Two Windows 8/Windows Phone 8 cross-platforms games on the way
2 min. read
Published on
Share this article
Improve this guide
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser sustain the editorial team Read more
Speaking to PCWorld, Senior Xbox Live Product Marketing Manager Peter Orullian said that at least two cross-platform games are coming to the Windows Store. The games will allow users to start a game on the desktop or laptop and continue them on their phone.
Microsoft has been encouraging developers to create more such apps, noting it was very easy to convert a Windows 8 game to a Windows Phone 8 game.
"… when you build a game for Windows 8 with our new tools, the additional work required to bring it to Windows Phone 8 is fairly incremental," said Orullian.
Microsoft is trying to convince developers coding for the burgeoning Windows 8 store to also think Mobile, and use the Xbox Live cloud services to make their games portable and persistent.
"If I start playing a game of solitaire on my desktop, I can leave for work and pick up right where I left off on my Windows Phone."
Microsoft notes a turn by turn game was much more suited to cross platform games rather than twitch First Person Shooters, which left mobile and tablet users at a disadvantage.
An example of such an app is Skulls of Shogun, which was recently published on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and the Xbox 360.
Borut Pfeiffer, an independent developer who worked on Skulls of the Shogun, says the game’s multiplayer element succeeds across multiple platforms because it’s anchored by turn-based strategy, and challenges players’ wits instead of reflexes. What’s more, the Skulls Anywhere cross-platform multiplayer mode lets you play on any type of Microsoft hardware. You can start a game on your Xbox 360, playing against someone on a PC. Then three hours later, both you and your competitor can switch to playing on a Surface RT and Windows Phone.
"It’s a tough design challenge, building a cross-platform game," wrote Pfeiffer in an email. "While it looks like there’s definitely demand for it, as a developer you really have to solve a lot of problems at once."
Do our readers think cross-platform game play is a Windows secret weapon? Let us know below.
Via CIO.com
