Even with a lot of the XNA community working on Dream Build Play entries ( I swear I’m going to finish mine this year!) people are still finding time to do side projects and be amazingly active in the XNA and XBLIG community. With my one eye on my code and one eye on the community, here’s what I noticed these over achievers doing this past week!

Time Critical XNA News:

• Xbox LIVE Indie Games sales data will be delayed March 17-20th due to some schedule maintenance
• http://create.msdn.com/en-us/news/indie_games_data_delay_march2011
• GameMarx is releasing a series of videos to help raise donations for victims of the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan. Help out if you can!
• http://www.gamemarx.com/video/special/29/help-japan-sushido.aspx
  

XNA MVPs:

• Catalin Zima shares his thoughts on the MVP summit and my book!
• http://www.catalinzima.com/2011/03/mvp-summit-2011/
• Glenn Wilson (@mykre) helps the XNA team announce some new educational content that you don’t want to miss if you’re porting your app or game to Windows Phone 7
• http://www.virtualrealm.com.au/Blog/tabid/62/EntryId/653/Porting-your-App-or-Game-to-Windows-Phone-7.aspx
• and Windows Phone 7 from scratch
• http://www.virtualrealm.com.au/Blog/tabid/62/EntryId/654/Windows-Phone-from-Scratch.aspx
• and shares a link to some free architectural models and textures
• http://twitter.com/#!/Mykre/status/46410160784158720
• George (that’s me!) shares his MVP Summit 2011 summary and XBLIG thoughts
• http://geekswithblogs.net/clingermangw/archive/2011/03/15/144366.aspx
  

XNA Developers:

• @SmallCaveGames shares a Code of Ethics for Xbox LIVE Indie Game Developers
• http://smallcavegames.blogspot.com/2011/03/unofficial-xblig-developers-code-of.html
• Derek S adds more Xbox LIVE Indie Game studios to his master list of XBLIG links
• http://twitter.com/#!/Mr_Deeke/status/46140996056125440
• http://xbl-indieverse.blogspot.com/p/xblig-links.html
• Making games and want to help kids? Then share your story with GameFace: America!
• http://gameitupinitiative.com/about-the-initiative/programs/gameface-america/
  

Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG):

• XonaGames shares some video footage of their booth from GDC 2011
• Video 1: http://youtu.be/lxIV9nk3Gq4
• Video 2: http://youtu.be/GgfrjqkxR_o
• Video 3: http://youtu.be/yVcpXrTX7SQ
• Joystiq on Mommy’s Best Games Serious Sam Double D
• http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/16/the-most-important-thing-about-serious-sam-double-d/
• And The Escapist recommends that gamers start learning to avoid cleavage now
• http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108543-Boobie-Bomber-Makes-First-Appearance-in-Serious-Sam-Double-D
• Magiko Gaming started a blog on the XBLIG dashboard daily Top 10 games in the US. Good way to go back in time and look at the history of which games were in the the Top 10.
• http://dailytop10indiegames.wordpress.com/
• Where are they going now? XBLIG developers at a crossroads..
• http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2011/03/where_are_they_going_now_xblig.php
• http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/33527/InDepth_Where_Are_They_Going_Now_XBLIG_Developers_At_A_Crossroads_.php
• BinaryTweed’s Clover: A Curious Tail is Xbox LIVE’s Deal of the Week!
• http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/03/15/what-luck-clover-a-curious-tale-is-half-price-this-week/
• Looking for an Xbox LIVE Indie Game to buy? Writings of Mass Deduction has over 125 suggestions at this point!
• http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/
• SkaStudios shares Vampire Smile Achievements AND their PAX East 2011 Both Setup video
• http://www.ska-studios.com/2011/03/14/vampire-smile-achievement/
• http://www.ska-studios.com/2011/03/15/pax-booth-setup-time-lapse/
• MasterBlud and VVGTV starts a new community for XBLIG developers and gamers to join
• http://vvgtv.forumotion.com/
• Raymond Matthews (@DrakstarMatryx) covers Mommy’s Best Games getting Serious
• http://www.darkstarmatryx.com/?p=286
  

XNA Development:

• Dave Henry (@mort8088) posts the 4th tutorial in his series
• XNA 4.0 SpriteBatch extended
• http://mort8088.com/2011/03/11/xna-4-0-tutorial-4-spritebatch-extended/
• Tutorial 5 - Creating a manual blank texture
• http://mort8088.com/2011/03/13/xna-4-tutorial-5-manual-blank-texture/
• XNA 4.0 Tutorial 6 - Spritesheet Object
• http://mort8088.com/2011/03/18/xna-4-0-tutorial-6-spritesheet-object/
• Jason Mitchell shares a tutorial on setting the alpha value for spritebatch in XNA 4.0
• http://www.jason-mitchell.com/index.php/2011/03/13/setting-alpha-value-for-spritebatch-draw-in-xna-4/
• XNA for Silverlight Developers: Part 7 - Collision Detection
• http://www.silverlightshow.net/items/XNA-for-Silverlight-developers-Part-7-Collision-detection.aspx
• Markus Ewald (@Cygon4) shares the full Ninject 2.0 binding for XNA and Sunburn
• http://twitter.com/#!/Cygon4/status/48330203826622464
• Michael B. McLaughlin shares an AccelerometerInput XNA GameComponent he created (which I’m probably going to snag for a game I’m working on...)
• http://geekswithblogs.net/mikebmcl/archive/2011/03/17/accelerometerinput-xna-gamecomponent.aspx
• Extra Credit tackles the building of a good tutorial. Must watch for all Indie game devs (thanks for pointing it out Evan Johnson!)
• http://twitter.com/#!/johnsonevan/status/48452115680604160
• http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2921-Tutorials-101
• ExEn is fully funded at this point so definitely something for XBLIG developers to keep an eye on as they consider releasing their games on other platforms
• http://rockethub.com/projects/752-exen-xna-for-iphone-android-and-silverlight
• Channel 9 and Greg Duncan post Mixing the Game State Management and Platformer XNA Recipes
• http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Mixing-the-Game-State-Management-and-Platformer-XNA-Recipes
• Sgt. Conker has noticed Mike McLaughlin has been crazy productive and has done a recap of his recent posts
• http://www.sgtconker.com/2011/03/recap-of-mikebmcls-posts/