XNA Game Studio 3.0 Announced For Late October

Microsoft will release the XNA Game Studio 3.0 development tool for the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, and Spain on October 30th, almost three weeks ahead of its New Xbox Experience (NXE) update, due November 19. Along with introducing a redesigned dashboard and Mii-like 3D avatars, NXE is expected to include the Xbox Live Community Games channel, a service that allows users to submit and purchase independently developed games, with the creator receiving a 70% cut of the revenue. Microsoft hopes that XNA Game Studio 3.0's release will spur developers to convert their creations and prepare them for NXE and the channel's launch. The company released a preview for the suite earlier this year, promising that it will support games for the Zune handheld music device and sound effect API improvements. Also in anticipation of Xbox Live Community Games's release, the XNA team recently published a free Best Practices Guide online, which provides readers insight on making their games accessible to as many people as possible.