15 New Xbox Live Titles and Other Game Improvements Coming To Windows Phones
|Microsoft has made 15 new title official for Xbox live on Windows Phones including Splinter Cell: Conviction, Kinectimals, Mush and Chickens Can’t Fly. On top of that they’ve unveiled the following new features:
- Avatar Awardables: Like achievements—but wearable. Once unlocked, these items will automatically appear in your avatar closet and can be worn on your avatar’s sleeve as a badge of honor. “Chickens Can’t Fly,” a forthcoming Xbox LIVE release, will be among the first titles to feature them.
- Game Add-ons: In the Xbox LIVE title “Beards & Beaks," players can purchase extra mushrooms and other items from within the game using Microsoft Points. In the months ahead, keep your eyes out for more titles in Marketplace that let you buy in-game add-ons and downloadable content like extra weapons or levels.
- Parental Controls: The next release of Windows Phone gives parents more control of what content their child can access on Windows Phone, including M-rated (Mature) games. The first M-rated Windows Phone title, “Splinter Cell: Conviction,” is scheduled to arrive in the Marketplace later this fall.
- Fast Async: A new Xbox LIVE service coming this fall that improves gameplay for multiplayer, turn-by-turn (or asynchronous) Windows Phone games.
Yeah that also means there’s still no word on real time multiplayer games so I’d stop holding your breath.
As for the new titles:
- “Beards & Beaks: Cave Area” The turf war between gnomes and crows moves to the cave with 15 challenging new levels and where a new gnome ally and new enemies await.
- “Bug Village” Build and nurture a colony of active ants and busy bees. Construct homes to attract playful bugs and direct them to the garden, where they can gather resources to expand your village. Small is beautiful in bug village.
- “Burn the Rope” Burn as much rope as you can in this challenging puzzle game. The catch? Fire only burns upwards. So you’ll have to madly tilt and turn your phone to keep the flame alive. [ Yes, this sounds like Burn it All but it’s a different title]
- “Chickens Can’t Fly” You’re a corporate scientist assigned to see what chickens are capable of, answering critical questions such as: Is there life after the butcher? Are chickens afraid of ghosts? Does frozen chicken get dizzy? [Try Chickens Can Dream for a preview of this – great game]
- “Collapse!” The blockbusting, color-matching excitement of “Collapse!” returns with award-winning gameplay, all-new customizable characters, and fantastic new foes.
- “Gravity Guy” In a world where gravity laws were broken, a brave guy was held captive for defying the rules. Not happy, he decided to escape. Your job: guide him through a world of impossible mazes, flipping gravity at will.
- “Farm Frenzy 2” If you think the big city is crazy, wait until you get a load of country life. Manage a wild and wacky farm by growing grass, feeding chickens, collecting eggs and taking your produce to market.
- “Fight Game Rivals” Become the king of kings among tournament fighters around the world. Enter different tournaments on distinct locations, earn credits and unlock devastating attacks and skills.
- “IonballEX” A modern twist on a classic Breakout-style game, all delivered in a unique steampunk style.
- “Kinectimals Mobile” Play with, care for, and fall in love with your very own Kinectimal cub. The hit Xbox 360 game comes to Windows Phone.
- “Mush” This puzzle platformer (and Windows Phone exclusive) gives you control over how your character feels. Change their emotions by drawing smiles and sad faces, and by rotating or shaking the phone.
- “Orbital” An addictive puzzle game that challenges you to destroy as many orbs as possible.
- “TextTwist 2” From Game House, creators of “Bounce Out” and “Collapse!”, comes a more cerebral challenge: How many words can you form in two-and-a-half minutes with a handful of random letters? Figure out the combination with the most letters and move to the next level.
- “Toy Soldiers Boot Camp” Wage war on a tiny scale with four fun and addictive shooting gallery mini-games from “Toy Soldiers: Cold War”.
Good stuff
6 Comments
really lot of good stuff…
Bunch of rubbish kids games. Where’s Halo Mobile, Gears of War Mobile Cogs, Forza 4 Go!? No forward, exclusive, innovative games here, just iphone ports and still no real-time multuplayer. And please, DLC does NOT equate to a new game release, BS at its finest!
Lets be honest, Xbox live is not really anything special is it? Take away achievements and we have a games list that is old and lacking quality and diversity. AND they can be withdrawn anytime leaving you out of pocket if you replace your phone for any reason. Seems like quite a racket to me.
“Lets be honest, Xbox live is not really anything special is it?”
Are you serious? I use Xbox Live on my Xbox 360, and it is an incredible platform and the best and most feature rich online network in existence. Only Steam comes close, but that only pertains to games.
As for games like Halo, Gears of War, and Forza 4? Are you shitting me? The only one of those games that might could be played on a phone is Forza 4. Shooters are garbage on phone and tablets. How many games like Gears of War and Halo do you see on the iPhone? That’s what I thought.
Stop whining. Smart phones are a casual games platform. If you want to do serious gaming go buy an Xbox or a PC.
By the way, did you not see Splinter Cell Conviction is coming to Windows Phone? There’s you a serious game, despite the fact that it’s going to suck on a phone.
@Joe: Dont be silly, of course I was referring to Xbox Live on the phone, not the console. Which was supposed to be one of WP7’s key selling points. And why cant there be a Halo or Gears of War game for WP7? Its not supposed to be a direct port of the console version but a game set in the Halo universe, with recognisable Halo assets optimised for the phone is not impossible.
For example, Arcane’s Tower Defence is a great 3D game. Substitute those assets for Halo assets and you get Halo on WP7. Just as Halo Wars was a departure from the classic shooter roots of Halo so can Halo on the phone be reimagined. This is an IP that no one else will have and the only thing we have is Waypoint which was met with a bit of disappointment when it was revealed it wasnt an actual Halo game for WP7.
The iphone and android have shooter games, eg Nova, the Unreal Engine runs on ios with Infinity Blade and Rage so being a mobile device is no roadblock to decent AAA games. Fable Coin Golf comes to mind as a WP7 game linked to a AAA 360 title, no reason there cant be other high profile titles on WP7. How about Halo: Grunt Olympics? Or Halo: Warthog Races? So much opportunity just by leveraging the name, just takes people to think outside the box and actually want to push gaming on WP7 to higher levels.
Halo sells consoles. I would bet putting a Halo game on WP7 would sell handsets in the same way. The ultimate bundle – Halo 4 console, Halo themed WP7 device with a Halo game preloaded. Gold.