XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP Released

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XNA Been waiting to try your hand at creating XNA games for the Zune?  Want to use Visual Studio 2008 (express, standard, or higher) as well? 

Check out the XNA Game Studio 3.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP) !

The XNA Team Blog has the details:

https://blogs.msdn.com/xna/archive/2008/05/07/announcing-xna-game-studio-3-0-community-technical-preview-ctp.aspx

Some important notes:

  1. All versions of Zune players are supported
  2. Zune's ad-hoc networking and in-game access to non-DRM music are supported
  3. XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP requires a version of Visual Studio 2008 (express, standard, or higher).  Also, it does not currently allow XBox deployment (the final version will, of course).  However...
  4. It works side-by-side with Game Studio 2.0 as well as Visual Studio 2005.
  5. As mentioned in the Readme, if you have trouble installing, make sure you've removed the "Games for Windows - LIVE Redistributable".  (Also, close any open instances of Visual Studio 2008.)

David "Let's Kill Dave!" Weller also points out that the sound process has been streamlined in version 3.0.  The content pipeline can directly load sound files without having to use XACT (Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool).  Of course, if your scenario needs the advanced features of XACT, it's there for you as always.

Other useful links:

I'm sensing a Zune-based, network-enabled, music-playing version of "Supper Happy Pong" in my immediate future.  ;)

Enjoy!
-Chris