Whoa… long time no see
Sorry for the long absence 
Anyway, here's some news:
Miscellany Tips for Working With a WP7 Device for the First Time, by Michael B. McLaughlin
Compressed GPU data formats, by The Shawn
Viewing Windows Phone 7 Marketplace on the simulator, by David Amador
XBLIG.Saved();
Thanks to everyone who voted on the XBLIG placement on the new dash in this post: http://www.sgtconker.com/2010/11/savetehxblig/.
Microsoft listened and Indie Games are now a part of the Games & Demos section again but they are apparently omitted from searches according to this post on the forums: http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/65669.aspx.
Hugs all around fo sho.
Converting between Texture2D and Image in XNA 4.0
Ok, so I'm 2-to-3 weeks late to the party, but I just read this, and thought it might be helpful for people planning to integrate XNA with Windows Forms.
The blog post, written by Popescu Alexandru-Cristian shows a way of converting between a Texture2D object and an Image (GDI) object. Read it fully on Communist Games.
Voxel Engine on Codeplex
Steve Marshall sent us a link to TechCraft, a 'minecraft-style terrain engine in XNA'. You can see a video of it below.
XNA Morphing Meshes Tutorial
The Cansin posted a new and interesting tutorial about morphing meshes in XNA
With documentation and source code available, the tutorial takes you through the steps of implementing morphing meshes.
Check it out here.
Matali Physics 1.0 released
we just got word that Matali Physics 1.0 is now available for download.
The engine was in the works for 19 months. During this time, the Matali team worked hard on adding new features, significantly improving the clarity and consistency of the API and providing support for multiple platforms including Windows Phone 7.
The guys at Komires would like to thank all the people who tested the RC versions and provided them with comments and suggestions.
Matali Physics 1.0 can be used free of charge to create non-commercial, cross-platform games for .NET and Mono, providing comprehensive support for the following areas:
* Shapes and meshes
* Continuous collision detection
* Materials
* Constraints
* Scene and objects management
* Camera and objects control
* Character controller
* Vehicle dynamics
* Terrain and water surface
* Force fields
* Point cloth dynamics
SavetehXBLIG!
Hi! Long time no post-text-on-a-website-for-you-to-browse.
I wanted to bring something to your attention. Recently the Xbox has undergone a dashboard change to gear up for Kinect. Personally, I think overall the design is genius (especially after actually using Kinect last night but I digress).
The problem, and the reason people feel XBLIG needs to be 'saved', is that Xbox Live Indie Games are listed under Specialty Shops, not Games & Demos. Most people have reported greatly diminished sales numbers as a result but the stats are still a little too new to make long term projections.
Regardless of how you feel about the 'crappleware', XBLIG has almost always had an uphill battle inside Microsoft and we're seeing the direct affects of it.
</rant>
Please take a few seconds out of your day to login to connect and vote on this important issue. You can do so at this link: https://connect.microsoft.com/site226/feedback/details/618834/xbox-live-indie-games-missing-from-games-category. I'm urmom and I approved this message.