XNA Game Studio Express uses Microsoft's C# programming language, and is based on its existing Visual C# tools. The toolkit represents Microsoft's first console attempt to jump on the "citizen media" bandwagon that has driven many popular Web 2.0 properties such as YouTube and Wikipedia.

Microsoft says that the tool is aimed primarily at students, geeks and small game developers, but despite the paucity of finance common to those three groups, the service isn't actually free. While the development tools can be downloaded for nothing, games will only run on the Xbox 360 if the owner has a subscription to the XNA Creators Club, a developer network which costs $US99 a year for membership.

That may change in the future, however. "We are actively working on other ways to allow you to more easily distribute your games and are very excited about the possibilities this will open up for independent game development," the official XNA FAQ notes.

Currently, XNA Game Studio Express only runs on Windows XP SP2, but Microsoft says it is planning Vista support in the future.
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