So... What is XNA then?

Till now, i had the conception that Managed DirectX was just a layer of Managed code for .NET languages (such as C#) to access the machine code of DirectX (from 8.1 to 9.c). Now you say that XNA is a complete new form of it because it uses the runtime of .NET 2.0 and is completely managed code , so I thought that XNA is actually the core of what will be called DirectX 10 (adding some kind of unmanaged code for previous DirectX development). But every FAQ, post or answer I find says that are completely different technologies. Then what happens with games made in XNA. Will they work in a machine that has DirectX 10 installed or you would have to install both DirectX (for previous games and DirectX-like games) and XNA (for new XNA-like games)?

In other words... how does XNA technology link with DirectX (especially 10)?

Ampers at 2007-9-3 >

Ampers wrote:

In other words... how does XNA technology link with DirectX (especially 10)?

Not now, but it's possible for future versions. The emphasis right now is cross-platform abilities between Windows and the Xbox 360. There is currently no announced managed solution for Direct3D 10.

DavidWeller-MSFT at 2007-9-3 >

Better to say this:

So, just to summarize, we could say that DirectX is still a machine-built API for games and will continue like that and that XNA is the new managed wrapper for DirectX 9

>So, can we expect that in Windows Vista we will have the XNA layer for DirectX 10 so that XNA games work well on it?
We can hope, nothing has been announced.....

>Is XNA a layer to install separately from the DirectX API or will it be actually included in the following versions of DirectX (I mean for Windows, not for XBOX)?

Not been announced yet how it will be distributed. The xbox libraries that come as part of the creators club will likely come down through some kind of xbox live transaction I imagine and its looking like the XNA release schedule is different to DirectX so I imagine it will come separately.

However, please, please microsoft if the XNA libraries are separate then include the matching bits of DirectX that it needs in the installer so that we don't have to send people to multiple places. and please, please, please give us an installer that is small and will detect the missing bits and go to the web for them like the current DirectX web installer does (and of course allow us to use this installer)/ Bonus points if it will also fetch and install .Net 2.0 if that is missing. The less steps in the process the more people will use it.

TheZMan at 2007-9-3 >