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[xbhaskarx]

I'm glad to hear ilomilo is still coming to XBLA, it would be great if Crackdown 2 did as well...

Will there be a non-phone device similar to the iPod touch? Because I'm not getting rid of my iPhone unless these Windows phones could play my entire XBLA library and I didn't have to double pay for them.

 

[goldenpp72]

Microsoft, if you release a phone with a game pad, xbox live online and xbla games on my phone, I will be there day 1. I want to play SOTN and megaman on my phone

And lumines live.. OMG <3

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Android will never be a successful gaming platform. MS has strict control about the performance of win7 phones, so games will have a strong common platform to work with. Android phones are all over the place, performance wise.

They're pretty much in two camps, first gen (Qualcomm 528 MHz) and second gen (Snapdragon/Hummingbird 1 GHz.) This will happen to WP7 phones as well, unless Microsoft freezes the specs so that no hardware will surpass what it launches on.

I wouldn't count Android out yet. Google had a huge presence at GDC, at least one of their annual Google I/O presentations is all about game development, and they've just launched SD card storage for apps and a much improved DRM library.

Not only that, porting iPhone games to Android is a piece of cake thanks to the Native Development kit, this guy did it in just a week. In fact the NDK is a huge tip in Android's favor, is it possible to program in native code on WP7?

Finally, my game is for Android. So, you know. There's that. ^_^

 

[dLMN8R]

They're pretty much in two camps, first gen (Qualcomm 528 MHz) and second gen (Snapdragon/Hummingbird 1 GHz.) This will happen to WP7 phones as well, unless Microsoft freezes the specs so that no hardware will surpass what it launches on.

I wouldn't count Android out yet. Google had a huge presence at GDC, at least one of their annual Google I/O presentations is all about game development, and they've just launched SD card storage for apps and a much improved DRM library.

Not only that, porting iPhone games to Android is a piece of cake thanks to the Native Development kit, this guy did it in just a week. In fact the NDK is a huge tip in Android's favor, is it possible to program in native code on WP7?

Finally, my game is for Android. So, you know. There's that. ^_^

1) Microsoft freezing the specs for Windows Phone 7 is totally different than what happens on Android. Microsoft has one minimum spec now. They might have another, beefier minimum spec in the future that would be a superset. Just like the iPhone is right now. All the old games still run, just faster. You might be able to develop a game that just takes advantage of the faster hardware in the future, that's your choice. But the fragmentation on Android is far worse compared to this situation, and what currently happens on the iPhone (brilliantly successfully, of course).

2) Porting iPhone games to Windows Phone 7 will be plenty easy as well. I think Microsoft has already released utilities for XNA to do so, don't remember. But the important part is how strong the development tools for Windows Phone 7 are. Visual Studio + Expression Blend is a phenomenal improvement over what's available for both Android and the iPhone.

3) Similar to the clusterfuck of hardware standards is the software fragmentation. Already, software OS version fragmentation on Android is nearly reaching levels of absurdity, and it's only been a couple of years. Android development seems like it's on a fast, unrestrained path right alongside what Windows Mobile did years ago. Obviously it has a huge store with tens of thousands of apps, but how many of those apps sell? How many run on every phone? Which apps run on which phones? It's just horribly confused right now, and with games, it's even worse.

 

[outunderthestars]

yep, but sadly the Zune HD doesn't have the specs to run this OS. I'm sure they will release a HD 2 at some point that has the same specs as the phones.

Everything has pointed to the Zune hardware division pretty much being killed off. It's really quite sad, because as a music player, the Zune HD was an incredible machine.

Also, I don't care how powerful the phone is, touch screen only controls make for a shitty game experience.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

1) Microsoft freezing the specs for Windows Phone 7 is totally different than what happens on Android. Microsoft has one minimum spec now. They might have another, beefier minimum spec in the future that would be a superset. Just like the iPhone is right now. All the old games still run, just faster. You might be able to develop a game that just takes advantage of the faster hardware in the future, that's your choice. But the fragmentation on Android is far worse compared to this situation, and what currently happens on the iPhone (brilliantly successfully, of course).

Like I said, there are minimum specs for the two generations of Android as well. For the first gen, it's the G1. For the second, it's the Motorola Droid. Code for performance on either of those, and the game will run even better on stronger hardware for the same (and future) generations (obviously.) It's not as much of a hellhole as everyone is quick to make it out to be.

2) Porting iPhone games to Windows Phone 7 will be plenty easy as well. I think Microsoft has already released utilities for XNA to do so, don't remember.

It'll never be as easy as it is for Android, which at this point is pretty much copying and pasting the C code and wrapping Java around it, unless Microsoft allows C development. At this point, only C# is supported - not even their other big .NET language, VB.Net.

But the important part is how strong the development tools for Windows Phone 7 are. Visual Studio + Expression Blend is a phenomenal improvement over what's available for both Android and the iPhone.

I don't challenge that Visual Studio and Microsoft's tools are above-par, to the contrary, having used XNA and C# years ago I think they have one the best development toolsets ever. But that doesn't compare with native code.

3) Similar to the clusterfuck of hardware standards is the software fragmentation. Already, software OS version fragmentation on Android is nearly reaching levels of absurdity, and it's only been a couple of years. Android development seems like it's on a fast, unrestrained path right alongside what Windows Mobile did years ago. Obviously it has a huge store with tens of thousands of apps, but how many of those apps sell? How many run on every phone? Which apps run on which phones? It's just horribly confused right now, and with games, it's even worse.

None of the different software versions affect traditional games past 1.6, which added multi-resolution support. Code for 1.6 and instantly your game will run on over 85% of Android phones. Besides that, the upgrade path will work itself out over time as manufacturers get better at it.

I look at the continuous new versions as a good thing, and the exact opposite of what happened with Windows Mobile (stagnation.)

 

[Kibbles]

Crackdown 2? Need pics/vid nao.

 

[jagowar]

1) Microsoft freezing the specs for Windows Phone 7 is totally different than what happens on Android. Microsoft has one minimum spec now. They might have another, beefier minimum spec in the future that would be a superset. Just like the iPhone is right now. All the old games still run, just faster. You might be able to develop a game that just takes advantage of the faster hardware in the future, that's your choice. But the fragmentation on Android is far worse compared to this situation, and what currently happens on the iPhone (brilliantly successfully, of course).

2) Porting iPhone games to Windows Phone 7 will be plenty easy as well. I think Microsoft has already released utilities for XNA to do so, don't remember. But the important part is how strong the development tools for Windows Phone 7 are. Visual Studio + Expression Blend is a phenomenal improvement over what's available for both Android and the iPhone.

3) Similar to the clusterfuck of hardware standards is the software fragmentation. Already, software OS version fragmentation on Android is nearly reaching levels of absurdity, and it's only been a couple of years. Android development seems like it's on a fast, unrestrained path right alongside what Windows Mobile did years ago. Obviously it has a huge store with tens of thousands of apps, but how many of those apps sell? How many run on every phone? Which apps run on which phones? It's just horribly confused right now, and with games, it's even worse.

Agreed.... I really think MS learned from 6.5 (that android is learning now) and chose the best "balance". Taking the best elements from the 2 ways of "thinking" about phones... ios locked specs and androids wide variety of phones/carriers. Really think ms striking a nice balance between ios and android.

In 3 years (or whenever windows phone 8 is announced) they will have a new spec with higher processor/ram/screen resolution but every 7 device will have the current spec which makes it similar to the iphone where you can optimize for the spec.

 

[outunderthestars]

Crackdown 2? Need pics/vid nao.

tower defense game overlayed on bing maps. nothing to see here....

 

[Monty Mole]

Wow, completely surprised by this, looks like a good line-up and the games look extremely solid.

 

[clav]

Andrex, as much as I love Android (I have it running on my Touch Diamond), you're really pushing your trolling here.

Sure, 85% or I don't even know how you got that # of apps are backwards compatible, but when something like the official Twitter app doesn't work on Android 1.6, you have a problem. You are shafting normal users just because the OS said lol oops I don't know new code.

You may argue, "Ok, why don't you guys root then?" People are just not comfortable doing that despite the feasibility of using scripts. They just want the damn thing to work without tweaking, and when it becomes a factor of tweaking, then you got yourself a Windows Mobile 5/6 situation. This is already how it is even with Froyo 2.2, and users complaining about apps sucking battery life. Not to mention when reports start coming out how people don't like the way how multitasking is handled and use task kill switch bars, something is wrong. People will (you might say prematurely) conclude that this will turn into stagnation.

I understand Android 3.0 Gingerbread will fix the above, but you can't dismiss what are the facts.

Microsoft already ditched its old shell and is making only one standard, a very Apple-like approach. That way you won't have a saturation of so many different standards with incompatibilities waiting to explode in the future.

 

[dovella]

This is my old thread
Thank you neogaf!!!

Iphone Ipad ? SUX!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDHPSR9Yus4

I want WP7 slate!

 

[Zzoram]

Agreed.... I really think MS learned from 6.5 (that android is learning now) and chose the best "balance". Taking the best elements from the 2 ways of "thinking" about phones... ios locked specs and androids wide variety of phones/carriers. Really think ms striking a nice balance between ios and android.

In 3 years (or whenever windows phone 8 is announced) they will have a new spec with higher processor/ram/screen resolution but every 7 device will have the current spec which makes it similar to the iphone where you can optimize for the spec.

I'm pretty sure MSFT lost Verizon for WP7 over the whole Kin debacle.

 

[Gravijah]

This is my old thread
Thank you neogaf!!!

Iphone Ipad ? SUX!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDHPSR9Yus4

I want WP7 slate!

get out of here you goddamn apple fanboy we don't like your trolling of MS

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Andrex, as much as I love Android (I have it running on my Touch Diamond), you're really pushing your trolling here.

Sure, 85% or I don't even know how you got that # of apps are backwards compatible, but when something like the official Twitter app doesn't work on Android 1.6, you have a problem. You are shafting normal users just because the OS said lol oops I don't know new code.

You may argue, "Ok, why don't you guys root then?" People are just not comfortable doing that despite the feasibility of using scripts. They just want the damn thing to work without tweaking, and when it becomes a factor of tweaking, then you got yourself a Windows Mobile 5/6 situation. Not to mention when reports start coming out how people don't like the way how multitasking is handled and use task kill switch bars, something is wrong.

I understand Android 3.0 Gingerbread will fix the above, but you can't dismiss what are the facts.

I didn't bring it up, and I didn't want to turn this into a huge argument. But I won't let a wrong post slip by. The point of my post is that Android isn't done with gaming, it wasn't to criticize Microsoft or anything they're doing. To the contrary, these games do look great. And I'm glad it's getting "real" game developers to care about mobile, even if for now most of them are first-party to Microsoft.

As for your post, most of it doesn't really pertain to games. There's really no reason games shouldn't work for 1.6 and up. The hardware split is probably more of a concern for hardcore game developers.

 

[clav]

No one said Android was done with gaming. It would be advantageous for a developer to code multiplatform. I suppose now we can look ahead forward and say developers should have a very easy time doing crossdevelopment now all the specs are so similar.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

No one said Android was done with gaming.

Android will never be a successful gaming platform.

.

Rather I should have probably said the opposite, gaming isn't done with Android.

 

[jagowar]

I'm pretty sure MSFT lost Verizon for WP7 over the whole Kin debacle.

I'm pretty sure verizon will still get phones.... plus all the kin stuff was rumored to happen. It was never actually confirmed as fact. Plenty of the leaked phones are already rumored for verizon.

 

[clav]

Ok if one comment is going to rile you up that bad, sorry dude. That's NeoGAF.

Spoiler

(Speak for myself.)

 

[Zinga]

Gonna call it now, in 12 months time WP7 is going to be the phone for gamers. If they ever release a Halo game for WP7, i'll upgrade my HD2 in an instant.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Ok if one comment is going to rile you up that bad, sorry dude. That's NeoGAF.

Spoiler

(Speak for myself.)

Actually my first post was more of an educational one for everyone. I think most people don't know about the SD card and DRM things, as they're pretty recent and go a long way to assuaging some of the fears of making Android games. And I personally found it interesting how someone was able to port a game from iPhone in a week.

dLMN8R's post on the other hand was more aggressive, so yes, that one post did rile me up a bit.

 

[Burai]

Gonna call it now, in 12 months time WP7 is going to be the phone for gamers. If they ever release a Halo game for WP7, i'll upgrade my HD2 in an instant.

B-b-but touch screen-only input is no good for gaming. Right? Right?

 

[clav]

B-b-but touch screen-only input is no good for gaming. Right? Right?

There are keyboard versions.

 

[hyp]

this looks pretty fucking cool. as much as i love the iOS platform, xbox live integration and actual XBLA titles would push me to get some sort of iPod touch or iPad-like device with WP7. touch controls aren't as bad as some may think, i've gotten so used to them since iPhone 2G that they're practically second nature. i just hope MS has their touch implementation as clean and accurate as apple's.

 

[hyp]

B-b-but touch screen-only input is no good for gaming. Right? Right?

i see what you did there.

 

[dovella]

Windows Phone 7 app: Halo Waypoint just announced

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

I think the biggest question now is who should WinMo partner with as the primary carrier?

iPhone has done well sticking with AT&T (which they will probably continue to do) so I could see WinMo going with only one-two carriers, perhaps Sprint and T-Mobile. I think Verizon is too invested in Droid to make the move.

 

[soco]

apparently they replaced their UI designers with graphic designers.

 

[Burai]

There are keyboard versions.

It's like the second coming of the Saturn pad.

 

[Rhindle]

I think the biggest question now is who should WinMo partner with as the primary carrier?

iPhone has done well sticking with AT&T (which they will probably continue to do) so I could see WinMo going with only one-two carriers, perhaps Sprint and T-Mobile. I think Verizon is too invested in Droid to make the move.

Carrier designations are driven by the phone manufacturers, not the OS developer. Since HTC, Samsung, LG, Dell and others are all making WP7 phones, it's safe to assume that all major carriers will have them sooner or later.

 

[clav]

I think the biggest question now is who should WinMo partner with as the primary carrier?

iPhone has done well sticking with AT&T (which they will probably continue to do) so I could see WinMo going with only one-two carriers, perhaps Sprint and T-Mobile. I think Verizon is too invested in Droid to make the move.

Already announced. AT&T will be the primary carrier.

All the other carriers will have their share although shaky on Verizon.

 

[Windu]

Already announced. AT&T will be the primary carrier.

I know I have heard AT&T say that they will be the Premier carrier, but has microsoft actually said something like that?

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Arkedo <3

 

[Kibbles]

tower defense game overlayed on bing maps. nothing to see here....

Excuse me while I go take out whoever is responsible for this.

 

[neorej]

WPS7 is looking more awesome each day

 

[Shiroi-San]

WP7 looks really cool (especially the Xbox Live integration), but I want to use that UI myself to see if it is intuitive or just a bunch of eye candy. Also, it doesn't help that it wont have multi-tasking when it comes out when Android and iOS do. If they release a Zune type device that has the gaming aspects of WP7 then I would be extremely interested.

 

[Tashi]

Everything has pointed to the Zune hardware division pretty much being killed off. It's really quite sad, because as a music player, the Zune HD was an incredible machine.

Also, I don't care how powerful the phone is, touch screen only controls make for a shitty game experience.

That's a HUGE letdown if so. I own both G1 and G2 Zunes and love them. I don't like iTunes at all so the iPod is out of the picture when it's time to upgrade to a new Mp3 player.

 

[neorej]

WP7 looks really cool (especially the Xbox Live integration), but I want to use that UI myself to see if it is intuitive or just a bunch of eye candy. Also, it doesn't help that it wont have multi-tasking when it comes out when Android and iOS do. If they release a Zune type device that has the gaming aspects of WP7 then I would be extremely interested.

It has multitasking, just in a very smart and clever way that doesn't bog your phone down to a complete stop when you have 3 apps open (as WinMo 6 does).

http://www.intomobile.com/2010/03/18/microsoft-clarifies-windows-phone-7-multitasking/

To me, that's all the multitasking I need on my phone.

 

[seady]

If they are so focus on gaming for their OS, I would like to see some button integration for the phone too.

But I guess the good thing about touch screen OS is that it will be easily applied to any type of phones/media players, without worrying about different phones having different button layouts that might not work with Phone 7 OS.

 

[NemesisPrime]

My WS7 game is almost done and I must say that it has been a joy to develop on the platform. I expect really awesome gaming to appear on WS7 the next few years. I think MS have a (gaming) winner here.

 

[Noogy]

Very cool, and impressive lineup. I need to download XNA 4.0 and see what the fuss is all about.

 

[Gowans]

Some great games in that line up.

Hopefully the pricing will be on par and at the full control of the devs like the app store.
Wounder if it will have a knock on effect with the Xbox indies? And does it use points or money values?

 

[Kafel]

Some great games in that line up.

Hopefully the pricing will be on par and at the full control of the devs like the app store.
Wounder if it will have a knock on effect with the Xbox indies? And does it use points or money values?

I see some bigger studios being introduced with XNA. For someone who doesn't play on phones but loves Indie Games on my 360, I like this.

 

[Walshicus]

I'd love to see some cool 360/WP7 integration. I mean how many games have you using a phone as the primary menu interface? Imagine GTA IV where the in-game phone was represented on your phone.

 

[Rlan]

 

[brotkasten]

Everything has pointed to the Zune hardware division pretty much being killed off. It's really quite sad, because as a music player, the Zune HD was an incredible machine.

Also, I don't care how powerful the phone is, touch screen only controls make for a shitty game experience.

Was? It still is. I love my Zune HD and I can play AudioSurf on it. <3

I'd love to see some cool 360/WP7 integration. I mean how many games have you using a phone as the primary menu interface? Imagine GTA IV where the in-game phone was represented on your phone.

Now that's a cool idea.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Multiplatform: (some games I've just listed a few platforms)
"3D Brick Breaker Revolution" (Digital Chocolate, iPhone)
"Age of Zombies" (Halfbrick, PSP)
"Armor Valley" (Protégé Games, XBI)
"Asphalt 5" (Gameloft, iPhone/DS)
"Assassins Creed" (Gameloft, iPhone/DS)
"Bejeweled™ LIVE" (PopCap, every platform ever)
"Bloons TD" (Digital Goldfish, PC)
"Brain Challenge" (Gameloft, iPhone/WiiWare/PSN/XBLA)
"Bubble Town 2" (i-Play, PC)
"CarneyVale Showtime" (MGS, XBI, Windows)
"Deal or No Deal 2010" (i-Play, every platform ever)
"De Blob Revolution" (THQ, iPhone)
"Earthworm Jim" (Gameloft, XBLA, PSN, iPhone)
"Fast & Furious 7" (i-Play, phones I assume)
"Finger Physics" (Mobliss Inc., iPhone)
"Flight Control" (Namco Bandai, WiiWare, DSiWare, PSN, iPhone)
"Flowerz" (Carbonated Games, PC)
"Frogger" (Konami, every platform ever)
"Fruit Ninja" (Halfbrick, iPhone)
"GeoDefense" (Critical Thought, iPhone)
"Ghostscape" (Psionic, PC)
"Glow Artisan" (Powerhead Games, DSiWare)
"Glyder 2" (Glu Mobile, iPhone)
"Guitar Hero 5" (Glu Mobile, iPhone)
"Halo Waypoint" (MGS, XBLA)
"I Dig It" (InMotion, iPhone)
"iBlast Moki" (Godzilab, iPhone)
"ilomilo" (MGS, XBLA)
"Implode XL" (IUGO, iPhone)
"Iquarium" (Infinite Dreams, iPhone)
"Jet Car Stunts" (True Axis, iPhone)
"Let's Golf 2" (Gameloft, iPhone)
"Little Wheel" (One click dog, PC)
"Loondon" (Flip N Tale, PC)
"Max and the Magic Marker" (PressPlay, PC, WiiWare)
"Mini Squadron" (Supermono Limited, iPhone)
"More Brain Exercise" (Namco Bandai, mobile of some kind)
"Puzzle Quest 2" (Namco Bandai, many platforms)
"Splinter Cell Conviction" (Gameloft, iPhone)
"Star Wars: Battle for Hoth" (THQ, iPhone)
"Star Wars: Cantina" (THQ, iPhone)
"Real Soccer 2" (Gameloft, many platforms)
"Rocket Riot" (Codeglue, XBLA)
"The Oregon Trail" (Gameloft, many platforms)
"Tower Bloxx NY" (Digital Chocolate, mobile, XBLA, iPhone)
"Twin Blades" (Press Start Studio, iPhone)
"UNO" (Gameloft, every platform)
"Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet" (i-Play, PC)
"Zombie Attack!" (IUGO, iPhone)

Original:
"Butterfly" (Press Start Studio)
"Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst" (MGS)
"Fight Game Rivals" (Rough Cookie)
"Game Chest-Board" (MGS, sort of)
"Game Chest-Card" (MGS, sort of)
"Game Chest-Logic" (MGS, sort of)
"Game Chest-Solitaire" (MGS, sort of)
"Hexic Rush" (Carbonated Games)
"O.M.G." (Arkedo)
"The Harvest" (MGS)

???:
"Castlevania" (Konami)
"The Revenants" (Chaotic Moon)
"Rise of Glory" (Revo Solutions)
"Zombies!!!!" (Babaroga)

 

[pizzapizza64]

3) Similar to the clusterfuck of hardware standards is the software fragmentation. Already, software OS version fragmentation on Android is nearly reaching levels of absurdity, and it's only been a couple of years. Android development seems like it's on a fast, unrestrained path right alongside what Windows Mobile did years ago. Obviously it has a huge store with tens of thousands of apps, but how many of those apps sell? How many run on every phone? Which apps run on which phones? It's just horribly confused right now, and with games, it's even worse.

I couldn't agree more. I sold my Android phone because of the software frustration...dome apps weren't even available on my phone less than a year after it released! Ridiculous.

 

[Tranced Shadow]

I would like to echo the cries for an AudioSurf port, especially as the Zune HD never got released here :lol

But seriously, contract's up in February and I can't wait to see what hot new phones will be out by then...

 

[Coldsnap]

Is this an actual phone that is coming out or just a fake one they are using for their campaign? The phone looks sweet...

I'm totally on board with this if they put it in a non phone device; I feel like I'm the last person on the planet who is not conditioned to be OK with paying a $100+ phone bill.