I blogged on the new ECMA working group for standardizing the C++ binding for CLI last month. Last week, Herb Sutter blogged the candidate specification. And to answer the question I posed, it does appear that the double underscore syntax has been removed. Instead of “__gc class {…}”, it’s just “ref class”. For __value and __property, you just lose the double underscore. Cool, though it does mean any MC++ code will eventually need to be migrated to the new syntax. Also. the specification is forward looking, including support for CLI generics.

Herb also blogged in depth on the new keywords as well as the gcnew operator.

I think I’m cursed – my HW woes continue. My multibay hard drive where I keep all my data as well as run my VPC’s from has started to go belly up. So 22 GB of backing up later, I’m going to see if a complete reformat of the drive solves the problem. I’m thinking it’s a controller issue, so reformatting isn’t going to do squat, but I gotta see if I can salvage the drive. If not, a replacement multi-bay drive is not cheap.

In better news, I picked up Amped 2, Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Crimson Skies @ the company store today. Crimson Skies is the one I wanted the most, but I liked the original Amped and I hear the sequel is pretty cool. I picked up Ghoulies primarily as a gift for the school where my wife works as the director of Extended School Services. They have an XBOX but few games, so I figured I’d help out. I’m still waiting for NHL Rivals 2004 and Project Gotham Racing 2. PGR2 was in the store briefly yesterday, but sold out almost immediately. Since I’m cursed, my XBOX is having occasional issues as well, but nothing a little patience doesn’t cure.

I love Rory’s blog. As soon as I move my blog to DasBlog, I’ll have him on my blogroll. In the meantime, I’ll just point you to his rant on the “f” word.

Duncan blogged that the PDC sessions are available as streaming audio with synchronized PowerPoints. For those who couldn’t attend PDC, or just couldn’t get into the room, be sure to check out the Architecture Symposium track featuring Pat, David and Keith. If you just want the PowerPoints, you can get them here, here and here.

I think everyone read Duncan’s post since the performance is horrible right now. Don’t worry, Duncan said they’ll be up there for six months.

Talking about the Matrix movies and game got me thinking about the way I am entertained. I’m used to being entertained on opposite ends of the interactivity spectrum: passive movie watching and active game playing. I think you could generate more interesting experiences by intermixing those two extremes. For example, my favorite games are ones with a great story. You could watch someone else play Halo and still enjoy the experience. I hear Crimson Skies is the same way. So why can’t you choose to passively experience the story without getting involved in the game play, if I only care about the story? My wife has no interest in playing Enter the Matrix, but she’d like to see the story.

I also really like sports games (esp. hockey). Many sports games are adding “owner” modes where hire staff and sign players but don’t control the game play on the field. That’s pretty cool. Microsoft’s XSN Sports lineup doesn’t have those modes, instead the focus on online leagues and tournaments. While most of that experience is very interactive, how about having a XSN “SportsCenter” where you can see highlights from other games in your league? Maybe even cut away during breaks in the action to show highlights from other games in your league that may be going on at the same time. Those features are passive, but they would add immensely to the game experience.

Some of these techniques start to get into the realm of Machinima – making movies using gaming engines.

Anyone else interested in this? What are the good tools and engines that work with Managed DirectX?