Windows Phone 7 Series gaming, all up in the club (video!)
By Nilay Patel 
posted March 17th 2010 4:07PM
posted March 17th 2010 4:07PM
Update: Also, sometimes you find yourself in a Vegas hotel the day after the Vegas club, nursing your brutal headache and desperately seeking a second opportunity to film that hot unreleased game with a better camera. Video of that is after the break, too.
So on a more serious note, while this build of the OS was far from stable, once we got Harvest up and running it was pretty amazing. The graphics were about the same as the Zune HD and framerates felt pretty consistent -- overall, we'd place what we saw next to the PSP, but obviously we didn't do any real testing or comparisons here. Controls were responsive and worked fine, although there weren't any accelerometer-driven actions -- you tapped on an enemy to fire at it, and double-tapped to super-jump. We also managed to trigger two Xbox achievements, which were totally fluid and integrated. Of course, none of this is final, and it's all subject to change, but its was certainly nice to actually use the OS to launch and play a game -- now all we need is a real device with a final OS and we'll be able to form some real impressions.
In talking to Microsoft's Andre Vrignaud (who did us the solid of showing us the game in the second video), he made an important point: though The Harvest is an extraordinarily sexy way of demonstrating the kind of raw power Windows Phone 7 Series' standard spec is going to have, these kinds of games won't be Xbox Live's major focus out of the gate -- they're looking more toward so-called "mobile minute" games, casual experiences that you can call up quickly, take a turn, and move on with your life. Ultimately, of course, we'd like to see a proliferation of both styles -- and there were enough third-party developers listening in on the 3D game development sessions here at MIX10 this week that we're pretty confident we'll see that happen.
This looks like good gameplay for a phone !
No Clue why you guys are so impressed with Window 7 mobile. It's not bad but its nothing special. bland.
You guys went to a club in Vegas and you played a game on your phone.
Yup, you're definitely nerds :)
@SecretlyFat
or bring the game with you into the club if you can't find a date at the club
@Kunta Kinte You do realize that they're not gonna make touchscreen ONLY devices right?
I remember some troll tried to pull the same s### on Android: "Wow I thought gaming on a touchscreen device was bad11!!!1" baww, QQ and so on.
That game needs a keypad desperately...
@Kunta Kinte You did? That was foolish of you.
interesting...now will it play Crysis? **couldn;t resist**
that cool looking game needs better controls tho : /
hey, I'm interested in this phone too, but damn. this vid is no different than the gaming demo you guys posted yesterday. I fear there could be an over saturation of coverage
I have no idea why people are flipping out of Windows Mobile 7 Series gaming...is it because it's officially 3D?
I mean perhaps you guys haven't seen handhelds like the DSi or heck even the psp portable (the failure that is).
I mean games are fun for phones but that's not going to be the deciding factor as to what makes WM7S good or not.
Good news for Sprint I guess with the nexus one. Its still not as good as the iPhone but I guess it will help keep Sprint relevant until the Supersonic drops.
@TheRogueFFAngel No, I think it's because of the internals running the games, and the development platform being used, which if I'm not mistaken, is above the DSi and on-par with the PSP.
You're right though. Games aren't an end-all-be-all, however it's a something that consumers nowadays are taking into consideration. Users seem to be very happy with their games on the iPhone; I've seen one with at least 16+ games on it (including one of my personal favorites, Labyrinth).
@Kunta Kinte Then maybe you have a perception deficiency. Thanks for missing my point though.
http://www.phonedog.com/2010/03/16/mix10-wp7s-phones-revisited-with-a-little-surprise/
Focus on the one on the right.
Microsoft is going to show apple how it's done.
more unprofessionalism....
Oh, for the love of... dam... Microsoft! Why do you keep teasing me with things like awesome 3D gaming?! I won't even be able to get a phone to play this for months and months! I'm stuck with a Nokia N95 and can't in good conscience spend money on an HTC Desire with something like WP7S on the horizon. Either ship awesomeness or fail spectacularly but please do it soon so that I can buy a new phone!
@Kunta Kinte
@ marc
Thats what you apple haters have been preaching for God knows how long now....
Hypocrites as usual.
Watch Apple supporters the Apple haters will now claim that 3D gaming supersedes the ever glorified multitasking and copy and paste.
Anything to make this new os from MS supposedly superior to the iPhone OS.
Sorry but MS shot themselves in the foot this time.
@TheRogueFFAngel It is? Huh, weird, I don't remember ever saying that. Ohhh, I get it, you're assuming that anyone who isn't a rabid Apple fan is still under some kind of similar hive-mind. Nope, out here we make our own choices based on the relative value of a given product.
Besides, even for the hardcore Microsoft fans, why would they be against touchscreen only devices? All the best Windows Mobile devices are touchscreen only. This whole argument fails because it was never the Microsoft fans who said that, it was the PSP/Sony fans.
@TheRogueFFAngel
Hehe, you called Kunta Kinte an Apple hater. Perception deficiency as well?
Anyway multitasking isn't "true", so while the power users may be heartbroken, average consumers really won't care. Clipboard functionality isn't really ruled out yet, but it doesn't matter. Conclusions have been jumped.
Do you have a grudge here? Vendetta maybe? I think you and your ilk should stop getting so pissed at a minority of people over the internet insulting your mobile phone's OS (trying to prove hypocrisy, and failing at it). I couldn't think of a worse reason to be angry at the world.
The gaming potential of WP7S is the only positive thing left going for the platform.
WP7S has copy paste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrwE3_OuCE
WP7S has background multitasking of 3rd party apps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5G-Jj33XQI
@TareG I've seen both. The naysayers however believe that it's either a "fake", or "just how the emulator works". Still, I'm not jumping to conclusions on these subjects. Best to wait and see.
@TareG tip engadget with those links. It might stop the rabid jumping to conclusions about devices which won't be released for another 6 months at least.
oh my god, not fully touch screen. don't they realise that it is not better than actual buttons
my rest room breaks at work will never be the same once I get this phone! cannot wait!
Apple are going to have to come out with something extra special this year to keep me now once my Iphone 3G contract is up in September. I don't give a toss about copy and paste, never used it anyway.
@Kunta Kinte
For the most part, it is.
Give me buttons!
Graphics don't look too bad on that thing, i wonder how it compares to the iPhone gaming hmmmmm...?
I'm sure if you're really worried about buttons you can get a WINMO7 phone with the keyboard and PROGRAM it to use certain buttons as movement, just like you can do on a PC game.....I don't see why developers wouldn't make that an option. If you're REALLY that worried about handheld controls. As for me, I like touch screen controls, they work just fine and won't be getting a phone with an actualy keyboard.
Can't watch video. Posting from an iPhone.
@JohnMKeynes
You just need to enable the flash....... oh wait nevermind.
Can't watch the video becuase my IPOD doesn't have FLASH.
Thanks Steve jobs
Anyone who says they can't understand why people might want to game on their phone obviously has never been to the DMV in the US.
wow i really hope android has something big in store like this i might have to switch to a WINDOWS MOBILE PHONE what has the world come to
Wow, pretty nice looking. Lets hope they don't drop the basics of a good working device like apple Did.
this looks like a spectacularly boring game
10 tap location
20 tap bad guy
30 goto 10
sooo coooolllll ... I want one ... NOW
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