XNA Evidence

When Microsoft's XNA Initiative was announced at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) last March I was a bit skeptical about it. What would it really do that various tool sets and middleware programs were not already capable of? The initial videos showcased were not terribly impressive.

A car crash demo prepared by High Voltage Software (of "NBA Inside Drive" fame) showed some nice car modeling and damage physics. However, it was really no better than what we saw in Criterion's "Burnout 3 Takedown" this past fall. Sparks, inertia, and contorted metal. Big deal. The "fur" demo looked like a rejected Rareware game. That's saying something since they love making games with furry homosexual animals. Lastly, there was a "film noir" demo that displayed some slick 3D models but was essentially gouraud shaded and had very little in terms of complexity.

Well, that initial dissapointment will soon be stricken from the record with what Microsoft plans to show at this year's GDC. A clip uncovered by xboxdynasty.de (sehr gut) reveals a new XNA demo that is likely to send the rest of the industry into a tailspin.

Simply titled "Call On Me," the clip shows none other than Master Chief and Cortana kicking it old school. What's amazing is the quality of the models and the animation. You can see each jolt and gyration perfectly. It's honestly quite staggering to behold. How anyone can hope to compete with this remains to be seen. I'm certain more than a few developers will be losing sleep after witnessing this first hand.