Xbox 2: A Glimpse of the Future at GDC

The first shots in the next-gen battle have officially been fired - full report from GDC, plus first ever screens and direct feed videos from astounding new tech demos!

Here's your first glimpse at what Xbox 2 might be capable of, fresh from the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, where Microsoft today announced a universal development platform known as XNA - rather clumsily standing for "Cross platform Next generation Architecture". The platform is being used to develop Xbox 2 games, along with next-gen games for Windows and mobile devices - and as you can see right here, it's already pumping out some stunning images.

At 10.30 this morning, Robbie Bach and J Allard took the stage at the San Jose Conference Center, to explain what the new platform means for developers, and to show off the first ever technical demos the platform is capable of producing - effectively a peek at what the next generation Xbox will be capable of.

Perhaps the most technically impressive demo, entitled "Crash" and developed by Pseudo Interactive, sees a blue Saleen sports car speeding out of its garage before hitting a brick wall at over 300km/h, crumpling to pieces in slow motion and shot from multiple angles. Microsoft say the demo, er, demonstrates "incredible detail and breakthrough physics" - which would lead us to believe the staggering crumpling effect is real-time. The implications for crashes in games like Project Gotham Racing 3 - which we know to be in development for Xbox 2 - are mouth-watering to say the least.

"Crash" - showcasing "incredible detail and breakthrough physics" - probably being employed by Bizarre in Project Gotham Racing 3 (in development now on Xbox 2) as we speak.

The next demo, "Film Noir", was developed in-house at Microsoft's Advanced Technology Group. It depicts an a buxom lady, who could have walked straight from the imaginations at Tecmo, being waited on at an outdoor restaurant table, as cigarette smoke slowly fades into the air. The purpose of the demo was to show how artists can focus on "ambience and highly-detailed environments from the get-go".

"Film Noir" - demonstrating "ambience and highly-detailed environments from the get-go" (not to mention the DOA effect, already firmly established in the next generation it seems).

The third demo, "Xenomorph", developed by High Voltage, reflected the theme of this year's GDC, "evolve", as a white gorilla thing ran around, and morphed into a crab spider thing, before morphing into a pink lizard thing, before morphing into a furry turtle armadillo thing, before morphing back into the white gorilla thing. Phew! The purpose was not to show the morphing nonsense, but rather to show how "imaginative and intricately detailed characters are possible on the technology", with comparable quality to big-name animated movies. The name "Xenomorph" echoes the Xbox 2 project name, Xenon.

"Xenomorph" - echoing Xbox 2's project name and showing how "imaginative and intricately detailed characters are possible."

Microsoft describes the new XNA platform as "the catalyst for a new ecosystem of interchangeable software tools" - by integrating software innovations across Microsoft platforms and across the industry, XNA forms a common environment that "liberates developers from spending too much time writing mundane, repetitive boilerplate code".

In today's earlier announcement, Bill Gates said: "Software will be the single most important force in digital entertainment over the next decade. XNA underscores Microsoft's commitment to the game industry and our desire to work with partners to take the industry to the next level."

Newly crowned slaphead, J Allard said: "At the heart of XNA is choice. No game today is built with just one tool, and no game tomorrow will be either. By creating an environment where software innovations flourish and work together, XNA will allow game developers to redefine what's possible in games and give gamers the freedom to pursue their own paths. XNA closes the gap between what gamers want and what developers dream."

Interestingly, according to the announcement, the universal nature of the platform will mean a range of similar controllers, or a "family of controllers" for videogames, for both Xbox 2 and next-gen windows games. In addition, the move will fuel a whole new wave of cross-platform input devices from peripheral manufacturers.

Microsoft said that more than 20 game development and middleware companies already have recognized that XNA will drive advancements in the industry. Prominent developers including Argonaut, Criterion, Factor 5, Epic, Valve, Vicarious Visions, Visual Concepts, ATI and Nvidia, all voiced their support for XNA as part of this morning's keynote.

Vitally, Microsoft says that XNA will not mean increased costs to developers, many of which are currently facing their toughest challenges yet, in getting to grips with the most sophisticated games hardware yet.

The first shots in the next-gen gaming war are well and truly fired. Talking about Xbox 2, Microsoft said: "XNA propels us ahead of Sony in the next-generation games race because the future of gaming is in software, not hardware. At GDC you are seeing some of the early possibilities of what the future will bring."

The company elaborated: "Sony's Cell is a hardware solution. This is a software revolution. XNA ultimately deliver thousands of integrated devices that give consumers choice. Sony is talking about a fixed world of hardware that requires everyone to buy everything Sony."

Word from insiders is that Xbox 2 will be around at this year's E3 in one form or another, supposedly in the form of forthcoming thirdparty game demos, which will be labelled rather anonymously as "next-gen" titles. A proper unveiling is rumoured to take place this summer, at least in terms of announcing final specs, final name and so on - before hopefully a showing of some kind later in the year at X04.

Enjoy these videos, and of course, stay glued here for more on all next-generation developments.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

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