Sharp Code

Diablo 3!

PaulM — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:04:17 GMT

Not much to say, i am just stunned. I was a seriously hardcore Diablo 1 and 2 player. This is siply a dream come true for me and other die hard diablo fans! Anyway check it out...

http://eu.blizzard.com/diablo3/

I Love you Blizzard!!

Intype - Code Editor

PaulM — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:22:06 GMT

Today I finally used Intype code editor, and it is pretty neat, it pretty much allows you to insert half the necessary stuff. It is still in alpha stages but it sure does have a lot of potential. The full stable version when released will not be free and may cost you somewhere between $25 and $45.

For more information have a look at the FAQ section.

DreamSpark coming 'Down Under'!

PaulM — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:48:50 GMT

Finally all Australian students will have the satisfaction of receiving free Microsoft tools which include:

Visual Studio 2008 Professional
Visual Studio 2005 Professional
Windows Server 2003 Standard
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition
Expression Studio
XNA Game Studio 2.0 + Creators Club

It will officially be available early September, around the same time the Australian Tech. Ed 2008 is on!

Dream Build Play 2008

PaulM — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:18:01 GMT

Finally Microsoft launched the new Dream Build Play competition! This time around you are given the opportunity to work in a group of up to 7 people or by yourself to produce an exciting game for the Xbox 360 using XNA studio 2.0.

A total of $75,000 is up for grabs which will be shared amongst the top four finalists. They will also be have the chance to receive an Xbox Live publishing contract.

Good luck to all who enter!

XNA Creators Club Site

PaulM — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:06:51 GMT

Earlier today the XNA team released the newly refurbished XNA Creators Club Online Web site, be very sure to check it out and get started on reviewing and submitting games!

For more information check out the XNA team blog http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/

Gears of War 2 Trailer!

PaulM — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:13:44 GMT

Gametrailers.com recently released the new trailer for Gears of War 2, finally got around to watching it and it is quite impressive!

GameTrailers.com: Gears of War 2 Trailer

Can't wait for this too come out!

XNA 3.0 CTP

PaulM — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:52:09 GMT

Yep its finally released!! According to my sources a beta is due (possibly) sometime this summer. Anyway here are the links.

Blog: XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP
Download: XNA Game Studio 3.0- Microsoft Download Link

It does not yet support 64 Bit or Xbox 360, but still its only a CTP release!!

And one bug mentioned so far has been that spritebatch seems to only work with certain image file types and certain sizes, more info on bugs and such to come. We all need to do our part to make it a better framework

C# vs VB.NET: Performance, Part 1

PaulM — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:40:47 GMT

As a VB.NET programmer i only really use C# for XNA and other projects when i don't have a say on the matter. Recently i have begun to think about making a full blooded transition to C# after having some great success with it (specifically in XNA) and its not because VB.NET doesn't cut it. It is great but C# is also fantastic in my opinion, as it took features from some of the more distinguished languages avaliable, C++, Java and Object Pascal to name a few. Feature wise they are perfect for me no issues at all so before making any sort of decision i thought i would do a bit of research. So i decided to take a look at the MSIL of two simple applications in C# and VB.NET.

After comparing the MSIL of both this is what i realised:

VB.NET contained 4 extra opcodes which were NOP (No Operation)
VB.NET generated two extra variables (types Int32[] and Bool)
VB.NET certainly used more OpCodes

The code was a simple for each loop like so:

        Dim intArr() As Integer = {1, 2, 3, 4}
        For Each i As Integer In intArr
            Console.WriteLine(i.ToString())
        Next

       and..

        int[] intArr = {1,2,3,4};
        foreach (int i in intArr)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(i.ToString());
        }

I am yet to test the execution speed of either application which will be one of my next tasks after a little more research. On a side note the C# code compiled was of size 5.0 kb and the VB.NET code compiled to 11.0 kb. I'll be sure to post more after i conduct some more research. Also note i am in no way trying to change peoples mind on what language to use, i don't believe the execution difference would be that noticeable anyway.

And here is another article which sort of explains the same thing as me but in a little more detail: VB.NET vs C#: Performance

UAC Designed to annoy users

PaulM — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:02:12 GMT

I found this article on Channel Web quite interesting, i understand their reasoning behind it.

Qoute:
Microsoft not only wanted to get users to stop running as administrators, which exacerbates the effects of attacks, but also wanted to convince ISVs to stop building applications that require administrative privileges to install and run, Cross explained.

Afk - sorry!

PaulM — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:45:36 GMT

Hi GWB readers,
I have been away from geekswithblogs.net for the past month, infact from all of my projects as well i have been extremely busy with my degree and had quite a number of large assignments to complete before the end of this semester. Anyway with my new found interest in the XNA framework and 3D modelling i will be turning my interests to XNA ! I have one project underway which is a 2D multiplayer tank game with a short and sweet single player mode version!

Anyway just to note i would like to thank the people who comment on my posts about fixing the MRVGINA.dll issues if it weren't for you guys i would have never remebered that i had this blog going still. So with everything calming down now (atleast for a little while) at university i hope to blog a little more and post updates at my games and experiences with my projects.

Regards Paul.