[EDIT: Added DrawText update]

Before you ask a question in this FAQ please read When will XNA Game Studio support my feature FAQ for all the likely answers.

When?
May 7th 2008:  CTP has been released - Zune support and some other 3.0 changes. No Xbox 360 support. No Zune deployment on x64

May 23rd 2008: Beta of Community Games released. PAID Creators club membership required (No Dreamspark or DreamBuildPlay memberships). US Xbox required to play final games FOR BETA ONLY!

Final Release Holiday 2008

Will my 2.0 code still work?

Full releases like 2.0 and 3.0 do not guarantee 100% backwards compatibility though Microsoft try to minimize changes. For refresh releases (like 1.0 refresh) binary compatibility was maintained. For the 3.0 CTP there appeared to be no breaking changes, however this release was targeting the Zune for the majority of new features so this should not be indicative of the final release. Wait for the beta(s?) and we will update this section.

What will be included?

• You will have the ability to write games for the Zune. For more information see the Zune Game Development FAQ for all the details
• GS 3.0 will be VS2008 only. It is not yet determined if GS will support additional .Net 3.5 features or C# enhancements - see http://forums.xna.com/post/48332.aspx. In the Zune video Adam Miles' eagle eyes caught this screen shot. We still have no idea what this means ;-)
  • C# Express 2008 can be downloaded for free from here.
• Song and sound effect API: you can just add .wav, .mp3, or .wma files directly to Visual Studio, then load and play them from your C# game code
• Support for D3D shaders as materials in .FBX files
• Moving FBX importer to the latest AutoDesk SDK
• New Media namespace for accessing songs on the Zune
• From GameFest 2008
  • All content (.xnb) files are now compressed. This is done per file type so already compressed types like WMV will not be recompressed
  • Media namespace/Song/Sound Effect confirmed on all 3 platforms
  • ClickOnce support for distribution
  • Multiple content project support
  • Cross-platform projects (created with the "Create Copy of Project for ..." button) are automatically kept in sync
  • Basic rich presence support (via enumeration)
  • Game invites
  • Trial mode API for XBLCG
• Big button controller supported on Xbox only
• Sprite.DrawText will now take a StringBuilder which will reduce GC possibilities

What is NOT included?

• SM4.x - see http://forums.xna.com/thread/53560.aspx
• Raw sound access - though some requested scenarios where this was requested are satisfied by the new media APIs. See http://forums.xna.com/forums/p/12267/64725.aspx#64725

Is that it?
Well at the same time the Xbox Live Community games will go live - you can read about it more in the Xbox Live Community Games FAQ

Will {my bug/feature} be included
Please bear in mind that the GS team probably had at least 5 times the amount of feature requests than they were able to get in so not everything requested in connect will be there. See the connect FAQ