One reason we release beta software is to put it in the hands of the community and start getting feedback on what we'll be releasing. How you give feedback depends on the type of feedback you have.

We hope many of you have already joined the XNA Beta Program through the Microsoft Connect Web sitehttp://connect.microsoft.com. If you haven't signed up at the Microsoft Connect Site, it couldn't be easier.

1. Sign in using your Windows Live ID or Passport account (if you haven't already).

2. Click Available Connections.

3. Scroll down. In the table that lists the various programs available, select XNA Game Studio Express Beta 1, and then click Apply.

4. After filling out the short survey, you will be enrolled automatically.

Microsoft Connect is the preferred method to let us know about bugs and about your suggestions for XNA Game Studio Express. What topics are worth submitting? Glad you asked!

• Bugs: Problems that you encounter while using the product due to an error in XNA Game Studio Express.

• Feature Suggestions: Features that you would like to see in the product or functionality that's missing that you believe should exist.

You can choose from any one of four feedback forms

• XNA Framework Bug

• XNA Framework Suggestion

• XNA Game Studio Express Bug

• XNA Game Studio Express Suggestion

Which form you fill out depends on the type of feedback you have. For example, you may be able to identify the difference between a bug and suggestion, but how do you know which feature area to select for your bug? Consider that the XNA Framework deals with the API you use when coding your game, so if you are programming against the bug or feature request, it's usually going to fall under the XNA Framework. If you’re having problems using the Visual Studio templates or Starter Kits, your bug or feature request likely falls under XNA Game Studio Express—in other words, everything built on top of the XNA Framework. Don't worry too much about getting it perfect—it just helps us organize things.

Before you submit a bug or feature request, we ask that you search for it first. You can do that from the following link:https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/CreateFeedback.aspx?SiteID=226. This helps reduce the amount of duplicate bugs we receive. If you find a duplicate, you can "vote" to make a bug or suggestion more visible to the team. This shows that multiple people have the same issue or suggestion.

While we can't guarantee that we’ll reply personally to every bug or suggestion, we can guarantee that we’ll properly review every bug entered.

I can't stress enough how important your feedback is for our beta. It guides us in the right direction and highlights problems you want to see fixed. This product is yours—help us make it the best it can be.