After months of development and testing, Microsoft has finally released the long awaited game design tool, XNA Game Studio 3.0, for public download.

“Our ultimate goal with XNA Game Studio 3.0 is to continue to provide easy-to-use, approachable tools for hobbyists, academics and indie game developers capable of producing the best games to be shared with the world on Xbox 360, Windows PC and Zune.

With XNA Game Studio 3.0 game developers will be able to develop truly cross-platform games that work on Windows, Xbox 360 and Zune with minimal effort”

With XNA GS 3.0, game developers can freely design games for the Zune platform, and distribute them for free.

[source: XNA Creators Club]