As announced today in this news item on the Creators Club site and on this post on the XNA team blog, the final version of XNA Game Studio 3.0 is now available for download.  In addition, a refreshed Creators Club web site has been unveiled, including the ability to submit and peer review games for publication via Xbox LIVE Community Games in the New Xbox Experience.

Important note - if you are planning to submit an Xbox LIVE Community Game and/or participate in the peer review process, you must use XNA Game Studio 3.0 and not any previous version of XNA Game Studio.

Getting started

Here are some links with information about how to download and get started using XNA Game Studio 3.0:

• XNA Game Studio 3.0 download location - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7D70D6ED-1EDD-4852-9883-9A33C0AD8FEE
• XNA Framework Redistributable 3.0 download location - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6521D889-5414-49B8-AB32-E3FFF05A4C50
• Getting started page - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125173
• Readme - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125174
• Reporting bugs or feature suggestions - https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=226

What is new since the XNA Game Studio 3.0 beta?

The XNA Game Studio 3.0 beta represented a feature complete milestone for the XNA Game Studio 3.0 product.  This means that the main differences between the beta and the final release are bug fixes and small fit-and-finish improvements.  The notable exception to this are the following:

1. We have released an updated version of XNA Game Studio Connect, so Creators Club members will be able to deploy and debug their games on an Xbox 360 in the final release.  If you previously deployed Xbox 360 games using XNA Game Studio 2.0 and the old version of XNA Game Studio Connect, you will need to manually delete and re-download XNA Game Studio Connect, as described in this blog post.
2. We have added a new platformer game starter kit to the final release.  You will find a new Platformer Starter Kit project template available in the XNA Game Studio 3.0 node in the Visual Studio 2008 new project dialog.  It will instantiate a game that you can build and deploy to Windows, Xbox 360 and Zune.  The Windows and Xbox 360 projects share high resolution content, and the Zune project includes low resolution content that is appropriate for the Zune device.  There are topics in the documentation that describe how to extend the platformer starter kit to add power ups and a scrolling level.

If you previously had a pre-release version of XNA Game Studio 3.0 installed

If you previously had a pre-release version of XNA Game Studio 3.0 (the CTP or beta) installed, there are a few things you will need to keep in mind:

• You must uninstall the pre-release version prior to installing the final release.  The CTP will be named Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 (CTP) in the Add/Remove Programs control panel, and the beta will be named Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 (Beta).
• Game projects created in the CTP must be manually updated to work in the final release.  If you try to compile a CTP project in the final release, you will get an error.  Item 1.2.3 in the XNA Game Studio 3.0 readme explains how to upgrade your project to resolve this error.
• Game projects created in the beta do not require any updates to work in the final release.
• Games compiled and deployed in the CTP or the beta must be recompiled and redeployed using the final release.  This means that .ccgame packages created with the CTP or beta will need to be re-created.  As noted in this forum post, you will need to clean and rebuild your project (and not simply rebuild it) because there is a file left behind by the build process that does not get removed until you perform a clean or delete the bin and obj directories for your project.

If you encounter XNA Game Studio 3.0 setup failures

If you run into setup failures while installing XNA Game Studio 3.0, it can help to look at the log files created by XNA Game Studio 3.0 setup.  They are located at %temp%\XNA Game Studio 3.0 Setup\Logs.

The best way to get help for setup issues is to gather your log files, upload them to a file server of your choice, and then post a question on the Creators Club general forum that includes a link to your log files.  When doing this, please be sure to search for related issues before posting something because your question may have already been answered.

You can also report setup issues via the Connect site - please include your log files as attachments when doing this.

<update date="10/31/2008"> Added link to a forum post about issues with .ccgame files created in the XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP or beta. </update>