• [00:32] Visual Studio 2012 Update 3 CTP 1, Description of Visual Studio 2012 Update 3 CTP 1
• [01:06] Windows Azure: General Availability of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) (Scott Guthrie)
• [01:58] Microsoft.Bcl.Async is Now Stable (Immo Landwerth)
• [02:35] What’s Visual Studio’s Code Map All About? (Richard Banks)
• [03:43] List of all Visual Studio ALM Virtual Machines (http://aka.ms/ALMVMs), Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 ALM Virtual Machine and Hands-on-Labs / Demo Scripts Now Available (Brian Keller)
• [04:19] Develop a cutting edge app with NFC (Priya Dandawate)
• [05:15] UX/UI Design the benefits of building prototype, even if you have only initial sketches of your prototype. (Lee Stott )
• [06:47] Where can I get some tips and guidance design resources? (Lee Stott)
• [07:25] App Art (Jeremy Foster)
• [08:16] Developer Must-Have: 125+ Apps for Office and SharePoint Code Samples (Ricardo Loo )
• [08:58] WorldWide Telescope Sharpens it's Visuals with SharpDX (Jonathan Fay)

Picks of the Week!

• Peter's Pick of the Week:[10:43] Kitty Radar Cat Detector (Lucy Black), http://harthur.github.io/kittydar/ (Heather Arthur)
• Clint's Pick of the Week:[12:15] Xbox 360 “Achievement Unlocked” sound as a visual (Major Nelson)

Gamerloop  [02:44]

Bboy360 Shout Out [07:18]

Bing's State of the Union  [09:00]

Xbox X-pands  [12:30]

Size matters...  [15:56]

IllumiRoom is Uh-MAY-ZING  [03:11]

Goodbye Messenger...hello SKYPE  [18:50]

Ballmer buying the Kings???  [10:03]

Looking at the Surface PRO [14:00]

Boycotting Starbucks, really?

Using XInput to access an Xbox 360 Controller in Managed Code

Introduction

A few years ago I wrote on using XNA to access the Xbox 360 controller from a Windows Form application. I had received a question about accessing the controller in an environment in which the XNA assemblies wouldn't be appropriate. So I wrote this code as an example of accessing the controller without the XNA assemblies. This is still a managed program. But it makes use of P/Invoke to use the functionality provided in the DirectX library.

Prerequisites

I wrote this code using Visual Studio 2012. It makes use of the XInput dll which is already part of Windows. So no additional installations are needed to use the code.

What is XInput

DirectX is composed of many libraries. There's Direct3D for for rendering 3D graphics, DirectSound for playing sound, and so on. DirectInput contains functionality for accessing various input devices (joysticks, keyboards, and more). But the Xbox 360 controller is not accessed through that library. It is accessed through a different library named XInput. This library is dedicated to the the Xbox 360 controller. Let's take a look at what is in the C language header file to see what functionality it provides. On my computer I can find the header in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Include\um\Xinput.h.

The header starts with defining the name of the DLL in which we will find the functionality.

When a program is being compiled for an OS version before Windows 8 the functionality in the xinput1_4.dll. For programs compiled for Widnows 8 the functionality from xinput9_1_0.dll will be used. If you wanted to target both platforms you could make use of the older DLL (xinput9_1_0.dll). It will work on Windows 8 too. But the newer DLL (xinput1_4.dll) contains functionality for accessing the battery .

In short, if you have a wired Xbox 360 controller laying about and you want to use it in your managed app's, but can't use XNA, this article is just what you're looking for...

• [0:35] Bill Hill: Homo sapiens 1.0 - The world's most important operating system (Bill Hill)
• [2:16] Windows 8 Pro Pre-order
• [2:25] Windows Surface RT Pre-order
• [2:53] Windows Azure Mobile Services: New support for iOS apps, Facebook/Twitter/Google identity, Emails, SMS, Blobs, Service Bus and more (Scott Guthrie)
• [3:34] Internet Explorer for Xbox Developer’s Guide
• [5:32] Getting websites ready for Internet Explorer 10 on Windows Phone 8 (Charles Morris),  IE10 on Windows 7 available in November (Rob Mauceri)
• [6:49] Layout and Formatting with Windows 8 XAML Development (Filip Skakun)
• [8:03] Developing extension packages for Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010/2012 using C# with real-life samples series (Paul Eremeev)
• [9:01] How To “Completely” Set-Up TypeScript in Visual Studio 2012 (Ryan Hayes)
• [10:25] Ten Reasons to Love Visual Studio 2012 (Andrew Clear)

Picks of the Week!

• Brian's Pick of the Week:[11:13] 10 things you should know about designing for Windows 8 (Brent Schooley)
• Mark's Pick of the Week:[12:51] Windows chief rides Surface like a skateboard -- literally (Don Reisinger)

Rewards for Gamerscores  [09:44]

Hip Hop gone wrong at the Microsoft store  [04:18]

New music service coming our way  [18:40]

Bing's blind testing hits 5 million   [14:40]

Microsoft logo gets a make-over  [03:52]

Kinect becomes more available [14:58]

Xbox and the election  [10:47]

New Windows Phones [17:20]

NASA partners with Microsoft to launch its first console game

In the past, NASA has used everything from websites and mobile apps to coverage on its own TV network to get the public excited about its space exploration efforts. But the run-up to the planned August 5 landing of the Mars rover "Curiosity" includes the organization's first foray into the world of console game development.

Mars Rover Landing, available this week as a free download on the Xbox 360, was inspired by "the entirely factual and amazing sequence of events to land Curiosity on Mars," Jeff Norris told Ars (Norris is the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab manager for planning and execution systems). Using the Kinect, players help adjust the landing module's angle as it enters the Martian atmosphere, handle timed explosive charges to discard the heat shield, and deploy a parachute before applying thrusters to gently touch the rover down on the Martian surface (that last bit is in a mini-game somewhat reminiscent of the arcade classic Lunar Lander). It's not the most complicated game on the market, but it does a good job of showing just how many things have to go exactly right to land a robot on another planet.

In real life, that entire automated process takes place during what NASA engineers refer to as "seven minutes of terror" when the Rover is unable to communicate with Earth. While NASA had previously detailed that sequence in a dramatic video from earlier this year, the organization felt there might be better ways to get the public involved in the story.

Project Information URL: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/07/nasa-partners-with-microsoft-to-launch-its-first-launch-video-game/

Mars Rover Landing

How hard is it to land on Mars? Test your skills! Your mission: guide NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity to its landing site safely and on target. Use your body to direct the craft and control thrusters as you descend. Gain avatar gear and achievements for a safe landing. The rover’s success depends on you! The Games on Demand version supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese. This game requires a Kinect™ Sensor.

Project Download URL: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Mars-Rover-Landing/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258480836

So.cl is here [02:18]

Imagine Cup Finalists announced  [09:11]

Too fast for mere mortals...  [12:18]

Refund for Minecraft players  [14:42]

The new Bing!  [06:14]

Disney Kinect titles & Make a Wish [02:25]

Microsoft Soundwave  [11:40]

360's for cheap  [16:00]

We kick off the week with a tutorial, from start to gaming, on writing an XNA Windows Phone 7.1(5) game. One of the main points I'd like to stress in this tutorial is that you don't have to be afraid of writing a game. It's not as scary or hard as you might think...

Tutorial: Creating a XNA 4.0 game for Windows Phone 7.5

In this tutorial we are going through the process of creating a simple game from A to Z using Visual Studio 2010 and the Windows Phone 7.1 SDK – Targeting Windows Phone 7.5.

This game was created during a presentation and took about 45 minutes, and patched as the session went on by feedback from the audience. I just documented the process and shared it on this blog.

First of all, if you haven’t done so yet – you will need to download the Windows Phone SDK.

...

1. Designing the game

The first thing you should do when creating a game is to come up with an idea, story and how you should go through that story. It’s important to be able to explain the game in one sentence – if you can’t, the players/gamers/consumers will have trouble understanding the game. If you can, it will be much easier to market and sell the game!

...

2. Creating the graphics

Most games require some graphics. In this game I want to have a playfield that represents the floor in a ghost house, a ghost, a player, some text that display high scores and some dot’s that show where I just walked (path).

...

3. Game logic

Next we should think how we should play the game, what’s the logic, how is the enemies moving, how should the player move and so on.

...

4. Implementing the game

The games classes we will implement

Be sure do download the source for the applications so you can follow the implementations. Or you can follow the steps below and create the game as we go, but not all details will be covered.

...

At this point the post takes you through the development process and explaining the major code points.

Finally...

As an added bonus, not only is the source for this game available (click through for the download links), but the author has also already ported it to the XBOX 360 (and made that source available too!)

Xbox 360 game with source: Escape

I just quickly ported the game Escape (created in this tutorial) to Xbox 360. The code is quite similar with two exceptions:

- I had to handle the safe limit zone and various screen resolutions
- I changed the controller from being touch-based to GamePad-based, and also considering that the player might use a gamepad that is either player one, two, three of four.

I also removed the online high score system since when it comes to the Xbox 360, we have to use a completely different approach when it comes to online storage.

If you already know C# and are thinking about writing XNA games for Windows Phone 7 or the XBOX 360, this tutorial would be a great place to start...

Facebook app for Windows Phone  [02:38]

Windows 8 app naming  [08:34]

Capacitive touch screen through your pants    [05:38]

Game Publisher rankings   [10:50]

This week we're highlighting another framework that while only available in binary form (through of course the demos and samples include their source) is also free, has been around a while longer, and has a much broader deployment reach, including not only Windows Phone 7, but also XBox 360, Windows and even the Zune!

DPSF (Dynamic Particle System Framework)

DPSF (Dynamic Particle System Framework) is a tried and tested, free programmer's tool for creating custom particle systems in XNA quickly and easily.

Incorporate particle effects into your project within a matter of minutes by using the provided Default Classes.

Unlike other particle system APIs / libraries, DPSF is flexible and allows you to code your own custom behaviors into the particle system; You are not limited to only using the parameters provided by the framework. You can create and control your own particle properties to make just about any effect you can imagine; If you can code it, you can create it in DPSF.

Upload particle systems you create to the DPSF forums and download particle systems created by others.

Check out the demo videos to see some of the things you can do with DPSF, or go ahead and download DPSF and try it out for yourself.

If you use DPSF in your project, be sure to post a link to your project on the the DPSF forums.

Features

Here is a list of some of the features DPSF provides:

• A single API for multiple platforms: supports 2D and 3D particles for Windows, Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7, and Zune.
• Easily integrates with graphics engines, including Synapse Gaming's SunBurn engine.
• Full API documentation is provided in the help file, as well as in the online help documentation.
• Tutorials and their source code are provided in the installer. The tutorials (without source code) are also available in the online help documentation.
• Allows particle systems to be created in minutes by using the Default Particle Systems provided; Just set values for the built-in parameters, such as position, velocity, acceleration, rotation, external force, start/end color, etc.
• The Default Particle Systems may be extended, allowing you to provide any extra required functionality. Want your particles to have a weight property that determines how fast they accelerate? Or do you want your particles to follow a specific path or pattern? You can code the behavior to make it happen!
• Templates to start from are provided to make creating new particle systems quick and easy.
• You write the particle system code, giving you full control over the particle system and its particles, allowing you to create any type of particle system effects you desire. Your imagination is the limit.
• Easy to integrate into existing projects; just add a reference to a dll file.
• Use the built-in Effects (i.e. shaders) as well as custom Effects.
• Modify the default Effect (i.e. shaders) to create new custom Effects quickly and easily.
• Particle System Managers are provided to make updating and drawing many particle systems easy.
• An Animations class is provided for easily creating animated particles.
• Easily create a sequence of images, tile-sets, or animated gifs displaying particle system animations.
• Particle systems may be implemented as DrawableGameComponents if required.

Check out these videos;

DPSF show's its maturity in a number of ways. First, there's good documentation.

Secondly there's a nice set of tutorials;

And finally the demo app is pretty awesome, showing off many of the capabilities of the framework. The demo ran for me the first time, with only a reference fix-up required;

All I needed to do was point that DPSF reference to the folder where I installed the framework and all was well.

One of my favorites (not sure why, maybe because the dog is cute...lol) is the Photo demo.

This demo shows off some of the cool things that DPSF can do. From 3D features;

To different ways the photo can be "particle'ized"

And yes, you get the source for this demo and particle systems.

If you are looking around for a mature particle system, one with a price and license that's hard to beat, you run, not walk, and check out DPSF.

Xbox LIVE for all?

Nix on MIX?

Peace out Points

Paul knows how to PARTY (SQL server style)

Windows Phone Fangirls

Kinect coming to Windows PC's

Xbox 360 dashboard update

Nokia Lumia 800 sales

Gamers give back

Windows 8 boots fast!

Show me the MATH

Ballmer is bullish on the future

A driving route made just for you

PEGI rating for Windows Phone games

3D coming to Xbox 360

Headmounted 3D display

Facebook and Skype

Baidu and Bing

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Bing Lasso

Skype & Office 365

Xbox 360 in the lead

Kodu Cup

Calling Droid devleopers to WP7

Kinect Shop- the future?

Microsoft on the ones and twos!

Hacker hired

Xbox 360: Not just for games

Panoramic street views

The latest release of the platform was launched in New York yesterday, and is set to be available from December 1^st. According to Microsoft’s announcement, corporations such as Boeing, Estee Lauder, France Telecom, Nikon and Orange are already using Lync.

A big element of yesterday’s buzz around Lync was a discussion on bridging the gap “between the boardroom and the home”. To support that goal, Lync’s Corporate Vice President, Gurdeep Singh Pall, announced plans for a forthcoming software update for Lync which will integrate Microsoft’s Kinect Video Chat with the platform’s video conferencing service.

We highlighted Video Chat for Kinect a few weeks ago, which allows video chat with other Kinect users as well as your contacts on Windows Live Messenger. Whilst it’s fair to say we all spend a little too much time at the office nowadays, the integration of Kinect into Lync at least means we'll have the company of family and friends whilst nailing that crucial deadline at the office.  

Unfortunately, whilst our six month old son loves to watch the screen during a gaming session, he’s a little young to join in the fun. That got me thinking – is there a minimum age for Kinect? A quick search produced a great guide for using Kinect with your kids from MSNBC.

According to the guide, the recommended minimum height for Kinect is 40 inches (roughly four and a half years upwards) due to difficulties tracking multiple people of differing heights. If you mount the sensor above the TV (up to 6 feet if possible), Kinect has an easier job tracking players as it’s looking down on the play area, rather than across.

If you want to optimise your living room for the best experience with Kinect, the guide has a swathe of hints and tips for creating the perfect setup. Make sure you check it out. 

Why do you need a mount? Well, if you have a wall mounted TV, then the Kinect Wall Mount will allow the Kinect to slot into place just under the display, ideal for game time. For mounting Kinect above your set, PDP’s TV Mount supports VESA spec HDTVs from 26 to 60 inches. Or opt instead for a floor stand to keep the sensor away from dirt (and of course, the odd kick).

If your living room is short on horizontal surfaces, then don’t worry, you can still be the controller too.

Falling into the former category, if not the latter, is the Xbox 360 Avatar Sidebar Gadget. Spotted by Windows Observer this week, Aaron Misner’s gadget invites your Xbox 360 Avatar (as well as your friends’) to set up camp on your Windows 7 Desktop.

Once installed, enter your Xbox 360 Gamertag and up pops your Avatar – click on his or her head and there’s your Gamercard. Want to move the avatar around? Just drag them by the feet, they won’t mind. And if you want a second avatar on your desktop, simply drag another copy of the Xbox 360 Avatar gadget onto your desktop and set it to a different gamertag, so they don’t get lonely.

File this one under “because it can” if anyone asks why your avatar is peeking at you on your desktop. Great work, Aaron!