Microsofts XNA - Gaming Development ETC

[Zenax]

Well, as some of you may know already Microsoft has released its BETA version of XNA, its brand new Game Development software.

You can Download here:
XNA DOWNLOAD

XNA Game Studio Express enables individuals and small teams to more easily create video games using new, optimized cross-platform gaming libraries for Windows and Xbox 360. This beta release targets the development of games for Windows. The final version of XNA Game Studio Express will be available this holiday season and will enable development of games which target Windows and upon purchase of a XNA Creators Club subscription, the Xbox 360 as well.

While we’re very proud of this Beta milestone, it does not represent all of the great features we are enabling in XNA Game Studio Express which will be available in final release form by this holiday. Some of the key feature areas that were not able to make it into this beta include:
- The XNA Framework Content Pipeline feature is not present in this release of XNA Game Studio Express (Beta). It will be made available in a future beta release of XNA Game Studio Express
- Support for retail Xbox 360 game development. This feature will be made available upon final release of XNA Game Studio Express later this holiday
- Additional starter kits and tutorials will be made available upon final release of XNA Game Studio Express

http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/XNA/default.aspx -> Main page

Regards,
Zenax

Requires Microsoft C# Express 2005 Edition to be installed before you can install the program

 

[Cubeform]

Ah, yes. XNA. Create games for the PC and the Xbox 360 (with a membership). I have it on my PC. There's no documentation whatsoever, except for maybe that Spacewar game I can't play because I don't have an Xbox 360 controller.

By the way, XNA stands for "XNA's Not Acronymed".

 

[Livewire]

Realy? google defines it as:

[SIZE=-1]XNA (Xbox/DirectX New generation Architecture) is a proposed successor to DirectX, uniting varied game development API's into a common framework. XNA was announced March 24, 2004, at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California.

Not to be a smartass or anything



Anyhoo, anyone heard about what it's supposed to cost though? It's looking like it's supposed to be free (GLEE!!!) but I need some outside-of-microsoft confirmation here.

And why does it appear to require vs2005c# express? I had to buy vs2005 pro for friggin coding classes in college, and now I'm still stuck downloading a lesser piece of software?!?
[/SIZE]

 

[Cubeform]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/faq/
This FAQ defines it as "XNA's Not Acronymed".