Windows Phone 7 Gaming
Windows Phone 7 brings a ton of games and Xbox Live to the mobile gaming scene.
Windows Phone 7 represents Microsoft's new foray into mobile gaming. Unlike Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft did not make a dedicated gaming device like the Sony PSP or the Nintendo DSi. The company opted to tether its gaming fortunes to cellular devices. It's pretty easy to see why, especially with the phenomenal success of the iPhone and its vast array of games. The iPhone and iPod Touch breathed life into mobile gaming, turning what was once a barren wasteland into a gaming platform that rivals dedicated handheld consoles and provides a venue that encourages heavy price competition and promotes a diverse range of innovative gameplay. But Microsoft isn't simply emulating Apple in this new venture. Windows Phone 7 comes with a mobile version of Xbox Live, the company's immensely popular console gaming service. Developers have taken note, with hundreds of games either being made specifically for Windows Phone 7 or being ported to it. Microsoft has also deployed in-house development teams to create games specifically for Windows Phone 7 devices.
Windows Phone 7
Microsoft's mobile operating system is available to manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, LG, and others to build phones around. Outside of following some guidelines, the manufacturers can tweak the phones in their own ways with differing screen sizes, keyboard options, and more. However, don't expect D-pads and analog sticks to make an appearance. Microsoft made it clear that touch-screen gaming is the set direction.
As of December 1, there are way more than just a handful of Windows Phone 7-based handsets on the market. HTC alone has five handsets, LG has three, Samsung rolls in with two, and even Dell and Asus make an appearance with a handset apiece.
All Windows Phone 7 devices use the same base operating system. Unlike with previous iterations of the company's mobile operating systems, the experience will be common across all devices regardless of the handset manufacturer. Microsoft wants to make it easier for users to transition between devices and wants to provide a common platform for developers to build on.
Windows Phone 7's main menu system consists of five separate hubs: people, music, video, office, and games. Within, you can find many applications and lots of automated interaction between them. For instance, the music hub automatically pulls in your most-listened-to albums and cover art. On the people end of things, you can update your status across a broad swath of social networks simply by selecting your accounts. The overall design is less about individual applications and more about "doing" without having to open anything new. One particularly intriguing instance of that is in the photos section, where you can automatically incorporate camera pictures alongside shots found on Facebook and other social networks.
Xbox Live
Of course, all we're really concerned about are the games and Xbox Live, which is conveniently located in the games hub. If you've used Xbox Live on the Xbox 360, you'll be right at home, because it's pretty much all here on the mobile platform. Microsoft brought over much of the existing functionality to the handheld and made it eminently usable.
You'll be able to browse your achievements (whether on mobile, PC, or Xbox 360) and compare them with those of your friends. Feel free to message with other Xbox Live members as well--regardless of where their account is signed on.
In addition to simply seeing your avatar poke its head onto the phone's main menu, you can swap out clothing and interact with your avatar. Poke it like the Pillsbury Doughboy, shake it to make it fall, and basically harass your avatar in a variety of ways.
Xbox Live on the mobile platform will also let you invite friends for multiplayer gaming sessions. Microsoft indicated that this would primarily be used for asynchronous, or turn-based, games.
Games
For such a fledgling platform, Windows Phone 7 has hundreds of games under its belt already. That number will of course keep rising at a phenomenal pace if the platform catches on. Many of the games are ports you can find on other mobile devices and even on Xbox Live. We've gone through some of the more notable ones currently available.
Max & The Magic Marker
Press Play's Max & The Magic Marker is a port of the WiiWare and PC 2D platformer game of the same name. You play as Max, and you make him go from left to right using touchpad arrows on the bottom left of the screen and make him jump with the jump arrow on the bottom right of the screen. You can also use a touch-screen-based magic marker to draw bridges, ramps, and weights to solve puzzles in the world.
Rocket Riot
Codeglue's Rocket Riot originally debuted on Xbox Live Arcade as a retro-styled arcade game in which you play as a little blocky guy with a jetpack and a rocket launcher, flying around appropriately blocky worlds that recall the graphics of the classic 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. The Windows Mobile version is a faithful port in which you fly around by tapping or swiping the left side of the screen and fire rockets by tapping or swiping the right, and you can blow up pretty much everything--walls, floors, and the dreaded jetpack pirate Blockbeard.
OMG (Our Manic Game)
Developed by Arkedo (the studio that created the DS stylus shooter Big Bang Mini), OMG first debuted on Xbox Live Arcade and is a top-down vertical shooter inspired by arcade classics like Raiden and 1942, but with a colorful, faux-3D look. Your ship auto-fires its laser beam upward continuously, so your job is to use the touch screen to dodge incoming enemy spaceships and their shots while still focusing your laser for as long as possible on targets to blow them up.
Glyder
Glyder for Windows Phone 7 is a port of Glu Mobile's iPhone game of the same name, and it works pretty much the same way. You play as a young lady equipped with hang glider wings, and you must scour the skies for valuable red and blue crystals using nothing but your handset's accelerometer to control her. Tilting your screen left or right causes her to turn; tilting it down causes her to dive (and fly faster); and tilting it up causes her to gain altitude.
de Blob Revolution
The game de Blob Revolution is another iPhone port, and just like in that version of the game, you play as a helpful blob who must rescue helpless graydians from the evil INKT Corporation. To do this, you use the touch screen to drag out a path for your blob that intersects any captives, and head for the exit. But just like in the classic game of Snake, in de Blob, your path cannot intersect itself.
Earthworm Jim
This is basically a port of Gameloft's iPhone version of Earthworm Jim, which is fine, because like that version, this is totally Earthworm Jim, from the zany 2D graphics, to the weird sense of humor, to all 16 levels of the 16-bit classic. You control the audacious annelid using a virtual gamepad on the bottom left corner of your touchpad to move and three virtual buttons (for jumping, shooting, and "whipping") in the bottom right corner.
Flight Control
Though you're probably already familiar with it, Flight Control is one of the more well-known games among the iPhone's early game library, and the Windows Phone 7 version works the same way. You use your touch screen to select incoming planes and then drag your finger along the screen to draw a flight path down to the limited runway space below, trying to land as many planes as possible while avoiding a collision.
Hexic Rush
Hexic Rush is an adaptation of Carbonated Games' previous Hexic games for Xbox Live Arcade. Like in those games, you must match at least three colored hexagons to each other by rotating clusters of hexagons, three at a time. Hexic Rush uses the touch screen to rotate hexes and offers both an ongoing "marathon" mode and an advanced "rush" mode for experts.
Monopoly
This is a port of the iPhone version of EA's Monopoly. That is to say, it's a re-creation of the classic board game for up to four players, and it lets you take turns rolling the dice in the vain hope of purchasing Boardwalk or winning second place in a beauty contest, while not going directly to jail. The game takes place on a zoomed-out version of the board, but you can zoom in on any area by tapping your touch screen.
The Sims 3
The Windows Phone 7 version of The Sims 3 is a port of the iPhone version of The Sims 3, and just like in that version, you play as a "sim"--a little computer person whose appearance and personality you can customize. You then venture out into the world, doing pretty much whatever you feel like--accomplishing minor goals that are continuously fed to you or striking out on your own to make friends or enemies with other sims.
The Revenants: Corridor of Souls
This unusual game by Chaotic Moon Studios puts you in control of a flying spark of energy trapped in a dungeon with otherworldly creatures that can kill you with a touch. You must banish your foes by drawing looped shapes on your touchpad. After you draw a closed loop, it becomes a portal that sucks the monsters away (and earns you points).
The Harvest
The Harvest is a hack-and-slash role-playing game that takes place on a futuristic version of Earth that has been invaded by aliens. You play as a single character hacking your way through alien armies armed with futuristic weapons and special powers, picking up loot and managing your inventory along the way, not unlike in Diablo. The game has fully 3D graphics and even has unskippable cutscenes(!).
Twin Blades
Press Start Studios' side-scrolling action game originally appeared on the iPhone. It puts you in the role of a swashbuckling nun armed with a scythe and a pistol to fight off a never-ending invasion of zombies that continuously pop up out of the ground. You control the game with a virtual gamepad in the bottom left corner of the touch screen and two attack buttons in the bottom right corner…and you can use the hearts of slain zombies as currency to purchase upgrades for your weapons.
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