今年秋季，从HTC、LG到三星在内的许多运行Windows Phone 7（简称WP7）的手机产品，均计划与微软最新数字媒体服务功能Xbox Live绑定，因此有关方面预测，今年假期季度微软与苹果的手机平台市场之争将更具筹码。

Windows-Phone-7

Xbox Live目前已支持在Xbox 360游戏机和微软电脑操作系统上运行，微软加拿大产品经理Glenn Purkis表示，Xbox Live向智能手机进军是微软跨平台战略的重要步骤。在电话采访中，他介绍Xbox Live的核心功能之一就是支持玩家在不同型号的WP7平台上玩游戏时都能使用固定的游戏标签，可以看到自己的2D自定义头像，游戏成就以及Xbox Live上的好友栏。在WP7平台上还可以通过微软应用市场直接购买游戏产品，就像在苹果iPad、iPhone、iPod Touch上使用iTunes功能，购买App Store上的游戏应用软件一样简便快捷。

目前正在开发的WP7标准手机游戏包括Bejeweled Live、Flight Control、Puzzle Quest2等，为凝聚更多铁杆粉丝，包括微软自己的Crackdown，拿姆科的Castlevania，育碧的Assassin’s Greed、Splinter Cell系列也将一齐上阵，另外，像Two Star Wars、Battle for Hoth、Cantina这类游戏同样不会缺席。

xbox-live

温哥华游戏开发商IUGO手机娱乐目前正在开发两款专为WP7设计的游戏，物理益智游戏Implode!XL和塔防游戏Zombie Attack! Second Wave，该公司经济战略副总裁Sarah Thomson告诉记者，这两款游戏是微软从IUGO提供的产品列表中亲自甄选出来的，IUGO最受欢迎的游戏Toy Bot系列则未能入列，因为就WP7平台而言，Toy Bot这类游戏更适合在触摸屏系统上体验。IUGO已经为iPad、iPhone、黑莓开发过不少游戏，目前正设计一款用于投放Android平台的游戏。Thomson表示，相比其他游戏开发公司费劲使自己的产品迎合Xbox Live新功能的情况而言，IUGO针对WP7开发专门游戏版本则相对省力；她还认为Xbox Live新功能很可能让WP7平台占尽优势。

多人游戏的跨平台运营对玩家来说无疑是个好消息，这意味着玩家可以通过手机与使用游戏机的朋友一起玩游戏，这种在游戏机、手机、电脑这三个平台之间自由转移阵地的娱乐体验确实令人期待。但目前为止，微软尚未对这一说法作出回应，微软加拿大的Glenn Purkis针对该问题仅仅表示，“微软致力于提供出色的WP7平台，创造最好的手机在线服务。”

Windows Phone 7 gets game with Xbox Live
 
This holiday season, gamers might finally help Microsoft gain some ground against Apple in the struggle for supremacy in the mobile market. When devices running the Windows Phone 7 operating system are released this fall—from manufacturers including HTC, LG, and Samsung—they will come equipped with Xbox Live, Microsoft’s digital-media delivery service.

Xbox Live is already available through the Xbox 360 and computers running the Windows operating system. Bringing it to smartphones is part of Microsoft’s strategy to “deliver core experiences”across multiple screens, according to Glenn Purkis, Xbox Live product manager for Microsoft Canada.

In a phone interview with the Georgia Straight, Purkis said that one of the core features of Xbox Live is that it enables you to take your gaming identity—your “gamertag”—with you when you use different consoles and computers. Now you can take that profile mobile. On WP7-powered devices, you’ll see a 2-D representation of your avatar, a list of your gaming achievements, and even your Xbox Live friends list.

You’ll also be able to buy games on your WP7 device through Marketplace, Microsoft’s hub for purchasing digital media. Incorporating Marketplace, which is already on Windows PCs and Xbox 360s,into WP7 gives Microsoft a direct sales channel to users akin to what Apple has with its App Store and iTunes for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Standard mobile games in development for WP7 include Bejeweled Live, Flight Control, and Puzzle Quest 2. In an effort to appeal to the hard-core gaming community, Microsoft has lined up editions of some key console franchises too, including Microsoft’s own Crackdown, Konami’s Castlevania, and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell series. Two Star Wars games, Battle for Hoth and Cantina, are also in the works.

Halo Waypoint, a media hub for content related to Halo—Microsoft’s most valuable game franchise—is also in development for WP7.

Vancouver game developer IUGO Mobile Entertainment is working on two titles to coincide with the release of Windows Phone 7: physics-puzzle game Implode! XL and tower-defence game Zombie Attack!

Second Wave. Sarah Thomson, IUGO’s vice president of business development, told the Straight that these games were selected by Microsoft from a list of about five of the studio’s existing titles that IUGO felt were suitable for WP7.

Games like the developer’s popular Toy Bot series “would not translate well” because they are better suited to a touchscreen interface and tilt control, she explained by phone from her office.

IUGO has already developed games for the iPad, the iPhone, and the BlackBerry, and is working on a version of one of its titles for the Android operating system.

Thomson said it’s been “relatively painless” for IUGO to come up with versions of Implode! and Zombie Attack! for WP7, and that most of the developer’s energy was being spent implementing the Xbox Live features. But those features, she explained, are “going to give Windows Phone 7 an edge”.

It’s conceivable that at some point, multiplayer gaming will span platforms—allowing a person to play Halo on a mobile device with a friend using a console, for example. As well, the ability to take a gaming experience from your console to your computer to your mobile device is an intriguing possibility.

But so far, Microsoft hasn’t made any announcements hinting at that level of functionality. For the moment, Purkis said, “the focus is on getting a great WP7 experience, and getting the best of Live to the phone”.（source：straight）

声明：本文中文为游戏邦翻译，英文原文采用Straight，转载请保留版权信息，谢谢！