Sharp Code

Wow... just Wow... the posts before this are from when I was at TAFE and just beginning my studies. Oh how far I have come since then. I completed studies and got my Bachelor in Game Design/Computer Science, worked for a small council initiative doing some PHP stuff and now currently I am a .NET developer at a stockbroking firm working on in-house products. Anyway I am back and not going to post cringe-worthy stuff like I have previously haha!

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!!

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.

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!

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!

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/

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!

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

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

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.