XNA Game Studio 4.0 Announced

Fresh out of GDC, the XNA team announced XNA Game Studio 4.0, which they say will be released within the coming month.

There are some interesting additions to the API this time around, and some changes that existing creators will need to take note of:

• Windows Phone 7 Hardware Support
• Visual Studio 2010 Integration
• Microphone Input
• Dynamic (Unbuffered) Audio Output
• New built-in Effects
  • SkinnedEffect
  • EnvironmentMapEffect
  • DualTextureEffect
  • AlphaTestEffect

They have also worked to improve portability, and pave the way for platforms to branch away from cross-platform support. (ie Take advantage of platform specific functionality)

They did this by adding two profiles: Reach and HiDef. The first gives you a guarantee your code will run on the different platforms. However developing for HiDef lets you take advantage of functionality present on the system, that might not be on other platforms.

Alongside those huge features, they have made many graphics improvements, and split Microsoft.Xna.Framework.dll into multiple assemblies so you can include only the things you need.

For those of you more interested in the games than the development, take a look at this: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/09/microsoft-shows-off-xna-games-running-on-windows-phone-full-3d/

Sounds like we’re getting an emulator that is 3D capable eventually, so you can test your games.

Watch this blog, and creators.xna.com in the coming weeks for the official release, and more news on exactly what we are getting. More news about Windows Phone 7 development should also come out tomorrow, after the GDC sessions by the XNA team run.