Upon the release of XNA Game Studio 3.1 you’ll be required to upgrade XNA Game Studio Connect on your Xbox 360 in the same way as moving between XNA Game Studio 2.0 and XNA Game Studio 3.0. This new version of XNA Game Studio Connect works with all releases of XNA Game Studio except XNA Game Studio Express (aka 1.0).

Once XNA Game Studio 3.1 has been released (if you’re anxiously waiting, make sure to keep an eye here, here, and of course here) the next time you run the 3.0 version of XNA Game Studio Connect you’ll receive a Title Update which will disable that version. It will also instruct you on how to upgrade by deleting and re-downloading the program from Xbox LIVE. When you run the old release from then on you’ll see screenshot below:

 
You don't need to run the old version and download the Title Update once 3.1 is available, you can just delete the old version of XNA Game Studio Connect and download the new one. Need some help doing that? Simply follow the instructions I’ve included below!

Step 1: Delete the Old XNA Game Studio Connect

First, you’ll want to remove the old XNA Game Studio Connect from your Xbox 360 console. If you don’t, it may try to start when running a game, which would then tell you that you need to upgrade—even if you already have the new version on your console.

1. On your Xbox 360 console, navigate to the Games Library and then select Community Games.
2. Select XNA Game Studio Connect from the list of games. From there, select Delete Game. You do not need to delete any of your games.
   

Step 2: Re-download the New XNA Game Studio Connect

Now it’s time to get the new XNA Game Studio Connect. To do this, follow the process you used to download it the first time, described below.

1. On your Xbox 360 console, navigate to Game Marketplace, then select All Games.
2. Select XNA Creators Club, and then select XNA Game Studio Connect. You should see the option to Download Again. Select it, and wait for the download to complete.

That’s all there was to it! You’re now ready to use XNA Game Studio 3.1 with your Xbox 360! If you have any trouble please stop by our XNA Creators Club forums and let us know!

If you’ve visited Ziggyware in the past, you probably already know this but I think it’s an excellent site for XNA Game Studio news, tutorials, and general information in the XNA Game Studio Community. The site also has a series of running contests that involves prizes for some of the top tutorials submitted.

The site is currently looking to grow by adding new features as well as keep the contests going at a steady pace with some great, attractive prizes. With those goals in mind, Ziggyware is currently holding a donation drive to help cover some of the costs of running the site and contests. If you’ve found the site to be useful stop by today and learn more about how you can help from this link. While visiting make sure to check out the latest round of contest winning tutorials and brush up your game programming knowledge a bit!

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted anything. I got thrown out of my rhythm when I was away speaking at the Foundations of Digital Games 2009 Cruise for most of the week. While I’ll have more on that in another post, I did manage to catch a program, or more appropriately, plugin to pass on for this week.

As you may know I’m a huge fan of Paint.NET, I’ve posted about it a long time ago but if you’re not familiar with it Paint.NET is a free (again donations are encouraged if you use the program) imaging/graphics tool for windows that is very feature rich and easy to use. It can easily be used to create artwork for use in your game and supports many of the type of features you would only expect in high end commercial packages.

If your getting art files from others at some point you’ll come across .PSD files. These files are the native file format used by Adobe Photoshop, and tends to be one of the standard array of programs people use with game development. I often find myself with a lot of a PSD files, but only have one copy of Adobe Photoshop, where all of my other machines are running Paint.NET as it’s such a great tool. Thanks to a post that I came across at Lifehacker, they pointed me to a PSD plugin for Paint.NET that allows you to open/save PSD files into Paint.NET. While from it’s page it looks like active development has stopped it still supports quite a few features:

• Support for layered PSD files
• Support for an array of color modes
• Save back out a PSD file

Both the binary and source for the plugin are available, so depending on the license the plugin was released under you might have the opportunity to fix it up and provide it to others if you encounter issues. It’s a great way to quickly and easily open up PSD files and use Paint.NET to tweak them and then export them to file format that is compatible with XNA Game Studio. The download links below will get you set up with Paint.NET and the PSD plugin. I’ve also included a link to the plugin announcement forum for Paint.NET if your looking to further extend the functionality of the program.

Enjoy and keep checking back for more programs that make game development a little easier!

XNA Game Studio provides several great features to enable easy game creation, but we may not do everything you need to produce a game. I’m always keeping an eye on sites and trying out programs that help make game production easier, more productive, or even more creative when it comes to developing games and using XNA Game Studio. Since I’m always on the lookout for these programs, I thought it would be cool to put together a weekly blog post that points to a program that may help you be more productive in your game development process.

Keep in mind that while I am letting you know about these programs, I am in no way vouching for the programs stability, safety, security or any other functionality intended or not intended. You are downloading and using the program completely at your own risk! Please follow safe computing practices when downloading any un-trusted software!

This week’s program was spotted on Download Squad and is called XRECODE. XRECODE quickly and easily converts audio formats individually or in batches. This is especially useful if you need to convert to a supported format so that the data can be imported into XNA Game Studio or used with the XACT tools. XRECODE supports a lot of features, but here were some of my favorites:

• Supports a large number of file formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC, WavPACK, AAC, ALAC, and WAV.
• Will extract audio from several movie file formats.
• Command line support. You could write an XNA Framework Content Pipeline importer that invokes XRECODE and make the conversion part of your game build!
• Freeware! You should think about hitting up the donate page though if you integrate it into your workflow.

It’s simple to use and can get you out of a jam when you have audio that you need to get in a different format. You can check out more about XRECODE and download it from this link.

Hope you find this program (and the coming series of posts) useful, if you have an idea for another program that should be featured, please let me know about it and maybe it will be the star of next weeks post!

With XNA Game Studio 3.1 ever approaching I wanted to talk about one of my favorite features in the new release, video support! While we haven’t gone into too much detail on exactly how things will work here’s what you need to know.

What will I be able to do with video in XNA Game Studio 3.1?

• Take video processed through XNA Game Studio and play it back full screen, this can be used for things like cut scenes, animated logos and intros.
• Take video processed through XNA Game Studio and apply it as an animated texture, even on 3D geometry.

What won't I be able to do with video in XNA Game Studio 3.1?
Even with those great features, we may not support all the scenarios you can think of yet. In XNA Game Studio 3.1 you will not be able to:

• Initiate playback of Video files already on the Xbox 360 (All contest must be in your game’s container, as you cannot enumerate the video on a user’s console).
• Stream video from a computer, or Media Center.
• There is no option to seek through video for playing back small sections in a larger video. You can pause and resume however.
  
• Video playback support only works on the Xbox 360 and Windows platforms.

Importing Video
To import video, your video must first meet a couple of requirements, which I’ve listed below.

• The format must be Windows Media Video, Series 9 using the “Main” profile. This profile defines several sub formats. You can grab the encoder for Windows Media Video at this link.
• The maximum video resolution supported is 1280x720
• The video and audio streams must be encoded at a constant bit rate aka (CBR)
• Only unprotected, non-DRM content is supported.

If you’ve got video that meets that criteria your ready to go, if not use the encoder link and re-encode the video so it’s in a compatible format. Once you have your video file you add it just like you would any other XNA Game Studio Content.

Rendering Video
Now that video has been imported into your project, we’re ready to play it back! First thing we need to do is create the types to hold the video data and the class used for playing back the video:

We have two objects, Video (used to hold the video data) and the VideoPlayer used to control the playback of the video in our game. You can see that we’ve created the VideoPlayer inside the constructor for the game.

GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
SpriteBatch spriteBatch;

// Create the variables needed to hold and play back my video.
Video myVideoFile;
VideoPlayer videoPlayer;

public Game1()
{
    graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
    Content.RootDirectory = "Content";

    // Create the VideoPlayer
    videoPlayer = new VideoPlayer();
}

Next we need to load the video for playback, this is simple enough in that it’s loaded just like any other XNA Game Studio content from the XNA Framework Content Pipeline:

protected override void LoadContent()
{
    // Create a new SpriteBatch, which can be used to draw textures.
    spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);

    // TODO: use this.Content to load your game content here
 
    // Load in my video file (just like any other content!)
    myVideoFile = Content.Load<Video>(@"Bear");
}

Now that we have the video loaded we’ll want to start playing back the video, in this particular case I’ve wired up playing the video to pressing the “A” button on the Xbox 360 controller pressing “B” stops the video. You’ll see that the playback is controlled through the VideoPlayer object in the code below. Note that I don’t need to worry about calling Play/Stop if the video is already in that state as it won’t harm anything.

protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
{
    // Allows the game to exit
    if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.Back == ButtonState.Pressed)
        this.Exit();

    // TODO: Add your update logic here
    
    // Start the video playback when the user presses A
    if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.A == ButtonState.Pressed)
    {
        videoPlayer.Play(myVideoFile);
    }

    // Start the video playback if the user presses B
    if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.B == ButtonState.Pressed)
    {
        videoPlayer.Stop();
    }

    base.Update(gameTime);
}

Finally let’s draw our video to the screen. In this case I’m simply using SpriteBatch to draw the image. As you can see we’re just getting the texture data using VideoPlayer.GetTexture() and displaying it to the screen. In the example below I’m just playing back the video in its native resolution, I could stretch the video and/or play it back full screen by using the GraphicsDeviceManager.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width and GraphicsDeviceManager.GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height properties.

protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
{
    GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);

    // TODO: Add your drawing code here

    // Render the video in it's orginal resolution to the screen using SpriteBatch
    spriteBatch.Begin();
    if (videoPlayer.State == MediaState.Playing)
    {
        spriteBatch.Draw(videoPlayer.GetTexture(), new Rectangle(0, 0, myVideoFile.Width, myVideoFile.Height), Color.White);
     
    }
    spriteBatch.End();

    base.Draw(gameTime);
}

The audio playback from the video is handled automatically, and can be muted by setting the IsMuted property on the VideoPlayer object. You can also turn on things like looping (through VideoPlayer.IsLooping property) so the video plays back continuously, but keep in mind that there is a slight hitch when the video restarts.

That’s it! If you’ve added the code to a new XNA Game Studio for Windows or Xbox 360 project you should see something like this when you start the video:
 
Bonus Round: tips & tricks to keep in mind
As you implement video in your game here are a couple of things to keep in mind, think of this like a “best practices” for video support.

• Calling VideoPlayer.GetTexture() will return the latest decoded frame in time. This means that every time it’s called you have the potential of getting a new image. If you have a game where you want to display more than one copy of the video on the screen, make sure that your only calling VideoPlayer.GetTexture() once, then holding onto that data when using it multiple times. This will ensure that your video stays perfectly synchronized while drawing your frame.
• Because the video data is treated like Texture2D data, you have the ability to use effects on it when you render it on screen!
• If you’re mixing music playback and video playback, you’ll want to have a look at the VideoSoundtrackType class. This will allow you to easily play back music while muting the music from your video if needed.
• Higher resolution or bit rate video means you’re incurring a higher CPU cost to decode it. Don’t use ultra high resolution video for something that’s not playing back full screen. Make the appropriate decision of how it will be seen by the player.

Wrapping Up!
I hope this gives you a good idea how to use the upcoming video functionality in XNA Game Studio 3.1, again this is one of my favorite new features and am looking forward to seeing some great video functionality in your games soon!

Catching up on my news from Ziggyware this morning, I noticed that the Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 is now available for download from the Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool website!
Some of the new features in 7.5 include:

• Support exporting to Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0
• Free Training by Noesis Interactive - Character Creation for Microsoft XNA
• New real-time shading API for WYSIWYG shader development
• Interactive Creative Environment (ICE) - visual programming
• Supports Windows Vista operating system

Even if you’ve tried the Mod Tool before, there are some really great enhancements to this version that make this worth checking out. So head over to the site and give it a download!

During my talk on Best Practices for Xbox LIVE Community Games at GDC this year I tried to cover many issues, both technical and non-technical. On the non-technical side one of my tips for driving sales of your game was to leverage the new web marketplace for Xbox LIVE and provide an easy way for your customers to purchase your Xbox LIVE Community Game.

For those of you who might not know about this great feature, the Xbox LIVE Marketplace moved fully online with the addition of the New Xbox Experience (NXE). You can browse the entire catalog of Xbox LIVE marketplace content (including Xbox LIVE Community Games) right from your web browser!

Why the Xbox LIVE web marketplace matters!
The cool feature is that you, or your friends can provide deep links to anyone over the web with an Xbox LIVE account that will allow them to “queue up” the trial version of your game or purchase the full version directly from the web without ever needing to turn on their Xbox 360!

The next time that user logs onto Xbox LIVE from their console, the game will automatically be added to their download queue and delivered to their Xbox 360! This makes it really simple for users to get your game, and for you to drive sales of your game from your website. You don't have to rely on the user remembering to go back to download your game at a later time, or forgetting the title of the game or anything that may prevent them from giving it a try!

The Data You Need
Getting the data you need couldn't be simpler, here are some tips to help you out!

1. Log onto web marketplace at: http://marketplace.xbox.com/
2. Search for your Xbox LIVE Community Game using the search box on the page.
   

    

3. Once you find the game, simply copy and use the link that appears in your browsers address bar, this takes users to the main landing site for your game which includes:
   1. The box art, screenshots and description of your game.
   2. All the offers associated with your game (in this case the trial game and full version).
      
       

Scoping to Specific Offers
If you want to provide different links for the trial game and full version, that’s also very possible, just follow these instructions below!

1. On your game page scroll down to the area where your offers are listed for the trial game and full version. For each offer click the send link button.
   

    
   

2. Take the link that appears and simply copy it out and use that as your landing URL.
   

    
   

3. Note that when a user clicks that link, they’ll still see the overall summary page for your game but will only see the offer that you linked to, notice that the user can click the link to the left to see other offers associated with the game (in this case it would be the trial game).
   

   
   

Achievement Unlocked!
So there you have it, with a little engineering you can provide some easy access to your new Xbox LIVE Community Game and drive downloads and sales through your game’s website, blog, Facebook or Twitter account. It’s that simple. Combine this with a little tutorial magic from around the web and create some nice graphics to go with these links. If you have any questions, leave your comments and I’ll be happy to help.

With myself originally hailing from Arizona, there is something I miss a little bit more than the sun in the winter in Seattle and that’s In-N-Out Burger. As many members of team have grown up in different parts of the region they have never gotten to experience that which is the “Double Double” we figured that the XNA team would use the GDC trip to take the trek out and give it a go.

We also had the great idea to invite all of you out as well if you’d like to grab some good food and chat with us or each other about XNA tech (including XNA Game Studio!).  This is meant to be an informal get-together, and it isn’t being hosted by Microsoft so bring some bling if you’d like to try the tasty greatness for yourself!

Where: In N Out Burger @ Fisherman’s Wharf (333 Jefferson St. San Francisco, California 94133)
When: Wednesday, March 25th @ 8:00PM

I hope to see ya there!

Just wanted to to give the heads up that Dan Waters book “Zune Game Development Using XNA 3.0” from Apress is now shipping from Amazon which means it should also be in your local bookstore soon. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I sure to like the topic!

Congratulations to Dan on completing the book and give it a look if you want to dive into the world of Zune development!

It’s great to see more books cover Zune development in addition to XNA Game Studio 3.0 (another example is Learning XNA 3.0 from Aaron Reed) so there’s starting to be a good amount of content coming out for the platform!

As mentioned in my previous post about GDC, I mentioned the XNA Lobby Bar and some of the short tutorial sessions that Microsoft will be hosting.

These sessions are designed to be more concise than traditional GDC talks, focusing on working through the talk in a short amount of time. This then gives you time to work through what you learned in our hands-on demo area. The session speaker will be available for questions and answers or just to chat for the rest of the hour.

I’m excited as I’ll be presenting the session “Best Practices for Xbox LIVE Community Games” on Wednesday and Friday. It’s a great chance to get some tips and tricks to make sure that you put your best game forward and help drive sales of your Xbox LIVE Community Game.

If you’re interested in any of the sessions that are listed below stop by, relax, and learn a bit about XNA technologies available from Microsoft! 

Wednesday, March 25^th:

Thursday, March 26^th:

Friday, March 27^th: