Grand Slam Wins on Windows Phone

 MLB Pro is here!

It has arrived just before the baseball season starts on April 4th, 2012.

From the makers of the Popular and Trusted NFL Pro ’12, NBA Pro ’12 and NHL Pro ’12

The Ultimate MLB App has arrived to Windows Phone!,

MLB Pro ’12 will give you Fast, Trustworthy scores, Up to the Minute Stats and Standings and much more. Never miss another game again!, whether you follow your favorite MLB Team or glance at every single game.

MLB Pro ’12 offers you the most comprehensive coverage available on your Windows Phone.

MLB Pro ’12 Features

– Fantasy Playoff Prediction: Personalize your own fantasy playoff prediction and pick who is going to win the MLB World Series this year! and compare it to everybody else’s prediction.

– Favorite Team: Follow your favorite team and gain easy access to your team page

– Live Tile: Pin as many teams as you want on your start screen and get a glance at their next game

– Deep News and Roster: Check the Latest news for Every team in the MLB and full Roster with detailed information about all players

– Latest Videos and Podcasts: Check out the latest videos and podcasts about the MLB and enjoy watching all the action on MLB Pro ’12

– Live Sports Talk: Share your comments and knowledge with everybody else at your Team’s Page and talk trash at the other team’s pages

Go ahead and download this FREE app from the marketplace

Also make sure to check out NBA Pro 12 and NHL Pro 12

Missing perception in Windows Phone Development?

I quote this from Elbert Perez a successful Windows Phone Developer

2012 plans laid out.

Posted on March 12, 2012 by elbert

I just got back from GDC, which is my annual “know what direction I should take and keep up with the game industry” kind of week. The biggest lesson learned this year from GDC is to be promiscuous with platforms. Don’t just lock yourself into 1 platform and lose all the benefits of the other platforms. What this means is that I will be using multi-platform strategies moving forward. I will be starting with HTML5 and depending on how that goes I might stay with it or switch to the Unity Game Engine. This is not saying that I am dropping Windows Phone Development, I am just including more platforms into my target audience. There are a variety of reasons I am doing this:

1. Multi platform is a no brainer in increasing the number of users playing your games. This is the clear and most effective path at achieving growth without resorting to spending huge amounts of money on advertising

2. The gold rush of Windows Phone is now over. With more and more apps flooding into the market the competition is getting harder. Money is not as good as it was, and the quick development method is less effective. Being stuck monetizing just on ad revenue alone sucks. Windows Phone needs IAP and it seems like it will be forever before it shows up.

3. I have a library of successful games that are screaming to be ported over to other platforms. This makes the porting process easier for me because I already have all the assets and design done for me. So I can concentrate on building the infrastructure of my multi platform strategy. Once I have better understanding on  going multi platform, I can resume creating new games

Don’t worry folks, this is just part of growing up as a developer and keeping with the times. There is a hard road ahead, but it is those hard roads that are worth travelling

I got his point, but if the gold rush is over on Windows Phone it is way over on other platforms, I think as earlier adopters we got the advantage to start in a fresh environment, but not evolving in ideas/quality it’s going to hurt us in the long run, because in some point competition is going to be tougher and new ideas will come out.

As for the gold rush, I think there is going to be a gold rush on Windows 8, but in my opinion since it is the #1 flagship product of Microsoft, the gold rush will be shorter.

It is a continuous creative process with non-stop imagination for the ones that want to stay on top every day, I think everyone can do better everyday, and we won’t be in the process of jumping to other platforms (rather than smart expanding).

It seems odd that this developer is going to an over-saturated marketplaces (iPhone = +500,000; Android = +375,000) while complaining of lots of competition in Windows Phone (Windows Phone = +70,000).

I would like to hear your opinions and I think this is an interesting topic for Windows Phone developer because we need motivation to continue working and when we see other developers complaining somehow some developers lose a bit of that motivation.

Here is an article written in WMPowerUser about Elbert Perez,

http://wmpoweruser.com/elbert-perez-the-gold-rush-of-windows-phone-is-now-overwhy-he-is-wrong/

feel free to post your honest opinion as well.