A Closer Look at the June XDK Update

Coming off a great week for Xbox at E3, we’ve seen some questions regarding the June XDK (Xbox Development Kit) update we recently announced. The June XDK offers many new tools for developers, including more access to additional GPU bandwidth. While this update was designed with developers in mind, we also realize that many gamers like to know how their favorite games are created and have questions about the development process. We had the chance to chat with Kareem Choudhry, the Director of Development, Xbox Software Engineering, to get answers to some of the top questions we’ve been seeing.

[KingKionic]

The exposure microsoft has unleashed here by saying without kinect gestures in games can be higher resolution and have better performance.

They pretty much killed any chance of kinect ever being widely used in regular controller based games beyond voice commands.

Pretty damn rough times.

[Convas]

Don't spend too much on 40s man.

The time for mourning for Kinect has come and gone.

[KingKionic]

NAH. It aint over. Lord phil got me telling my kinect " look at the flowers".

Yusef...maybe he shall be a savior...

[Fireseed]

I think that's the problem though is that people though it would ever be a 1:1 replacement for traditional controllers but rather something to augment the game controls beyond something that a typical controller game can be, for example look at FRU

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[ThePope]

The Kinect still works, the Xbox is able to stream resources and make it so if a gesture needs to be used the resources are there.

The point is that 10% was held in permanent reserve, whether its needed or not. Now the developer can decide whether to use it for gesture or whatever else they need. And voice will still work all of the time.

[gamer1138]

They are giving developers what they asked for! Some developers did not want to use kinect in their games but wanted the processing power that was locked away. This goes right back to infinity ward with ghosts last year. If a develope wants to make a kinect game they STILL can.

I'm happy that the voice commands and snap still work so really nothing has been lost and Infact the xbox one has grown to give developers more freedom.

Please people. Read the article.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

XDK was a gift sent from heavens!

[Eonjay]

Xbox Wire: What features are lost if developers use the extra GPU performance?

"Kareem: Kinect Depth and infrared sensors which enable biometric sign-in skeletal tracking, controller pairing, etc. will no longer work for these game titles. "

A few things jump out at me:

1. I honestly don't understand why the developers weren't given the option to disable these features from the jump.
2. These features require more processing power then I would have guessed.
3. Being as though the developer can selectively enable and disable these options at will, this is definitely an improvement as it gives everyone more choices, developers and consumers.

[Kayant]

.

And we are done. Well said.

[Pogmathoin]

Yeah, especially since they said Kinect could be unplugged.... Before launch!

[Tedakin]

Agreed, this should have been an option from day 1. Some of the games at launch like AC4 and Ryse may have been 1080p and MS could have saved face.

[Lawboy2]

Well said

[SilentGuard]

My theory to #1 is because under the original vision of Xbone (requiring an online connection and Kinect be plugged in), Kinect was to be used as a data mining tool, such as tracking the number of people in a room and reactions and so forth. That would require the resources to always be tied up...to be able to consistantly mine data

[Bigpappy]

Obviously the tools to do it were not in place. Kinect finished development mere weeks before X1 when into full production. M$ did mention that they would be doing this when they release the console. This is nothing new that they just decided on.

http://www.destructoid.com/...

http://www.lazygamer.net/xb...

[gamer1138]

Because it is easier to give later than to take back later. Ms reserved this stuff incase there was a big uptake by developers, imagine a next gen skyrim that let you use the scanning your own face like kinect sports rivals. Clearly many games in development aren't using kinect in any meaningful way but could use that extra juice to try and match the PS4. See Destiny.

[GUTZnPAPERCUTZ]

Xbox Wire: What is the benefit of this change?

Kareem: Developers have more choice and flexibility to manage the resources of the Xbox One to deliver bigger and richer game experiences. Previously, 10% of the GPU was reserved for system level processing which included Kinect-related skeletal tracking data. With this change, titles that are not using skeletal tracking with Kinect can choose to use that portion of the system reserve for other purposes. We have also optimized the entire system so that titles have access to 100% of the Xbox One GPU for increased resolution and graphical effects.

Xbox Wire: What features are lost if developers use the extra GPU performance?

Kareem: Kinect Depth and infrared sensors which enable biometric sign-in skeletal tracking, controller pairing, etc. will no longer work for these game titles. Developers can choose to disable Kinect depth and infrared sensing in different parts of their titles. The full Kinect experience including skeletal tracking is automatically re-enabled when the user switches back to Home (or other applications), even while in the middle of a game.

There... Lets just be happy?

[Tedakin]

The only thing Kinect is good for are voice commands. If that stuff stays and the system increases in power, tremendous. The hand gestures stuff is bad.

[98xpresent]

Man I hate reading

[Illusive_Man]

I think the SDK is going to have a substantial impact on upcoming games and games later down the pipeline. But the question I keep having is what did the SDK do? Did it make utilizing the ESRAM + DDR3 easier? Did it streamline the process for making games? And what about the 10% GPU boost? What does 10% mean in quantifiable terms? Does it mean it frees up 2-3 Compute Units, 50% extra rendering capability? 10% "boost" could mean a lot of different things.

If rumors are true Destiny was going to at 792p and is now at 1080p. That is a 85.5 percent increase in pixel count.

And even if Destiny was going to be 900p. That is still a 44.4 percent increase in pixel count.

Clearly we cannot go straight from 10% "boost" directly to 44.4 - 85% more pixels. So that makes me wonder....what really is in this SDK and the new GPU "Boost"???

[Kayant]

"what really is in this SDK and the new GPU "Boost"???" - Loooool yes it's the dGPU getting unlocked /s.

[tgunzz]

Clearly there seems to be things other than what is specified in going on in their constant updates...

[jablocanas]

I don't understand why the 10% allocated to biometrics/gestures were never released in the first place during launch. There was no reason for that extra allocation when majority of games don't use Kinect outside of voice commands for snap/dvr/tv/etc. Imagine how much less negative the press would be if that 10% equaled more 1080p games. Bad planning on MS's part...