XNA 2.0 Beta

What do you know. At the end of last night's update, I mentioned that the next step in Sever's development depends on XNA 2.0's release. Lo and behold, here I am in my bedroom with my laptop on (guess) my lap with the beta downloading at 76%. Hanginaround by Counting Crows shuffled its way to my speakers to celebrate.

I've never been much for beta testing. I've always been one to use the stable versions because I'm afraid I'll either lose some work or lose my patience with bugs. However, I will try the XNA 2.0 beta because my work is stunted without it. Plus, the what could happen, other than an in-game crash? The code always saves before it runs, so there's nothing to lose.

Visual Studio Express 2008 is also out. I downloaded it, but I haven't used it yet because it doesn't like XNA and any non-XNA code I've written was with VS 2005 Pro, which is a step up from Express, even if it is 2008. So if I ever use it, it will be purely for fun. Even if it does eventually accept XNA, I won't switch because...

XNA 2.0 integrates into Visual Studio 2005 Pro! I was bummed when I found out that XNA 1.0 required Express. I know I could add the references and all that to get it to work in Pro anyway, but it's just a nuisance that it isn't supported natively. Anyway, the biggest problem I had with Express was that there wasn't an option to retain tabs rather than treating them as spaces.

Anyway, the download is complete. Goodbye XNA 1.0, hello XNA 2.0 Beta! I know I shouldn't be working on Sever with RefLib on the clock, but I can't help myself. Expect updates.

clevceo