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 Connecting to Your Xbox 360 Console...
XNA Game Studio 2.0
Connecting to Your Xbox 360 Console with XNA Game Studio 2.0
This article provides the steps necessary to connect and deploy a game to your Xbox 360 console using XNA Game Studio Connect.

XNA Game Studio allows you to easily create games for both your Windows-based computer and your Xbox 360 console. By simply downloading XNA Game Studio, you can begin developing for your Windows-based computer. To begin developing for Xbox 360, follow these additional steps.

Note
This guide assumes you have already installed a supported version of Visual Studio tools and XNA Game Studio. These products must be installed before connecting 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. You will need at least a Silver Xbox LIVE membership, an XNA Creators Club 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 must remain connected to Xbox LIVE.

Step 2: Download XNA Game Studio Connect

XNA Game Studio Connect must be downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace and installed on the Xbox 360 console. XNA Game Studio Connect is listed on Xbox LIVE Marketplace next to the XNA Creators Club Subscription, which may be found by selecting Game Store, More..., Genres, and then Other.

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:

  1. From the Xbox Dashboard, select the Games tab.
  2. From the item list, select Games Library and press the A controller button.
  3. From the Games Library list, select My Games and press the A controller button.
  4. Select XNA Game Studio Connect and press the A controller button.

  5. Select Launch and press the A controller button.

    This displays the XNA Game Studio Connect screen.

  6. If the XNA Game Studio Connect screen displays a connection key, continue to step 3B.

    If the connection key does not appear, a new key can be generated by pressing the X controller button.

    Note

    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 the X controller button.

    To reset all connection keys and generate a new connection key to connect to this Xbox 360 console, press the Y controller button.

Step 3B. On Your Windows-Based Computer, Enter the Connection Key and Initiate the Connection

  1. From the Start menu, click Programs.
  2. Click Microsoft XNA Game Studio 2.0.
  3. Click XNA Game Studio Device Center.

  4. Click the Add Device button.

    Alternatively, the XNA Game Studio Device Management 2.0 toolbar allows you to directly launch XNA Game Studio Device Center and add a device. Visual Studio 2005 displays the XNA Game Studio Device Management 2.0 toolbar by default when an Xbox 360 game is open in Visual Studio.

  5. Enter a name for this Xbox 360 console. 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.
  6. Click Next.

  7. On the Xbox 360 display, enter the connection key displayed in XNA Game Studio Connect.

    Note

    The connection key might be somewhat hard to read on a standard television screen. Look at the guide below to help you distinguish between specific letters and numbers:

    • The number "1" has a small tick at its top left, whereas the capital letter "I" does not.
    • The number "8" does not have a straight side at the left, whereas the capital letter "B" does.
    • The number "3" has no straight side at the left, whereas the capital letter "B" does.
    • The number "0" and the capital letter "O" are so similar, XNA Game Studio Connect treats those characters as the same character. Therefore, the number "0" and the capital letter "O" are interchangeable.
    • If the connection key seems difficult to read, press the X controller button to generate a new connection key.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  1. On your Windows-based computer, at the main Visual Studio screen, click the File menu, and then click New Project.
  2. From Project types, expand the Visual C# and select XNA Game Studio 2.0.
  3. In Templates, select Xbox 360 Game (2.0).

  4. 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.

  5. From the Xbox Dashboard, select the Games tab.
  6. From the item list, select Games Library and press the A controller button.
  7. From the Games Library list, select My Games and press the A controller button.
  8. Select XNA Game Studio Connect and press the A controller button.

  9. Select Launch and press the A controller button.

    This displays the XNA Game Studio Connect screen.

  10. 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.

  11. 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 stop debugging on your computer by pressing SHIFT+F5.

    Note
    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 My Games section of Games Library on your Xbox 360 console. Using Games Library, you can play any of the games you have deployed to your Xbox 360 console. From Games Library, you can also delete games you do not want to keep.

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.

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Sick of signing up for every thing      Ingo_Black_Fox   |   Edit   |  
Can some one PLEASE explain to me why i have to pay xbox live to able to connect MY xbox 360 to MY computer so I can try to learn XNA studio
I dont wont to connect my 360 to the net
I'm paying for the net
pade for the xbox 360 by the way its been to get fix 3 times the fourth time i had to get someone else to fix it because it cept doing the same thing and try to talk to someone good luck
and paying for the games
where was i up to right sign up to xbox live just to get some files so i can connect MY xbox to MY computer to try to learn XNA Studio and see it on the xbox
Re: Sick of signing up for every thing      MiNalien   |   Edit   |  
Because, Einstein, they didn't have a public working version of this when the XBOX was released, and not everybody is going to ever use this. :/ In addition to that fact, this method allows them to easily and quickly deploy updates and bug fixes, and you know what else? IT GIVES THEM SOME MONEY FOR OPENING THE XBOX 360 TO INDIE DEVELOPERS. A wonderful thing to do, in the eyes of this indie developer. And look, Nintendo's already followed suit, with their release of WiiWare, and (unless Sony proves to be stingy about their console, as would be par for the course, in my opinion) Sony will probably be following behind soon enough for the Playstation 3.

Sometimes, a little bit of money (honestly, XNA CC membership is NOT expensive. At all) to open up what used to be a high-profile, commercial-only platform to something that used to be available only to those with lots of money, or the knowledge of how to crack into their system's software (I've worked on a couple Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance projects in this way), is now open to anybody with brains, a decent team, and a measly ninety-nine dollars a YEAR. I pay more than that for a dedicated server MONTHLY.
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Re: Sick of signing up for every thing      Regime   |   Edit   |  

As you can read above, this requires a free XBOX live silver membership, not a paid gold membership.

[edit] never mind.. it's the creators club membership that's not free... [/edit]

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More Money      X2I   |   Edit   |  
Right so we have to pay for something else as well. So to do this I will have had to:

a) Pay for an Internet Subscription (per annum)

b) Pay for my XBOX 360

c) Pay for the Cable to connect them together

d) Pay for a Gold Membership (per annum)

e) Pay for a Subscription to XNA

In England that totals at over £500 - just to learn how to make games for my own console which I paid for. Fair enough, I have already purchased all of them except the last one but its not the point - the point is that membership for testing and debugging on your console should be either free or non existent. I could understand if you were then in a position to say "Yeah I think my games are good enough to publish to people on XBOX LIVE ARCADE, I think I might give it a go and try to earn some cash".

I am cautious as to whether or not I should pay the subscription in case I never make anything of my games on the 360 - If I could test them then I would definitely strive to produce good content. Then should I wish to export it to the public then a subscription may suffice - but then again if Microsoft is giving us a cut of what we earn from our games, what's the point because they will be earning it back from everyone's subscription costs.

Sorry, I just don't agree with charging just to test the games!


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