The 40 Windows 8 Games Microsoft Hopes Will Get You to Upgrade

Windows 8 is just around the corner and, whatever happens, it's going to be a major change for Microsoft. The changes to the core Windows experience are bound to be controversial to say the least.

The fact is, while tablets may be all the rage, touch has never been something PC users wanted. Then again, given that they had no real choice in the matter so far, maybe they just didn't know better.

In any case, Microsoft is determined to make it clear that touch input is here to stay and that it has a place on the PC or rather, the tablet/laptop hybrids that are being showcased at an increasingly rapid pace recently and which are going to make the most of what Windows 8 has to offer.

But, while Windows 8 and its modern UI are built with touch input in mind, the OS alone won't cut it. Microsoft needs apps and it knows it.

And what better apps to showcase Windows 8 and the myriad of touch input laptops and Windows 8 tablets that are about to launch than games.

After all, it's games that pushed smartphone harder and tablet hardware the most and games are the first thing people experience when they buy a tablet for the first time.

Which is why the game selection for Windows 8 is very important. Now, obviously, we're not talking about traditional PC games here, that market needs no push. In fact, "hardcore" gamers aren't all that keen on Windows 8 to begin with.

But it's not these gamers that Microsoft is targeting, it's the "tablet" gamers that the company wants to entice, gamers of the casual variety.

So it's no surprise that many of the notable games in the list of 40 titles Microsoft has revealed will be landing in the Windows 8 app store and in the Xbox Games app are plucked straight from the mobile and tablet space, Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Fruit Ninja and so on. Don't worry though, Minesweeper and Solitaire are still in there too.

Incidentally, games are being used to push another big component of Windows 8, Internet Explorer 10. Microsoft teamed up with Atari to bring eight classic titles to the web by making the most of what HTML5, CSS3 and company have offer.