Windows such as High-Level Shader Language (HLSL) will come to Xbox. The DirectX® API and the Visual Studio® development system will continue to be the baseline environment for both platforms. Collectively, these tools and technologies will enable movie-quality graphics while forming the impetus for new software that will help developers cope with the looming complexity of high-definition video and audio." XNA Home
If they do it right, it will be awesome. I've never been a fan of online console games, but if they start integrating them into the pc gaming environment (alla FFXI) without nerfing games with great potential (alla Deus Ex II) it could be great. My expectations aren't high though; being the pessimist that I am its going to get screwed up somewhere along the line.
It's Microsoft... ...It's kind of inevitable. IF and IF they do it correctly, and it actually DOES work, then it'd be pretty sweet. The video features have been good as of yet.
It's Microsoft... ...It's kind of inevitable. [/b][/quote] As well as bugs... ... Bunny. , can there be an MS product with no problems?
Not exactly to merge the XBOX with the PC, but they're trying to dominate the home entertainment system as well as with cross-platform gaming.