Describes how to use XNA Game Studio Connect to connect and deploy a game to your Xbox
360 console.
XNA Game Studio makes it easy for you to create games for both your Windows-based computer and your
Xbox 360 console. By joining the XNA Creators Club as a premium member and downloading XNA Game Studio,
you can begin developing for your Windows-based computer. To begin developing for Xbox 360,
follow these additional steps.
This guide assumes you have installed a supported version of Visual Studio tools and XNA Game Studio already.
You must install these products before you connect to an Xbox 360 console. For information
about installing these products, see Setup and System Requirements.
Step 1: Sign In to Xbox LIVE
Turn on your Xbox 360 console, and sign in to Xbox LIVE. At the very least, you will need a
Silver Xbox LIVE membership, an XNA Creators Club premium membership, and a hard drive for
your Xbox 360 console to be able to develop games for Xbox 360 using XNA Game Studio. While you are
in XNA Game Studio Connect or playing an XNA Game Studio game, you need to be connected to Xbox
LIVE.
Connections between your Xbox 360 console and XNA Game Studio require a premium membership in XNA
Creators Club. To sign up, visit the XNA Creators Club
Web site.
Step 2: Download XNA Game Studio Connect
You must download XNA Game Studio Connect from Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and install it on
the Xbox 360 console. Go to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace to find XNA Game Studio Connect. To
download XNA Game Studio Connect, choose one of the following options:
Browsing to All Games using the Guide
- From the Guide, navigate to the Marketplace blade.
- Select Game Marketplace, then All Games. This brings you to the
All Games screen.
- Continue with Downloading XNA Game Studio Connect from the All Games
screen, below.
Browsing to All Games using the New Xbox Experience (NXE) UI
- Navigate to Game Marketplace, and select Explore Game Content.
Press A on the controller.
- Select Browse, and press A. This brings you to the All
Games screen.
- Continue with Downloading XNA Game Studio Connect from the All Games
screen, below.
.jpg)
Once you've arrived at the All Games screen from either the Guide or NXE, use the
following procedure to download XNA Game Studio Connect.
Downloading XNA Game Studio Connect from the All Games screen
Step 3: Connect Your Xbox 360 Console and Windows-Based Computer
When you develop games for Xbox 360, you develop them on your Windows-based computer, then
transfer them over your local network to your Xbox 360 console. This requires that your
Windows-based computer and Xbox 360 console share the same subnet. Most home networking
layouts support this configuration. If your console and computer share a router or hub, it
is likely that they share the same subnet.
With your computer and console on the same subnet, follow these steps to set up a
connection between your computer and your console.
Step 3A. On Your Xbox 360 Console, Generate a Connection Key:
-
From the Xbox Dashboard, go to My Xbox, select Game Library, and
press the A controller button.
Also, you have the option of using the Xbox Guide: select the Games tab,
then Game Library, and press the A controller button.
-
From the Game Library, go to the Collections tab, select
Community Games, and press A.
-
Select XNA Game Studio Connect, and press A.
-
Select Launch, and press A.
The XNA Game Studio Connect screen appears.
.jpg)
-
If the XNA Game Studio Connect screen displays a connection key, continue to step
3B.
If the connection key does not appear, you can generate a new key by pressing the
X controller button.
If the connection key does not appear, the Xbox console could already be connected
to this Windows-based computer. XNA Game Studio allows multiple connection keys for
multiple users on multiple computers. For more information, see Using XNA Game Studio Device Center. To add a new connection key to
the list of connection keys recognized by this Xbox 360 console, press X.
To reset all connection keys and generate a new connection key to connect to this
Xbox 360 console, press Y.
Step 3B. On Your Windows-Based Computer, Enter the Connection Key and Initiate the Connection
-
From the Start menu, select Programs, select
XNA Game Studio 3.1, and launch the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
.gif) Note |
|---|
| You can also use the XNA Game Studio Device Management toolbar to directly launch
XNA Game Studio Device Center and add a device. Visual Studio 2008
displays the XNA Game Studio Device Management toolbar by default when an
Xbox 360 game is open in Visual Studio. |
-
Click Add Device.
.png)
-
Select the type of device you're adding. In this case, click Xbox
360.
.png)
-
Enter a name for this Xbox 360 console, and click Next.
.png)
This name serves only to identify your Xbox 360 console to XNA Game Studio. The name does
not need to correspond to any other computer or Xbox 360 name.
-
Enter the connection key that is displayed in XNA Game Studio Connect on the Xbox
360.
.png)
| Note |
|---|
|
The connection key might be somewhat hard to read on a standard television
screen. The following guide should help you identify specific
letters and numbers:
- The number "1" has a small tick at its top left; the capital letter "I"
does not.
- The capital letter "B" has a straight line on the left; the number "8" does
not.
- The number "3," sometimes mistaken for a "B," also has no straight side on
the left.
- The number "0" and the capital letter "O" are so similar that XNA Game
Studio Connect treats these characters as the same. Therefore, the number
"0" and the capital letter "O" are interchangeable.
If the connection key is still too difficult to read, press X on the
Xbox 360 controller to generate a new connection key.
|
-
Once you are sure that the two keys match, click Next on the XNA Game
Studio Devices dialog box.
XNA Game Studio Device Center will test the connection with the Xbox 360
console.
If the connection is successful, the XNA Game Studio Device Center on the
Windows-based computer will display "Successfully connected to the Xbox 360
console." XNA Game Studio Connect on the Xbox 360 console will display "Waiting
for computer connection," followed by the name you have chosen for your Xbox 360
console in the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
If the XNA Game Studio Device Center fails to connect to the Xbox 360 console,
click Try again to edit the connection key and try again. If the
connection continues to fail, make a careful note of the error message displayed
at the bottom of the XNA Game Studio Devices dialog box. This error
message can help you or a technician diagnose the cause of the connection failure,
if it did not result from mismatched keys. For more information about
troubleshooting a failed connection, see Troubleshooting Xbox 360 Game Deployment.
-
Click Finish.
The name you gave to your Xbox 360 console will be listed in the XNA Game Studio
Device Center. From now on, your computer and your console can connect to each
other easily.
Step 4: Create and Deploy an Xbox 360 Project
Try out the Xbox 360 console by deploying a simple, blank XNA Game Studio game to it.
-
On your Windows-based computer, at the main Visual Studio screen, select the File
menu, and then click New Project.
-
From Project types, expand the Visual C#, and click XNA Game
Studio 3.1.
-
In Templates, select Xbox 360 Game (3.1), and then
click OK.
At this point, you should bring up XNA Game Studio Connect to prepare the Xbox 360
console to receive content from the Windows-based computer.
-
From the Xbox Dashboard, go to My Xbox, select Game Library, and
press A on the controller.
You can also use the Guide: select the Games tab, select Game Library,
and then press A.
-
From the Game Library, go to the Collections tab, select
Community Games, and press A.
-
Select XNA Game Studio Connect, and press A.
-
Select Launch, and press A.
The XNA Game Studio Connect screen appears.
.jpg)
-
On your Windows-based computer, with your new project open, press the F5 key.
The project will build, deploy necessary files to the Xbox 360 console, and run.
At this point, you should see a simple display on your console—just a blue
screen. If you see this screen, you have successfully deployed a game to your Xbox
360 console. You can now deploy and play any game you create on your console.
-
To stop the game and return to the main screen of XNA Game Studio Connect, either
press the BACK button on your Xbox 360 gamepad, or press SHIFT+F5 to stop
debugging on your computer.
If the deployment fails, you may need to check your network settings. See Troubleshooting Xbox 360 Game Deployment for more information.
What's Next?
You have successfully deployed your first Xbox 360 game. This game, like every game you
deploy, will now appear in the Recent Games tab in the Game Library on
your Xbox 360 console. It can also be found by selecting Community Games in the
Collections tab in your Game Library. Using Game Library, you
can play any of the games you have deployed to your Xbox 360 console. From Game
Library, you can also delete games you do not want to keep.
Once your game is loaded onto the hard disk so that it appears in the Recent Games
tab of the Game Library on your Xbox 360 console, it can be transferred to a
memory unit if one is installed. From System Settings on your Xbox 360 console,
the Memory selection enables you to transfer a game from the hard disk to the
memory unit. The memory unit can then be installed on any other Xbox 360 console and played
or copied.
| Important |
|---|
| Only XNA Framework games built and deployed with XNA Game Studio 3.0 and later
can be transferred to a memory unit. If you wish to transfer a game developed under an
earlier version of XNA Game Studio, you must convert, build, and deploy the project using the
current version of XNA Game Studio. |
A good next step would be to try some of the tutorials. The code used in the tutorials
works on both Windows-based computers and on the Xbox 360 console, so you can try either
platform to get a feel for how to develop for both. Start with Tutorial 1: Displaying a 3D Model on the Screen for your first taste of game development.
See Also