Microsoft made some announcements at GDC (the Game Developer’s Conference) this week, one of which contained some information about an update to XNA coming this spring. To quote from the Gamasutra article:

In further XNA Game Studio-related news, the company announced XNA Game Studio 3.1, which will bring in new features to enable easier content creation, increased Xbox Live functionality, and new Extensions for signed teams working on Xbox Live games using the package.

The updated software package, which will be released this spring, will allow developers to pull in the Xbox 360′s Avatars, allowing creators to more easily begin their projects using either the player’s or randomly-generated characters. Avatar animations will able to be created in Maya and exported to XNA Game Studio 3.1, as FBX files.

XNA Game Studio 3.1 will also add support for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Party system, which allows groups of players to game together easily across multiple titles; these two features will span Community Games and professional products developed using GS3.1. The update will also include video playback and new audio APIs.

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