MVP AWARD FOR XNA/DIRECTX

Checking my inbox I was extremely happy to find an email from Microsoft notifying me that I have been honored with the "Most Valuable Professional" award for XNA/DirectX.

It's really motivating to know that all my technical contributions to, and support for, the XNA Community is recognized, welcome and appreciated.

Thanks to those of you who nominated me for the award, to those of you who read this blog, to those of you who ask me technical questions via email, to those of you who invite me to participate in XNA-related events, and last but not least to Microsoft for granting me this great honour. [... background music starts to play indicating that my speech must end ...]

This year I'll continue to post articles, submit recommendations for XNA through MS Connect (nope, you're not getting rid of me!), participate in technical/community forums, and help other members of the Community to spread the word that XNA rules!

Cheers!
~Pete

[I'm still out of office until January, 15th.]

OUT OF OFFICE

I will be "out of office" from DateTime.Now() until the end of the first week of January '09.

For those of you who usually read this blog thanks a lot for you time, comments and private messages.

As you may know, the results from Ziggyware's lastest article compo have been recently published so congrats to the winners (many thanks to all of you who submitted an article to the competition).

Before I leave, I must tell you: don't foget to check out the games been published on the community games channel on the XBox Live! There are great games being released as we speak which are quite fun to play ... my favorite so far is ... well, I'll tell you after the break.

Happy holidays and cheers!
~Pete

XLCG: DR. POPPER IS OUT!

Bill from Blue Rose Games has finally released his game "Dr. Popper" to the Community Games channel over the Xbox Live!

[For those of you who don't know Bill, he usually posts handy articles regarding game programming using both, Silverlight and XNA technologies.]

This is a game I've really enjoyed playing on the PC on the past, and now it's great to see it published for the XBox 360.

The proposal is simple in design and still incredibly fun to play. So give it a try, relax, and enjoy the smooth puzzle-like gameplay.

I'l leave you with a short video of the game:

One of the best parts is that it only costs 200 points ... a nice Christmas present, indeed.

Cheers!
~Pete