The beta for XNA Game Studio 2.0 is out now and ready to be downloaded. The most notable improvement over XNA Game Studio Express is the ability to bring your PC and/or Xbox 360 games online via Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live.
That’s right, now your little XNA experiment can include cross-platform multiplayer, should you decide to go that route. All of the new features included with the latest version of Microsoft’s popular development platform are detailed here.
Continuing in the tradition of this year’s Dream-Build-Play contest, registration for Dream-Build-Play 2008 will start on December 14 with the Silicon Minds Warm-Up Challenge. In order to win, you must create a finished game using XNA that is not only fun to play, but features brilliant artificial intelligence.
The prize? An opportunity to meet with either Microsoft Research’s Machine Learning Group, Rare, or Lionhead Studios for an internship in addition to GDC 08 expo passes and some cold hard cash. Not to shabby, eh? The winners for the 2007 Dream-Build-Play competition were shockingly good, so I can’t wait to see what aspiring game devs have in store for us.
