I’m at the Intel Developer Forum here in San Francisco this week. Intel has been such an incredible partner of Microsoft for so long, it was an honor to be on stage with Brian Krzanich to discuss our work together on mixed reality. I loved hearing about all the ways Intel is innovating in IoT, the cloud and new devices. Today, we built on our earlier mixed reality announcements at Computex, to announce two things: Intel and Microsoft are collaborating on a specification for mixed reality ready PCs and head mounted displays (HMDs). Our shared goal is to enable our hardware partners to build a broad range of devices for the mainstream consumer and business markets. We are working with several partners on the spec today, and plan to publicly release v1 of the spec at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) conference in Shenzhen in December. Next year, we will be releasing an update to Windows 10, which will enable mainstream PCs to run the Windows Holographic shell and associated mixed reality and universal Windows applications. The Windows Holographic shell enables an entirely new experience for multi-tasking in mixed reality, blending 2D and 3D apps at the same time, […]
I’m at the Intel Developer Forum here in San Francisco this week. Intel has been such an incredible partner of Microsoft for so long, it was an honor to be on stage with Brian Krzanich to discuss our work together on mixed reality. I loved hearing about all the ways Intel is innovating in IoT, the cloud and new devices. Today, we built on our earlier mixed reality announcements at Computex, to announce two things: Intel and Microsoft are collaborating on a specification for mixed reality ready PCs and head mounted displays (HMDs). Our shared goal is to enable our hardware partners to build a broad range of devices for the mainstream consumer and business markets. We are working with several partners on the spec today, and plan to publicly release v1 of the spec at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) conference in Shenzhen in December. Next year, we will be releasing an update to Windows 10, which will enable mainstream PCs to run the Windows Holographic shell and associated mixed reality and universal Windows applications. The Windows Holographic shell enables an entirely new experience for multi-tasking in mixed reality, blending 2D and 3D apps at the same time, […]
Today over at Xbox Wire, Rare shared their thoughts on designing Sea of Thieves for Windows 10 and Xbox One. Since it’s a shared world adventure game, Sea of Thieves immediately feels right at home on the PC. When you combine it with a world full of 24/7, player-driven stories, it’s a great opportunity to create an experience catered for the needs of each platform. Your hardware choice shouldn’t be a barrier. The team made some great decisions early on in development to adopt Unreal Engine 4, which natively supports the PC, and to develop the Windows 10 version of Sea of Thieves in parallel with the Xbox One version. With Xbox Play Anywhere, fans have the freedom to play their games wherever they want. When you own a digital copy of Sea of Thieves, it’s yours to play on both Xbox One and Windows 10. Sea of Thieves on Windows 10 allowed the team to bring Sea of Thieves to as many gamers as possible, including those who have never experienced a Rare game before. Head over to Xbox Wire to read more about designing the game! Source: Microsoft Windows Blog
Today over at Xbox Wire, Rare shared their thoughts on designing Sea of Thieves for Windows 10 and Xbox One. Since it’s a shared world adventure game, Sea of Thieves immediately feels right at home on the PC. When you combine it with a world full of 24/7, player-driven stories, it’s a great opportunity to create an experience catered for the needs of each platform. Your hardware choice shouldn’t be a barrier. The team made some great decisions early on in development to adopt Unreal Engine 4, which natively supports the PC, and to develop the Windows 10 version of Sea of Thieves in parallel with the Xbox One version. With Xbox Play Anywhere, fans have the freedom to play their games wherever they want. When you own a digital copy of Sea of Thieves, it’s yours to play on both Xbox One and Windows 10. Sea of Thieves on Windows 10 allowed the team to bring Sea of Thieves to as many gamers as possible, including those who have never experienced a Rare game before. Head over to Xbox Wire to read more about designing the game! Source: Microsoft Windows Blog
This year’s Gamescom marks three years since the ID@Xbox program was announced, which enables independent developers to self-publish games on Xbox One, and later Windows 10 with Xbox Live. The program started with a simple goal: make sure Xbox players have access to the broadest, most diverse array of games by making sure Xbox developers have the best development environment. Today, Chris Charla, director of ID@Xbox, shared the news over at Xbox Wire that Game Preview will be coming to Windows 10 later this year, with Everspace from our friends at Rockfish as the debut title. They’re excited to enable PC gamers to preview and purchase work-in-progress digital titles, participate in the development process and help developers make Windows 10 games the best they can be. Since the ID@Xbox program was announced, the team has listened to many developers about what they wanted in a program to make creating games for Xbox (and now Windows 10 with Xbox Live) as easy as possible. They’ve added free dev kits, free access to Unity middleware, game-creation ability on retail Xboxes for app creators and hobbyists, and whole new programs – like Game Preview, which enables players to buy and play games while […]
This year’s Gamescom marks three years since the ID@Xbox program was announced, which enables independent developers to self-publish games on Xbox One, and later Windows 10 with Xbox Live. The program started with a simple goal: make sure Xbox players have access to the broadest, most diverse array of games by making sure Xbox developers have the best development environment. Today, Chris Charla, director of ID@Xbox, shared the news over at Xbox Wire that Game Preview will be coming to Windows 10 later this year, with Everspace from our friends at Rockfish as the debut title. They’re excited to enable PC gamers to preview and purchase work-in-progress digital titles, participate in the development process and help developers make Windows 10 games the best they can be. Since the ID@Xbox program was announced, the team has listened to many developers about what they wanted in a program to make creating games for Xbox (and now Windows 10 with Xbox Live) as easy as possible. They’ve added free dev kits, free access to Unity middleware, game-creation ability on retail Xboxes for app creators and hobbyists, and whole new programs – like Game Preview, which enables players to buy and play games while […]
Today at gamescom, Lenovo unveiled two Windows 10 desktop PCs built for you to game and experience virtual reality anywhere you go: the IdeaCentre Y710 Cube and IdeaCentre AIO Y910. While many gamers dedicate rooms for their battle stations, about half are playing beyond the confines of a desk. The minimalist designs of both PCs, combined with Windows 10, give you top-of-the-line performance virtually anywhere. Let’s take a look at these new devices announced today: The IdeaCentre Y710 Cube with Windows 10 Click to view slideshow. Ideal for gamers who want to stay competitive no matter where they play, the IdeaCentre Y710 Cube comes with a built-in carry handle for easy transport between gaming stations and a new, compact cube form factor weighing only 16 pounds. The IdeaCentre Y710 Cube allows you to handle 4K gaming, VR and high-quality streaming with massive computing capabilities in real time, as well as multitask between editing a spreadsheet and streaming a movie. With Windows 10 and the Xbox app, you can stream Xbox games from your Xbox One to your Windows 10 PC. For even more control in your favorite games, the Cube also comes with the option of an integrated Xbox One Wireless receiver, including an Xbox One wireless controller. Other features include: Powered by Windows 10 Integrated Xbox One Wireless receiver supports up to eight Xbox One controllers simultaneously Up […]
Today at gamescom, Lenovo unveiled two Windows 10 desktop PCs built for you to game and experience virtual reality anywhere you go: the IdeaCentre Y710 Cube and IdeaCentre AIO Y910. While many gamers dedicate rooms for their battle stations, about half are playing beyond the confines of a desk. The minimalist designs of both PCs, combined with Windows 10, give you top-of-the-line performance virtually anywhere. Let’s take a look at these new devices announced today: The IdeaCentre Y710 Cube with Windows 10 Click to view slideshow. Ideal for gamers who want to stay competitive no matter where they play, the IdeaCentre Y710 Cube comes with a built-in carry handle for easy transport between gaming stations and a new, compact cube form factor weighing only 16 pounds. The IdeaCentre Y710 Cube allows you to handle 4K gaming, VR and high-quality streaming with massive computing capabilities in real time, as well as multitask between editing a spreadsheet and streaming a movie. With Windows 10 and the Xbox app, you can stream Xbox games from your Xbox One to your Windows 10 PC. For even more control in your favorite games, the Cube also comes with the option of an integrated Xbox One Wireless receiver, including an Xbox One wireless controller. Other features include: Powered by Windows 10 Integrated Xbox One Wireless receiver supports up to eight Xbox One controllers simultaneously Up […]
Reposted with permission from Gamasutra Introduction: Building the best place… to build At GDC Europe 2016, the Microsoft developer platform team is excited to showcase the technologies we’ve been working on to make both game development and gaming better on Windows 10. Not only are we bringing games from our partners to play on the show floor, but we’ve also set up a hands-on area with workstations, where developers can engage 1:1 with Microsoft experts and get a free in-depth consultation on topics like Visual Studio, UWP, Unity, Azure gaming services, Windows Store, and Xbox. In the article below, we’re going into more depth into what gaming technologies are being rolled out as part of Windows 10 Anniversary Update this summer, and how Microsoft envisages the future of game development across Windows devices. You can also stay connected with us at future events or online on our game developer site. Game development has come a long way since the first game of Tic-Tac-Toe appeared on a vacuum tube display in 1950. At Microsoft, we’ve been engaged in making game developers more productive for several decades, with the release of the Windows Games SDK in 1995 as only one example. Starting […]
Sixteen years ago, Stewart Butterfield conceived of a contest that would test the mettle of any web designer: The 5k. The idea was that entrants would build an entire site in 5kb of code or less. Its aim was to force us to get creative by putting a bounding box on what we could do: Between servers and bandwidth, clients and users, HTML and the DOM, browsers and platforms, our conscience and our ego, we’re left in a very small space to find highly optimal solutions. Since the space we have to explore is so small, we have to look harder, get more creative; and that’s what makes it all interesting. The 5k contest ran from 2000 until 2002. In 2010, An Event Apart and Microsoft revived the idea with an updated limit and a new name: 10k Apart. Staying true to its roots, this new incarnation, which ran for two years, continued to push designers and developers to get creative within a pretty extreme (though slightly expanded) limit while incorporating new goodies like HTML5 and responsive design. Today we’re thrilled to announce that the 10k Apart contest is back and brings with it a handful of new challenges: Each […]