Budding video game developers can now sign-up for the public beta for Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio Express. You can download it at the official web-site here. Using the development platform, small developers, game enthusiasts, and students can use the easier technology to make games for either PC or Xbox 360 using a standardized set of tools.
Once the tools are downloaded, you can then start making PC games. Then, later on this year, they will be able to join the XNA Creator’s Club, where they can move their video game masterpieces to the Xbox 360, for an annual fee of $99. Though Microsoft is offering a four-month trail for only $49. When the final version of XNA Game Studio Express arrives, this holiday season, the Creator’s Club will go live.
In order to make money however, developers will have to wait until next spring when Microsoft releases XNA Game Studio Professional. No price has been announced and it won’t be free, but it will feature more functionality and be geared towards more experienced developers.
Microsoft has said the response they’ve recieved for the development tools was “overwhelming”. More than 100 schools have already expressed an interest in incorporating the tools into their curricula, with “nearly 20 leading universities worldwide” already set to bring the technology tools into their classrooms.