14 DAY TRIAL // As soon as the next version of Windows Phone will arrive on the market, users will enjoy a great deal of new features when compared to what the platform had to offer before.
Among the enhancements that Windows Phone Mango will bring forth, we can count some that will affect the experience users will enjoy from the Games Hub on the device.
Not only will the new platform release come with a series of features aimed at improving the overall experience users receive from their devices, but it will also be accompanied by new games.
Today at Gamescom, members of the Xbox team at Microsoft unveiled a number of 14 Xbox LIVE titles that should become available for Windows Phone Mango users in the following months.
The list includes: Beards & Beaks: Cave Area, Bug Village, Burn the Rope, Chickens Can’t Fly, Collapse!, Gravity Guy, Farm Frenzy 2, Fight Game Rivals, IonballEX, Kinectimals Mobile, Mush, Orbital, TextTwist 2 and Toy Soldiers Boot Camp.
The games should satisfy all tastes that's for sure. In addition to enjoying puzzle games, users will also have to manage a colony of ants or a farm, take care of animals, enter tournaments and more, all straight on the Windows Phone device in their hands.
At the annual Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, Microsoft also presented some of the new Xbox LIVE features that will be included in Mango, and which should become available both for existing devices as soon as they are upgraded, and for upcoming phones.
Some of the main features included on the list would be:
Avatar Awardables: Like achievements—but wearable. Once unlocked, these items will automatically appear in your avatar closet and can be worn on your avatar’s sleeve as a badge of honor. “Chickens Can’t Fly,” a forthcoming Xbox LIVE release, will be among the first titles to feature them. Game Add-ons: In the Xbox LIVE title “Beards & Beaks," players can purchase extra mushrooms and other items from within the game using Microsoft Points. In the months ahead, keep your eyes out for more titles in Marketplace that let you buy in-game add-ons and downloadable content like extra weapons or levels. Parental Controls: The next release of Windows Phone gives parents more control of what content their child can access on Windows Phone, including M-rated (Mature) games. The first M-rated Windows Phone title, “Splinter Cell: Conviction,” is scheduled to arrive in the Marketplace later this fall. Fast Async: A new Xbox LIVE service coming this fall that improves gameplay for multiplayer, turn-by-turn (or asynchronous) Windows Phone games.
Those of you who would like to learn additional info on the announcement should have a look at the Gamescom conference's website, or at Xbox' press room. The aforementioned 14 new titles are briefly presented on the Windows Phone blog here.
