People just want to have the latest or greatest - doesn't mean they're going to do anything with it - just human nature.
I hate it when people just chalk things up to "you want the latest greatest" or "gfx dont make a game". Give it up already.
I still haven't seen anything that pushed Blitz3d to its limits.
Then you really haven't been around long. I have pushed 12,000 particles at 40 fps in B3D. That was after many hours of optimizing. There are plenty of people that hit the limits of B3D. Just because no one pushed the Dreamcast to it's limits doesn't mean they stay developing for it. Technology moved on, and so did developers
The "official" word on BMax3d is just that its taking a new direction - not that it has ceased to be.
The official word (as mark put it) is "there is none" (meaning no official word).
MiniB3d is becoming pretty much what I always imagined the native 3d module would be anyway and is worth a try.
Which is the whole question then. At what point do we let go of the past and move on? The MiniB3D looks good yes, but its 3rd party. Whenever such-n-such decides not to support it anymore, that's where the tracks end.
Luckily my livelihood does not depend on selling games other wise I probably wouldn't be using any Blitz products at all.
We have made alot of money using B3d. Don't even suggest you can't make money using B3D.
I also wouldn't be using XNA until at least it was made much clearer how the licensing will work for the Xbox. Currently you are not allowed/can't sell anything you produce with XNA which I imagine would be quite a problem for someone who needs to make a living from it.
We are not looking to make a living from anything at the moment. We are merely exploring options.
A better option certainly in the shorter term would be just to use plain old C++ or c# and Managed DirectX. It would then be a lot easier to port this to an Xbox once the licensing issues were made a bit clearer.
Now your getting it!
It would be interesting to see what an official BRL response is on this though.
To be honest BrEgOrS, I am not looking for a reply from BRL. Like I said before, I respect what BRL has done, however they are just falling behind too far for me to continue using the products. Doesn't mean I won't support them, doesn't mean I have anything against them, just means that I need to evaluate alternatives while I have the time and ability to make a good choice.
In the past, just as I was finishing one project, my employeer would have another already started and ready for code. So the tail of one project would overlap the nose of another. This time it is different, they are deciding routes, and asking my opinion on direction. I can learn whatever I need to that comes down the pipe, I just need to find the solution that maximizes output. Blitzmax was to be that solution, however it's after xmax and there still is no native 3d module, so the next project is being held up in the documenting stage until we choose which direction to go for the next 2 years.