New Xbox Experience - Community Games video

Check out all you need to know on the new community games channel which is launching in November on the new XBox 360 Experience.

inDuna

Here is a quick preview of the game we submitted for this years Dream Build and Play competition:

New XNA 3 beta coming early next week!

New Features/Changes:

Zune

Compatibility with the upcoming Zune 3.0 Firmware release.
Improved deployment stability.
Support for Zune deployment on Windows Vista x64 Systems!
You can now use the Remote Performance Monitor for Zune games.

Xbox 360

Xbox 360 project templates (You will not be able to develop on the Xbox 360 until our final release. We felt this was important to include so that you could get projects converted over and look at the system, even if you are not able to run the games, yet).
Support for the Big Button Pad.

Framework & Visual Studio Features

Enumerate and play back media on your Windows computer or Xbox 360.
Simple sound effect support on Windows computers and Xbox 360.
Support for Rich Presence (lets friends know what’s going on in your game).
Support for Invites (ask your friends to join you in a multiplayer game) and Join Session In Progress (after you see what your friends are doing, you can join their current session with just a couple of button presses, even if that’s a different game to the one you are currently playing)
Compress your content and save space with the new content compression features!
ClickOnce packaging support for distributing your XNA Framework games on Windows.
Upgrade your project from XNA Game Studio 2.0 using the Project Upgrade Wizard!
Take screen captures of your game running on Zune through the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
Support for .NET language features like Linq
Create multiple content projects and leverage cross project synchronization in Visual Studio.
FBX importer improvements: read materials containing multiple textures, and export custom shader materials directly out of Max or Maya.

Full story on the XNA Team blog

More Free Tools

Good news, trueSpace 7.6 has been released for FREE !

trueSpace is a complete 3D Authoring tool, I haven't tried it yet so can't comment on how good or bad it is for helping with making games.

Here is a video I found on You Tube showing animations:

Sell your games on XBox 360 Community Games!

Finally, Microsoft has announced that this year they will be launching the ability for anyone with a Creators Club Membership to upload and sell there games on XBox 360.

Microsoft will give you up to 70% of the revenues and send you a cheque every quarter.

Fur more detailed info and a list of FAQ check out the creators club website over here.

NVidia Tools

NVIDIA Shader Debugger has been released

It a fully-featured pixel shader debugger that allows shaders to be debugged just like CPU code. A free license for non-commercial use is available.

FX Composer 2.5 has also being released.

FX Composer 2.5 Overview:


FX Composer New Features:


New Features:

# Cross-API Support
* New! DirectX 10
# New! Support for Shader Debugger plug-in
# New! Particle Systems
# New! Visual Models and Styles
* Ability to create, define, and export multiple looks for a model
# New! Remote Control Service over TCP/IP
# New! Shader Perf with GeForce 8 Series Support
# New! Improved User Interface
* Unified project model
* Reduced user interface clutter
* Single-device operation
* Enlarged icons with captions
# Full-featured Code Editor
* New! Automatic, Customizable Code Snippets

Dream Build and Play

This years Dream Build and Play has been announced !

There is $ 75 000 in prizes up for grabs.

1st Prize: $ 40 000
2nd Prize: $ 20 000
3rd Prize: $ 10 000
4th Prize: $ 5 000

And you have until the 23rd September 2008 to submit your entry!