GDC 2010, Day 1: The Missing Middle
Microsoft XNA And Sony's Playstation Move
Microsoft's XNA Studio And Windows Phone 7
Microsoft always conducts a suite of developer sessions at GDC, and this year is no exception. One of the more interesting sessions focused on game development for the upcoming Windows Phone 7.
Windows Phone 7 hardware specs will be more stringent and more tightly codified than the old Windows Mobile. For example, minimum screen resolutions and 3D hardware acceleration are required. Microsoft rebuilt DirectX from the ground up for the needs of mobile computing; while developers will be familiar with API elements, what’s under the hood is more attuned to the needs of low power, low resolution game development.
Using XNA Studio will give developers a single platform to develop for Xbox 360, Windows 7, and Windows Phone 7. Microsoft demoed the same game running on all three platforms. It’s all managed code, too--C# and .NET are the key underpinnings. Managed code makes multi-platform support easier, since the app is compiled at run-time.
Like the Xbox 360, phones built on Windows Phone 7 will offer hardware scalers, allowing games to be developed at lower resolutions, but scale automatically to higher-res displays as needed. Full support for autorotation and multiple aspect ratios is also part of the toolkit.
Of course, Microsoft has a huge boulder to push uphill. As good as Windows Phone 7 appears to be, Apple’s massive lead with the iPhone and the low-cost business model of Android still attracts more developers. Microsoft’s future in phones is still pretty cloudy, but at least it's making the right kinds of noises.
Sony Announces Playstation Move
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Despite the reduced developer mindshare, consoles have not gone away. Sony held a press conference announcing its new motion controller, which seems to behave like a more precise version of Nintendo’s Wiimote. There’s even a secondary controller, a la the Nintendo “nunchuck.”
What’s also required, however, is the Sony Playstation Eye, a webcam-like device. Sony demoed sports games and a next-gen Socom shooter title that will work with the Move.
Playstation Move seems very much like a “me too” device--perhaps improved over Nintento’s device--but not really offering substantial additional functionality. How that will play against the Nintendo juggernaut on one side and Microsoft’s intriguing Natal project is anyone’s guess.
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Onus nVidia, please take a Bullet for the team. Let PhysX die, and embrace a shared, open standard.Reply
ATi, if it will help them swallow a bitter pill, do your 3D their way.
To get the best features, I don't want to be limited to only certain games based on whose GPU I bought. You'll fracture the PC gaming market, and I really don't see how that is in anyone's interests. -
rad666 jtt283nVidia, please take a Bullet for the team. Let PhysX die, and embrace a shared, open standard.ATi, if it will help them swallow a bitter pill, do your 3D their way.To get the best features, I don't want to be limited to only certain games based on whose GPU I bought. You'll fracture the PC gaming market, and I really don't see how that is in anyone's interests.Reply
I second the motion. -
JohnnyLucky Interesting developments. I don't think the major players really want to share unless it is absolutely, positively necessary.Reply -
bitterman0 jtt283nVidia, please take a Bullet for the team. Let PhysX die, and embrace a shared, open standard. ATi, if it will help them swallow a bitter pill, do your 3D their way.To get the best features, I don't want to be limited to only certain games based on whose GPU I bought. You'll fracture the PC gaming market, and I really don't see how that is in anyone's interests.rad666I second the motion.It's called "competition". And it is considered a norm to have two or even more (in extreme cases) competing technologies to become "standard". After a while only one technology remains and becomes a de-facto standard. Nothing to get yourself worked up about, really.Reply -
falchard Since nVidia does not have the performance crown, they most likely will be unable to push a closed standard like PhysX or nVision. Any game developer who uses such technology will do so at a dive in the total amount of customers they can have.Reply -
shin0bi272 I thought amd didnt want anything to do with physics... are they scared of nvidia's physx now or something? All of a sudden they are pushing for an open source standard when 3 or 4 years ago when ageia was up for sale they wouldnt touch it with a 10ft pole. Seems amd is scrambling to find a solution that will benefit them equally with their competitors because they screwed up and are now covering their asses while pointing their finger at nvidia saying that a hardware dependent solution is unfair etc etc.Reply -
Trueno07 Ahhh i love seeing this.. Rebirth of the PC and with it, new and flourishing competition.Reply
Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. -
Onus Oh, I'm all for competition. Compete on price and performance though, not on a mutually exclusive feature set that forces uncomfortable choices. People complain about game quality now, how do you think it will get when developers know they're only writing for that portion of the market that uses {ATi | nVidia} ? Ugly. Or compete on a value-add. Write a driver that uses one vertical column of pixels at each edge as a sort of "sound level meter," so those of us who are deaf in one ear (or entirely) will know where the sound is coming from; stuff like that.Reply -
I don't see any reason for nVidia to drop PhysX, since Bullet will run on the GeForce chips just fine using OpenCL or DirectCompute, but if the game supports PhysX then nVidia can get a boost in performance since that's specifically designed for their chips.Reply
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Isnt the Xbox "Microsoft" Natal compatible with windows? Wonder how many games will support it.Reply