SEATTLE--This reporter is lucky to be here in Seattle at Microsoft's Meltdown conference. Previously, the company's annual event has only admitted game developers, but this year the company broke with that tradition and invited a handful of tech and gaming journals, GameSpot among them.

　　Meltdown kicked off its two-day run with opening remarks addressing the latest version of DirectX and how it fits into the game developer's bag of tricks. DirectX 9.0c incorporates some tools from XNA: Preview Pipeline and PIX for Windows, an enthusiastic J Allard explained (in a style somewhat reminiscent of his GDC keynote). As previously touted, these additions represent an attempt to bring development pathways for the Xbox and PC closer together.

　　According to Allard (pictured above on the right, standing next to Drew Johnston, group program manager for Windows gaming, in the center and Chris Donahue, lead technical evangelist for DirectX, at the left), this is the first step in a long-term plan to increase interoperability between development tools. The idea is that Microsoft will reduce the need for developers to build infrastructure, lowering the barriers to entry and freeing up a developer's resources to work on the creative stuff that's really important: gameplay and graphics. The bottom line, of course, is that more games mean Microsoft can sell more operating systems and collect more royalties from Xbox games--a point Microsoft reps have never been shy to emphasize.

　　So what goes on at Meltdown? Why has Microsoft been so closemouthed about the event for the last few years? Well, like at any industry event, there's the official agenda, and then there's schmoozing. It's the official agenda that concerns Microsoft: Giving game developers the information they need to do their jobs means releasing some pretty sensitive information. DirectX is the focus of attention, but given that Longhorn is on the horizon, there's a good chance that this year's Meltdown attendees are going to get some pretty interesting tips on Microsoft's new OS. Workshops cover the gamut from the approachable "Marketing Windows as a Game Platform," to the more technical "DirectX Futures," to the hardcore "Capturing and Playing Back Your Graphics Pipeline Content for Further Analysis Using ACT-R and PIX."

　　Of course, schmoozing is an important part of the event too: Nvidia, ATI, S3, and AMD are here along with people from Microsoft's DirectX team and other software makers (Renderware is sponsoring free latte carts, a brilliant marketing move that's going to make the company a lot of friends in this crowd of chronically sleep-deprived developers). These companies depend on gaming to one extent or another, and meeting and greeting game developers is a key part of their business. Conversations in the lobby run from advice on developing for a given piece of hardware to insider tips on working with development software.

　　Over the next two days of the event, GameSpot will keep its eyes and ears open to let you know what developers really think about the software that Microsoft is presenting, how it's going to affect their businesses, and what gamers can expect down the road. Stay tuned to our ongoing coverage.