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Monday, September 18, 2006

XNA Quotes

Microsoft's XNA studio for the 360 has come up in a couple of interviews. First at Gamasutra's Introversion talk:

What's Introversion's take on the recent indie-gaming populist rise with Microsoft's XNA club announcement?

Microsoft are putting a lot of effort into supporting XBox development. It's great to see them investing in something like XNA club as a kind of incubator for new ideas. I think the terms prohibit commercal release of any titles, so I don't think it will generate that many new independent games, but I do think it'll provide a breeding ground for experimentation that can then be taken forward - that can only be a good thing.
-- Gamasutra - Q&A: Introversion's Bedroom Programmer Survival Guide

And then Shacknews recently sat down with CliffyB:

Shack: During Microsoft's GameFest 2006 in Seattle, the company announced XNA Game Studio Express, which will allow almost anyone to compile and run their own code on Xbox 360 units.

Do you see this as a step in the right direction for the industry? What are your thoughts on homebrew in general?
CliffyB: I think it's awesome. I get emails all the time from people who want to get into the biz; it's trickier now than it was when I was a teenager and every possible venue for these eager gamers to get in is a step in the right direction. It's that young blood that's going to be able to take the design risks that the big guy just can't afford to do. It's the guys at gaming school who do a portal game that Valve then works with to make a new and innovative game like Portal.
-- Interview with CliffyB

It's really getting great feedback so far, for such a nascent idea. I'm convinced this is because the idea itself is sound and most people are willing to give Microsoft slack for any issues with implentation right now. I wish they'd make the XNA Xbox I compatible, since a cheaper SDTV friendly console is way more ubiqitous than an HDTV friendly one.

And by the by, that CliffB interview has some interesting points on using cinematics and gameplay.


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