Björn's XNA Adventures

• What does the optimize switch do? Eric Lippert on the things the C# compiler does when invoked with the optimize switch
• SlimDX’s Hobbyist Curse, and Open Source Blessing Promit Roy on the acceptance of open source libraries and made by hobbyist projects in the Microsoft community
• Spatial hashing implementation for fast 2D collisions Conkerjo shares his simple spatial hashing prototype for 2D collision checking

This post did not find any sponsor…

• Fixed XBox 360 Controller Shoulder Button Images Kevin Gadd shares his readability modification of the standard shoulder button changes
• How does the .NET Compact Memory allocator work It is never wrong to know the innards of the CF.NET 
• Component-Driven Development and IoC Containers Mini series about Component Driven Development and IoC containers for enterprise applications, but applicable to games, too. Here’s part 2: The Actual Development Process of new Applications and Migrating Existing Legacy Applications
• Real-Time Physics 103: Fluid Simulation in Games 2D and C++ but still interesting

We take a break from the sponsored by series with a note of the Ziggyware.com Donation Drive: If you like to see Ziggyware grow and continue to host future contests with great prizes, consider to donate a dime or two.

Lets see how long I can keep posting these…

• Conkerjo writes about Simply RenderTargets
• Not code but still useful: Gimp XCF Processor An XNA 3.0 Content Pipeline Extension Library that allows multi-layered Gimp XCF files to be compiled and flattened for use in-game as Texture2Ds
• XNA Shader Programming - Tutorial 19, Hemispheric ambient light as I always seem to forget about this form of lightning…
• A selection of Ziggyware Spring 2009 XNA Article Contest entries (I am glad to be no judge as all are rather interesting reads):
• Animated SpriteBatch Text using a State Machine because I like text
• 2D KeyFramed Animations for XNA I have not seen something like this for the XNA FX before
• Creating a Better Lobby to cover some network related code here

This post was brought to you by Uhfgood's Game Reviews

Rename to The Week in XNA FX Land pending

• Cross-Platform XNA Menu System  Matt Pettineo released a new version of his menu system and companion editor
• Top Sources of Heap Garbage Renaud Bédard lists a few (seven, to be specific) ways to generate performance affecting garbage on the 360 and how to prevent it
• Not code at all but targeted at developers: In GUIDE: I want to write original music for my game, but I don't know anything about music!!! Dave1005 outlines how to compose your own music for your game. I am not sure if this will transform you into the next James Silva within a days length – or, given the reputation of developer art, will enable you to create useable music at all – but it is still a nice read.

This post is sponsored by The ZBuffer: News, Information and resources for Managed DirectX and XNA Framework.

• A Shared Content Manager for XNA The idea is interesting, the shared implementation seems too static happy for my likings - but then again I am a follower of Over Engineering…
• In Free Microsoft eBook on - Improving .NET Application Performance and Scalability a nice fellow named Deez shares a link to an interesting and free eBook. I am sure that I have seen it before, but have forgotten its existence since then.
• Not code but related is SourceGear DiffMerge: the best free diff tool out there.

This post is sponsored (in the usual unpaid fashion) by XNADevelopment.com: Game Development for the Masses.