With only a couple of short months to go before the launch of the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform, Microsoft is going all out with getting more and more hype running for the launch. Just recently, the lineup of mobile phone games for the handset have been released and judging from the initial titles being offered at the start, one cannot help but feel very disappointed.
Of course, one has to note that for an average smart phone user, the current selection of tittles that Microsoft will be offering is not so bad; there are actually plenty of addictive little gems that one can play around with for hours on end. But a closer inspection of the list reveals that the set has very little to offer when it comes to the more hard core gaming crowd.
Naturally, the hardware limitations of a mobile phone would discourage some developers from investing too much development time on the platform, but what about all those 3D game demonstrations that Microsoft showed off that using the XNA technology? Granted that developers have yet to fully master the SDK, one would have thought that MS’ internal games development studios would have something substantial.
At this point, it is too early to determine which of the pre-listed titles are going to be making full use of the XBL Games service: which titles will have achievements and which will actually allow you to play with friends. Though hopefully, that would apply most of the offered games.
As expected, major app developers such as Gameloft, PopCap and Glu Mobile all have interesting titles on the list, though offerings from major studios such as Namco Bandai and Konami are still on the lackluster side of things.
The first Windows Phone 7 devices are expected to launch this coming October alongside the release of the mobile platform.
Tags: games, Microsoft, Windows-Phone-7, WP7, Xbox-live