Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1

XNA Game Studio 3.1 is a programming environment that allows you to use Visual Studio 2008 to create games for Windows-based PCs, Xbox 360 consoles (with a valid premium XNA Creators Club subscription), and Zune digital media players. XNA Game Studio 3.1 includes the XNA Framework 3.1, which is a set of managed libraries designed for game development.

Supported Operating Systems

Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista Service Pack 1

To run XNA Framework games on a computer running a Windows operating system, you need a graphics card that supports, at minimum, Shader Model 1.1 and DirectX 9.0c. We recommend using a graphics card that supports Shader Model 2.0, which is required by some samples and starter kits. Other hardware requirements for XNA Game Studio 3.1 are identical to those for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

1. If XNA Game Studio 3.0 is installed, uninstall it before continuing. 2. Install Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition or Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition or higher. 3. Get the latest Visual Studio updates from Microsoft Update. 4. Download and run the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 installer. 5. Follow the instructions that appear during Setup. 6. Start Visual Studio 2008 from the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 folder on the Start menu.