So, finally i ported the book code to version 3.3. I must say that 3.3 works amazingly well. There are no stutters as the graphics has been updated from the ground up. I tested with 20 particles on the screen on the lumia 820 and it works flawlessly. The book can be purchased here: https://www.packtpub.com/game-development/learning-cocos2d-x-game-development. The updated source for version 3.3 can be downloaded from the github here: https://github.com/sidshekar/cc2dx33_wp8Game

Warning: I deleted the cocos2d folder in the project so create a new 3.3 project and replace the Classes and Resources folder and run the project. For Universal app you need Visual Studio Community or Pro with update 3 or above. To run on the device win sdk 8.1 is required.

I will also write a small blog on the changes I have to make it work, but honestly it is not much. You will see. http://growlgamesstudio.tumblr.com/

In the mean time go through the code and enjoy.