[johnk]

Вот и вышла бэта второй XNA, может кому нибудь будет интересно узнать новинки:

Changes to the Development Environment and Tools
Expanded Support for Visual Studio 2005 Products
XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) installs and runs on the following members of the Visual Studio 2005 product lines.

Visual Studio 2005 Standard
Visual Studio 2005 Professional
Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
These products enable developers to take advantage of features such as:

Source code control.
Advanced debugging features, such as mixed-mode debugging and thread watch.
Visual Studio Add-ins.
Unit testing in the Software Developers, Software Testers, and Team Suite versions.
For more information, see the Required Software topic.

XNA Device Center and Easier Xbox 360 Connectivity
XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) improves the Xbox 360 connectivity experience. To manage connections to Xbox 360 consoles, use the XNA Device Center, accessible from the Start menu:

Start | Programs | XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Tech Preview) | XNA Device Center
In addition, key generation has been moved to the Connect to PC Screen, and the new Connection Key Wizard makes it easier to generate the connection key for the Xbox 360.

For a step-by-step guide to connecting to an Xbox 360 console, see Connecting to Your Xbox 360 Console with XNA Game Studio 2.0.

Cross-Platform Game Project Converter
XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) provides a simple way to convert projects between Windows and Xbox 360 formats. See Cross-Platform Game Project Converter for instructions on using this utility.

Updated Game Project Format
Users of XNA Game Studio Express or XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh will need to update their projects for use with XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta). A utility to assist in updating projects to the new XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) format is available on XNA Creators Club Online. For a guide to updating a project manually, see Converting a Game from XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 to XNA Game Studio 2.0.

Integrated Game Content Projects
Game projects in XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) now contain an integrated content project that holds all game assets. As part of the build process for the game project, the assets in the content project are built by the XNA Framework Content Pipeline. This new content project allows for easier debugging of custom importers and processors, and allows game content to be built independently of code.

For an introduction to game content projects, see Game Content Project.

XNA Game Studio Package Utility
The XNA Game Studio Package Utility has been updated in XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta). This new version will unpack game packages from XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) and XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh, but can only create packages that are compatible with XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta). Packages created in XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) cannot be unpacked using XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh.

For more information on packaging your game, see Sharing and Distributing Your Game.

Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT)
A new version of XACT is included with XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta). XACT projects created using the versions of XACT available in XNA Game Studio Express or XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh must be upgraded to the new version of XACT before they can be used in a XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) game project. If you have an existing XNA Game Studio Express or XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh XACT project (.xap file), open and save the project using the new version of XACT, then add this newly-saved file into the content project for your game.

Changes to the XNA Framework Content Pipeline
Parameterized Processors
XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) supports the use of parameters within Content Pipeline processors. Parameters allow values to be exposed and modified as properties in the Properties pane in Solution Explorer. This way, a game developer can load content through the Content Pipeline, and change how the content is processed by modifying parameters through the Properties pane.

The standard processors that are included in XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) now have associated parameters; see Parameterized Processors for more information. To learn how to implement parameters in your own custom content processor, see Developing with Parameterized Processors.

Expanded TextureProcessor Functionality
For XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta), the functionality of the ModelTextureProcessor and SpriteTextureProcessor processors has been merged into the TextureProcessor processor, and are therefore obsolete. Use TextureProcessor to process all texture assets.

For a list of standard importers and processors available in XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta), see Standard Importers and Processors.

Changes to the XNA Framework API
Networking Support
XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) adds networking support to the XNA Framework. Networking enables developers to create multiplayer games in which players on separate machines can compete with each other or play cooperatively. Networking in the XNA Framework supports both the Windows and Xbox 360 platforms; multiplayer games can even work across the two platforms. The new functionality is in the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GamerServices and Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Net namespaces.

For an introduction to networking functionality in XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta), see Getting Started With Networked Games.

Guide
The Xbox Guide interface, which allows the user to input text and select storage devices, and which can be used to display text message boxes to the user, is now available via the Guide class.

Application Model
The Game class has been modified:

LoadGraphicsContent has been made obsolete; use LoadContent.
UnloadGraphicsContent has been made obsolete; use UnloadContent.
The template for the Game object, created when creating a new game project, automatically adds and intializes a SpriteBatch object.
The GraphicsDevice property has been added to allow for easy access to the game's GraphicsDevice object.
The Content property has been added to allow for easy access to the game's ContentManager object.
The ResetElapsedTime has been added to support recovery from a slow-running state.
Graphics
XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) improves handling of loss of the GraphicsDevice. All resources with Automatic memory management (the default pool) are reloaded on device loss.

Multiple render targets and persistent render targets are now supported on both Windows and Xbox 360. Both features are enabled by default, but can be disabled. See Render Targets for more information.

XNA Game Studio 2.0 (Beta) provides better support of dynamic content generation and display with the new DynamicVertexBuffer and DynamicIndexBuffer classes. For information on how to use these classes to generate dynamic geometry, see Dynamic Vertex Buffers in XNA.

Occlusion queries, used to determine whether pixels rendered actually end up on-screen, are now available using the OcclusionQuery class.

The SpriteFont class now supports kerning information when loading through the Content Pipeline.

Math
Vector2.Reflect and Vector3.Reflect methods have been added to allow reflection of vectors against a specified normal.

The Matrix.CreateWorld method has been added to allow for easy creation of a World transformation matrix by passing in a position and orientation vector.

The BoundingSphere.Transform method has been added to allow for translating and scaling a bounding sphere.

Input
Taking text input via the Xbox Guide keyboard is now possible through the Guide class, and the associated BeginShowKeyboardInput method.

The GamePadType enumeration has been expanded, allowing enumeration of additional controller types, such as guitar and flight-stick controllers, using the GetCapabilities method.

Audio
See Changes to the Development Environment and Tools - Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) section above for more information on changes to XACT and the audio projects.

It is now possible to play a cue with 3D information using PlayCue.

Storage
Storage device selection is now possible using the Guide class, and the associated BeginShowStorageDeviceSelector method.

It is no longer possible to write data to the title storage location. Writing is only possible to the user storage location.