The first week of March I was together with a few other XNA MVPs at the Microsoft MVP Summit 2011 in Seattle.
I’d love to be able to tell you stuff we’ve learned there, or as Andy would also wish, to be able to tell you news about current issues you all know with XBLIG and the Creator’s Club AppHub site and forums. All guys present there were careful to repeatedly remind the team of the issues (especially George).
Of course, bound by our NDA’s we can’t share stuff we found out, but maybe we can tell you some things that might put you at ease.
- XBLIG is here to stay. Even if the WP7 side of things drew some focus away from the 360 side for a while, rest assured that the team is invested in XBLIG and they’re not letting it go anytime soon
- the previews we saw of what’s coming in the future of the phone side were great and you’ll love it all
- All teams are listening to feedback and doing their best to act on it
- Silence does not mean lack of interest on their part
Yes, Microsoft is not always moving as fast as we’d wish; Yes, there are pressing issues with the site; Yes, on some points they are behind the competition at this point… but I feel that YES, these (XNA, WP7, XBLIG) are awesome platforms to be on, only getting stronger, and having a great future.
On a personal note, this was a good summit. I had a great time with the other MVPs and met some great people in Microsoft, who I want to thank for their time and effort.
Also, I got a signed copy (thanks George and Chris) of this:
It’s a fantastic book, the writing style is fun, which makes it a real pleasure to read. And on the technical side, being written by these two guys, it’s probably the best you can get on the subject. The single complaint is that the tattoo didn’t make it on the cover.