Datasheet

Figure 1-2
XNA Game Studio Express is currently the only available IDE for developing games with the XNA
Framework, but once Microsoft ships XNA Game Studio 2.0 (end of 2007) you can also develop with
Visual Studio 2005 Standard or Professional. If you have Visual Studio 2005, but try to use XNA 1.0 with
it to create an XNA project, there will be no templates in it. Even worse: If you try to open a .csproj file
you created with XNA Game Studio Express, Visual Studio cannot open the project. It is not supported
in XNA 1.0. Read on for a few tips on how to get XNA 1.0 working with Visual Studio 2005 in the section
“What About Visual Studio 2005 Professional?” If you start with XNA 2.0, you don’t have to worry
about this; Visual Studio 2005 will be supported out-of-the-box.
Application Model
The XNA Framework is divided into three essential parts (see Figure 1-3):
❑ XNA Graphic Engine in the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.dll
❑ XNA Game Application Model in the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.dll
❑ XNA Content Pipeline in the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.Pipeline.dll
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Chapter 1: Introducing XNA
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