Backround
There are four main types of Xbox 360 systems. Three are part of the XDK program: the Development console, the Test console, and the Demo console, while the fourth type is the Retail console available to consumers.

Development
The Development console provides you with the hardware and software tools necessary to develop and release Xbox 360 game titles. Though it is attached to the PC, you can interactively debug Xbox 360 game titles using either Visual Studio or the Kernel Debugger. You may also use tools like Performance Investigator for Xbox (PIX) to capture data for performance analysis. Also, the system lets you use the PC to emulate the console's DVD drive. This means you don't have to burn DVDs or copy builds to the hard drive in order to run them. Finally, you have a rich collection of tools such as xbWatson and API Monitor to help you create high quality games.

Test
The Test console is intended for game designers, artists, and testers. While the Test console does not support kernel debugging and Visual Studio debugging, it does support DVD emulation, which enables you to deploy a title faster than copying the title to the system's hard drive or burning a DVD. Further, you can use other tools such as PIX and xbWatson to help resolve problems that may occur while you run your game.

Demo
The Demo console allows you to play Xbox 360 game titles that are still under development, and have not been officially released. While they include the ability to trap crashes and monitor system performance, Demo consoles lack DVD emulation. This limits their usefulness for game designers who make frequent content changes to the game. You should use this type of console in situations where the game itself is staticfor items such as kiosks, pre-release demonstrations, or similar situations.

Retail
The Retail console is the normal Xbox 360 that someone can purchase at a retail outlet. Unlike the other systems that run your development content, the Retail console is the only type of console that can play games from retail DVDs.

Development consoles and Test consoles are available in models: standard consoles with the same amount of memory as Retail consoles (512 MB), and Xbox 360 GB consoles that include 1 GB of memory. The extra memory can be helpful during development process for these reasons:

- You can run a title with unoptimized code or assets which would exceed the normal amount of memory available.
- You can include extra debugging and/or instrumentation code without having to remove parts of the game to fit into the available memory.
- You can store logs and debugging information outside of the memory space reserved for the title.

Xbox 360 Device Comparison
The following table shows the key differences between the various types of Xbox 360 consoles.

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What is Xbox 360?
Xbox 360 is the next version of Xbox. Xbox 360 encompasses the hardware, software, and services offered by Microsoft.

Whom do I contact if I have a question that isn't answered here?
If you are a developer with a technical question, your primary resource is gameds @ microsoft.com. The DS stands for developer support. If you are a publisher, please contact your account manager.

I want to have a broader technical exchange, not just an e-mail thread. To whom can I talk?
Talk to your developer account manager (DAM). The DAMs are game industry veterans who understand the issues you are facing. Your DAM can set up onsite visits, conference calls, and performance reviews. Also, your DAM can put you in touch with other Xbox 360 resources. If you don't know your DAM, contact gamesrep @ microsoft.com.


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Art / Graphics
Which visual innovations do you consider most important to exploit?
High-definition output, high dynamic range lighting, and soft shadows.

Do you anticipate full-frame effects being a commonly used technology moving forward? What was done to address this?
Yes, absolutely. HDR, depth of field, tone mapping, and so on, all require full-screen renders and filters. We've done a lot to make these efficient, most notably using EDRAM to eliminate bandwidth bottlenecks, and having 48 ALUs available for pixel processing.


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Art Process
I'm an artist. What resolution should I use for authoring game content and UI? Should all my work be done for a 640x480 target resolution?
We recommend authoring content for 1280720.

What is the design paradigm for Xbox LIVE in terms of the UI/UX? 2D menu, 3D space, 2D/3D hybrid, or something else?
Much of the Xbox LIVE UI will be handled automatically outside of the game so that artists can focus on the game itself rather than the UI.

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Art Process / Samples
What material exists that can help us set the visual bar appropriately?
Film Noir and other demos (see [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] .


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Audio
Is there a dedicated audio processor? How many hardware audio channels exist? Are some of them limited to 2D, as with the Xbox (that is, only 64 are 3D)? Is there any more per-channel functionality, for example, more user-definable filters per channel?
The Xbox 360 system hardware contains an XMA decoder that is capable of decoding many concurrent XMA streams. It is expected that virtually all Xbox 360 audio content will be XMA-encoded for optimal performance. XMA is a variant of WMAPro. Audio processing beyond the actual XMA decoding is performed in software. It is only limited by the amount of CPU power that you choose to budget for audio. This makes voices even more flexible than in the original Xbox, with per-voice and submixed effects, as well as effects meant to be performed on the final mix. Also, more sophisticated effects are available, such as multi-band equalization and state-variable filters, as well as a high-quality reverb.

How are real-time DSP audio effects supported, given that there is no DSP audio processor for Xbox 360? Does the DSP tool still exist, except that the DSP images run in software instead?
A CPU is by definition a digital signal processor. Having the full power of a CPU core makes DSP effects much more flexible than on Xbox, including the ability to build up and tear down effects at will rather than through a "global image." Also, DSP effects are more integrated into XACT. This allows for stronger content-driven manipulation of effects.

Are customizable volume 3D rolloff curves available in XACT?
For 3D, the latest version of XACT is much more flexible than previous versions. By using the XACT DSP feature, a sound designer can tie any DSP parameter to distance, not just volume (as was once the case). For more information about run-time adjustment of sound, see the documentation about XACT runtime parameter controls (RPC).

For streaming WMA, does XACT allocate memory for just the encoded data, or does it also allocate memory for decode buffers?
Each decoding is to a circular buffer of 1024 samples of 16-bit PCM data, so each decoded stream occupies 2 KB of memory, in addition to the encoded data.

Can a single audio stream be rendered to multiple 3D locations simultaneously (like music being broadcast over several specifically-located loud speakers)?
Yes, fairly easily.

What methods are available for managing allocated memory?
Titles are able to hook memory calls as they were able to do with Xbox.

Are we be able to morph/crossfade an audio stream from rendering in 2D stereo or multichannel to 3D 5.1, as described in the preceding question?
Yes.

It has been said that WMA-encoded audio data is decoded in hardware on the Xbox 360 to eliminate the CPU costs that were incurred by doing this decoding on Xbox. Is the decoded data passed on directly to hardware, or do we need to plan on this decoded WMA data chewing?
This is not quite correct. We have hardware-based XMA, which is a variant of WMAPro that is used for game sounds and music. Think of it as the replacement for Xbox Adaptive Pulse Code Modulation (XBADPCM). There is a small system memory buffer (1 KB) that is needed for each channel.

Does the WMA playlist functionality from XACT 1.0 still exist in some form? If so, is there support for enabling multiple playlists simultaneously?
Access to the gamer's own music (playlists) in Xbox 360 is performed by a library, XMP.lib. Therefore, this functionality has been removed from XACT.


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Audio / Features
What methods of user-customizable soundtracks (ripped music) are available?
Xbox 360 is able to play the gamer's own music from a variety of sources. The XMP library functions are designed to allow a game to access the gamer's music and playlists without concern for the music source.

Dolby 5.1 is quoted as being supported (as on Xbox). Is this encoding done on the audio processor (if there is one), or does it require main CPU time? What about other formats such as DTS, 6.1, and so on?
We will natively support a multichannel format, just as we did on Xbox. The specific format has not been announced. As with other audio elements, encoding typically will be performed on a secondary CPU, so it will not have any impact on the main CPU.

For Xbox 360, it is a requirement that background music be under system control. How should a title's music be configured so that this is possible?
Ensure that, when gamers select their own music via the Xbox Guide, your title's background music is muted. If you are using XAudio, tag the XAudio voice as being "Music," and Xbox 360 will automatically mute it for you when gamers start their own music through the Guide. Likewise, if you are using XACT, anything in the "Music" category will be automatically muted. If you are not using either of these APIs, make sure that your music gets muted when gamers start their own music via the Guide.


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Audio / Tools
Will we be able to easily stream multiple audio tracks on a sample-accurate basis (an example would be rendering a dynamic mix of music, where the vocals, drums, guitar, bass, synth, and so on, are all streamed in simultaneously, but we can fade in and out each)?
You can interleave multiple tracks, and mix them in real time.

Will there be other methods of sample-accurate crossfading for rendering dynamic music (an example would be an orchestrated piece of music that has five different mixes, each with its own instrumentation, but the melodic elements, chord structures, and so on)?
This is similar to the case listed above. If you decide not to interleave, you could stream multiple mixes on a 128-sample boundary accuracy (if you're using compressed data).

DirectSound isn't available on Xbox 360. Is my only option XACT, or will there be lower-level access?
The low-level audio layer on Xbox 360 is called XAudio. XACT is written on top of the XAudio layer. XAudio will be fully exposed and documented so that game developers can write their own specific audio runtime.


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Certification
Can we review the TCRs before they are published?
We are always open to input on certification requirements.

Where can I find the most recent information on certification requirements?
A preliminary version of the Xbox 360 technical certification requirements is available for download from Xbox 360 Central.

Are there new TCRs or design recommendations that we should know about (an example would be BACK means the same thing as B and should be used to cancel stuff, and so on)?
The general philosophy of TCRs will remain the same: TCRs are designed to maintain consistency across titles and protect the integrity of the platform. Many TCRs are unchanged between Xbox and Xbox 360. We are reducing the number of requirements by moving functionality into system software. For example, we provide a standard UI for selecting storage devices that automatically manages things such as MU insertions and removals.

Will the certification process be similar to Xbox?
Yes.

Is there going to be a distribution list for Xbox 360-specific certification communication?
Specific certification questions can be sent to xboxcert @ xbox.com. There is also an Xbox 360 certification newsgroup: xds360.certification. See the newsgroups page on Xbox 360 Central for information on accessing the Xbox 360 newsgroups.

Will there be sample applications that show how to meet certification requirements?
Yes.


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Certification / LIVE
When will we receive a hardware compatibility list for NATs, firewalls, and routers?
The existing hardware compatibility lists for Xbox are a great starting point.


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Content Download
How will content download work on Xbox 360?
The Marketplace system component will enable titles to make both free and fee-based content available to players. It will provide support for purchasing and downloading content, managing local storage, and handling various error conditions. The Marketplace user interface will be fully localized based on the player's language. Unlike the Xbox content download manager, launching the Marketplace system component will not require the title to reboot. Marketplace will run in parallel with the title, using system resources.

Viewing Content
Game developers will be able to tag content to allow in-game filtering. This will enable a title to invoke Marketplace and automatically filter the content that is displayed. For example, a title could invoke Marketplace to show only downloadable weapons or only downloadable vehicles.

Selecting a Storage Device
Marketplace will manage the player's available storage for content downloads. A player may choose to store content on a memory unit or on the Xbox 360 hard drive, if available. If a device doesn't have enough free space for the download, Marketplace will provide the necessary UI to assist the player in choosing an alternate storage device.

Downloading Content
Marketplace will provide all download functionality, including automatic download resumption, decompression, and error checking. To preserve available network bandwidth for the game itself, downloads are active only when the Marketplace component is displayed.

Handling Payment Instruments
Marketplace will handle registering a player's payment instrument, whether that's a credit card, debit card, or other payment type. Players will also be able to register payment instruments in the Xbox 360 dashboard. A given player will be able to register multiple payment instruments. The information for the payment instrument is stored securely on the Xbox LIVE service. Marketplace will handle failed purchases and provide appropriate UI for failed authorization or other payment issues.


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Controller
What exactly is the specification of the controllers? Have any new features been added to the Xbox controller (or buttons lost)?
The Xbox 360 controller will be essentially the same as the Xbox controllerfor example, there will still be two triggers. The major difference is that the black and white buttons have morphed into shoulder buttons, and the buttons are now digital.

Will controllers support add-on peripherals?
Xbox 360 will support add-on peripherals.

How many controllers will one console support?
Xbox 360 supports up to four controllers.


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Development Environment
Will games for Xbox 360 be created on a Windows platform, making it easier to port an Xbox game to a Windows platform and vice versa?
The development environment runs on Windows. Portability to the Windows platform is a consideration, but there are a lot of external factors such as the architecture of the game itself that make it impossible to say that a game is 100-percent portable to a Windows-based PC. One of the key goals of XNA is to enable developers to easily build game content for both Windows and Xbox.

hat will the development environment be?
The development environment is Microsoft Visual Studio. As of December 2009, only Visual Studio 2008 is supported.

How many types of Xbox 360 development kit console are there?
The are basically two types of development consoles: the standard Xbox 360 Development Kit (XDK) and the XDK-GB, which is equipped with additional memory. For more information, see the discussion of the XDK-GB in Types of Xbox 360 Development Kit Platforms

How often will the XDK software be updated?
As we did for Xbox, we will ship an Xbox 360 software development kit every month in order to provide the absolute latest features and critical updates. This will continue at least through launch.

How likely will it be for APIs to change from revision to revision?
As we get closer to launch, the APIs will see less modification, until at some point close to launch we stamp our libraries as "approved." Most APIs will not change at all. A few new APIs might change over time based primarily on feedback from developers.

Will we need a 1:1 relationship between a Windows PC and a development kit?
Certain tools, including some profilers and DVD emulation, will require a 1:1 relationship. Most tools will not. For day-to-day development, the version of the XDK used on the Windows PC and the development kit must match. As was the case with Xbox, a development kit is accessible to other Windows PCs over the network.

Will DVD emulation have specific hardware requirements?
Xbox 360 DVD emulation is designed to operate effectively without additional Windows PCside hardware. However, it can do a more precise job of emulating when you use a USB 2.0 cable to connect the development kit to the Windows PC.

Will game builds be able to live on development kits, or must they be hosted on emulation hard drives?
Game builds are able to live on a development kit hard drive or on a Windows PC.

Will we have the same number/kind of A/V packs currently?
Xbox 360 will support a similar group of AV packs as Xbox.

Will the memory environment for development/debug kits be greater for development than it is for retail?
No. Xbox 360 development consoles have the same amount of memory as the final retail console.

Any plans to adapt the Xbox 360 libraries so that Xbox 360 games can be written in any .NET Framework language?
It is possible that Xbox 360 will support the CLR and C# in the future. It's unlikely that Xbox 360 will support every .NET Framework language.


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Development Environment / LIVE
Will we be able to simulate our own LIVE servers?
At this time, we don't know.


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Development Process
What will be different about the debugging process?
The debugging process will be similar to Xbox. We are enhancing XBDM. We are providing alternative interfaces to XBDM that allow developers to write custom debugging tools more easily. Also, we are improving the experience within the IDE itself.

What tools are being developed to handle (and debug) crashes in debug versions of XEXs?
We will support crash dump logging and debugging.


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Development Process / Training
What's the Xfest equivalent, and when are they happening?
Xfest is continuing for Xbox 360 developers and typically happens twice a year.


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Globalization
What about standard support for resources similar to the Windows Resource API? Specifically, we're looking for functionality similar to LoadString() for localization support. For title developers who use the XUI authoring tool, we are delivering something similar to the Windows Resource API, which makes it easier to localize your games.

Will everything be in Unicode?
It will be the same as for Xbox. Unicode will be used for most strings that are displayed for the user.

Any plan for a standard Unicode font?
Although we do not provide a standard Unicode font, we do provide a UI solution via the Xbox Guide for strings that titles don't control on their disk.

Will there be support for multi-region Xbox 360 games?
Yes. Just like Xbox.

What are the plans for IME on Xbox 360?
The XShowKeyboardUI function allows for a standard virtual keyboard to be invoked that encapsulates IME functionality for Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese. Direct access to the IME API will be exposed in an upcoming XDK.


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LIVE
Will current Xbox LIVE users be seamlessly migrated to Xbox 360?
Yes.

Will it be necessary to support Xbox LIVE without a hard drive, or can we assume that everyone with Xbox LIVE will have a hard drive?
We will be shipping two types of consoles: the Xbox 360 System and the Xbox 360 Core System. The Xbox 360 System includes the hard drive. The Core System does not, although everyone has the option of buying the hard drive as a peripheral. We recommend that LIVE titles not assume the console has a hard drive.

Will Xbox LIVE seamlessly support Xbox and Xbox 360?
Yes.

Will all current Xbox LIVE features remain supported for Xbox 360?
Most Xbox LIVE features will be available to Xbox 360 titles at launch. However, the following features will not be available at launch:

- Selected Web widgetsthat is, stats and messaging.

- XLSP game server.

- Single-elimination competitions.

- Title-specific teams.

- XLSP game server enables you to host game sessions from a server. XLSP title servers will still be supported at launch.

Is system link still supported?
Yes.


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LIVE / Storage
What are the throughput and persistent storage guidelines or limits for Xbox LIVE datacenter-hosted games?
The limits/guidelines are likely to be similar to those for Xbox.

Will games be able to store persistent data on Xbox LIVE servers?
Yes.


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Memory
Have memory plans been finalized? How much memory is on Xbox 360?
512 MB.

I have heard we'll have dedicated video memory on Xbox 360. Does that mean we are no longer a UMA system? Does that mean I will have a harder time grabbing screens, and using them in textures, post-processing, and so on?
Xbox 360 is still a Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) console. The 512 MB of RAM is equally available to the CPU or the GPU. The GPU contains an additional 10 MB of embedded dynamic RAM (EDRAM) designed to store the game's frame buffer. This RAM is extremely fast, and it completely removes one of the biggest Xbox game bottlenecks.

Should we allocate memory resources in roughly the same proportion as for Xbox games? For example, we used 22 MB for texture, or roughly a third of our available memory...
The short answer is yes. The long answer is... maybe. How you budget memory depends very much on the game genre and a variety of other factors.

What's the final amount of memory "available" for game use?
The Xbox 360 retail console will include 512 MB of UMA system memory. This is eight times the amount of memory that was available in the Xbox. The Xbox 360 system software will still reserve six percent (32 MB) of total memory for system components, such as the visible features of the Xbox Guide, as well as the non-visible background system tasks.


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Modeling
I have heard rumors of subdivision surfaces and more sophisticated high-order surface support. Should I be building all or most objects using NURBS or patches?
We are exposing the tessellator feature of ATI hardware through a DirectX extension. The tessellator basically takes some input parameters and generates multiple sets of UV coordinates that are fed to a vertex shader (VS). The VS implements whatever kind of surface evaluation is appropriate. Examples include n-patches and spline surfaces. The tessellator is capable of generating 1 vertex every 2 cycles, which should be enough to keep the GPU busy at mesh vertex reuse levels (0.5 vertices per triangle). We have been exploring modeling scenarios with DCC tool makers (Maya, 3ds Max, and so on), and we would like to make HOS authoring a realistic possibility for title developers. It has numerous benefits, including automatic LOD, view-dependent tessellation, and more compact representations in memory.

I have heard that procedural synthesis is a technique we will be using to increase performance and save memory. What is procedural synthesis?
Procedural synthesis is the ability to feed the GPU with command, vertex, and index data read from the CPU L2 cache instead of from main memory. The idea is that the CPUs would run small programs that generate this information very quickly from small amounts of data read from main memory. The GPU would consume this data, and read textures from main memory, effectively increasing the possible bandwidth into the GPU, and reducing the memory footprint for generated data.

Can procedural synthesis get data from texture memory?
Texture memory is in main memory, so, yes, procedural synthesis programs can read that data.

Can fins, shells, and stencil extrusions be dramatically sped up, use less memory, or be otherwise improved using XPS?
These things can be implemented in a vertex shader (VS), and we are planning to support a vertex processing backend on the CPU. This means you could run a VS on either the CPU or the GPU, or you could run these as special-purpose programs on the CPU. We are investigating a variety of techniques that can take advantage of procedural synthesis.


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Operating System
What will be the basis for the OS? (Xbox kernel was Windows kernelwhat will this be?)
The Xbox 360 OS kernel is based on the Xbox OS kernel.


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Performance
Are we be better off running uncompressed waves off the disc, performance wise?
From a performance standpoint, you are actually better off using XMA audio files. XMA compression technology will improve performance dramatically. Not only is XMA data much smaller than uncompressed waves, Xbox 360 has custom decompression hardware to convert XMA to PCM.

How fast are the CPUs? At least a minimum figure would be useful.
3.2 GHz.


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Programming
In a multithreaded application on a multiprocessor machine (Xbox 360), is it more efficient to match the number of threads to the number that can run concurrently (3 or 6)? Or is it better to have many small threads (for example, one per game object), and let the scheduler sort them out so that threads are always available to run if any get blocked? Or is there another approach that GTG can recommend?
It depends. If all threads are busy all the time, the best solution is to match the number of threads to the number of processors (3). Threads that do work periodically are better off being grouped together on a single processor. As with any optimization, we recommend you profile both methods, and use the one that gives better results.

Is there any progress on reading/writing the Z-buffer? Last we heard, this could not be recommended.
The Z-buffer is not readable outside of a resolve.


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Schedule[u/]
What is the XDK update process going to be like? Monthly releases?
As the Xbox 360 platform has matured, the release schedule has gone from monthly to every few months. Please check Xbox 360 Central for news about the next release.

Will there be the ability to do Xbox 360 betas before release?
Please contact your DAM or account manager about your interest in these type of programs.


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[u]Shaders / Effects
I have heard that Xbox 360 does lighting calculations in greater than 24-bit precision? Is that true?
Xbox 360 does all shader calculations in full 32-bit precision.

What is included in the definition of the + in DX9+?
There are numerous extensions to DirectX available to Xbox 360 title developers. Some of the highlights include being able to write to main memory from the shader core and full 32-bit precision in both vertex and pixel shaders. The Xbox 360 GPU also implements a superset of ShaderModel 3.0, which includes unified shader programming model (tfetch from a vertex shader) and dynamic flow control. Additional features may be available as well as part of Microsoft's XNA initiative.

Are there any hardware features that strongly benefit or drive the type of particles we should be using? The many-simple- vs. few-complex-particles issue, and so forth?
The Xbox 360 HW supports quad-lists, which could be useful for particle rendering. Procedural synthesis using the L2 cache to feed vertices to the GPU could also be a very beneficial approach to pushing particle systems faster. The built-in alpha-blending capabilities mean that sprite rendering in particles using a lot of alpha won't be a significant bottleneck.


Video
Will there be a table allowing me to adjust gamma or do other effects dynamically?
Gamma tables are supported, as is a functional equivalent that uses a gamma curve.

If I build my game for 720p, will Xbox 360 automatically scale the output to 1080i or 1080p?
Yes, the Xbox 360 hardware includes an extremely good video scaler.

This reference will guide you through the process of setting up your
Xbox 360 development kit. First, follow these steps to connect your
console:

1. Connect the AV pack that matches the input of your TV or monitor to
the AV output on the back of the console.

2. Connect the video cable to the video input of your TV.

3. Connect the Xbox 360 controller to the console through the front
USB port of the console.

4. Use a standard Ethernet cable (not provided) and connect one end to
the Ethernet port on the back of the console. Connect the other end to
your network.

5. Connect your PC to the USB emulation port:

1. Connect the USB cable (provided) to the USB port on console labeled "DVD EMU".
2. Connect the other end of the USB cable to the development PC.

6. Connect power to the console: The Xbox 360 development console ships with
both 100v-110v and 220v power supply units (PSU). If you use a
converter with the PSU, you must use a CE-Marked 110v-220v 750VA
step-down converter

1. Connect the power supply to the console.
2. Connect the power cord to the power supply.
3. Connect the power cord to the power outlet.

Once fully connected, the console is ready for power. Turn on your
display, then press the power button to the left of the USB ports on
the front panel of the console. This will launch the console's boot
sequence, during which time the TV will display an invalid video
signal. When the console has finished the boot sequence, a valid video
signal will be sent to the TV and the Xbox 360 Launcher will be displayed.

Note: If the console has completed its boot sequence, but a valid
video signal still isn't being received, it may be necessary to reset the
video mode. You may use one of the following shortcut button
combinations on the controller to quickly set video mode:

o For NTSC-M, left trigger+right trigger+D-pad right*
o For NTSC-J, left trigger+right trigger+D-pad left
o For PAL-50, left trigger+right trigger+D-pad up**
o For VGA, left trigger+right trigger+D-pad down

* PAL-I 60 Hz (Europe)
** Not supported in the current release

Note: The flicker filter is not enabled. As a result, images will
flicker on NTSC displays. The flicker will not show up when outputting
to HDTV or VGA. The flicker filter will be enabled in a future
release.

The first time the console boots, the Xbox 360 Launcher will request that
you enter a name for your console. Using the controller, enter a name
and then select OK to continue. The Xbox 360 Launcher will display a list
of the available applications on the console.

To turn off power to the console, simply press the power button.


Important information about the console hardware

* Make sure that you use only the power supply that comes with the
development console.

* Always plug the power supply into the development console before
plugging the power supply into the outlet.

* Console hardware is sensitive to static electricity; therefore it
is recommended that any static electricity be dissipated before
plugging in a controller. For example, walking across a carpet and
plugging in a controller without first touching a grounding
surface may reset the console.

Recommended Development System

The development system (the desktop computer you supply, on which you develop Xbox 360 titles) should meet the following recommended configuration, as a minimum.

Minimum Configuration
To use the Xbox 360 Development Kit (XDK), you need the following minimum development system configuration.

1 GHz CPU

512 MB RAM

10 GB hard drive

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or Microsoft Windows XP SP3

Ethernet network adapter

DX9-compatible video card, with 2.0 pixel shader and vertex shader support (used by some of the graphics and user interface development tools included with the XDK)

USB 2.0

Recommended Configuration
You need the following recommended development system configuration to fully use the capabilities of the XDK. This configuration will provide you with the best experience.

Dual 2GHz CPU

1 GB RAM

40+ GB SATA hard drive

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or Microsoft Windows XP SP3

Visual Studio 2008 (the most recent Service Pack)

Ethernet network adapter

DX9-compatible video card, with 3.0 pixel shader and vertex shader support (when available)

Two USB 2.0 host controllers, which are required when you use DVD emulation and performance analysis tools simultaneously

Other Recommended Hardware
Use the following additional hardware with the XDK.

HDTV-compatible television that supports a 16:9 aspect ratio, for viewing HDTV output

Speakers and an amplifier that support surround decoding, for audio development and testing

See Also
For information on setting up your development system and console, see Setting Up Your Development Kit.

Xbox 360 Samples

This document provides a brief description of the code samples furnished in the Xbox 360 Development Kit (XDK) to help you write world-class titles for the Xbox 360 video game system from Microsoft.

The Xbox 360 video game system offers you, the developer of game titles, a muscular platform to allow you to create knockout graphics, sound, and action that are as ambitious as your imagination and skill. Microsoft also provides you with a sweeping complement of software libraries that help you harness that power, and streamline the development process.

We want you to get up to speed quickly and experience the excitement of developing for Xbox 360. To help, we've given you sample code in each major XDK section to demonstrate key features that you can start using right away. The major topic areas are:

GraphicsSamples that illustrate Microsoft Direct3D concepts.

AudioSamples that use the Microsoft XAudio library, Microsoft X3DAudio library, the Xbox 360 Audio Creation Tool (XACT), and the Xbox 360 Music Player (XMP).

LIVESamples that use Xbox LIVE and networking technology.

Input Technologies and DevicesSamples that use Xbox Input technology, including Natural User Input.

SystemSamples that demonstrate how to use the system support features.

User Interface (XUI)Samples that demonstrate how to use the Xbox 360 user interface (XUI).

Running the Samples
You can run the Xbox 360 samples as soon as you receive your XDK. For details on installing and configuring your development and target systems, see Xbox 360 Development System Setup.

A select set of samples and their required media are available from the XDK Launcher as soon as you use the recovery CD to install the latest Xbox 360 System Software on your target system. Running the Xbox 360 Remote Console Recovery tool will also place the samples on your development kit. These samples are:

Audio Console Application - The auditioning support tool for XACT.

Dolphin - The classic graphics performance demonstration, a dolphin swimming in a circle.

Scene Viewer - A demonstration of high-performance graphics processing in Xbox 360.

User Interface (UI) Auditioning Application - A tool for previewing and testing your user interface.

These and all remaining Xbox 360 samples are available on your development system. You will need to build them (on the development system) before you can run them (on the target system).

The easiest way to build, deploy, and execute the samples is from the XDK topic page that describes the sample. Each of these pages begins with a hyperlink that reads "[Open this sample in Visual Studio]." Clicking this link will launch Visual Studio and load the project file for the sample. Once Visual Studio is launched, you can build and deploy the sample by clicking the Build menu, then choosing Build Solution.

All samples are set to deploy to the target console using DVD emulation mode. If you wish to change this to Copy to Hard Disk mode, you can do so through the deployment property pages.

Exiting the Samples
To exit a sample and return to the XDK Launcher, press and hold the left trigger and right trigger. Then press the right shoulder button on the Xbox 360 controller.

Development
The following development tools are included in the XDK:

Assembler for PowerPC
Assembler for compiling Xbox 360 assembly code.

Visual C++ for Xbox 360
C/C++ compiler for use with Xbox 360.

XBECopy
Tool that the Microsoft Visual Studio development system uses to automatically copy files to a console.

File Rights
Describes the legal rights you have to the contents of a file in the XDK.

Remote Configuration
Remotely configures a console's system settings.

Remote Console Recovery
Remotely updates the system software on a console.

Remote Delete
Deletes files from a remote console.

Remote Directory
Lists files and directories on a remote console.

Remote File Copy
Copies files to a remote console.

Remote Make Directory
Creates directories on a remote console.

Remote Reboot
Restarts a remote console.

Remote Rename
Renames files and folders on a remote console.

Remote File Sharing
Maps a PC folder to an Xbox 360 drive letter (xF:) through the network.

Security Tool
Administers access permissions on an Xbox 360 Development Kit.

Shell Extension for Xbox 360
Enables users to seamlessly browse the XDK hard drive from the Windows desktop, just as they would browse the local file system, a network share, or the Internet.

Watson for Xbox 360
Manages dumps on Xbox 360 development consoles.

Xbox 360 Command Prompt
Information about using the Xbox 360 command prompt.

Xbox 360 Launcher
Console-resident developer interface for running titles and changing console system settings.

Graphics
The following graphics tools are included in the XDK:

Effects Command-Line Compiler
Compiler for effects high level shader language or shader assembly code.

XBG Conversion Tool (MakeXBG)
Converts DirectX geometry files (.x) to Xbox geometry files (.xbg).

Pixel Shader Assembler
Compiler for pixel shader assembly code.

PTC Decode
PTC compression decoder for use with texture surface maps.

PTC Encode
PTC compression encoder for use with texture surface maps.

Remote Screen Capture
Captures screens from a remote console.

Resource Bundler
Bundles game title resources into a single Direct3D packed resource file.

Resource UnBundler
Unbundles packed game title resources back into a Direct3D packed resource file and corresponding source resources.

Scaler Emulator
Emulation tool that models, on the PC, Xbox 360's hardware-based video scaling feature.

Scaler Emulator (XbScale) GUI
Graphical user interface for the Scaler Emulation tool (XbScale).

Shader Disassembler
Disassembler for shader assembly code.

Vertex Shader Assembler
Compiler for vertex shader assembly code.

Audio
The following audio tools are included in the XDK:

XACT - XACT
XACT - Command-Line Tool
XACT - Command-Line Tool (XACTBld)
XMA - Command-Line Encoder
XMA - Command-Line Encoder (XMAEncode)

Multiplayer and Networking
The following networking tools are included in the XDK:

NetGrove
Analyzes network activity (as captured by NetMon) to provide statistics and analysis, which can help you identify issues that affect performance and compliance with technical certification requirements (TCRs).

Network Emulator for Windows Toolkit (NEWT)
Simulates poor network conditions between Xbox 360 consoles, and between Xbox 360 consoles and Xbox LIVE.

System
The following system tools are included in the XDK:

DVD Emulation
Emulates performance characteristics of the Xbox 360 DVD drive.

Performance Investigator for Xbox (PIX) Reference
Captures detailed performance information from a running game compiled with either a debug or instrumented version of the Direct3D library.

Xbox CPU Profile Viewer (XbPerfView) Reference
Analyzes CPU profiling data from games compiled with the /fastcap compiler option. It can be used to locate the CPU bottlenecks in your title, and to understand why those bottlenecks occur.

Test, Automation, and Publishing
The following test, automation, and publishing tools are included in the XDK:

API Monitor Reference
A test and certification tool that validates use and implementation of Xbox 360 system library functions for TCR conformity verification.

Arcade Tools
Tools for validating and releasing Xbox 360 Arcade titles.

Game Disc to Content Tool
Converts a source game disc image file (.GDF or .XSF) to an Xbox 360 secure content file.

Submission Validator
Performs an automated validation of an Xbox 360 submission package.

Submission Validator Command-Line Tool
Performs an automated validation of an Xbox 360 submission package that can be invoked from the command line.

Xbox 360 Game Disc Authoring Tools
Describes all the tools relating to Game Disc Authoring for the Xbox 360. These tools include a GUI tool used to create a game disc layout, and command-line tools for game disc emulation and game disc creation.

Xbox 360 and LIVE Authoring Submission Tool (XLAST)
Provides an interactive method of authoring game configuration, title update, and content package offer submissions for LIVE. All submissions to LIVE must be authored with XLAST. It is also used to compile the .XLAST file into the .spa file and the .spa.h header file.

XSim File Dumper
A command-line utility for outputting the contents of an XSim file to the standard output.

User Interface (XUI)
The following XUI tools are included in the XDK:

XUI Authoring Tool
Full-featured tool for creating user interfaces, including animation and skinning.

XUI Converter
Converts resource .resx files to binary format files.

XUI Importer
Imports resource .resx files into XUI source files.

XUI ResX File Merger
Merges multiple .resx files into one.

XUI ResX File Splitter
Splits a combined .resx file into multiple .resx files.

XUI-to-Binary Converter
Converts source XML .xui files into run-time binary .xur files.

XUI-to-ResX Converter
Generates resource .resx files from XUI source files.

XUI Font Reducer
Removes TrueType data not used by the XUI font renderer.

XUI Packager
Packages XUI resource files into .xzp archives.

The SDK is a executable program that can be installed on your windows computer and ran alongside your Dev Kit, underneath is some images i have taken of what the software looks like;

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