This release of XNA Game Studio is mainly for the purposely of Zune game development, as it doesn’t support development for the XBox 360 until final release. Available now is a preview build of XNA Game Studio 3.0 which will be going RTM ( Ready to Maunfature) latter this fall.

 A majority of the XNA framework APIs are to be supported while at the same time retaining seamless integration with the Zune. Unfortunately, Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition and higher (C# language support must be installed), or Visual C# 2008 Express Edition are needed.

Keeping with Zune media experience, the XNA Game Studio 3.0 integration includes discoverability/access to user’s non-DRM music – allowing you to customize background soundtracks or create real-time visualizations.  In addition, we’ve announced the ability to have multiple nearby Zunes wirelessly engage in an ad-hoc social gaming experience.

 

A preview release of XNA Game Studio 3.0 is now available through the XNA Creators Club Online site (http://creators.xna.com), with a final release scheduled for the holiday 2008 season.  For those of you that prefer the shortest path to happiness, the direct link to the XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP is here.

This would be a great time for the Zune and XNA teams to give a big shout that should sound something like this: “Take that Iphone!”.

*Hit the via link for more info.

[Via XNA Team]

-William “thewilleffect” Bell-