Newsbrief: Microsoft today revealed the first wave of Xbox video games that will launch alongside the Windows 8 operating system later this year on October 26.
Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, director of programming for Xbox Live, posted the full list of titles on his blog, with notable inclusions from mobile developers like Zeptolab and Halfbrick Studios.
Of the full list of 40 titles, 29 of them are from Microsoft Studios. All 40 will be found via the preinstalled Windows 8 Xbox Games app, and available to purchase from the Windows 8 store. A special PlayXBLA website has been set up to highlight those Xbox Live titles available for Windows 8.
Microsoft could probably get me to buy Windows 8 if they were to put Gears of War, Halo and some of their other AAA titles on there. I have an xbox 360 that only powers on half the time and a gaming PC that I've been using for five years strong, would be great to have those games on my more reliable system with better graphics options and mouse+keyboard support.
This is amazing to me - they are bluring the lines between all their devices now. It's great that some XBLA developers are getting a new market.
It's a real shame they won't be handling IndieGames the same way - they are only available in classic mode. Although they can be advertised within the MS Store, at least.
I'm not sure if we're quite talking about the same thing here, but the XNA system used for Xbox Live Indie Games offers out-of-the-box support for deploying to X360, Windows Mobile or Windows. Though obviously, developers need to handle the potentially huge variations in performance and controller layout (joypad vs keyboard+mouse vs touchscreen)...
I think a lot of people are looking at that list and going WTF? Especially PC gamers. Lets not forget though that these games are supposed to work on any Windows 8 PC. Ill admit they could have thrown some beefier titles in there, but most Win 8 PC user's computers wont be packing enough graphical power to run Triple A titles at 1080p at an enjoyable frame rate.
It's a real shame they won't be handling IndieGames the same way - they are only available in classic mode. Although they can be advertised within the MS Store, at least.
Also Hydro Thunder. Hydro Thunder is always fantastic.