Using XNA Game Studio 3.0, any programmer can master the art of game development and begin selling games to millions of Xbox 360 users worldwide. Now, there’s a practical, comprehensive guide to game development with Microsoft’s powerful new XNA Game Studio 3.0 and the entire XNA Framework. In Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 3.0 Unleashed, XNA expert Chad Carter covers the entire XNA platform, presents extensive sample code, and explains that code line by line. Carter walks you through the entire process of game development, including installing XNA, creating objects, handling input, managing and extending the content pipeline, optimizing game performance, and creating both 3D and 2D games. Carter presents sophisticated coverage of using XNA’s high level shader language; creating physical effects; and endowing characters with realistic artificial intelligence. A case study section walks through the entire process of planning and coding a game, improving it, and putting on the finishing touches that make it marketable. This edition contains nine new chapters, including all-new sections on creating networked games, programming games for the Zune handheld, and preparing and submitting games to Xbox LIVE, where accepted titles will reach gamers worldwide. Plan your games to deliver solid performance on the platforms you’ve targeted Understand essential XNA Framework concepts, including object creation, cameras, input handling, libraries, game services, and managing and extending the content pipeline Create a 2D game that will run across 3 platforms (Windows, Xbox 360, and Zune) with a single code base Create a Visualizer media player for the Microsoft Zune Use the High Level Shader Language (HLSL) to communicate directly with graphics hardware Bring realistic physics to your game action and realistic artificial intelligence to your characters Create sophisticated 3D effects that use advanced texturing and a particle system Build networked games, including multiplayer demos, turn-based games, and real-time network games Create 4 full games–2D parallax side scroller, 3D shooter, multiplayer turn-based 2D card game, and a multiplayer real-time 3D game Discover best practices for creating Xbox LIVE Community Games Sell your finished game on Xbox LIVE Marketplace CD-ROM includes: All C# examples and source code presented in this book.

Provides information on using Microsoft XNA to create games for the Xbox 360 and for Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft® XNA"!UNLEASHED Graphics and Game Programming for Xbox 360 and Windows Chad Carter Foreword by Tom Miller Developer, XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft Corporation Microsoft XNA Unleashed provides comprehensive coverage and solid instruction on how to leverage the XNA Framework to create high quality games for Windows and the Xbox 360. The author shows you how to take full advantage of the many features the XNA Framework provides; you will learn the intricacies of important tasks such as adding sound and music to games, as well as creating, loading, and texturing 3D object.

Full Color: Figures and code appear as they do in Visual Studio Windows Phone 7.5 Unleashed is the first comprehensive, start-to-finish developer’s guide to Microsoft’s brand-new Windows Phone 7.5. Written by Microsoft MVP and leading WPF/Silverlight innovator Daniel Vaughan, this full-color guide covers everything developers need to rapidly build highly competitive Windows Phone 7.5 mobile apps. Vaughan teaches through complete sample apps that illuminate each key concept with fully explained code and real-world context. He presents real-world best practices for building highly functional and attractive Metro interfaces; integrating touch, rich media, and data; testing; profiling; and more. Throughout, he shares expert insights available in no other book, drawing on his exceptional access to the Windows Phone development team through the elite Microsoft Silverlight and WPF Insiders group. Along the way, he presents exceptionally practical and thorough coverage of many powerful new Windows Phone 7.5 platform enhancements--including full chapters on sensors, the camera, XNA graphics, local databases, scheduled actions, and background file transfers. Detailed information on how to... Get started fast with Silverlight Windows Phone development in Visual Studio Master the Capabilities Model, threading, and the Execution Model Create attractive Metro interfaces using Windows Phone’s rich set of controls, including the Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit Make the most of the application bar and other interface elements Enhance user experience with advanced support for touch, gesture, and sensors Build location-aware apps that use Bing Maps and location services Quickly internationalize apps for global markets Leverage Windows Phone 7.5’s improved camera support Connect apps to online services via SOAP, REST, and ODATA Validate user input on the client side or via Web services Use Windows Phone 7.5’s powerful new local database support Implement background actions, file transfers, and audio playback Incorporate game-style XNA graphics Unit test to find defects earlier, saving time and money

This end-to-end deep dive into Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional will help working developers squeeze maximum productivity out of Visual Studio 2010’s extraordinarily rich toolbox, whether they are writing code for the Web, Windows, Silverlight, or Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing environment. The authors combine authoritative and detailed information about Microsoft’s latest IDE, with extensive insights and best practices drawn from decades of development experience. Developers will learn how to use Visual Studio 2010 Professional to take full advantage of the entire .NET platform, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) for rich client development, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) for building dynamic service-oriented solutions, and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) for structured programming around business processes. The authors also present extensive new coverage of Microsoft’s powerful new tools for unit testing, application instrumentation, and code analysis. By focusing entirely on Visual Studio 2010 Professional, the authors have gone deeper into Microsoft’s core product than ever before. Throughout, their focus is relentlessly practical: how to apply Microsoft’s tools to build better software, faster. Detailed information on how to... Work with solutions, projects, browsers, explorers, editors, and designers Write better macros, add-ins, and wizards Save more time with Visual Studio 2010’s updated productivity tools Instrument, analyze, and test your software Refactor code for greater robustness, maintainability, and performance Share code with team members and the larger community Write powerful ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and Silverlight web applications Implement robust service oriented architecture (SOA)–based applications Efficiently consume services with WCF Write advanced Windows applications with Windows Forms and WPF Construct data-centric applications with LINQ and Entity Framework Create and host workflow-based applications with WF Write applications for the Azure cloud Extend Visual Studio with the new Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) and the Automation Object Model Build better object-oriented VB or C# software, and use new dynamic language features