Screen-space deformations in XNA for Windows Phone 7
Captain ZSquare shares his technique to do screen-space deformations on Windows Phone 7. Introduces Catalin:
Working on our games, we came across the need to do some screen-space deformations for all sorts of special effects like explosions, ‘drunk filter’, warp effects and other similar stuff. But since we’re targeting Windows Phone 7, we don’t have access to any custom shaders (which is a bummer), so we had to be creative. In the end, the solution turned out to be rather simple, and the performance is good enough (if you don’t go overboard with the effects, of course).
See the post for screen shoots and code!
Lets see if Captain ZSquare reposts this one with a screen shoot, too 
XNA 4.0 Light Pre-Pass
Jorge Coluna posted an article on his site about implementing the Light Pre-Pass technique for rendering in XNA 4.0
Read all about it here.
Weekly XNA Notes from George
George W. Clingerman seems to be able to keep up with his weekly XNA Notes with the third installment (also see One and Two). Endorses The Shawn:
Will he keep doing it? Is this something you should bookmark? I hope so, and definitely!
We here in the barracks have nothing to add to that.
XNA 4.0 Light Pre-Pass
Jorge Coluna shares the code and an article of his Light Pre-Pass technique for XNA 4.0. Says the Jorge:
The discussion between pros and cons of different techniques for real-time lighting has been running for years. Forward rendering, deferred shading and light pre-pass are some of the most famous techniques nowadays. Their definitions and variations can be found with a simple search on internet, with all the most complex mathematics, notations and formulas possible. Therefore I will not focus on this.
XnaFlixel for XNA 4.0
Someone be the handle of graydsl announced the immediate availability of XnaFlixel on GitHub. Sez the laddie:
XnaFlixel is a XNA 4.0 port of flixel (http://flixel.org). It's highly experimental now and I'm planning to break the whole API to make it more C#-ish. It's not tested on Xbox yet, so if you plan to use it, don't expect to much.
Xnaml Component
Following Red Badger’s XPF here comes another Silverlight in XNA component to continue the promise of Bronzeglow: Xnaml Component. Valentin – its creator – asks for beta testers in the AppBuh forums, so head over to his contact form and, well, contact him.
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.
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.
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.