The new XNA Game Studio (and Framework) beta has been released, combined with the Xbox 360 October update you can now create games for both Windows and Xbox 360.
http://www.microsoft.com/xna
The past week (since downloading the new XDK October Update), I've been testing out the new XNA Framework performance. Unfortunately XNA Framework is still not officially supported by the XDK, so for now I'm waiting on the public releases.
This new release has been quite cool to play with though.
New toys (atleast for XNA-GS Express developers) to play with, as well as the new Xbox360 project wizards.
One annoying thing about it is you can only choose an Xbox360 or Windows development project. You can't current have both projects being output from the same solution.. this will probably change, but for now guess it's going to remain how it is.
There's some new aspects to the XNA Framework.
.NET Compact Framework for Xbox 360 is a very cool addition. It's based on the .NET 2.0 Compact Framework, and online you get little symbols next to each thing that is supported either by XNA and/or Mobile Windows now.
So you can quickly see what you can and can't do.
Also you can now use Shader 1.1, 1.4, 2.0 and 3.0 effects and graphics cards. Although the Xbox 360 only supports 2.0 and 3.0 via XNA (through XDK it still supports the formats DX9.0c does), but this is a simple case of changing each of your effects to that format.
Another noticeable change is from XInput 1.3, which now supports any device connected to either Windows or the Xbox 360. Most noticable is the Keyboard is now natively supported, as is the Media Center (Xbox 360 Media) Remote.
This is again something I have been playing with, although I'm still trying to get these working through XInput 1.3 itself, through XNA Framework it just works a treat.
Another major update is the Multi-Core processor support. Although support isn't new, the ability for controlling the threads are. XNA now supports the same as .NET Framework 2.0 however there is a new function for selecting exactly which processor and thread you use.
Processor 0-2 (3 Processors)
Thread 0-1 (2 Threads Per Processor)
The Content Pipeline, also provides a real-time content solution for converting media for game use on both platforms. Quite handy for keeping track of everything and making sure it's cleared from the memory when not in use.
Multiplayer, Live! and Achievements are still not supported, but these will probably be late additions due to how it needs to be handled on the Xbox 360. This said, support for standard TCP does allow limited multiplayer options for linked machines playing the same game.
Also the VMX128 Unit(s) are now fully supported. On the Windows platform this will fall-back to SSE/2/3/4 depending on your processor however for the Xbox 360 works identically to how the XDK does it. Definately a very powerful tool to be able to use, well worth checking that out.
I'd say in all, this update has been quite major and the core functionality of what the XNA Game Studio Express will provide independant and hobbiest developers is starting to take shape.
If you don't already have this, I would strongly recommend it.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, 512MB DDR2 667MHz, ATi Radeon X1900 XT 256MB PCI-E, Windows Vista Business / XP Professional SP2
