It was originally the Sony Playstation Portable that brought hardcore to handhelds; now, it looks like Sony’s main video game competitor Microsoft is going to be catching up in the portable gaming department with the launch of the Windows Phone 7 series mobile platform.
While the OS is not exactly a phone, the fact that Microsoft has already a list of specific phone chassis and hardware requirements for the OS which means that WP7 devices will all be following a standard in terms of specs –a major development hurdle for the Android OS which exists in various types of mobile devices ranging from mid to high end smart phones (the inconsistency of hardware types make it hard to develop high end games for the Android since some phones will not be able to run the application).
Microsoft recently demonstrated the XNA Game Studio 4.0 on the WP7 and we are quite pleased with the graphical quality of the game. While the actual gameplay itself has much to be desired, the demo was enough to show that mobile phones can have the power to actually run some good games. Though the fact that touch screen based controls are still far from the best choice when it comes to fast paced action packed games (having to touch the screen and block the view is never a good thing), the fact that there is great hardware here means that Microsoft now has the gear to get 3rd party developers interested.
So far, nothing too impressive has been shown. The game demos featured limited camera angles and low polygon count displays, but with full 3D being possible, it now becomes a matter of having sufficient hardware backing –something the demo Asus unit lacked.
Get to know more about 3D gaming on the Windows Phone 7 series at Softpedia.
Tags: Windows-Phone-7