Thursday, April 26, 2007

NEW CONTENT FOR "XNA'ERS"

Ok, so you downloaded the refresh update for XNA GSE v1.0, read the readme page and updated the framework on your system, but have you happened to check the new content available at http://creators.xna.com?

I knew it! Don't be a lazybones, pay a visit to the XNA Creators Club Online site and:

  • Download the new starter kit: finally! The long-awaited "Racing Game" (formerly called "XNA Racer"),
  • Download the new samples: 3D audio, bloom, 2D particles, and many more.
  • Read the new articles: data structure and the shader series,
  • Watch the new video tutorials: advance audio series, and,
  • Download the new utilities: the "Bitmap Font Maker" utility and controller graphics.

Wow!

[Are you an "XNA'ER"? Sounds cool, doesn't it?]

"PCGZINE 5" NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD

This month issue of PCGZine is now available for free download. As always, you have read it right, free download.

The issue includes an interview to the president of Massive Entertainment -the one behind "World in Conflict" game- plus a preview of "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars", a review of "The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar", and more, much more.

So, what are you waiting for?! Download it now!

"MONO.XNA": APRIL FOOLS?

Ok, at first that was what I thought: if you check the site, there's no many info available, nor downloads, well it's like a shell with no content and last submission of ??? was done on January, 2007.

However, after some search I happened to find a google group where you can actually check some XNA Framework's assemblies being ported to OpenGL.

As it's seems to be in the first stages of development, does anyone know whether it's a serious project?

"PROFESSIONAL XNA GAME PROGRAMMING" BOOK

Andy ("TheZMan") has written a good review of Benjamin Nitschke's book "Professional XNA Game Programming".

From Andy's post: "... The postman left a nice gift for me this morning, a copy of Ben's book. I've had a grand total of about 30 minutes to look at it so don't consider this a full review.... Firstly you can get the code for the book included versions of XNA Racer and XNA Shooter from the Wrox website. The XNA Racer and XNA Shooter sites are not up yet but Rocket Commander has been up for quite a while. I have no idea if the Racer game is identical to what was supposed to show up on the creators club site or a different version, but looks like the book version is available first ...".

Although, Benny didn't include in the book's readme file some of the XNA-news blogs that have been working hard to keep you up-to-date in the XNA world ... snif! snif! ... :( ... I still believe this is a great book, so go and buy it ... ;)