Microsoft Unveils XNA Game Studio 4.0

Today at the Game Developers Conference Microsoft unveiled details about XNA Game Studio 4.0, the new developer toolset for creating games for the Windows Phone 7 series.  This new version of XNA Game Studio will allow game developers to create better mobile games faster by providing a comprehensive and powerful set of tools to work with.  For consumers, this means that they’ll be able to find a variety of games on Windows Phone 7 Series when it launches, from casual 2-D games to 3-D games with high quality graphics and for the first time, games with XBox Live features.  This updated version of XNA Game Studio will allow game developers to create better mobile games faster by providing:

• Power - XNA Game Studio 4.0 includes powerful audio and graphics tools that allow developers to create all types of games, from casual 2-D games to 3-D games with high quality graphics.
• Productivity - XNA Game Studio 4.0 is a managed code platform, which means that Microsoft has done the back-end work that will save developers time in the coding process.  It allows developers to be more productive and focus on gameplay and design.
• Portability - XNA Game Studio 4.0 makes it possible for developers to adapt games built on previous versions of XNA Game Studio to work on Windows Phone 7 Series without re-coding the entire game.  Also, once a developer has created a Windows Phone 7 Series game, they can use some of that code in XNA Game Studio 3.1 to adapt that game for XBox360, Windows or Zune.

XNA Game Studio 4.0 will be available to download worldwide in the coming month.