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Free XNA public beta now available

Microsoft meets scheduled release date for in-development version of Game Studio Express.

As promised earlier this month, Microsoft today released the public beta for its XNA Game Studio Express. As part of an effort to lower the technological and financial hurdles facing new game developers, the tech giant has embarked on the XNA Game Studio development platform, "a far easier environment" that small developers, game enthusiasts, and students can use to make games. XNA Game Studio is an extension of Microsoft's cross-platform XNA technology, which offers gamemakers a standardized set of tools for both PC and Xbox 360 development.

Novice developers can download the beta now from the official site and use it to start developing PC games. Later this year, they will be able to join the XNA Creators Club to move their creations over to the Xbox 360. The Creators Club carries an annual fee of $99, although Microsoft is also offering four-month trials for $49. The Creators Club will go live when the final version of the XNA Game Studio Express arrives this holiday season.

Developers looking to make money off of their XNA Game Studio creations will have to wait until next spring for the XNA Game Studio Professional. That piece of software won't be free (no price has been disclosed yet), but it will feature more functionality and be geared toward more experienced developers.

Microsoft called the response to its program since the original announcement "overwhelming." More than 100 schools expressed an interest in incorporating the development tool into their curricula, with "nearly 20 leading universities worldwide" already set to bring the tech tool into their classrooms.

83 Comments

  • Whitewind617

    Posted Sep 15, 2006 7:23 pm GMT

    i dont even know how i would run the space thing if it did work...

  • SomeBrandonkid

    Posted Sep 3, 2006 1:21 pm GMT

    I guess they forgot the part where they tell you that you must have knowledge in programming. Oh well, the good news is that the tutorials are very helpful and also that Java and C# are virtually the same, which is great cuz Java is being taught at schools. The bad news is that nothing seems to work in XNA, not even their pre-made programs.

  • dustopants

    Posted Sep 1, 2006 10:52 am GMT

    ummm... is this stuff supposed to be easier than regular programming?
    cause, it doesn't seem easier, it just seems buggier...

    of corse, I guess that's to be expected from a beta release, but, i mean, cmon!!
    I can't even make any games...

    i'm following the tutorial step by step and the stupid peice of crap can't find some graphics thing...

    i mean, hell, I try to run the free "spacewar" progam that it comes with, and it still comes up with the same error...

    I dunno if it's just my video card or what, but microsoft is pretty ****ed up, that's all I can say...

  • GFofgaming

    Posted Sep 1, 2006 9:34 am GMT

    I dont know what is it, but its on

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Sep 1, 2006 2:57 am GMT

    Great! Hope it'll be popular at Schools and Universitys.......

  • twtech

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 7:55 pm GMT

    Don't get too excited yet. The current release of XNA studio is without the content pipeline tools that according to MS are forthcoming by the end of the year. What that means for would-be hobbyist game developers is that if you want 3D graphics in your game, you still have to deal with a DirectX style interface. As a professional developer who has written a DX based renderer in the past, it's not that big of an issue, but it will probably be at least a little bit daunting for a novice. There is also no 360 support in this version of XNA studio; that will be available at a later date with an Xbox Live Creators Club membership.

    Even so, it's worth it for anyone interested in getting into game development to give these tools a spin. They're free, and the sample game provided can offer some good insight into how games in general are constructed in code. The iteration time is also extremely short with C#, making it a worthy option even for experienced developers looking to prototype new ideas and game concepts in their free time. I'm also interested to see what pricepoint the professional version of XNA studio will come in at, and whether or not it will support C/C++.

    There are 10+ hours of instructional videos on Microsoft's site for getting up and running with C# created for people with no programming experience. While I did not end up watching them myself because of the stern warning that professional developers would be better off spending their time elsewhere, I think it's really great that MS has taken the step of offering those videos for free. Usually, obtaining anything but a language reference carries a heavy pricetag with it.

  • Thorpe89

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 3:11 pm GMT

    Wow, well done Microsoft for this.

  • _Sam_

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 2:42 pm GMT

    that's cool

  • jcloverboy

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 1:40 pm GMT

    I will never have the ability to make games but am anxious to see what others will come up with.

  • FallenOneX

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 12:22 pm GMT

    They should have put this extra effort into getting Vista ready. And don't try that "OH no! MS had one division working on this, and another division working on Vista, it's totally different!." crap. That maybe true, but do you honestly believe MS is going to release XNA (any version, not just this beta) without making sure it was compatible with it's new cash cow OS? Then add the fact that, as many of you have stated, they're pushing this as if anybody with a computer can now make Live games by using XNA. All in all though, I can't wait t see the first projects that come from this, and then check out the ones coming out a year from now.

  • nexus303

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 12:14 pm GMT

    >Autolycus
    >if you have VS.NET you actually have to uninstasll it to because the beta
    >REQUIRES VS C# express (even though vs.net has full C# in it). Therefor,
    >nobody will be making games on this end. thank you idiot microsoft boy

    So run it vmware or virtualPC... no worries!

  • j14rk1n

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 12:13 pm GMT

    You can't really mod stuff with it anyways.

  • ApisBee

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 11:27 am GMT

    I'm not geaky enough for programming, so I like to make a request for a mod. I'm looking for a FFXI fishing bot to be used on the xbox 360 platform. Oh wait, that would be wrong. Never mind.

  • akif22

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 10:46 am GMT

    to Platyphyllum, there is a goldeneye remake being made unofficially, using the HL2 engine

    you can find out more at:

    http://www.goldeneyesource.com/

  • fruitofwisdom

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 9:57 am GMT

    Yes, the beta of Game Studio Express installs in conjunction with C# Express Edition. Good luck with managed C++. Yes, this means you have to use C# and the namespace Microsoft.Xna.

    XNA is really just a framework to encapsulate common game programming tasks and speed up development of what would be otherwise tedious work. It is no Wizard for game making, but it is powerful and flexible. I wouldn't recommend it to a novice programmer but a hobbyist could do some cool things with it.

  • Game-o_O

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 9:49 am GMT

    Yes it would, do you know how easily designed that game was? That is why he wants a remake .

  • j14rk1n

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 9:40 am GMT

    Goldeneye isn't exactly somthing you'd be able to make like "1, 2, 3, DONE!" There's things that have to be setup and you have to plan how you're going to do it. We won't see any of that stuff anytime soon unless someone ports a current project to the XNA framework.

  • Platyphyllum

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 9:26 am GMT

    If there is a novice game maker here then can you try to make a really cool remake of Goldeneye? Thanks.

  • catach

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 9:06 am GMT

    That is stupid. XNA is NOT a game creation wizard. If you dont know about 3D Matrix Transformations, Quaternions, Collision, etc.... dont even bother trying it. What makes me mad is that MSFT is selling XNA as a "everyone tool" to develop games. That's so untrue. I just looked at the XNA API and, it seems a bt easier than DirectX (Direct3D), but it is not for beginners.

  • evangelion80

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 8:58 am GMT

    So whats the big deal...Visual C 2005 express is also free

  • roareh

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 8:30 am GMT

    someone remake the original Goldeneye wouldya?

    thanks
    ^___________^

  • OPOLO

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 7:41 am GMT

    I'm glad they stuck to their word - this is a GREAT THING

  • SilV3RSix

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 7:20 am GMT

    codepunk
    "Sweet. I'm going to go make my WOW killer right now. Give me a couple of months to learn how to program and I should be ready for a beta test about a month after that. Who wants to help beta test? It's going to be way better than WOW. Time to learn some of that C#.com. Be back in a couple months when its finished."

    Good luck to ya brother. Perhaps you can singlehandedly replace the teams at Blizzard.

  • decebal

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 6:59 am GMT

    "Autolycus
    if you have VS.NET you actually have to uninstasll it to because the beta REQUIRES VS C# express (even though vs.net has full C# in it). Therefor, nobody will be making games on this end. thank you idiot microsoft boy"

    If you are right, Microsoft is really dumb.

  • ffgothic

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 6:58 am GMT

    o yea! Can't wait to make some games!

  • firefruze

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 6:44 am GMT

    awww this required visual C++ express edition, I was looking forward to just playing around with it a bit seeing what kind of options it offers.

  • Fallout_red

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 6:02 am GMT

    Good, XNA rocks.

  • paullywog

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 5:41 am GMT

    XBLA here we come!!!! Can't wait!

  • Autolycus

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 5:32 am GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • rbranma

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 5:22 am GMT

    ok dudes go make games for your xbox now ^_^;

  • TWOC2689

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 4:51 am GMT

    Hope it is easy to use

  • metdevthegamer

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 4:40 am GMT

    Sounds exciting. It'll give a lot of people the chance to express their creativy in an easy matter.

  • BounceDK

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 4:35 am GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • snoopdog3407

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 3:27 am GMT

    modders rejoice!

  • bluemonkeyuk

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 3:00 am GMT

    This is great news for people like me who are programmers and were frustrated with the splintered homebrew scenes of the DC and XBox.

  • Wolfos

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 2:41 am GMT

    The fact that the program itself isn't hard to use. It gives people a chance to find there roots and let people without massive money backing to go out there and have some fun making a few silly games.

    This is what i think Sony wanted to do with the PS3, but MS just toke it to the next level

  • Basez2

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 12:54 am GMT

    I'm very excited for this product.

  • dn3datomiced

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:23 pm GMT

    All I can say is this is going to be a wonderful thing.

  • gamestar412

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:20 pm GMT

    This is a wonderful opportunity for any fan out there that would love to start making homebrew games but doesn't have the means to. This is a big step forward for gaming. As someone already mentioned, if you truly do want to start a career in gaming the tools are now readily available. I myself plan to begin learning a simple program language and hopefully learn to program my own games one day. Who knows you could end up working for EA.

  • azizrulez

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:12 pm GMT

    wow MS really delivered this time
    its hard for anyone to say anything bad about MS now

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:07 pm GMT

    well if its free then i cant complain.

  • amplizine

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:25 pm GMT

    Microsoft is definitely in position to rule the game industry quite soon. They keep expanding into new territories and completely dominating. Sadly, it is mostly just because they have the money to back any project on such a large scale.

    If they get all the developers in their pocket, I certainly can't complain. The industry is so fragmented and divided right now, it can only help to have one company show how it's done. But then all the competition would disappear, and that can't be good either. All I know is I hate the 3-way split we have in next-gen consoles, each company acting like they can also win the handheld market, and the numerous models of everything.

    But yeah, that download. I like free stuff. So I should shut up.

  • audioaxes

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:17 pm GMT

    for yet another time: this will require programming knowledge
    a person who never wrote a program before thinks they can pick this up and make a game will be like writting a novel in a foreign language

  • John_of_Fire

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:13 pm GMT

    MS delivers a PC product on time. The end is near...

  • Justlink619

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:59 pm GMT

    LET THIS SEPERATE THE GAMERS FROM THE L337!

  • Lt_Metal_Gear

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:34 pm GMT

    Excellent.

  • thekey

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:26 pm GMT

    This is defffinitly the best news in video game history. " Let the consumer as well as professionals develope games to there liking"

    The best ever!

    DreamworkS12

    Ah, NO! Sony's Not even in the same ballpark

  • Cbot

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:24 pm GMT

    anyway.I'm not a develloper but i'm interested on trying some pc homebrew games.Write me on my email if you have some interesting games for me to try out.

    freeloup@gmail.com

  • wellfeedmonkey

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:22 pm GMT

    This is so cool! I cant wait for homebrew games from my fellow gamers. Whats that?....?.....The console wars just heated up? You dont say.

  • rbarahona

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:17 pm GMT

    Nice news indeed. I think this should be a really nice download to all of us who would like to kill some time playing with some ideas about a game. This will also help some independent developers to make some games and feature them in the XBox Live Arcade.

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