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

  • Jypson44

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:13 pm PT

    Sweet

  • Aaron_130

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:15 pm PT

    i wonder how 'easy' this actually is!

  • DreamworkS12

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:21 pm PT

    Ever since Sony annouced they would support Indie's................ sounds familiar.

  • FM2000

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:24 pm PT

    Its not easy trust me

  • XtremePhsyco

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:25 pm PT

    that is soo bloody cool

  • Maui00

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:25 pm PT

    Great! Maybe I'll donwload it later

  • ConManWithGun

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:30 pm PT

    FINALLY

  • bryehngeocef

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:34 pm PT

    I'm totally getting this.

  • SUPRAMAN84

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:36 pm PT

    I just downloaded it. Me and some of my friends are going to make a game that focuses on fresh gameplay in a car combat/racing game. Think Rush but with alot more options.

  • zillik

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:38 pm PT

    amazing

  • RonHack

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:47 pm PT

    I don't like what I'm seeing so far,,,,,,,,

    Anything based on Microsoft's failed and forgotten technologies (.Net and C#) is definitely not a good thing.

    More to come as I review the package....

  • _man1c_

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 5:58 pm PT

    its not easy to just pick up and understand. there still has to be some knowledge of programming skill to be had to actually get this to work. im still little confused of it all right now, but doesnt mean im not familiar on what to do..

  • j14rk1n

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:01 pm PT

    It's pretty awesome so far. I got it this morning and I've been working on a little particle engine. I'm not sure I'd be willing to fork over $100 for the 360 version just yet, though.

    And RonHack, Microsoft won't be dropping support for .net or C# anytime soon.

  • Lucifer007

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:02 pm PT

    ok so its download the basic stuff then later you can get morre stuff but you have to payfor it and when your finsihee dyou need to pay 1oo bucks a month so it might be published and get at the goodies to I dont like it

  • DontEatCream

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:05 pm PT

    So...how novice friendly is this new tool, anyway? Like, I personally have no clue when it comes to programming and stuff. Can I download this beta and start cranking out games, like Pacman or Asteroids or something?

  • Tactician

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:13 pm PT

    RonHack obviously knows nothing about professional development or he would know that .NET was and has been a huge success. They are making money hand over fist and the suite is awesome to work with.

  • danny_s1

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:14 pm PT

    Just to let everybody know that you need a copy of Visual Studios to start programming with XNA and also a knowledge of C++ and/or C#. Guess that kicks me out the loop for creating games in XNA. I'm a student 3D artist/animator.

  • icemancell

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:19 pm PT

    cool time to make some GW clones lol

  • j14rk1n

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:21 pm PT

    Well, danny_s1, not really. You can get everything you need to start creating games for free. Visual Studio can be obtained to FREE! That's right, Visual C# Express is free to download from Microsoft themselves, and in fact, it's the only version of Visual Studio currently supported by the tools suite as far as I know. I'm not certain the tools work with Visual C++, though. I tried that already today and they just wouldn't play nice together. So guys, get to it. There's really no excuse to not make cool games at this point, because everything you need is free, and knowledge bases are readily availible on the net to help you. Go for it.

  • slyfoxmccloud

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:28 pm PT

    AWWWSSSOMME!

  • GTA420

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:32 pm PT

    ZOMG halo 2.5!

  • hellprowler

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:33 pm PT

    Well danny, you can't just create a game by dragging an image or something like that, I think most people would have known you need to know C# or at least known you needed to be able to program in a certain language to make a game. However, we programmers will need artists to make a game of course .

  • LTomlinson21

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:51 pm PT

    I downloaded it!

  • Andrew_D28

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:52 pm PT

    Someone must make a Beat em up game for the 360 in the vein of Final Fight/Streets of Rage/Double Dragon! btw will these XNA made games be live compatible (online play)?

  • ExcAREentric

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 6:56 pm PT

    *goes to download*

  • Mystikef

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 7:06 pm PT

    To those who have asked... programming in this or any other enviornment is not easy. It takes time, learning, trial and error, graphic artistry, and a knack for debugging. Do not expect to crank out games. However... if you put in the time to learn how to program, XNA is supposed to make it MUCH easier than it was. It does not make it easy - and it will still take a lot of time for even a fairly simple game. Many people are smart enough, creative enough, and patient enough to program. This will give those people the opportunity to show their crafts. And... more games for the rest of us. And... more great games from smaller production houses. Just don't hold your breath for the next Halo 2 from this. That is an ideal for XNA ability... it would still take thounds of man-hours to create.

  • PR3D4TOR2

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 7:38 pm PT

    Nice...But i'll need some time to get to used this (it's kinda strange)

    Everything takes it's time

  • Termitehead

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 7:39 pm PT

    As long as you know C# and a little DirectX, you shouldn't have any problems using this. The XNA codebase takes a lot of the grunt work out of directX and makes it very manageable (no pun intended)

  • Cbot

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:00 pm PT

    Anyone plannning to make a fighting game on the pc??

  • codepunk

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:06 pm PT

    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.

  • Cbot

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:07 pm PT

    Gimme a link codepunk.

  • bored88

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:10 pm PT

    I'll download it just for the heck of it.

  • dEaThAwAiTs013

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:16 pm PT

    Definitely downloading this!

  • rbarahona

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:17 pm PT

    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.

  • wellfeedmonkey

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:22 pm PT

    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.

  • Cbot

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:24 pm PT

    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

  • thekey

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:26 pm PT

    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

  • Lt_Metal_Gear

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:34 pm PT

    Excellent.

  • Justlink619

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 8:59 pm PT

    LET THIS SEPERATE THE GAMERS FROM THE L337!

  • John_of_Fire

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:13 pm PT

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

  • audioaxes

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:17 pm PT

    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

  • amplizine

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 10:25 pm PT

    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.

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:07 pm PT

    well if its free then i cant complain.

  • azizrulez

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:12 pm PT

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

  • gamestar412

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:20 pm PT

    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.

  • dn3datomiced

    Posted Aug 30, 2006 11:23 pm PT

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

  • Basez2

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 12:54 am PT

    I'm very excited for this product.

  • Wolfos

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 2:41 am PT

    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

  • bluemonkeyuk

    Posted Aug 31, 2006 3:00 am PT

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

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