XNA Essentials

I am pleased to announce that the code for the book has been updated and is now available for download.  The files can be located at http://xnaessentials.com/downloads.aspx

As always, questions about the book, or the updated code can be directed to this book's forum located at amazon.com.

Happy Coding!

-Chad

Spring 2008 is when the beta is supposed to be out ... Holiday 2008 is when it should be released.

I can't wait!

Some very exciting things are coming including:

Develop 2D games for the Zune

   FAQ:

       http://forums.xna.com/thread/46553.aspx

   Discussion Thread:

       http://forums.xna.com/thread/46557.aspx

Deploy your Xbox 360 game to anyone on Xbox LIVE!

    FAQ:

        http://forums.xna.com/thread/46554.aspx

    Discussion Thread:

        http://forums.xna.com/thread/46558.aspx

  General info on Game Studio 3.0

        http://forums.xna.com/thread/48067.aspx

       Things to note is that VS2008 will be used.  I love VS2008, so this is great news.  I would love to be able to use some of the C# 3.5 language features, but it is unknown if any of that will be available yet.  Using LINQ to query a scene graph would be excellent fun!

Lots of information and as much as possible will be in my new book - Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 Unleashed.  More details on that to follow ...

Happy Coding!

-Chad

I wanted to announce that I look at Amazon's forums for this book.  So if there are any questions or comments, etc they can be directed there.

Amazon Forum for Microsoft XNA Unleashed

While I'm here, I should mention that I have been patiently waiting for another good review to come my way.  I have read good reviews on the web of the book, but none of those have made their way to Amazon.  A sampling of what I found ...

http://p2p.wrox.com/topic.asp?whichpage=1&TOPIC_ID=63544&#135895

http://www.albertrosa.com/index.php/2007/08/14/xna-splat-game-goals/

http://www.kinlan.co.uk/2007/08/review-microsoft-xna-unleashed-by-chad.html

http://blog.radioact1ve.com/2007/08/reading-part-15.html

http://forums.xna.com/thread/19922.aspx

I am contemplating writing another book on a different subject as well as adding more content (tutorials) to this site and making a second edition of this book when the XNA Framework 2.0 comes out.  However, the last thing I want to do is provide a book that isn't valuable for the majority of people buying it.  If you enjoyed the book, would you consider writing a review on Amazon?  For that matter, if you didn't enjoy the book could you also write a review?  It would really help me determine if I should continue in the book authoring business or gracefully fade away ... Of course it would help others to know if they should separate with their hard earned money or not.

Happy Coding (and Reviewing)!

--Chad

This past Friday, the books were being completed at the printers and shipping out to the warehouses.  There were 'normal production delays' at the printers.  I later found out that the book was being printed at the same printer that printed the Harry Potter book.  What?  My XNA Unleashed title is held up due to a book with only 10 million back orders being printed?  What's up with that?! :)

The publisher got a small shipment in yesterday and overnighted me a copy.  So I am looking at the book now.  Hopefully Amazon will receive their copy soon and for the 10 million that have back ordered the book -- oh wait, wrong book -- well for the people who have pre-ordered this book, they should get their copy soon.

Shawn Hargreaves of the XNA Development team has posted a nice blurb about the book on his blog. Thanks Shawn!

Shawn did a fantastic job in being the technical editor of this book. Basically, if it is good - then it is because of Shawn. If it is bad, then it is because I ignored his advice! :)

If you haven't subscribed to this feed, well ... you should because it will have updates to the books as we find errors (what errors!?). Also, when any new demos or tutorials are added, this blog will have an update so you can be notified.

Happy Coding!

-Chad