Game Publishing/Business

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Dan OXM — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:13:38 GMT

For anybody who didn't get a chance to read it or missed the issue, the article in quesiton is now posted on our website:

http://tinyurl.com/oxmvsxna

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Jim Perry — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:57:02 GMT

Dan OXM:
They would not have given Crackdown a 7, I can tell you that.

One of the few times you guys were wrong. Crackdown was a blast and rated at least an 8/8.5! ;) :P

Just so you know there's 2 community games now available (you are in the NXE beta, right?). :) We expect to see a Fruit Wars review next issue. :D

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Dan OXM — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:52:48 GMT

CVO:
I was also confused on the relationship between the magazine and the console/Microsoft. It's entirely unbiased reviews?

A good question and one I think a lot of people wonder, sometimes with curiosity, sometimes with...let's say "skepticism." We are unbiased -- though I like to say, we're biased in that we like good games and don't like the bad ones.

It all gets into the business arrangement, really. OXM is published by Future US, and like a third-party accessory manufacturer or a software publisher, we pay MS a licensing fee for the 360 affiliation and use of the brand (and we need that license to produce the demo disc). We can't make a disc that plays on retail 360s without Microsoft; we go through the same approval and cert process as any other game developer, but we do it on a monthly basis. The editorial side of the magazine is independent and MS does not dictate our content nor do they tell us what scores we should give games. They would not have given Crackdown a 7, I can tell you that. But when we gave Gears of War a 10, you know, clearly it's not because we liked the game, it's because we're corrupt and being paid off or whatever. You know how internet logic works.

So the short verison is, we are friends and we pay them for the privelege, and sometimes we get access to people and stories that would be difficult to do otherwise. But we're not owned or operated by Microsoft, and our editorial really is generated independently.

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

CVO — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:44:00 GMT

Great stuff here - I need to renew my OXM subscription too. I remember I was using the game dics to build some sort of space station, but don't remember what happened there...:)

I was also confused on the relationship between the magazine and the console/Microsoft. It's entirely unbiased reviews?

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Jim Perry — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:00:01 GMT

Dan OXM:
In other words, you are all being watched. :)

Big Brother, is that you?!? :)

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Dan OXM — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:20:26 GMT

Jim Perry:
Very cool! Thanks for stopping by and filling us in. Just a question - how are you going to find the community games that are in development? :)

I have had a few helpful suggestions from Microsoft's PR team -- Jessica Lange is a big supporter of the program and my main contact through official channels -- but the rest I figured would be forum lurking. I have a CC sub so I can check out games in for peer review, and I generally troll creator blogs to see what new projects are in development before that.

In other words, you are all being watched. :)

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Chounard — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:42:58 GMT

Dan OXM:
Going forward, we are going to do a spotlight on a community game in development every issue, meet the people behind it, show screens and photos of the team and the whole bit. No disrespect to Gears of War 2, but XNA games are the most exciting thing going on for all the reasons you folks already know -- so I want to pass that knowledge on. We're going to kick it off with a feature profiling multiple creators in the Jan 09 issue (which we're writing now) and then follow it up with a profile in each mag after that.
Dan

That's freaking awesome-tastic! You just convinced me to resubscribe, as I'd let my subscription expire a few months ago.

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Jim Perry — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:15:18 GMT

Very cool! Thanks for stopping by and filling us in. Just a question - how are you going to find the community games that are in development? :)

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Dan OXM — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:19:18 GMT

The ZMan:
Is the source for your game up anywhere? Do you have forum discussions about the article on the OXM site? Seems like a great community project for your readers to work on it as a group. I'm sure plenty of us would join in too. Get the source on codeplex - have a short update every month in the magazine... Oh and the other MVPs are MUCH better looking than George and we would all love our pictures in the magazine..

I did not release the source because THAT was too embarrassing to release. Plus, it was basically non-functional; I was trying to cut and paste from tutorials and whatnot, and it didn't actually compile and execute.

Reader response to the article was favorable, it wasn't over anybody's head, and I think some people just liked to see the media get pwned by real gaming tools. :) But I do have a lovely afterword for the next issue: A reader said "You know, I think I can make your Simon/memory game" and actually did. He sent us the build and everything. His implementation was actually much better (and simpler) than what I was seeing in my head. So that will run in the Jan 09 letter col with a screenshot, too.We failed, but it inspired someone else to succeed. So that feels good.

Going forward, we are going to do a spotlight on a community game in development every issue, meet the people behind it, show screens and photos of the team and the whole bit. No disrespect to Gears of War 2, but XNA games are the most exciting thing going on for all the reasons you folks already know -- so I want to pass that knowledge on. We're going to kick it off with a feature profiling multiple creators in the Jan 09 issue (which we're writing now) and then follow it up with a profile in each mag after that.

Dan

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Firebox — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:33:00 GMT

CDarklock:

Game Studio. It's the software you add to Visual Studio so you can write games using the XNA framework.

Thank you, that's all I want to know.

CDarklock:

You're misreading the thread title. OXM did a review of XNA GS. They are not competing products.

My apology for misreading, because I don't understand this thread. I'll read the article news where somebody post this thread.

Now let me get this straight, as I was saying, that's why I join this XNA club, because I want to make Microsoft and everybody happy with my games that I was thinking of. For Chris Satchell, sheez, why he charged $99 a year for peer-to-peer review, I think I don't know if it cause money damage from his pocket(depends what his benefits are or how much money does he have). For us, did you think we can design games using Microsoft Words? The answer is, no. We use C# or C++ to create games for Xbox LIVE, or where. And we know the games don't infringe the intelletual company, and it doesn't infringe other games and other game companys.

I didn't made it up about what I'm saying, because I read the rest of the article about it.

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

CDarklock — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:16:47 GMT

Firebox:
I never heard of XNA GS, but what does 'GS' in XNA GS stands for?

Game Studio. It's the software you add to Visual Studio so you can write games using the XNA framework.

Firebox:
I think Official Xbox Magazine has lots of variety than XNA GS, true?

You're misreading the thread title. OXM did a review of XNA GS. They are not competing products.

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Firebox — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:54:34 GMT

I never heard of XNA GS, but what does 'GS' in XNA GS stands for?

I think Official Xbox Magazine has lots of variety than XNA GS, true?

So, XNA GS is all about game publishing and designing, and Official Xbox Magazine is the variety of Xbox, Xbox news, Xbox games, and XNA.

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Zack Nelson — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:02:48 GMT

Jim Hunter:

The ZMan:
Heck did you see the clown who misunderstood so much he thought you could write games uisng Microsoft word? (http://blogusmaximus.net/archive/2008/02/22/119912.aspx saldy original article got taken down but Chris quoted the main part).

Original article here

Thats why I never go to 3rd party sources for this kind of stuff. I want to know things about Xbox, I go to the people at Xbox (Xbox.com). I never watched the news ever sence the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election where 2 guys are compaining about the other person. The Colbert Report makes more sense then Fox.

Forgot to say this, Thanks for the encoragement George Clingerman!

Im trying to polish up my ideas as I learn C#. It isnt easy, but Im getting there! :-)

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Coates — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:14:56 GMT

Dan OXM:
Hi gang, I'm the author of the article. I was embarrassed as hell to not be able to get any further, but you're exactly right -- I had a deadline and I started the project too late to really dig into it further than chronicling the failure.

Woah, I'm absolutely shocked and amazed- an OXM employee.To more percise its the fabled Dan himself, I read OXM a lot and indeed this article proved useful. No matter what people and game companeis are doing, they all seem to get the "Dead-line" plauge at some point in our daily life, big or small, no matter what it is for. So in the future hopefully all we can do is build and learn from our own mistakes as an indevidual, Team, or Company. Also, Great job on the the articles Dan, keep up the work. I enjoy always reading your work and all of OXM back to back. I can't wait till my next Magazine(OXM) gets to my studio mail-box.

Re: Official Xbox Magazine vs. XNA GS

Jim Hunter — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:21:56 GMT

The ZMan:
Heck did you see the clown who misunderstood so much he thought you could write games uisng Microsoft word? (http://blogusmaximus.net/archive/2008/02/22/119912.aspx saldy original article got taken down but Chris quoted the main part).

Original article here