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) Download Page

Thank you for your interest in XNA Game Studio 2.0, and we hope you enjoy the Beta!

 

MechaDragon:

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) Download Page

Thank you for your interest in XNA Game Studio 2.0, and we hope you enjoy the Beta!

 

Thanks!  download time.... :--)

 

Wooohooo!!

Now if only I had brought my laptop, or wasn't sitting at work reading this. :D

 

Very nice for support networking and visual studio 2005.

Awesome! Congrats on the beta release guys.


What's the expected response time for an application keys? I'm anxious to play with the networking features before I leave my 360 behind for Thanksgiving break :-)

Quick question...

1.1.8. XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) Is Incompatible with the Released Version of Games for Windows - LIVE

XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) is incompatible with the released version of Games for Windows - LIVE. Do not install XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) on a computer on which a Games for Windows - LIVE game is installed. This issue will be corrected in the final release of XNA Game Studio 2.0.

So... if I do install it on a computer with games that use Games for Windows - LIVE, are those games still playable, just without LIVE, or will the games cease to operate with a DLL load error at start-up?

Brandon Bloom:

Awesome! Congrats on the beta release guys.


What's the expected response time for an application keys? I'm anxious to play with the networking features before I leave my 360 behind for Thanksgiving break :-)

I want to do them in batches, so hopefully around 24 hours.

ShawMishrak:

Quick question...

...

So... if I do install it on a computer with games that use Games for Windows - LIVE, are those games still playable, just without LIVE, or will the games cease to operate with a DLL load error at start-up?

This is actually incorrect.  The beta should be compatible with retail games.

Quick question. I haven't dove in and checked for sure, but it looks like content is processed in a different manner in 2.0. Does this mean that my XnaZipLib (which hooked in through the main project file) is no longer compatible? Time to get working I guess...

Mitch Walker:

ShawMishrak:

Quick question...

...

So... if I do install it on a computer with games that use Games for Windows - LIVE, are those games still playable, just without LIVE, or will the games cease to operate with a DLL load error at start-up?

This is actually incorrect.  The beta should be compatible with retail games.

Ah, good.  I was a little concerned about that as I read the README waiting for the download. :)

Nick Gravelyn:

Quick question. I haven't dove in and checked for sure, but it looks like content is processed in a different manner in 2.0. Does this mean that my XnaZipLib (which hooked in through the main project file) is no longer compatible? Time to get working I guess...

Yep, it's changed. The Content Pipeline works the same as it did before (with a few new features tossed-in), but the way it is integrated into the msbuild project is different. The functionality of XnaZipLib should still be possible, but will have to be done a bit differently.

Feel free to ask questions about what's changed if you run into any roadblocks!

 

Thanks Stephen. Once I get done toying with making system linked Pong I'll start work on that. :) I'm sure I'll run into something at some point.

I have the XNA Game Studio 2.0 beta relases installed on my PC, but the XNA Game Studio Device Center can't see my xbox360. The problem seems to be that my version of the XNA Game Launcher is too old, (as it doesn't have the new Reset Connection Key option). I have also tried deleting the XNA Game Launcher off my xbox360 and downloading it again to no avail.

The beta doesn't support the Xbox 360, that'll be why.

Adam Miles:

The beta doesn't support the Xbox 360, that'll be why.

Yeah, I just skimmed over the Readme as well and found this:

XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) Readme:

1.1.7. Xbox 360 Development Console Required to Use XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta)

In order to develop Xbox 360 games with XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta), you need an Xbox 360 Development Console that is connected to PartnerNet, Microsoft's private game-developer test network. You must obtain the XNA Title Player from PartnerNet; the XNA Title Player is the software that hosts Xbox 360 games on the console. Note that the Player runs only on an Xbox 360 Development Console.

That's understandable though since it's a beta.  I imagine upon release it will be available just like the first one for the 360.

Would it be a good idea to have a specific forum section or "folder" for 2.0beta specific questions?

This would keep 2.0 questions from cluttering the rest of the forums, and make it easy to know where to post questions about 2.0, while at the same time making it easier to find answers to questions you may end up having about 2.0.

Lord Ikon:

Would it be a good idea to have a specific forum section or "folder" for 2.0beta specific questions?

This would keep 2.0 questions from cluttering the rest of the forums, and make it easy to know where to post questions about 2.0, while at the same time making it easier to find answers to questions you may end up having about 2.0.

We'd rather direct your bugs/feature requests to the Connect site (http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=226).  This is the appropriate way to keep these forums clear of beta issues.  All the moderators will be aggressive in eliminating threads specifically related to beta 2.0 issues/bugs.  We still encourage general discussions about beta 2.0 on here though.

Posting on Connect helps both you and the internal team see "voting" on specific features and bugs, to help understand the "heat map" of 2.0 issues.

I wasn't if feature requests for the actual forum layout itself would go on connect. I'll try not to post bugs on the forums, although I don't know if it is truly a bug until I ask about it on here to see if I'm just missing something.

Did anyone test XNA GS 2.0 Beta with VS2008 Express?

GS 2.0 does not support VS2008... so there's little point trying it....

Congratulations to the XNA Team on getting the v2 beta out.

From the feature set described it looks like you really listened to what the XNA community was asking for and acted on it, brilliant job.

Downloading now....F5 key finger getting itchy :-)

The ZMan:

GS 2.0 does not support VS2008... so there's little point trying it....

Any word on when it will?

Thanks to all the XNA guy for this beta! i was waiting network support from a long time :D  i'm very happy it is finally here!
Anyone have noticed performance improvments in the Vector math?
the "What's new" list doesn't report any improvement for this. had anyone already gave it a try?

There's not likely to be any performance difference on the Windows side unless the code for the vector library was changed, and since it was as optimised as you can make it, thats unlikely. 2.0 still targets the .Net Framework 2, so the CLR won't have changed either. There's a possibility work was done on the CLR for the 360, but the beta won't give any clues since the beta doesn't support the 360, so we'll either have to wait and see or hope the devs give up some secrets before launch.

I installed the update wizard, but I can't find it anywhere. Could somebody point me in the right direction?