Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Something XNA This Way Comes
Posted by Adam Krebs in "Zune Talk" @ 09:30 PM
XNA Program Manager extraordinare Mike Klucher sat down with Channel 9 to discuss the upcoming XNA Game Studio package and showed a couple new games running on Zune. For the most part they seemed to run smoothly and with high framerates, but I wonder how battery life is going to hold up with these graphics-rich applications. In the video, Klucher showcases a game called Alien Takeover that's similar in concept to Space Invaders (but without a few of the Classic's elements) that just looks gorgeous.
He hinted that the "games" menu option might not be limited to just games. Developers have access to the full range of metadata within the Zune file system, and can use that to play a song in-game and perhaps even create an Audiosurf-like application that bases its levels on the rhythm of a chosen tune. He says they're a couple weeks away from release, but given that one of his 80's crashed mid-loading screen (which he blamed on multiple framework versions), I'm hoping they use these next few weeks to smooth out any potential issues. Regardless, I can't wait!
He hinted that the "games" menu option might not be limited to just games. Developers have access to the full range of metadata within the Zune file system, and can use that to play a song in-game and perhaps even create an Audiosurf-like application that bases its levels on the rhythm of a chosen tune. He says they're a couple weeks away from release, but given that one of his 80's crashed mid-loading screen (which he blamed on multiple framework versions), I'm hoping they use these next few weeks to smooth out any potential issues. Regardless, I can't wait!
