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  • Keyboard doesn't let me press certain keys at the same time

    - by kitchen
    I'm not sure how to word the problem other than I can't use certain keys at the same time. For example, when playing games that require you to use the arrow keys to move and jump/duck I am unable to move to the left and jump (left arrow + up arrow) at the same time. As a result, I don't play many games when I get to a point where the jumps and what not are too far. This happens with other keys as well. In FPS I am unable to hold W to move forward and hit 2 to select my secondary weapon. Some information that might help you: I am using Windows 7 64-bit I am using a Micro Innovations KB565BL keyboard How can I fix this?

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  • Network use of Gaming PC

    - by Matthew Patrick Cashatt
    Background After YEARS of waiting, I built the custom gaming PC of my dreams: Intel i7 - 975 Extreme Edition 3.3ghz (overclocked to 4.0) ATI Radeon 5970 2gb Corsair 256 gb SSD Drive 2 TB Sata II 3.0 7200rpm data drive 12 GB Kingston Hyper-X (1600mhz) DDR3 Windows 7 Ultra 64 bit And so on. . . Problem I hooked this beast up to our home theater and settled in for a great gaming season only to realize a couple of drawbacks: It's hard to accurately wax bad guys using a keyboard in your lap whilst reclined on your couch (and using a wireless keyboard). It's hard to read the text on the screen (i.e. menus, etc). I find that a 1:1 ratio (screen diagonal inch to inch away from screen) is optimum, but using the home theater, it's more like 1:3 which has me squinting unless I sit on the coffee table. The wife always seems to want the TV the same time I do and, unfortunately "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and Battlefield BC don't mix. I am losing the battle in the home theater room, but the PC has to stay there (long story). So, this leaves me with the option of playing in my home office which is about 30 feet away from the home theater. I am a software developer so I have a pretty decent set up in my office--multiple 1080p monitors, HP Envy 17 which can run games like Crysis in 720p with out stammering too much. Also, I can game very comfortably at my desk in the office. Still, even though the set up in my office can run games well enough, I don't want to regress to that when I have worked YEARS for an awesome gaming PC that can run everything on ultra high settings. My Question What are my options for running my games on the beastly desktop in the Home Theater, but physically playing in my office about 30 feet away? A really long HDMI cable? LAN/RDC? Details that May Help We have an open crawlspace so running cable from HT room to office is no problem. I already have networked the house with a LAN Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks, Matt

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  • Cannot start Oracle XE 11gR2 Net Listener and Database on Ubuntu 13.04

    - by hydrology
    I have been following the setup step on this article for installing Oracle XE 11g R2 on Ubuntu 13.04. The environment variables PATH, ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, NLS_LANG ORACLE_BASE have all been set up correctly. simongao:~ 06:16:38$ echo $PATH /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/home/simongao/adt-bundle-linux-x86_64-20130219/sdk/platform-tools:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/bin simongao:~ 06:18:36$ echo $ORACLE_HOME /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe simongao:~ 06:23:29$ echo $ORACLE_SID XE simongao:~ 06:23:35$ echo $ORACLE_BASE /u01/app/oracle simongao:~ 06:23:37$ sudo echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/lib simongao:~ 06:23:48$ echo $NLS_LANG /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/bin/nls_lang.sh However, when I try to startup the service, I receive the following error information. simongao:~ 06:18:40$ sudo service oracle-xe start Starting Oracle Net Listener. Starting Oracle Database 11g Express Edition instance. Failed to start Oracle Net Listener using /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/bin/tnslsnr and Oracle Express Database using /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/bin/sqlplus.

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  • How to tell if OpenGL is really working in Ubuntu 10.04

    - by Jonathan
    I have a lenovo S9e running Intel integrated graphics. Here is my lspci output related to the graphics: 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) Subsystem: Lenovo Device 3870 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Memory at f0580000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K] Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2 I want to know how I can make sure OpenGL support is running in full on an Ubuntu 10.04 installation. I have a few hints to think that it is not: The "Desktop Effects" will not load Apps such as stardock, when attempting to use OpenGL rendering, will display black boxes instead of transparency In the games Pioneers, the number-tile icons are suspiciously just black circles Windows games running with Wine will only support software rendering, not hardware rendering When I boot into a Knoppix LiveCD, the desktop effects do work, splendidly, meaning compiz detects my computer as capable. My problem with troubleshooting is that Canonical has basically eliminated the conf-file-based mechanism of X11 as far as I can tell, thus making it even harder to ensure graphics modules are loading properly. How do I debug and test OpenGL on m Ubuntu 10.04 installation?

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  • AC/battery laptop issues(not a simple charging fix)

    - by Deric Hatchett
    Is it possible to run a laptop off the battery while the AC is plugged in? I can play games no problem while just the battery is plugged in, but obviously that means I have to let it charge after every hour or so. But, when I plug it in to charge, it can't handle any video games anymore. I thought it was the brick in the power cord going out, but I just bought a new one and it still doesn't work. The specs are actually better than the old cord. I think the problem is an over heating problem in the AC outlet, but if it charges the battery while I play, it would work just fine running solely off the battery.

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  • Enable multiple audio output on Windows 7

    - by patrick
    For Windows 7, 64 bit: I have a digital SPDIF output to my stereo, which controls speakers in other rooms. I also have a set of speakers connected to the regular audio jack at the computer. This allows me to send music to the kitchen while my child plays games on the computer. Works great. Except when I'm playing games and still want to listen to music. ;-D I know I can manually switch WMP to play through the speakers instead of SPDIF, but I was wondering if there's any way to enable simultaneous audio out in Windows 7? Virtual Audio Card is a non-starter because I'm running 64 bits and the VAC driver isn't signed.

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  • How to fix audio/game stuttering in Google Chrome's Flash plug-in?

    - by Simon Belmont
    I'm having an issue. Windows XP, running the latest Chrome 23 build. I'm using Flash 11.5 built into Chrome (Pepper Flash). It runs horribly. Chrome 22 did not have this issue as far as I recall. What a shame. YouTube videos stutter badly and after a while, they begin to lag and lose sync with the video. I disabled Pepper Flash and tested HTML5 video in YouTube and it was smooth as glass. Additionally, certain Flash based games are almost unusable now. The plug-in is using 100% CPU and it lags horribly in these games. Google/Adobe, please fix this. I shouldn't have to disable the built-in Flash plug-in (with added sandboxing security) and use regular Flash to resolve this. Short of waiting for an update to Chrome, does anyone have a better solution to fixing this? I am all ears.

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  • Serious voltage and temperature problems

    - by James Willson
    My computer has been acting up when I play games so I wanted to look into why. Issue 1: GPU Temp According to afterburner and speedfan my 8800GTX idles at 90 degrees and then when playing games shoots up to over 110C which is when my graphics basically starts to give rendering issues. Issue 2: CPU Temp Speedfan is saying my CPU temp is 83C idle but when I look at core temp it says core0 is at 35C and core1 is at 33C. Issue 3: Voltages This is what speedfan is saying for my voltages: Vcore1: 1.01V Vcore2: 1.90V +3.3V: 3.31V +5V: 4.95V +12V: 0.51V -12V: -16.80V -5V: -8.43V +5V 5.13V Vbat: 3.25V Vcore: 3.00V +3.3V: 3.20V These voltages, for lack of a better word, look f*cked. With all this happening, the computer runs ok under normal use. Is the software giving out incorrect readouts or instead should I immediately move the computer into another room before it explodes? P.s I would like to add this is a stock system. EVGA 8800GTX, E6850 CPU, 800W PSU

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  • Keyboard layout to shift wasd keys

    - by Joel Coehoorn
    I like to play video games on my computer. One of the things that bugs me, though, is how the wasd keys became the standard movement keys in first person shooters and mmorpgs. To me, esdf makes a lot more sense, because that matches your normal hand placement for typing. "Fixing" that layout is always the first thing I do when installing a new game. Sadly, this is often a pain in the neck, and some games won't let you do it at all. Is there an alternative keyboard layout you can install that will just switch these around, so the wasd keys fall in the esdf positions? And is low-level enough two work with DirectX/DirectInput, perhaps that works with the language bar for easy swapping back and forth?

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  • Keyboard Pressing Application

    - by Click Ok
    Imagine that problem. When you play some games, sometimes happens situations like "press quickly the X key to escape from ropes" or "press quickly the X key to fill the rage gauge", etc. Of course, that kind of game destroy keyboards, joysticks, mouses, etc. I would like to know about programs (preferentially free) that, by example, will press the 'x' key in intervals of, by example, 300ms. Remember that the built in Windows "keyboard repeat rate" doesn't works for games. When you press (and hold) somekey in the game, the key is not repeated as in default Windows Applications. Thanks!

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  • PATH variable recently changed

    - by Dan
    $ loopy Command 'loopy' is available in '/usr/games/loopy' The command could not be located because '/usr/games' is not included in the PATH environment variable. loopy: command not found Every answer I've found just says to add it to my .profile... but this should be be in the PATH for all users, and was up until recently (I have no idea what would have caused it to change). How can I solve this on my system for all users? What could have caused this to change? Thanks.

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  • Building a Server at Home

    - by madhairsilence
    Am left with a Spare PC . So , I thought of converting it to a Server kind of thing. I read about NAS Serer for simple file storage. But it is just a file server. I also play games like counter strike and other online games. So, I would like to use the same server for those purpose., so that a game server will running all the time so that me and my friends can join any time. Is running NAS server a best option or, is there any better arrangement possible so that my spare system can act better than a simple file server

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  • Virtualization Solution for Family Use

    - by Dave Potts
    I'm trying to put together a solution for my family (wife + three kids). At the moment I have one newish desktop and a couple of aging laptops. There are always arguments over who should have the fast desktop. I'm thinking I would like to invest in a new powerful server and then run virtual desktops for each user off the server so that each user would have the same experience regardless of which actual PC they were using. I would like to use just a Linux based desktop, but unfortunately I need to support some Windows games for the kids. I've not tried wine for the games but would be willing to give it a try. Any advice on what the setup should be would be most appreciated.

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  • Installing a .NET framework on Windows 7?

    - by user23392
    I just switched to windows 7 from Vista and a lot of programs/games don't work anymore. The issue is that some games need a specific .NET framework version. when I try to install that it says that I should turn on/off windows features. I go to that and I find .NET framework in the list and tried both checking it and unchecking it. Both don't work and I still get the message that I need to turn on/off that thing. Any suggestion please? I have Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit.

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  • DVD stops working in windows 7 64 bit

    - by Skadlig
    I have the same problem as described in this question: http://superuser.com/questions/105928/dvd-cd-rom-drives-stop-working-in-windows-7 I know I have got some games that are using starforce and/or securerom. What I don't have is the upper and lower filter in my registry tag. Oh and a reboot temporarily fixes my problem. After a random time though it goes missing again. I found a Microsoft knowledge base article regarding this but since I didn't have the filter tags they couldn't help me. Does anyone have any other tips bar removing the despicable drm:s? I would like to go on playing my games so that is not really an option for me.

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  • Windows 7 x64. Some 32 bit applications refuse to install.

    - by user250712
    I have been having problems lately when trying to install older games onto my PC. It is only with 32 bit applications. A few games that will not install are: Drakan: Order Of The Flame TA Kingdoms (Total Annihilation installed fine) Baldur's Gate. In Baldur's Gate, when I use autorun.exe and choose install, the autorun closes and the computer loads for a second (as it should) then nothing pops up. Ten minutes later still nothing, so I try again, still nothing. So next I use Setup.exe. Still nothing. I run it in every compatibility mode, and as Administrator in every mode, still nothing. Then I open Task Manager, and there are about 80 setup.exe processes running, all of them doing nothing and taking up next to no resources.

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  • Computer randomly reboots during "intensive activity".

    - by Reznor
    My friend has been playing games on his new build for some time now. However, lately, his computer will randomly reboot out of nowhere, so far only happening in game, and presumably only to happen in game as it happens nowhere else. This can happen in game during play or even in the options. Note, it isn't a crash or blue screen. It's just a normal reboot. This started today, I believe, and has only occured in two games: Dead Space and Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. He has played a handful of games before these, for about a week or so, without this problem. We theorized on two possibilities: Maybe something is overheating? Maybe the power supply is inadequate? These two were quickly dismissed, as all his components were operating at normal temperatures when he got back to his desktop from the reboot, and we all know these parts don't exactly cool down quickly, especially if they get hot enough to trigger a reboot. Besides, I know at-least my motherboard reports processor overheating at start-up, and requests I press f1 to continue into boot. The PSU one was dismissed too. He has an 850w power supply on a rig that was estimated to take only 720 some watts, that's with some overcompensating to be safe. He opened up his case to make sure nothing was seated wrong or in the way. All was fine, but he did notice a sticker on his video card. It had a giant barcode on it and some numbers. Now, I'm used to seeing these stickers, they're the warranty stickers, right, and removal voids the warranty? Yeah, well, we find it odd because this sticker is slapped right over the circuits of the video card, not on a block or anything. Is this normal? Should he remove it? Right now, I am concerned with the memory. Could that be at fault? Here are his specs: Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-Bit Intel i7 950 EVGA GeForce 570 GTX 4 GB DDR3 PC10666 dual-channel Corsair RAM Corsair 850w PSU Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Western Digital 1 TB WD1001FALS

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  • Is there a way to customize items on the right side of start menu in Windows 7?

    - by Basara
    OK I know I can right click on it and select properties... But it only allows me to decide whether an item is shown or hidden. What I want is, adjust item position on the start menu right side. More specifically, I want to put the item "games" in the same group where personal folders are. It makes perfectly no sense to put "games" with "computer" and "network" in same group. Or is there a registry tweak can make this possible? Thanks.

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  • How do I switch between Java 7 and Java 6 on mac OS X 10.8.2?

    - by Nikita Jerschow
    I am using Java SE 7 to program simple games for windows and mac, but I have to switch to java 6 to run games such as Minecraft on my computer. This used to work just fine before I updated to Mac OS X 10.8.2 Build 12C60. Before this update I used to be able to open java preferences and check off java 6 or java 7. But now I don't seem to be able to find java preferences. I am running mac OS X 10.8.2 (latest version) Thanks.

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  • Computers with Small Capacity SSD - For caching?

    - by RXC
    Recently, in newsletters from websites, I have been seeing computers for sale from manufacturers that include an HDD and an SSD but the SSD has a small capacity like 24 GBs. I don't know if this still holds true, but I learned that when building a computer, you would want to install your OS on your fastest hard drive. I do a lot of PC gaming, so I install my OS and games on my SSD, because I learned that games and many applications make lots of system calls to the OS and performance can only be as fast as the slowest piece. Why these computers come with small capacity SSDs? Most OS's take up around 20 to 30 GBs of space, so what are the benefits of such a small SSD? Are these small size SSDs for caching? and what exactly does caching mean (what does it do and how does it help)?

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  • In ASP.NET MVC, How do I make a partial view available to all controllers?

    - by Quakkels
    In ASP.NET MVC, How do I make a partial view available to all controllers? I want to create navigation that is common across the entire site, but when I place the Html.Action into my master page, it only works on views associated with 1 controller. Right now, I have a controller action defined like this: // GET: GetCategoriesPartial [ChildActionOnly] public ActionResult GetCategoriesPartial() { var category = CategoriesDataContext.GetCategories(); return PartialView(category); } And I've created my partial view like this: <%@ Import Namespace="wopr.Models" %> <%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl" %> <ul> <% foreach (var cat in Model as IEnumerable<Category>) { %> <li><a href="/categories/Details/<%=cat.catID%>"><%=cat.catName%></a></li> <% } %> </ul> My Master Page looks like this: <%@ Import Namespace="wopr.Models" %> <%@ Master Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewMasterPage" %> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <head runat="server"> <title><asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="TitleContent" runat="server" /></title> <link type="text/css" rel="Stylesheet" href="/Content/Site.css" /> </head> <body> <div class="wrap-all"> <div style="text-align:right;"> <a href="/">Home</a> | <a href="/games/">Games</a> | <a href="/games/Index2/1">Games <em>(paginated)</em></a> | <a href="/categories/">Categories</a> | <a href="/upload/">Upload</a> </div> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="MainContent" runat="server"> </asp:ContentPlaceHolder> <!--This errors on any non-CategoryController page.--> <%= Html.Action("GetCategoriesPartial")%> <!----> </div> </body> </html> This code works as long as I'm viewing something handled by the CategoriesController. If I go to any view handled by a different controller, I get the exception: System.Web.HttpException: A public action method 'GetCategoriesPartial' was not found on controller 'wopr.Controllers.GamesController'. How do I make this partial view available to all the site's controllers? Thanks for any help. Quakkels

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  • iPhone App Crashes when merging managed object contexts

    - by DVG
    Short Version: Using two managed object contexts, and while the context is saving to the store the application bombs when I attempt to merge the two contexts and reload the table view. Long Version: Okay, so my application is set up as thus. 3 view controllers, all table views. Platforms View Controller - Games View Controller (Predicated upon platform selection) - Add Game View Controller I ran into a problem when Games View Controller was bombing when adding a new entry to the context, because the fetched results contorller wanted to update the view for something that didn't match the predicate. As a solution, I rebuilt the Add Controller to use a second NSManagedObject Context, called adding context, following the design pattern in the Core Data Books example. My Games List View Controller is a delegate for the add controller, to handle all the saving, so my addButtonPressed method looks like this - (IBAction) addButtonPressed: (id) sender { AddGameTableViewController *addGameVC = [[AddGameTableViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"AddGameTableViewController" bundle:nil]; NSManagedObjectContext *aAddingContext = [[NSManagedObjectContext alloc] init]; self.addingContext = aAddingContext; [aAddingContext release]; [addingContext setPersistentStoreCoordinator:[[gameResultsController managedObjectContext] persistentStoreCoordinator]]; addGameVC.context = addingContext; addGameVC.delegate = self; addGameVC.newGame = (Game *)[NSEntityDescription insertNewObjectForEntityForName:@"Game" inManagedObjectContext:addingContext]; UINavigationController *addNavCon = [[UINavigationController alloc] initWithRootViewController:addGameVC]; [self presentModalViewController:addNavCon animated:YES]; [addGameVC release]; [addNavCon release]; } There is also a delegate method which handles the saving. This all works swimmingly. The issue is getting the table view controller in the GameListViewController to update itself. Per the example, an observer is added to watch for the second context to be saved, and then to merge the addingContext with the primary one. So I have: - (void)addViewController:(AddGameTableViewController *)controller didFinishWithSave:(BOOL)save { if (save) { NSNotificationCenter *dnc = [NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]; [dnc addObserver:self selector:@selector(addControllerContextDidSave:) name:NSManagedObjectContextDidSaveNotification object:addingContext]; //snip! Context Save Code [dnc removeObserver:self name:NSManagedObjectContextDidSaveNotification object:addingContext]; } self.addingContext = nil; [self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES]; } - (void)addControllerContextDidSave:(NSNotification*)saveNotification { NSManagedObjectContext *myContext = [gameResultsController managedObjectContext]; [myContext mergeChangesFromContextDidSaveNotification:saveNotification]; } So now, what happens is after save is pressed, the application hangs for a moment and then crashes. The save is processed, as the new game is present when I relaunch the application, and the application seems to be flowing as appropriate, but it bombs out for reasons that are beyond my understanding. NSLog of the saveNotification spits out this: NSConcreteNotification 0x3b557f0 {name = NSManagingContextDidSaveChangesNotification; object = <NSManagedObjectContext: 0x3b4bb90>; userInfo = { inserted = {( <Game: 0x3b4f510> (entity: Game; id: 0x3b614e0 <x-coredata://13168366-B8E7-41C8-B384-BAF14A5E08D9/Game/p2> ; data: { name = "Final Fantasy XIII"; platform = 0x3b66910 <x-coredata://13168366-B8E7-41C8-B384-BAF14A5E08D9/Platform/p20>; }) )}; updated = {( <Platform: 0x3b67650> (entity: Platform; id: 0x3b66910 <x-coredata://13168366-B8E7-41C8-B384-BAF14A5E08D9/Platform/p20> ; data: { games = ( 0x3b614e0 <x-coredata://13168366-B8E7-41C8-B384-BAF14A5E08D9/Game/p2>, 0x603a530 <x-coredata://13168366-B8E7-41C8-B384-BAF14A5E08D9/Game/p1> ); name = "Xbox 360"; }) )}; }} I've tried both a simple [self.tableView reloadData]; and the more complicated multi-method table updating structure in the Core Data Books example. Both produce the same result.

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  • MVP Summit 2011 summary and thoughts: The &ldquo;I hope I don&rsquo;t cross a line and lose my MVP status&rdquo; post

    - by George Clingerman
    I've been wanting to write this post summarizing my thoughts about the MVP summit but have been dragging my feet since it's a very difficult one to write. However seeing Andy (http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/77625.aspx) and Catalin (http://www.catalinzima.com/2011/03/mvp-summit-2011/) and Chris (http://geekswithblogs.net/cwilliams/archive/2011/03/07/144229.aspx) post about it has encouraged me to finally take the plunge. I'm going to have to write carefully though because I'm going to be dancing around a ton of NDA mine fields as well as having to walk the tight-rope of not sending the wrong message or having people read too much into what I'm saying. I want to note that most of what I'm about to say is just based on my observations, they're not thoughts that Microsoft has asked me to pass along and they're not things I heard Microsoft say. It's just me sharing what I think after going to the MVP summit. Let's start off with a short imaginary question and answer session.     Has the App Hub forums and XBLIG management been rather poor by Microsoft? Yes.     Do I think we're going to see changes to that overnight? No.     Will it continue to look bad from the outside? Somewhat. Confusing right? Well that's kind of how things are right now. Lots of confusion. XNA is doing AWESOME. Like, really, really awesome. As a result of that awesomeness, XNA is on three major platforms: Xbox 360, WP7 and PC. This means that internally Microsoft is really excited and invested in the technology. That's fantastic for XNA and really should show you the future the framework has. It's here to stay. So why are Xbox LIVE Indie Game developers feeling so much pain? The ironic thing is that pain is being caused by the success of XNA. When XNA was just a small thing, there was more freedom and more focus. It was just us and them. We were an only child. Now our family has grown and everyone has and wants some time with XNA. This gets XNA pulled in all directions and as it moves onto new platforms, it plays catch up trying to get those platforms up to speed to where Xbox LIVE Indie Games has grown. Forums, documentation, educational content. They all need to be there because Xbox LIVE Indie Games has all of that and more. Along with the catch up in features/documentation/awesomeness there's the catch up that the people on the team have to play. New platforms and new areas of development mean new players and those new guys don't have the history of being around from the beginning. This leads to a lack of understanding at times just how important some things are because they seem so small and insignificant (Rich Text defaulting for new forum profiles would be one things that jumps to mind). If you're not aware that the forums have become more than just a basic Q&A, if you're not aware that they're a central hub to a very active community, then you don't understand why that small change should be prioritized over something else. New people have to get caught up and figure out how to make a framework and central forum site work for everyone it's now serving. So yeah, a lot of our pain this last year has been simply that XNA is doing well and XBLIG is doing well so the focus was shifted to catch other things up. It hurts when a parent seems to not have any time for you and they're spending some much time with your new baby brother. Growing pains. All families and in our case our product family experience it to some degree. I think as WP7 matures we'll see the team figuring out how to give everyone the right amount of attention. While we're talking about some of our growing pains, it is also important to note (although not really an excuse) that the Xbox LIVE Arcade developers complain about many of the same things that we do. If you paid attention to talks and information coming out of GDC 2011, most of the the XBLA guys were saying things that sounded eerily similar to what the XBLIG developers are saying (Scott Nichols from GayGamer.net noticed http://twitter.com/#!/NaviFairyGG/status/43540379206811650). Does this mean we should just accept the status quo since we're being treated exactly the same? No way. However it DOES show that the way we're being treated is no indication of the stability and future of the platform, it's just Microsoft dropping the communication ball on two playing fields. We're not alone and we're not even being treated worse. Not great, but also in a weird way a very good sign. Now on to a few tidbits I think I CAN share from the summit (I'm really crossing my fingers I'm not stepping over some NDA line I shouldn't be). First, I discovered that the XBLIG user base is bigger than I personally had originally estimated. I won't give the exact numbers (although we did beg Microsoft to release some of these numbers so maybe someday?) but it was much larger than my original guestimates and I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe some of you guys had the right number when you were guessing, but I know that mine was much too low. And even MORE importantly the number of users/shoppers is growing at a steady pace as well. Our market is growing! That was fantastic news and really something that I had to share. On to the community manager discussion. It was mentioned. I was mentioned. I blushed. Nothing more to report there than the blush in my cheeks was a light crimson color. If I ever see a job description posted for that position I have a resume waiting in the wings. I can't deny that I think that would be my dream job... ...so after I finished blushing, the MVPs did make it very, very clear that the communication has to improve. Community manager or not the single biggest pain point with the Xbox LIVE Indie Game community has been a lack of communication. I have seen dramatic improvement in the team responding to MVPs and I'm even seeing more communication from them on the forums so I'm hoping that's a long term change. I really think they understood the issue, the problem remains how to open that communication channel in a way that was sustainable. I think they'll get it figured out and hopefully that's sooner rather than later. During the summit, you may have seen me tweeting about how I was "that guy" (http://twitter.com/#!/clingermangw/status/42740432471470081). You also may have noticed that Andy and Catalin both mentioned me in their summit write ups. I may have come on a bit strong while I was there...went a little out of character for myself. I've been agitated for a while with the way things have been and I've been listening to you guys and hearing you guys be agitated. I'm also watching some really awesome indie game developers looking elsewhere and leaving the platform. Some of them we might not have been able to keep even with changes, but others are only leaving because of perceptions and lack of communication from Microsoft. And that pisses me off. And I let Microsoft know that I was pissed off. You made your list and I took that list and verbalized it. I verbalized the hell out of it. [It was actually mentioned that I'm a lot nicer on the forums and in email than I am in person...I felt bad about that, but I couldn't stay silent]. Hopefully it did something guys, I really did try hard to get the message across. Along with my agitation, I also brought some pride. I mentioned several things in person to the team that I was particularly proud of. From people in the community that are doing an awesome job, to the re-launch of XboxIndies that was going on that week and even gamers like Steven Hurdle (http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/) who have purchased one XBLIG every day for over 100 days now. The community is freaking rocking it and I made sure to highlight that. So in conclusion, I'd just like to say hang in there (you know, like that picture of the cat). If you've been worried about investing in Xbox LIVE Indie Games because you think it's on shaky ground. It's not. Dream Build Play being about the Xbox 360 should have helped a little to point that out. The team is really scrambling around trying to figure things out and make improvements all around. There’s quite a few new gals and guys and it's going to take them time to catch up and there are a lot of constantly shifting priorities. We all have one toy, one team and we're fighting for time with it. It's also time for the community to continue spreading our wings and going out on our own more often. The Indie Game Winter Uprising was a fantastic example of that. We took things into our own hands and it got noticed and Microsoft got behind it. They do every time we stand up and do something (look at how many Microsoft employees tweeted, wrote about the re-launch of XboxIndies.com or the support I've gotten from them for my weekly XNA Notes). XNA is here to stay, it's time for us to stop being scared of that and figure out how to make our own games the successes they should be. There's definitely a list of things that need to be fixed, things that should be improved and I think we should definitely keep vocal about that with Microsoft. Keep it short, focused and prioritized. There's also a lot of things we can do ourselves while we're waiting on them to fix and change things. Lots of ways we can compensate for particular weaknesses in the channel. The kind of stuff that we can step up and do ourselves. Do it on our own, you know, the way Indies always do. And I'm really looking forward to watching us do just that.

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