An Interview with WP7 Indie Developer Pieter De Rycke
1)Have you developed Apps for any other platforms before?If Yes What are they?
I experienced with Google Android in the past, but I never created any“real” applications for it.
2)Why did you choose WP7 as a platform of your choice?
I have always been a Java guy, but about a half your ago I became a junior .Net architect at my work. So I wanted something to learn c# and .Net with something that was beyond the classical “Hello World”.
So I decided to port Frozen Bubble from Perl to C# as a personal challenge. Around the time I started with Frozen Bubble for .Net, Microsoft released the first preview version of their developer tools for WP7. I immediately liked the WP7 OS and that’s why I decided to also bring Frozen Bubble to WP7.
3)Which one do you think as the single most feature you liked in WP7?
Undoubtedly the new Metro GUI.
4)Are you satisfied with WP7 Platform development tools?
Yes, I really like the way how Microsoft is focusing on the developers. Microsoft has made the preview SDK available for everyone and they are updating it at regular intervals as the development of
WP7 continues. I also like the fact that they have included free versions of both Visual Studio 2010 and Blend in the SDK. This makes developing for WP7 possible for everyone.
5)What are the Apps you are developing now in WP7?
I am currently busy with finalizing Frozen Bubble for both Windows and WP7 and I am also thinking about implementing multiplayer functionality between the 2 platforms. Besides XNA game development, I am also busy creating a VNC client in Silverlight. But that project is still in the early stages.
6)In what way Microsoft can improve their WP7 or What does WP7 lacks from?
As an end user: I think copy and paste support should be added to the OS in a future release.
As a developer: I find it frustrating that in some regions it is difficult to obtain a developer device. For example: I live in Belgium and for my country there apparently no developer devices available; Microsoft will here only organize a number of lab days to test your application on a WP7 device. While this is better then nothing, it makes it difficult to implement and test features like the accelerometer or the multi touch capabilities in games and applications because they are not possible with the emulator.
7)Future Plans of you?
Continue coding for fun 
and I will probably write some articles about developing for WP7.
Apart from these any other things you want to share with the community?
Yes, to all developers: check out the WP7 SDK. You will really like it. My Twitter: http://twitter.com/phdrycke
Thanks Pieter De Rycke.All the best for your WP7 Development Efforts.
And now for some Kinetic fun!
I would like you to watch the video in its entirety if you can then read the post after the break
First Impressions on WP7 Xbox Live Integration
First we should know what Microsoft itself tells about it right?
“We believe that no matter where life takes you, the best in gaming and entertainment should follow,” said Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft. “Windows Phone 7 takes a different approach to handheld gaming, utilizing Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Game Studios, leading game publishers, and innovative indie developers, to create powerful, shared experiences for everyone.”
All in all, it’s a promising picture for Microsoft. The company has the clout, the community, and most importantly the cash to pull this off, but as with all modern smartphone platforms, success can’t be judged on one aspect alone. To make Windows Phone 7 really work, the folks in Redmond will have to hit the right note on not just gaming, but the basic user experience, hardware, applications, and carrier partnerships. Based on what we’ve seen of Xbox Live on these devices, we think the company can check at least one of those boxes off.
So yes, it makes all kinds of sense that Microsoft is pushing Xbox Live so hard on Windows Phone 7. Based on first impressions, it looks like while they haven’t evolved mobile gaming, they may have gotten it to level up.
I’m waiting to get my turn at reviewing the games on Windows Phone 7 as well. But it’s good to see Microsoft finally focusing its phones on the content that it is good at: games.
It’s tough to say how well the Windows Phone 7 will work as just a phone or personal information management tool when it ships in October, but when it comes to gaming, Microsoft’s already well ahead of Apple in terms of focusing, laser-like, on the platform’s gaming possibilities. With Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst and Halo: Waypoint in the mix, it’s clear Microsoft’s (wisely) planning to leverage its existing console IPs to at the very least make the phone immediately appealing to anyone with an Xbox 360.
Microsoft’s Xbox chops may help sway some phone buyers who are already into video games. The company is also hoping that Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 devices might get a boost from the upcoming launch of Kinect, a motion-sensing game controller for the Xbox 360. Like the Nintendo Wii, Kinect is expected to lure people who haven’t traditionally been interested in video games.
I love that EVERY game will be able to be tried out on WP7 with none of this dual downloading of a lite or trial version or lack of any kind of trial we see so often on today’s other smartphone platforms.
Its good to see that Microsoft is starting to get positive reviews for its efforts after long time.. 
The great Microsoft-Facebook social alliance: Part 2
Click here for part 1 of the article
Xbox live features as second horse in the Microsoft-Facebook alliance troika. This is even more relevant now considering all the gaming related developments yesterday, which included MS opening a Mobile gaming Studio, Sony’s upcoming Android phone featuring a controller pad and integrated with PS3/PSP, and finally, more Google buying spree news with their investment in IOS game developer Ngmoco. I never realized that Android had a pretty weak gaming ecosystem from engadget,
There’s no question that gaming on the Android platform has heretofore been relatively underwhelming…
and from Techcrunch
Android still has relatively few high quality games available and is ripe for a few more established developers to join the fray
It therefore makes sense why they are trying to round up all these products and services and coalesce them into their huge 3.0 update, a.k.a Gingerbread coming this fall. Apple’s gaming solution, Game center, is also scheduled to debut in the fall making for intriguing three way tug-of-war between Microsoft, Apple and Google.
Xbox live already features the best online gaming experience and it is already tied up to Facebook via Friendlinker and Xbox 360 Live Gamercard. Making Xbox live the central gaming platform on Facebook doesn’t mean the exclusion of other 3rd party players. In fact, it will give Facebook a stronger negotiating hand against Zynga, whose games account for a majority of time spent on the social network and with their recent efforts to assert independence by hosting their own site, tie up with Google, and developing apps for the Android and IOS shows the need for a more compelling gaming strategy. Zynga, has also just recently pulled their overwhelmingly popular game, Farmville, from the MSN gaming portal indicating that the tensions might actually be already brewing for all we know.
Microsoft is serious about gaming in WP7
One of WP7 greatest features as it races towards launch will be its tight integration with Xbox Live. In order for this to succeed, they will need to have a lot of good games in the ecosystem to get users excited. XBL already possesses a diverse array of awesome games for the console and I bet some of these will be ported to the mobile device. Not wanting leave it to chance, Microsoft has just posted a job opening for a Lead Engineer for their newly minted MGS Mobile gaming studio. From the job post
Our vision is to deliver games and entertainment so good that people will want them always with them, on a service that makes them social, connected and relevant anywhere their life goes. The Mobile Gaming team is building industry leading products that showcase our Windows Phone platform as well as emerging mobile platforms, and will help realize Microsoft’s connected entertainment vision. The Mobile Gaming studio will be the hub for MGS franchises and titles on mobile devices and a center of excellence for mobile games.
Gaming on mobile platforms is huge, accounting for the the majority of the apps sold on the iPhone, and 40% of the time spent on facebook. It is encouraging to see that the guys at Microsoft recognize this and that they are allocating a significant amount of resources to make it a succeed. This could be their ace in the hole other than office mobile and even Mac loyalist, John Gruber, realizes this. A quote from his post from a few weeks back, the great game, somewhat alludes to the possibility.
I’m also loath to write off Windows Phone 7. What if WP7 is a best-of-breed mobile gaming platform?
Via neowin.net
Windows Phone 7 development rolling along – Xbox Live hub now working
In a post that’s likely a bit more emotional than necessary, Michael Klucher revealed that the Xbox Live hub on Windows Phone 7 has now gone live, meaning the few users (and soon to be many thousand developers) will be able to connect to their Xbox 360 gamer profile without being on Microsoft’s internal network.
He writes:
Whoa! That’s me! By me of course I mean my Gamertag, Avatar, and latest Achievement in the Games Hub! I couldn’t believe it, we’ve had the Games Hub working for a while, but up until now it’s been on internal networks inside Microsoft. This week was the first time I really got to see my “true” gamer identity on the phone.
The Xbox Live hub is expected to be a major corner stone of the Windows phone 7 experience, with Microsoft recently revealing via CNET that they have insisted for example that OEM’s include unique identifiers in hardware so each phone could be uniquely identified and potentially banned from Xbox Live due to cheating.
Terry Myerson, VP for Windows Phone, is reported to have said:
"This will be the first non-Xbox with access to Xbox Live," he said. "No one has an achievement on Xbox that they didn’t earn. It’s a trusted system, so, the Xbox team, one of the conditions they had for us to be able to put Xbox achievements and badges into the system is that we need to put certain security measures in."
Serious business indeed.
Thanks Øivind for the tip.
Microsoft creating a Mobile Gaming Studio for Windows Phone 7 games
Not content any longer to leave gaming support for its new mobile OS up to chance, Microsoft is planning to create a Mobile Gaming division of their Microsoft Games Studios.
Planning to use the division to create “industry leading products that showcase our Windows Phone platform” and “help realize Microsoft’s connected entertainment vision”, the unit is planned to serve as a “Center of Excellence for Mobile Games”. Pretty ambitious talk there.
Read more of the job posting below
Microsoft Games Studios is establishing a new Studio – MGS Mobile Gaming – focused on bringing games and entertainment to the mobile life that people lead. Our vision is to deliver games and entertainment so good that people will want them always with them, on a service that makes them social, connected and relevant anywhere their life goes. The Mobile Gaming team is building industry leading products that showcase our Windows Phone platform as well as emerging mobile platforms, and will help realize Microsoft’s connected entertainment vision. The Mobile Gaming studio will be the hub for MGS franchises and titles on mobile devices and a center of excellence for mobile games.
MGS Mobile Gaming will support first party development, evangelize mobile gaming across MGS, and drive technical platform and service requests back to the parent organization and other business units in phone development. In addition, as the Center of Excellence for Mobile Games, the studio will develop showcase internal mobile games and entertainment experiences, while acting as the technical hub and spearhead for mobile game technology.
I feel the above move indicated that Microsoft is throwing much of the weight of the company behind their new Mobile platform, which really could not happen soon enough. Do our readers agree?
Via BNet.com
Project Natal coming to Windows Mobile?
Regular readers will know know we keep a close eye on Microsoft’s job postings, and occasionally come across something interesting.
The one below appears to be a pretty standard Project Natal job post, but then goes off into an unexpected tangent by demanding Windows Phone experience.
Does this mean that gesture-based UI is really coming to Windows Mobile?
Read the job post below and tell us what you think.
Sr Software Test Engineer (SDET) X box Live – Project Natal Job
Date: Feb 8, 2010
Location: Redmond, WA, US
Job Category: Software Engineering: Test
Location: United States, WA, Redmond
Job ID: 707967 11095
Product: Xbox Live
Division: Entertainment & Devices DivisionDo you love Graphics? Want to take the latest graphics code, tools, and technologies for a ride before anyone else in the world? Want to participate in an effort to create the next generation of technology that will make our customers jump with excitement and our competitors shake with fear? If so, check out the Natal project – The Natal Platform Team is building the components at the core of this high profile project that is a huge part of the Microsoft consumer strategy. The result will be a revolutionary component for rich game and entertainment experiences that will forever change the face of entertainment. Do you have what it will take to help deliver on the vision? Jump in and find out…
Responsibilities include:
Design and implement graphics test cases which programmatically measure quality.
Investigate & implement new graphics testing techniques
Port existing graphics tests to new platforms
Write graphics test specifications
Lead by example
Own the quality of one or more feature areas in the System Test team
Identify product defects and track to their appropriate resolution
Collaborate with feature area Devs and PMs
Collaborate with partner teams
Provide feedback on key user scenarios, functional and technical designs, and
Contribute to overall product test planning and architecture
specifications.
Contribute to implementation of automation tools & solutions
Create and integrate test tools into test infrastructure
Qualifications include:
Experience writing graphics code with D3D10 or D3D11
Experience writing complex HLSL (or equivalent) shaders
Skills with 3D vector and matrix math
6 + years of product development and testing experience
Demonstrable experience of multiple successful product ship cycles
Strong C/C++ development and debugging skills
Able to work independently or with a team with minimal supervision
Excellent working knowledge of test methodologies and techniques
Utilization and evangelism of testing best practices
Experience with creating and enhancing existing automation systems
Examples of successful implementation of solutions to difficult product quality challenges
Familiar with test-driven development
Excellent problem solving skills
Strong communication and collaboration skills
Self disciplined and detail oriented
Solid understanding of the Xbox 360 software and system architecture desired
Experience working on Windows Mobile Phones a plus
A BA/BS in Computer Science or related technical discipline is required
Read the full job post here.
Samsung Omnia 2 gaming demo
The Samsung Omnia 2 is now really close to market, and Samsung is determined to make it an even bigger success than the original Samsung Omnia. Part of that is gaming, and Samsung has been showing of the Omnia 2 and other devices at the Games Xpo 2009 at Suntec Exhibition Centre in Singapore, where these videos were recorded.
In the first video the Samsung Omnia II is playing a puzzle game using the touch screen interface, which was noted to be very responsive.
The next video is a bit more exciting, showing the Omnia 2 playing Asphalt 4 using the accelerometer to control the vehicle.
With a good hardware platform for games, and hopefully with a good distribution system through Marketplace for Windows Mobile we can likely look forward to much more of the same.
Thanks Rayu for the tip.
Microsoft job posting points to Windows Mobile gaming push
Forget about tea leaves. If you want to know the future (at least of Windows Mobile) look no further than Microsoft’s job postings, where things are certainly sunshine and roses.
In this latest posting, for a Product Planner in Marketing, Microsoft reveals the existence of a Windows Mobile Gaming Product Manager, a pre-occupation with the Windows Mobile gaming User eXperience, and a wish to leverage their X-box and Windows Gaming dominance.
Read the job posting below:
Date: May 23, 2009
Location: Redmond, WA, US
Job Title: Product Planner – Marketing
Job Category: Marketing
Product: Windows Mobile
Date Posted: 04/15/2009
Location: WA – Redmond
Senior Product Planner MCB Product Planning :Gaming Experience Mobile phones are the world’s fastest growing computing platform, and global sales of smart phones have already outpaced consumer PC sales. These rich, mobile computing devices have also become the next hot target for developers and service companies as they look to grow their reach to new devices and enable new consumer experiences. Unlike the PC space, market leadership in mobility is up for grabs. The traditional mobile incumbents are making a strong offering. Microsoft has invested deeply for five years and built a strong product with Windows Mobile, and more and more mobile applications and services are coming online across the company. And Apple, Google, and others are new and innovative entrants. This Senior Product Planner role will be responsible for helping Microsoft lead in consumer mobility by defining our strategy and roadmap for the Gaming experience. Key Responsibilities Include: Define consumer requirements for end-to-end experience for gaming. Define these for today’s market, evaluate future needs to enable us to influence and lead the market Partner with MCB UX and engineering teams to turn these requirements into end-to-end experience prototypes and specifications Partner with MCB developer planning to inform requirements for the platform. Lead and coordinate Microsoft’s mobile consumer experiences across MCB, Microsoft and 3rd parties. Partner with Gaming oriented teams like Xbox and Windows. Creation of our end-to-end value proposition by experience area taking advantage of MCB assets + Microsoft Assets + 3rd Parties Accountability to drive product development roadmap for Gaming experiences in conjunction with the Gaming product manager and engineering leads to ensure delivery of premium experiences Lead development of and management of consumer research plan for your area Budget tracking/management for areas of responsibility.
Almost every Microsoft job description says "come change the world…." This job is a bit more focused. The right candidate for this role has the chance to prove that Windows Mobile is not just a great OS for businesses but also for consumers. To prove this with Gaming experience. To catch up with and accelerate past our competitors. And to ship Microsoft software on more phones than we do PCs. Let’s change how people think about mobility, Microsoft, and entertainment. Changing the world will follow.
Now it is unlikely we will see any fruits of this labour in Windows Mobile 6.5, but Windows Mobile 7 is shaping up more and more to be a pretty ambitious release. Maybe they will even bring the D-pad back…
Read the full job description here.
Gizmondo gaming handheld to run Windows Mobile?
The Gizmondo Gaming device that was slated to be released in 2008 has been pushed to 2009 and in a sign of the times, has been changed to be a gaming-centric Smartphone that can run either Windows Mobile or Andriod.
Due to the Economic downturn we are all facing, the Chinese Company that was making the Gizmondo “Dragging it’s feet”, and the costs, Carl Freer (who is in charge of getting this out) has decided to change the device up. It seems as if they are going for a N-Gage for Windows Mobile or Andriod device, not the most successful model to emulate.
The ability however to run either Andriod or Windows Mobile is a plus along with the chipsets (the OMAP3 from Texas Instruments) being rumoured. The one thing that does have very exciting potential is the online “App Store” service that combines Xbox Live with the Apple App Store. The open access to the store, which will allow any developer to post up games and see if they are not only good but also sell is very cool and and should allow a more casual way to consume content, much like the iPhone app store at the moment. Being able to do this not only on Android but on Windows Mobile as well will be the key to public acceptance.
Of course doubts remain regarding the viability of not only this device idea but the actual company itself. It seems Gizmondo is struggling to even exist before it’s even released. 2009 may however be the year of the gaming phone, not only because Apple is branding the iPhone that way, but also due to the release of Windows Mobile devices powered by powerful graphics processors like the above mentioned OMAP3 or Nividia’s Tegra processor. The importance of an end-to-end solution can not however be under-estimated, and this may very well be where Gizmondo finds its niche.
Read the full interview with Gizmondo’s CEo Carl Freer here.
Scan QR Codes, UPC, EAN, Code 39/128 or ITF barcodes on your Windows Phone 7 to find best prices online.
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#1 FREE Solitaire on WP7
If your a fan of Pong then you will love this game. Heavenly Skies. Save the universe! Are you ready?
A rewarding mix of match 3 and tetris gameplay
Free, Live Tile support for Word Of The Day and so much more. Why NOT try it out?
Set up reminders with only two taps. Supports also text reminders and voice reminders.
Download the best puzzle game in WP7 Marketplace for FREE!
Are you a good Alchemist ?
Use your brain to discover Atomic Energy, Chuck Norris, Angry Birds and 1400 more !
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Fully featured, beautifully designed WP7 YouTube app.
u.n.i MEGA PACK (FREE), the ultimate addictive top GAMES bundle for Windows Phone 7! 7+ and growing!
Highly addictive word game designed for adrenaline junkies. Practice locally, but then are you fast enough to compete online?
The smartest Google reader app.
Air Soccer Fever - Realtime Online Multiplayer casual soccer game for FREE
Beat the Story Mode. When your done Bring your skill online. Rank up by winning online matches. Have 1 on 1's with anyone! Global Online Multiplayer!
Newest devices leaks, online charts and ultimate performance benchmark for every Windows Phone.
Every day, get great app deals from Windows Phone developers pushed to you!
Quick Tiles, a fully featured live tile editor for Windows Phone.
Great sports app for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL. Pin scores/games to live tile on your home screen.
MobileFax gives you the opportunity to send fax pages from your mobile phone anytime, anywhere !
WP7 Exclusive version of Hanging with Friends
Fabulously fun, lovable, crazy! Bubble Pong Championship
A remake of the classic snake game. The snake wants to grow so don't wait and help her!
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