Microsoft Releases Xna Game Studio Express

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XNA Game Studio Express has finally hit 1.0. What does this mean? The first final release is available: everyone who wants can now put in the time needed to make their own Xbox 360 game. The download is only available for XP but is coming for Vista later. The software is a free download as it is a cut-down version of Microsoft's XNA game development platform. To get the most out of the download, however, a fee of $49 (for 4 months) or $99 (for a year) is necessary to join the XNA Creators Club at Xbox Live Marketplace. So what exactly are you dishing out that cash for? In addition to being able to play user-created games on your Xbox 360, you will have access to a library of game assets, sample products, white papers and of course good old tech support. To add some hype, Microsoft is offering "fantastic prizes" and "global envy" if you win the "Dream-Build-Play" game design competition. Will Microsoft's ingenious plan tip the table their way?

View: Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 | Microsoft XNA Framework Redistributable 1.0

News source: Engadget

#1 Boiling Ice on 12 Dec 2006 - 13:34

yesssssss.... finaly I've downloaded it

now all I need is a Xbox 360

#2 Kushan on 12 Dec 2006 - 14:43

I'll have to give this a quick looky.

#3 Overseer on 12 Dec 2006 - 15:02

Should be really interesting to see what the enthusiasts come up with as far as gameplay. There's bound to be some gems amongst the crap.

(4 replies) #4 joeydoo on 12 Dec 2006 - 16:12

So you have to pay to be able to play your games on your 360?
Or is that XNA marketplace cost just for playing other peoples games?
Surely that should be in the gold live account package.......?
This has me confused.

#4.1 +Smigit on 12 Dec 2006 - 16:57

Yeah I'm a bit stumped too. You'd think they would allow gold subscribers to download the games rather than billing an ADDITIONAL fee. Perhaps allow developers to set their own price too so they can make a bit of money off the sales even if a maximum is set.

#4.2 Rupert on 12 Dec 2006 - 17:45

You have to pay to have your games on xbox live marketplace so people can download and play them. I'm sure you can probably burn your game onto a disk and still play it.

#4.3 GreyWolfSC on 12 Dec 2006 - 20:14

Quote - Rupert said @ #4.2

Nope... No downloads, no burnt discs, no memory cards. If you want someone else to be able to play your game, they have to cough up the dough for the Creator's Club, too. Then you have to send them the source and all the assets for your game so they can compile it and put it on their own Xbox. Dumb, huh?

From: http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/xna/faq/

Quote -

Q: How can I share my Xbox 360 game built with XNA Game Studio Express with other Xbox 360 users?
A: To share your Xbox 360 game with friends, four requirements must be met:

* The individual you are planning to share the game with must be logged in to Xbox Live and have an active subscription to the XNA Creators Club
* The receiving user must have downloaded the XNA Framework runtime environment for the Xbox 360
* The receiving user must have XNA Game Studio Express installed on their own development PC
* The game project, including all source and content assets, must be shared with the receiving user. The receiving user then compiles and deploys the game to their Xbox 360.

We are actively working on other ways to allow you to more easily distribute your games and are very excited about the possibilities this will open up for independent game development.

Q: Can I store my XNA Game Studio Express game on my memory card or CD/DVD and share it with a friend?
A: No. Games developed using XNA Game Studio Express cannot be shared through a memory card or CD/DVD at this time.

#4.4 +Smigit on 13 Dec 2006 - 04:39

Which is my gripe with this. I would assume they would have made it more end user friendly. At the moment it sounds like a service aimed purely at developers. Until they allow for say free distribution or the buying with live points instead of a subscription to a "creators club" (Even the name will discourage users) then I cant see this having a mainstream takeoff.

at least there is this, which will help in the long run. It will help that theres no games out yet too:

We are actively working on other ways to allow you to more easily distribute your games and are very excited about the possibilities this will open up for independent game development.

#5 _dandy_ on 12 Dec 2006 - 21:17

What the article above *completely* fails to mention is that you can also use this to develop games for XP, which suddenly makes it much more interesting.

My understanding is that the library abstracts away the hardware, so a game you write for XP using XNA will also work on the Xbox 360.

#6 ShiZZa on 12 Dec 2006 - 21:22

As long as you don't use any of the system.<ITEM> namespaces and only use the directx & XNA libs it will work on both 100%. They only have support for 1 core also in this version. Thats the next step from what i was reading.

#7 Iamit2900 on 12 Dec 2006 - 23:24

I think this looks good.

(1 reply) #8 MiG- on 13 Dec 2006 - 17:17

Cant get it to install with Visual Studio 2005, even though i have C Sharp support..

Any ways around this ?

#8.1 noll3095 on 13 Dec 2006 - 19:54

AFAIK it's designed to only work with Visual C# Express 2005. I tried it with Visual Studio 2005 Standard first but it didn't work, however the Express version can live side-by-side.

#9 soniqstylz on 16 Dec 2006 - 05:17

You do have to have C# Express installed. I tried it as well w/ VS 2005, with no luck. Downloaded C# Express, and got it to install fine.

Possibly the full (non-free) version would work with VS 2005?

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