GarageGames recently unveiled Torque X 2.0, a major update to its 2D/3D capable game engine system, adding support for the Microsoft XNA 2.0 Framework, as well as several performance increases in 3D environments. The new engine supports LOD terrain with clip map texturing, and also adds DTS Mesh, and XNA Model support. A free version of Torque X is available, while the Pro version starts at $150 for independent developers.

In addition to the aforementioned features, Torque X 2.0 also supports custom materials, post processing, a 3D particle system, rigid body physics and collision, as well as built-in components.

"It's amazing to see how far XNA development has come in such a short time. When we partnered with Microsoft to develop Torque X in 2006, the game development community was still pretty skeptical of managed code," said Brett Seyler, GarageGames VP of Business Development. "Last year's Dream Build Play winners looked awesome and now with true, full-featured game engines to speed and ease development even further, I expect we'll see Torque X and XNA game development really thrive in 2008."