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Microsoft XNA Game Studio is a toolset that makes creating great video games for Windows-based PCs, the Zune digital media player, and the Xbox 360 console (with an active premium XNA Creators Club subscription) easier than ever.

Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 enables hobbyists, academics, and independent game developers to easily create video games for Windows and the Microsoft Zune digital media player by using optimized cross-platform gaming libraries based on the .NET Framework.

The new features in this release are too numerous to list here. However key items include: Support for the Visual Studio 2008 family of products, developing games that run on the Microsoft Zune digital media player, enhancements to the XNA Framework API for media support, sound effects, rich presence and much more!

For additional setup information and known issues, please read the XNA Game Studio 3.0 ReadMe page using the link below.

Files

Status: Deleted This download is no longer available on microsoft.com. The downloads below are archives provided by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine from the Microsoft Download Center prior to January 2016.

Hardware requirements are identical to those for Visual Studio 2008, plus a graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 1.1 (Shader Model 2.0 is recommended and required for some Starter Kits). Zune development requires the Zune 3.0 firmware.

1. Uninstall any previous versions of Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 (CTP or Beta) .
2. Install Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition or Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition or higher.
3. Obtain the latest updates for Visual Studio from Microsoft Update.
4. Download and run the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 installer.
5. Follow the instructions displayed during setup.
6. Launch Visual Studio 2008 from the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 folder on the Start Menu.