"Microsoft is announcing XNA Game Studio Express at Gamefest on August 14 at 9am PST. We will be releasing a beta version of the XNA Game Studio Express on August 30th.
XNA Game Studio Express is a set of tools based on Visual C# Express 2005 th at allow students and hobbyists to build games that target both Windows and Xbox 360. XNA Game Studio Express contains the following:
- The XNA Framework. A set of managed code development libraries based on the .NET Framework 2.0 which will allow game developers to be more productive when creating games for Windows and the Xbox 360.
- The XNA Framework Content Pipeline. A set of tools that allow developers to more easily incorporate 3D content into their games.
- Game Studio Express also contains a full set of documentation, how-to’s and starter-kits that demonstrate how best to utilize the content pipeline and XNA Framework.
Microsoft will be offering a new Xbox Live subscription program called the XNA Creators Club. The XNA Creators Club provides everything a game developer needs to build non-commercial games which target the XNA Framework running on an Xbox 360 retail kit. This subscription program is open to anyone, including non-professional game developers such as students and hobbyists. We believe this program will revolutionize the game development industry by virtually eliminating the barrier to entry for aspiring game developers who wish to develop games for the Xbox 360, thus fostering in a new wave of innovation and fresh talent to the industry.
I invite you to read the additional details here:
- MSDN XNA Developer Center: http://msdn.com/xna
- Official Press announcement:
Microsoft Invites the World to Create Its Own Xbox 360 Console Games for the First Time
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/aug06/08-13XNAGameStudioPR.mspx
Kurt Shintaku's Blog 