J2i.Net

If you are just getting started with Silverlight, XNA, and Windows Phone 7 there are two eBooks in development that are available for you to download. The first is by Charles Petzold, a vetran author of Windows programming books for atleast the past 20 years. You can find the sample of his book (to be published by the Microsoft Press) here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/C/8/7C820C6F-C205-4ECF-B9F3-1505DD13F9BF/ProgWinPhonePreview.pdf . The second book published through O'Reilly and Associates can be found here http://answers.oreilly.com/topic/1191-how-to-get-started-with-windows-phone-programming/

Tags: Windows Phone, eBook

This is from one of the slides shared at GDC

• Visual Studio 2010
• XNA Game Studio 4.0
  • Silverlight and XNA Framework
  • Windows Phone 7 Series, Xbox, and Windows Project Templates
  • Debugging Support
• C# Development
  • .Net Framework (Windows)
  • .Net Compact Framework (Xbox, Windows Phone 7 Series)

I can't help but notice VB.Net is missing (note: that is in no way a complaint, VB.Net was also unsupported in previous XNA versions). To use the Xbox Live APIs you must be partnered with Microsoft and meet additional certification requirements. So I won't talk much about Xbox Live services in the future. Most of us (including myself) won't have access to it.

Tags: XNA, Xbox, Windows Phone

XNA Game Studio will be made public within the next one to two months. Here's a few of the updates

• You'll be able to use the Mouse APIs on Windows Phones. The Mouse API will actually use the Multitouch functionality and return the position of rhte first point.
• There are two XNA Profiles, Reach and HighDef
  • The Reach profile prvide maximum compatibility across the three screens
  • The HighDef profile is for Xbox/PC. While it lacks WP7S Compatibility it lets you take advantage of the device's capabiities
• The Multitouch APIs are now available to Windows targets
• The ZuneHD won't be getting XNA 4.0
• XNA 4.0 isn't designed to be backwards compatibile with XNA 3.1. Compatibility was sacrificed in the interest of progress.
• Windows Phones will have the Same aspect ratio but different screen resolutions
  • To the developer both devices have the same resolution. WP7S contains hardware scaling
  • WP7S also contains hardware functionality for scree rotation
• Custom effects are not available on Windows Phone 7 Series
• Emulator will be available. You don't need to own a Windows 7 Phone.

Tags: Windows Phone, Xna, Xbox, WP7S

On a podcast the other day one of the members was a little upset that a Windows Phone 7 Series SDK isn't yet available. While the SDK will be welcomed I'm not completly convinced that its curreny lack of availability is a road block for developers

XNA Game Studio 3.1 is available right now and if you download it you can start getting used to the SDK on your PC. If you have a ZuneHD or an Xbox 360 you can use those too. The SDK is really easy to use. You can grab it from http://creators.xna.com

While you are at it check out the 800+ games that are currently available that were written in XNA. There are some pretty cool looking games in the catalogue.

Tags: XNA, Windows Phone

Today Microsoft announced XNA Game Studio 4.0. New to XNA Game Studio is support for Windows Phone 7 Series, the Xbox Live APIs, access to the WAVE devices, and the notion of a managed and non-managed developer.

Where Microsoft technologies are concerned I'm used to managed being almost synonymous with developers targetting the .Net CLR. It means something different in this context. A managed developer is one with which Microsoft has partnered. Developers with Managed status have access to the Xbox Live APIs. non-managed developers would include hobiest and any one else not partnered with Microsoft.

Tags: Windows Phone, XNA

After having another conversation in which I was explaining some of the various graphic APIs available to Windows I ended up pulling some information out of my personal notes to make a list of the most populate Windows graphic APIs and their availability on Windows Phones. I gave the information to some one at MSMobiles.com and he has posted it on his site.

That being said, I think that's the third reference to MSMobiles I've made in the past month or two. As you may guess I am a regular reader of that site and listener of the podcast. I'm not quite sure if I would classify it as a pro Windows or anti-Windows site yet though :-). Calling itself the "Fox News of Microsoft Mobile News" I have to say it's an interesting site and the primary author is talented at wording things in a way to invoke reactions.

Tags: Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Graphics, XNA

Some one was asking questions about how to connect the Xbox 360 or Zune to Xna Game Studio Express. It's much easier to show than to just tell. So I made a video where I went through the process. You an find it on YouTube.com

BTW: I've never mentioned this before but I have a YouTube.com channel to which I occasionally upload videos. You can fnd it at http://www.youtube.com/user/j2inet

Tags: Xna, Zune, Xbox 360