Xna Game Studio Express 1.0 Download VERIFIED
XNA Game Studio Express, the first release of XNA Game Studio, was intended for students, hobbyists, and independent (and homebrew) game developers.[9] It was available as a free download. Express provides basic "starter kits" for rapid development of specific genres of games, such as platform games, real-time strategy, and first-person shooters. Developers could create Windows games for free with the XNA Framework, but to run their games on the Xbox 360 they will have to pay an annual fee of US$99 (or a four-month fee of US$49) for admission to the Microsoft XNA Creator's Club. The initial release had no way of shipping precompiled binaries to other Xbox 360 players, but this was changed in "XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh" which made it possible to compile Xbox 360 binaries and share them with other Microsoft XNA Creator's Club members.
Xna Game Studio Express 1.0 Download
Students will use the Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express software, along with our course material, to write their own C# programs and games. All parts of the Visual C# download and installation are free. Microsoft requires you to register this software, and this also is a free process.
XNA Game Studio Express is intended for students, hobbyist, and independent (and homebrew) game developers.[4] It is available as a free download. Express provides basic "starter kits" for rapid development of specific genres of games, such as platform, real-time strategy, and first-person shooters. Developers can create Windows games for free with the XNA Framework, but to run their games on the Xbox 360 they will have to pay an annual fee of US$99 (or a four-month fee of US$49) for admission to the Microsoft XNA Creator's Club/XNA "Creator's Club". The initial release had no way of shipping precompiled binaries to other Xbox 360 players, but this was changed in "XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh"; it is now possible to compile Xbox 360 binaries and share them with other Microsoft XNA Creator's Club/Creator's Club members.
XNA Game Studio 3.1 was released on June 11, 2009. The API includes support for video playback, a revised audio API, Xbox LIVE Party system and support for games to use the Xbox 360 Avatars.[11] This version of the software is available for students to download as part of Microsoft's DreamSpark program which adds a 12-month trial subscription to the XNA Creators Club.
"In the 30 years of video game development, the art of making console games has been reserved for those with big projects, big budgets and the backing of big game labels. Now Microsoft Corp. is bringing this art to the masses with a revolutionary new set of tools, called XNA Game Studio Express, based on the XNA platform. XNA Game Studio Express will democratize game development by delivering the necessary tools to hobbyists, students, indie developers and studios alike to help them bring their creative game ideas to life while nurturing game development talent, collaboration and sharing that will benefit the entire industry."Read more here.
Develop non-commercial games in C# for Windows with the Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express. You will also need to downloadthe Microsoft Visual C# Express Edition (see elsewhere on this page for the link). The XNA Game Studio Express includes the XNA Framework,a set of managed code development libraries that supposedly speeds up your development of games on Windows, as well asthe XNA Framework Content Pipeline, tools that help you add 3D content to your games. Also included are documentation, starter kits(for example, a SpaceWar starter kit is included), etc. Important note: although the website says the XNA Game Studio Express allowsyou to develop for the Xbox 360, you must pay an annual fee to develop games for the Xbox 360. In fact, from the FAQ on the site,it appears that you don't even get the XNA Framework for Xbox 360 in this Express edition. You should also read the End User License Agreement(EULA) carefully before you start developing (to find out what the other restrictions are). In case you're wondering, XNA stands for"XNA's Not Acronymed", following the tradition started by GNU's "GNU's Not Unix". Currently supported systems: Windows XP SP2 and Vista.(Note: Microsoft regularly changes the web addresses for its products, making it difficult for others to link to them.If you find that the above link does not work, please let me know.)
Beginning the morning of Tuesday 31st October, owners of the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft around the world will be able to download a free system update that will provide more than 85 new features and enhancements, including support for native 1080p games and movies, faster Arcade game list display times and even more choices when it comes to video playback options.
Keeping up to date on Xbox Live Arcade games is now even more convenient with the ability to automatically download newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games. This eliminates the need to manually search for new downloads on Xbox Live Marketplace each time a new game trial is released.
Amateur game designers will be able to test and play the games they create using XNA Game Studio Express on their Xbox 360 systems when it launches later this year (separate download and subscription required).
Microsoft is committed to providing Xbox 360 customers with the best online experience possible and delivering added value to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Those subscribers will enjoy exclusive early access to special Xbox Live Marketplace content, such as game demos, free game ad-ons, free community videos, and free Gamer pics and themes for up to one week in advance of their general release. Paid downloadable content remains available at the same time for both Silver and gold subscribers.
Xbox Live is the first and only unified online entertainment network seamlessly integrated throughout the entire console experience, making it easy for people to find the friends, games and entertainment they want from the moment they power on their Xbox 360 system. Xbox Live connects more than 4 million members across 24 countries to enjoy hundreds of multiplayer games, downloadable games via Xbox Live Arcade, free and premium playable game demos, music videos, and movie trailers, as well as new game levels, characters and vehicles for all their favourite retail games.
The download an installation process is pretty typical, so I won't explain it in detail. (Note that after you select Download, you'll be given the option of downloading the full thing as an ISO and wdexpress_full.exe. If you're downloading it in one place and installing it on a computer without Internet access, use the ISO. Otherwise, use the wdexpress_full.exe which is an installer that will grab the files you want during installation.)
XNA Game Studio is a collection of game development technologies that Microsoft believes will make it easier than ever for independent developers to write and publish new titles. A basic version of the software package is a free download on Windows, but for $99 a year, or $49 for a four-month trial, developers gain access to a host of extra features, including access to sample art assets, technical support, source code, and the ability to compile and run their games on both Windows and the Xbox 360 platform.
Microsoft's hope is that the XNA Game Studio will help level the playing field and allow these small developers to produce games that can stand up with the "big boys" without requiring an enormous amount of resources. The company wants XNA Studio to become a kind of "YouTube for game developers," allowing many more people to express themselves in the form of video games and share their work with the world.
On the technological side is the XNA Game Studio software itself, which uses a customized copy of Microsoft's popular Visual Studio compiler. The big advantage of developing games with the XNA Game Studio is the ability to use managed code, which means that the compiler and runtime environment handles all the messy issues of memory allocation and garbage collection (deleting references to memory created by objects that are no longer in use, thus freeing up the memory for use elsewhere). This is done through Microsoft's .NET framework, which is available as a free download for Windows XP and comes preinstalled with Windows Vista. XNA acts as a bridge between the .NET frameworks and the lower-level game interfaces such as DirectX. Programmers call routines in the XNA game library that activate 3D screen modes, create polygons, paint textures on 3D meshes, play sounds, and interface with control devices such as joysticks or the Xbox 360 game controller.
No longer constrained to enterprise systems, database-driven applications or Web service layers, .NET developers can now spread their digital wings and let their pixelized imagination run wild as their favorite development platform and language now enable them to explore new worlds and new challenges of their own making, all in full high definition (HD) at 60 frames per second! But who is XNA for? Is it a serious enough initiative, platform, and set of tools for professional game developers in the gaming industry? Eager to answer those questions, I (virtually) sat down with a number of professional game designers, studio directors, and developers for a chat in order to find out: Is Microsoft XNA ready for prime time?
Not content with simple hearsay, expo floor buzz or opinions bordering on zealotry, I set out to gather the opinions of industry professionals about XNA to bring a perspective on the gaming industry to IT developers already familiar with .NET. I reached out to many experts and studios, and while many declined to comment on XNA, had little to say about XNA or simply failed to reply, the following game industry veterans graciously answered my call and provided me, and you, with the insights and opinions found in the rest of this article.