28th
I think that it’s going to be hard for Windows Phone 7 to break into the smart phone market with Apple and Google completely dominating. Although it has been reported that they are putting more than HALF A BILLION DOLLARS behind the effort. That’s an insane amount of money, but I guess it’s a must-win situation for them.
The most interesting thing that I’ve seen about the OS (and probably their biggest competitive advantage) is how closely it’s going to be linked to Xbox Live. As they mentioned in their press release, “Windows Phone 7 games will be closely linked with Xbox LIVE, and … gamers will be able to extend the experience of some of their favorite console franchises to the phone.”
Think of playing Red Dead Redemption on your console. Then having a separate poker mini-game with you on your phone that lets you earn more money while you are away from your system. That would be pretty awesome.
So far they have over 60 game titles announced for the launch and I’m sure that more are around the corner.
Engadget has done a full hands on preview of the gaming components of the device and it sounds like a lot of the social network or friends features will be on the phone as well (but no multiplayer - at launch).
“Live on WP7 will allow for full avatar integration (we’re talking fully rendered, interactive avatars) along with customization (clothes, accessories, and more). The company has even crafted an avatar-centric version of familiar phone utilities like flashlight apps and levels, adding some whimsy to what would normally be pretty staid affairs. Additionally, messaging, friend lists / status, achievements, and leaderboards (with friend comparisons) are all here as well, making for a pretty complete mobile Xbox Live experience. And also just like the console, every game will have a try-before-you buy demo to check out before spending your hard-earned cash.”
It will be interesting to see how successful this experience is compared to Apple’s Game Center that should be launching right around the same time. Especially since Apple has over 50,000 game titles on their iDevices and they will have the capability to do multiplayer games (with matchmaking). Let the games begin.
