XNA 2.0 beta available

[savage]

The XNA team is pleased to announce the Beta release of XNA Game Studio 2.0! This Beta release is your chance to try out the new features available in XNA Game Studio 2.0, including support for Visual Studio 2005, multiplayer support over System Link and LIVE, and many more features and enhancements, many suggested by you, the community members.

If you’re an existing XNA Game Studio Express user, you won’t have to worry about uninstalling anything – XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) lives comfortably side-by-side with XNA Game Studio Express. Just follow the link below to find out what’s new in XNA Game Studio 2.0 and download the Beta, as well as updated sample content you can use with the Beta right away. There’s even a multiplayer-enabled starter kit you can use to familiarize yourself with multiplayer programming in the XNA Framework.

XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) supports multiplayer gaming over Games for Windows - LIVE. If you are planning on making multiplayer games on Windows that make use of any Games for Windows - LIVE features, you will need an Xbox LIVE Gamertag that has an active XNA Creators Club membership, and a special token.

More details over on the XNA Team Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2007/11/19/now-available-xna-game-studio-2-0-beta.aspx)

Remember guys you can use Chrome (http://remobjects.com/chrome/) to write XNA games on Windows and Xbox 360. Now with the added networking capabilities there should be nothing stopping you. I can personally vouch that XNA almost as easy to use as SDL. It really is that good and quick to get a 2D or 3D prototype up and running. Also over the next month or so I'll be working with the RemObject (http://remobjects.com) guys to get Chrome and XNA fully integrated into Visual Studio 2005 and probably 2008.

Go on, jump in, the water's warm ;-).

[LP]

Alternatively, if you want to use DX9.0c and DX10 features of video hardware, you can try SlimDX (http://slimdx.mdxinfo.com/). ;)

[savage]

That looks like a very cool project, but the ease of use of XNA I fear, will divert people new to managed code away from SlimDX. As the guys from SlimDX themselves say...



SlimDX is, as the name implies, a slim and simplistic wrapper on top of DirectX. XNA, in contrast, provides a lot of higher level functionality that keeps you from having to deal with very low level details. Overall, this means that XNA is a fair bit easier to use, especially for newbies who are not comfortable with how DirectX works.


SlimDX is a great idea though.

[WILL]

The attraction might be to those that don't really care for the new Vista. (*ahem* like someone you might know. ;)) yet want to see what the new DirectX 10 is all about.

Speaking of which, will XNA go the way of 'Vista only' eventually or are they hoping that it will replace DX somewhere down the road? :p

[arthurprs]

=S chrome features are awesome, i will have to try its trial

[savage]

The attraction might be to those that don't really care for the new Vista. (*ahem* like someone you might know. ;)) yet want to see what the new DirectX 10 is all about.

Speaking of which, will XNA go the way of 'Vista only' eventually or are they hoping that it will replace DX somewhere down the road? :p

According to a recent Steam poll, taken directly from people's machines who use Steam, only 15% of people using Steam had Vista.

I don't think XNA 2.0 will be Vista only. At the rate they are going, XNA 3.0 will be out December 2008, and I would be surprised if restricted that to Vista only. Though XNA 4.0 will probably be Vista only :).

[WILL]

Though XNA 4.0 will probably be Vista only :).

:lol: That wouldn't surprise me. :roll:

[LP]

That looks like a very cool project, but the ease of use of XNA I fear, will divert people new to managed code away from SlimDX.
I think both options are quite viable, especially considering that MDX has been discontinued. For those, who preferred MDX over XNA, SlimDX is the way to go.