XNA Game Studio Express is a set of free tools that let users create their own Xbox 360 games, using their regular Windows XP based system. There is a small catch though, you must join a"creators club" for an annual subscription fee of $99 that let you build, test and then share their games on the Xbox 360 or Windows XP systems. As part of the announcement,Microsoft told the press that users of Autodesk will be able to incorporate their content into the XNA Game Studio Express platform using Autodesk’s FBX file exchange format. The XNA GameStudio Express beta will be available August 30th as a free download on Windows XP with the final release scheduled to be available sometime during the holiday season. “XNA Game StudioExpress will ignite innovation and accelerate prototyping, forever changing the way games are developed,” Satchell said. “By unlocking retail Xbox 360 consoles for community-createdgames, we are ushering in a new era of cross-platform games based on the XNA platform. We are looking forward to the day when all the resulting talent-sharing and creativity transforms into athriving community of user-created games on Xbox 360.” Among those pledging support for creation include University of Southern California, Georgia Tech College of Computing and SouthernMethodist University Guildhall among others. In total Microsoft says more than 10 colleges will be using these new tools. In addition, Garage Games, technology provider and developer of one of themost successful Xbox Live Arcade titles, “Marble Blast Ultra,” has migrated both its Torque Shader Engine and new Torque Game Builder 2-D visual game designer over to the XNA Game StudioExpress platform.
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