oboreruhito

It is a neat feature, but MS said nothing about what devs have to sign up for to _use_ that capability in a real-world environment.

Do you have to be a licensed dev? A Creator's Club dev? Some new tier that hasn't been announced? Or will there be a new version of XNA with Live and non-Live network code? Because portable states like that are only convenient with a network connection, and that's something MS has locked away from independent developers - even fee-paying indies - since it was introduced in XNA 2.

Before this announcement, XNA was already compiling to PC, 360 and Zune/Zune HD, and had been since 2008.

The only news here is XNA support for Windows Phone 7, a platform that doesn't exist yet in the marketplace. Even that's not a surprise: .NET, which is the foundation for XNA's gaming libraries, could already compile the same code for Windows and WinMo 6; XNA wasn't added because there most WinMo 6 devices didn't have the hardware to handle it.

The screed against the App Store in favor of XBL Marketplace is baffling, however, as XBL - even its indie store - has its own set of narrow and strangely applied content restrictions, buy-in dev membership (even the price, $99/year, is the same) and top-down out-of-your-hands management. Maybe the biggest difference is the peer-review nature of the XNA Creator's Club, but MS has dropped in and pulled apps off their store (or, more often, refused to post them) just as Apple has.

You say it'd be nice to buy a game once on XBL and play it on your desktop and mobile device, but XBL, Games for Windows Live and Zune Marketplace have been around together for more than a year, and there's not even XBL-to-PC integration, much less all three.

If you buy the same game in multiple marketplaces, your saved games can't be ported over even if they're technically compatible. Achievements and gamerscore are in the XDK Extensions, which are only available to MS-licensed Xbox 360 developers. XNA's built-in networking code requires a separate agreement with MS to use the Live servers - to have networking features that don't use Live, you have to write your own networking code.

Even cross-platform multiplayer, which MS said was supposed to "take over" in 2008, fizzled after Shadowrun flopped; the only other first-party game to use it is UNO. Devs avoid it because MS controls whether games can access Live for cross-platform multiplayer, and the restrictions - especially on the PC end - aren't worth the potential benefit.

What I'm saying is this a developer's announcement - code once, compile on multiple platforms - that doesn't mean anything you claim it will to gamers unless Microsoft does an about face on how they've managed their marketplaces over the last two years, such as exerting tougher-than-Apple control over features like cross-platform and Live integration, and network access.

Is it the 3G iPad with service? That'd go a long ways toward evening out the value.

@Montana Leet: Which nobody did because RISC NT driver support was crap. Or did you mean virtualization, which was also crap until the Intel switch, and would be worse on a bank of low-clock-speed ARM derivatives?

@sodapop I've been doing 2GB a month on an E71x.

iPad 3G has GPS. Who started that stupid rumor that it doesn't?

"all this instant negative reaction to the iPad just conjures up memories of 2001, when Slashdot famously dismissed the iPod as "lame." "

The iPod _was_ lame in 2001. It was a rush job designed in 10 months using third-party software and a third-party interface. It didn't work with Windows _at all_. The mechanical wheel was infamously bad. It had dual ARMs and a hard drive chewing through a Li-Poly battery that was so bad, Apple paid everyone who bought one using a Li-Poly $50 in a class-action lawsuit settlement.

iTunes wouldn't even exist for another two years. There wasn't Windows support until 2G, no USB support or dock until 3G.

1G's total lifetime sales were way south of 1 million. It was a proof of concept, much like the 1G iPhone and MBA. The iPod and iPhone improved over time, but early adopters were punished with some really lacking crap in a gorgeous package, filled in later through upgraded hardware. The tech that went into the MBA led to thinner MacBooks with integrated batteries.

This too is probably a proof of concept, and when it 2G comes out for $50 less with multitasking, and 3G comes out for $100 less, or $200 less on subsidy, it'll be ubiquitous. But anyone buying _this device_ _right now_ and isn't a developer getting a head start on the form factor is a money-wasting fool.

@adambant "iPhone OS 4.0 is just around the corner. Expect to see many advancements with that version, e.g. Multitasking, multiple existing apps on one screen etc."

Define "around the corner." Unless it's before April, that means the iPad will launch without those features, which you conjured up from nowhere.

If OS 4 _is_ going to come out before the iPad, why not hype up all those great features now?

@UnravelMe Unlocked doesn't mean the OS is open. You realize that, right? It's just not tied exclusively to AT&T like the iPhone officially is.

@lane3128 "I'll take something I can put in my bag charge once a week and take notes and do some quick browsing any day."

How does a $500 netbook not already do this for you?