Here is the announcement: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=12870258&linkID=10235872
Here is the home page: http://www.softimage.com/products/modtool/

I haven't used Softimage much, but I wonder if it can support Maya animations and bones?.. (I'm thinking about the upcoming Avatar support in XNA 3.1)

That's pretty interesting news. I'm not much of a 3D artist anyway, but Blender has always seemed utterly bewildering to me, and the student licence I have for 3D Studio Max is valid for "only" 13 months - you need to sell a lot of 200pt games to cover the full price. I was a little concerned Autodesk would kill off the Mod Tool.

What I'm really looking forward too: "what game developers see in Softimage Mod Tool is what they get in the game". So far that kind of transparent workflow has eluded me.

Regards,
Nick.

Coyote Coder:

What I'm really looking forward too: "what game developers see in Softimage Mod Tool is what they get in the game". So far that kind of transparent workflow has eluded me.

I'll definately have to check this out - I absolutely dread the games of "asset roulette", or "how much of this model will be left by the time it reaches my game engine?".
I'm still mainly interested in Maya animation support for Avatars, since I'm a long time Blender user (the interface is really good once you spend some time getting used to it...).

UberGeekGames:

(the interface is really good once you spend some time getting used to it...).

Yeah, and my mother used to tell me that I would learn to like Brussel Sprouts if I ate enough of the disgusting little things!

I'm happy for you that Blender is to your taste, but it isn't to mine.

Regards,
Nick.

I don't know enough about the Avatar support for XNA 3.1 apart from the fact that it will be exported in XNA GS as FBX files (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22877). Since the Mod Tool can export FBX it could work.

Nice!  New versions are always good.  :-)

I'm very glad to hear that support for the "Pro" version (for XBLCG development) is still going to be continued for this version.

I may be blind, or stupid or whatever, but I can't find a download link for ModTool 7.5. The softimage modtool site links to autodesk, but there I can't find anything related to modTool. Or maybe it's not released yet?

You are not blind, it is not released yet. The announcement states: "Autodesk anticipates that Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 software will be available in April 2009".

Alexandre Jean Claude:

You are not blind, it is not released yet. The announcement states: "Autodesk anticipates that Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 software will be available in April 2009".

I knew I should have read the annoucement first :-)