A game should have playable modes even if the detachable drive is removed.
Microsoft said:• Minimize load times. Console games don’t install to a hard drive—they run directly from the game disc, so using the game disc effectively is important. Plan to stream data from the disc throughout the game, plan to compress game data, and offload decompression to a separate thread. Consider replicating data to avoid unnecessary seeking.
Microsoft said:• Don’t assume the console player has a memory unit or that the hard drive is always attached. A game should have playable modes even if the detachable drive is removed.
Nikashi said:This one particular line is interesting:
Notice it didn't say the game had to be playable, just had to have playable MODES.
MS DOC said:Multithread your game engine. Single-threaded games use only a third of the potential processing power of the system.
Design for controller input, not for keyboard & mouse input. Console players press simple buttons—they don’t move the mouse or tap a keyboard.
lips said:Here is a big whipping surprise. 3 threads not 6, microsoft? what happened? suddenly a single thread can tap full power of a cpu core? Direct from microsoft, they must not verify their facts across their different departments.
polg said:PDZ The Minigame for the Retard pack!
ddkawaii said:Three cores with each core having two hw threads -- no contradiction at all.
raYne said:Nothing any developer shouldn't know unless they're a bunch of idiots... (see Activision).
lips said:really 3 cores x 2 threads > 3 threads in my book, but it doesn't really matter to me.
:lol :lol :lol• Be aware of the title-safe region on televisions—that is, avoid displaying critical UI elements or text in the outer edges of the screen.
have you seen tony hawk and gun pix?Kleegamefan said:Explain??
The Faceless Master said::lol :lol :lol
man the sure do state some obvious stuff!
The Faceless Master said:have you seen tony hawk and gun pix?
Minimize load times. Console games donÂ’t install to a hard drive-they run directly from the game disc, so using the game disc effectively is important. Plan to stream data from the disc throughout the game, plan to compress game data, and offload decompression to a separate thread. Consider replicating data to avoid unnecessary seeking.
Not a standalone KB, it's a mini KB that rests underneath the controller (between the lower section of the handles). A mouse was never planned as far as I know.Kleegamefan said:I thought X360 was going to have a M/KB option??
Pretty much what he said, just more eloquent.have you seen tony hawk and gun pix?
Mrbob said:This is where I think the PS3 has a huge advantage for using Blu Ray:
With the extra space in a Blu Ray disc replicating data for quicker seek times will be much more common. Xbox 360 DVD disc may fill up quick so you can't replicate data as much for quicker seek times.
Mrbob said:This is where I think the PS3 has a huge advantage for using Blu Ray:
With the extra space in a Blu Ray disc replicating data for quicker seek times will be much more common. Xbox 360 DVD disc may fill up quick so you can't replicate data as much for quicker seek times.
It may end up being the only case, but I'm willing to bet you'll be able to play Final Fantasy XI without a controller.PG2G said:IIRC, the keyboard will only be used for text input, not for controlling games.
Scott said:It may end up being the only case, but I'm willing to bet you'll be able to play Final Fantasy XI without a controller.
mj1108 said:I'd bet that as well since not everyone will have the keyboard attachment.
sonycowboy said:True, but there could be a trade-off if the Blu-Ray drive doesn't go more than 2x vs 12x DVD (72Mbs or 108Mbs, depending on who you ask vs 132Mbs on 12x DVD)
lips said:really 3 cores x 2 threads > 3 threads in my book, but it doesn't really matter to me.
Kleegamefan said:There are 6 available HW threads in XeCPU AFAIK......XeCPU= three dual-threaded PPC cores....
The Faceless Master said::lol :lol :lol
man the sure do state some obvious stuff!
have you seen tony hawk and gun pix?
• Consider using a television as an output device during development. PC-to-TV video adaptors are widely available.
References
Xbox 360 system specifications: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox360/factsheet.htm
Xbox 360 consumer site: http://www.xbox360.com/
Visual Studio: http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/
DirectX Software Development Kit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/
XACT for Windows is currently in beta. You can apply for the beta at http://beta.microsoft.com/ using the Guest ID: XACTBeta.
OpenMP: http://www.openmp.org/
Unpublished work. ©2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Kewk said:I do not ever remember seeing MS use this type of header/footer in any documentation. I'll have to double check with the early alpha documentation though to be for sure.
Like I said I have no clue why anyone would fake this but it does seem odd.
Kewk
Works for Activision
Mrbob said:I see. Call of Duty 2 has a ton of characters on screen. The smoke effects are nice. I hope the lighting isn't finished though. Man, if CoD2 is the best looking X360 launch game I'm gonna be dissapointed with the supposed power of the X360. I'm expecting PD0 to trounce CoD2 graphically. CoD2 doesn't exactly scream next gen to me. It screams high res PC game. It looks like something that will run on my 9800 PRO. If we are talking about Xbox 360 and PC games I'd say Oblivion is much easier on the eyes than Call of Duty 2.
lips said:Here is a big whipping surprise. 3 threads not 6, microsoft? what happened? suddenly a single thread can tap full power of a cpu core?
A simple architecture for multithreading on Xbox 360 uses one thread for world updates and another thread for graphics processing. An additional CPU core can be used for audio, decompression, geometry generation or other game tasks.
Avoid walking linked-lists or any other data structure that has nodes spread across memory. Avoid walking any large data structure more than once per frame. Prefer contiguous data structures, like arrays.
Kewk said:This implys that the adaptors are were not provided by MS when in fact all alpha hardware came with everything you could possibly need including this adapter.
Amir0x said:CoD2 looks much better in motion, I'm sure you've seen. I doubt PD0 will look better than it, unless it's improved at least 30 or 40% since its unveiling. Oblivion and it are definitely among the top tier, imho. If Project Gotham Racing 3 makes it in the period, that's there too.
Mrbob said:Yeah, it looks decent, and I'll get the game for the PC. But when I think about Xbox 360, I dunno, it just doesn't seem like a game that screams next gen is here.
Mrbob said:Yeah well I'm not getting the feeling of working harder.
From what I"ve been reading X360 and PS3 should be close in power. So I guess I better lower expectations for PLAYSTATION 3 as well.
Mrbob said:From what I"ve been reading X360 and PS3 should be close in power. So I guess I better lower expectations for PLAYSTATION 3 as well.
PS3 may create the hugest eat crow thread ever. That is for those who go on believing the sun rises and sets in its majesty. The difference is going to turn out to be closer to the xbox/gamecube level than people will admit now.
krypt0nian said:PS3 may create the hugest eat crow thread ever. That is for those who go on believing the sun rises and sets in its majesty. The difference is going to turn out to be closer to the xbox/gamecube level than people will admit now.
I know Ami is just funnin with us, though.. =)
Amir0x said:Man, please. You're just jealous about the PS3s eye-opening power. Wait until you see it, for upon its first hands-on unveiling people will speak wonders about the boomerang controller, write books about the first time they saw the white light of Gundam: Game 2000 Version Bot Eighty Undeniable Cooljet Edition.
A world will be changed soon. Upon the foreheads of all, "MGS4."
krypt0nian said:You're right to have seen though my weakness. Please punish me now.
krypt0nian said:PS3 may create the hugest eat crow thread ever. That is for those who go on believing the sun rises and sets in its majesty. The difference is going to turn out to be closer to the xbox/gamecube level than people will admit now.
Mrbob said:I dunno, it just doesn't seem like a game that screams next gen is here.
calm down there buddy, i was merely explaining rayne's comment to klee...Kewk said:There is a difference between a port and a full fledged Xbox 360 game. Have you not seen COD2? Easily the best looking launch title for the 360. Or Quake 4?
Mrbob said:^^^
Maybe that is a more current build, but the models on the X360 OXM CoD2 video did not look nearly as nice.