Microsoft has revealed that its Windows Phone 7 handsets are to receive a slew of new gaming titles via the Xbox Live marketplace in the coming months.
Microsoft made its announcement at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany, promising WP7 users 14 new games including Burn The Rope, Splinter Cell: Conviction and a mobile version of Kinectimals. Other features of the new service include purchasable add-ons to games, new clothing pieces for players’ Xbox Live avatars and parental locks for mature-rated titles like Splinter Cell.
Games are already massive revenue drivers on Apple and Android smartphones, with gaming titles dominating the sales charts on both platforms since their release. But the spike in popularity of mobile gaming is a thorn in the side of Nintendo and Sony, both of which are still hoping to turn profits on their dedicated gaming handhelds, the 3DS and the PlayStation Vita.
The 3DS has already been subject to massive price cuts in the past few weeks, with Tesco dropping its asking price down to £115 – just half the original cost of the handheld when it was released back in March. Sony’s PlayStation Vita won’t be released until early 2012, but already there’s speculation that the company might have scuppered the handheld’s chances with the announcement of a super-cheap new PSP and a Sony games developer branding the Vita “a car wreck.”
Does the future of portable gaming belong to the smartphones? Send us your thoughts via the Recombu Facebook page or Twitter feed.
Leave a Reply