Microsoft Coding Document for Unsigned Xbox 360 Developers

Developers who are interested in writing games for Xbox 360 can be productive without having an Xbox 360 development kit. This paper describes hardware and software that can be used to emulate Xbox 360. It also includes recommendations for programmers wanting to get a head start on Xbox 360 development.

Hardware:
The Xbox 360 console is composed of a PowerPC-based triple-core CPU and a custom ATI graphics processor. Neither of these processors is available in standard PC-based hardware. We recommend the following system for emulating Xbox 360 using a PC:
* Microsoft Windows® XP
* PC with multiple hardware threads (hyperthreads) or multiple independent CPU cores
* ATI graphics card with support for High Level Shading Language (HLSL) shader model 3.0 (when available)
* Widescreen HDTV monitor

Software:
Xbox 360 games are programmed using the Microsoft® Visual Studio® development system. The Xbox 360 development kit (XDK) supports development using either C or C++. We recommend the following software for writing Xbox 360 code using a PC:
* Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio .NET 2003
* Direct3D 9.0 Software Development Kit
* Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT)

http://www.xbox.com/assets/en-us/dow...reparation.doc