Well, the first step is having the app up and working on x86 before they compile it for ARM, and then after that they can worry about the Store certification. My guess would be we're still months away from seeing a release.
They still have to work on their toolchain for ARM at some point.
They had issues pulling out external libraries for the RT framework from the existing VLC builds. Been awhile since we had an update, good to hear. I've just been handbraking all my videos to mp4 for my phone.
they should have prioritized development in favour of WP8 not W8. With Windows 8 OS we have tons of softwares and much more flexible players. whereas WP8 does not have much. the only good app available now is Moliplayer which is kinda slow at times (though it supported many formats) and it had to be bought (which i cannot because of non acceptance of my SBI debit card. Anyway, this WP OS has taught a good lesson... To wait and wait....