The gap that needs closing

[Pronk]

Last night I had a good browse of the iOS app store on my iPad, which I haven't done for a few weeks. I picked up a couple of games - Nyx's quest and Rogue Sky - for 69p each, and also played a game I've had for a while but not got round to getting into yet: Nova 2.

All three have excellent 3D graphics, music and console-quality gameplay yet are all very different genres, and all three cost me less than ?5 IN TOTAL. And most of that was Nova 2.

Microsoft has a lot of money. A LOT of money. They should be looking at what Apple have done in mobile gaming from being nowhere a few years ago, and not let devs charge more in the WP7 marketplace but actively sub them to develop titles to attract buyers and widen the market. The games experience is the single thing I feel is genuinely lacking in the WP7 ecosystem. The OS is splendid and will only improve with mango, there are apps for more or less everything else you could want, there's the Zune store for music, and there's a great range of hardware. But the games are a weakpoint. And for the only phone with Xbox Live, that's absolutely glaring. Where's the WP7 exclusive Halo spinoff? The WP7 exclusive Gears of War spinoff? The Forza spinoff? And I mean proper 3D shooters/racers here, not some weird (and not that great anyway) subgame like Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst.

There's a huge opportunity here - the WP7 platform can offer base-level specs across the board so won't suffer from the crazy fragmentation of Android (the biggest market of all isn't that big if only 10% of users can run your premium title and it needs constant tweaks and adjustment for everyone else). There's a whole host of new users to be attracted from the WebOS community too. Seriously, MS - show the devs the money. Heck, pay for the games yourself. Just don't let the opportunity sail past.

 

[GekkoAce]

I think the games and apps on wp7 are higher quality than iOS. There just aren't as many and wp7's are higher priced. At least we get to try before buying though, so at least we know we will like the app before shelling out the extra $.

Sent from my Samsung Focus using WP7!

 

[Pronk]

I'm not saying there aren't any good games on WP7 - far from it. And a few are equal quality to the better stuff on iOS, that's absolutely true. Higher quality than the *best* on iOS? Nope - can't agree and I don't think many other people would either. There's simply nothing on WP7 of the AAA calibre of Infinity Blade, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Real Racing 2, Zen Bound 2 (to name a few in a few categories). Yet. Will there be? I really hope so.

As I said, for the phone with Xbox Live this *really* stands out and why I think it really needs to be a priority for MS.

 

[cdook]

I'm fine with the current Xbox Live release schedule. There's usually a new game every Wednesday with a previous game going on sale. Sure there aren't as many games, but I don't think there is any problem with the quality.

 

[Pronk]

Again, I have to disagree. There are good games, but there are very, very few awesome AAA titles. Name me one third-person game of the quality of Dead Space or Infinity Blade on WP7. A racing game as good as Asphalt 6, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, or Real Racing 2. A shooter on par with Black Pegasus. A space sim on par with Galaxy on Fire 2.

You won't be able to, because those games aren't there. The state of gaming on WP7 is where the iPhone was a couple of years ago. WP7 has been around less time, sure - but the problem is consumers will not wait for years for it to catch up, and the iOS market (and Android to a lesser extent) won't stay still either. Where's the Unreal Engine games? Why haven't iD - massive supporters of the Windows gaming market - been courted to get Rage on WP7 as well as iOS?

There's no problem with the quality of games releases as long as you stay within the walled garden of WP7. But if you're a consumer looking at what's available on all formats before making a handset purchase, there's a big gap. And as per the title of the thread, if MS want WP7 to succeed, they've got to do something about it sooner rather than later.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Twin blades

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

 

[Pronk]

Yes, Twin Blades is a nice little game. I own it. AAA material? Even being a fan of the game, not really. It's the sort of good but not astounding impulse buy title that should be under a pound/dollar.

This is my point. Not that WP7 has no good games. Just that all it has at the top end are "good" games - no flat-out jaw dropping killer app titles.

 

[cdook]

Hydro Thunder Go has to be the best handheld racing game out there. I'd consider it AAA. Katamari is a great game too. I haven't played the games you mention so I can't make a comparison. The good thing with MS is they'll find the popular games and pay to get them ported.

 

[Terrin]

Those iphone titles are excellent but lets break it down the ios *ipod touch app store has been available for what roughly 4 years and look at the first few years of gaming for those. we are lucky to have what we have with porting and the exclusives we have. If the market expands we will see alot of devs from ios and android pop over to wp7 until then ms is doing the best they can at grabbing the big titles. Ala angry birds, doodle jump games people know and "need". but as said ms is doign the best and gameloft and all those titles are waiting for mango as some will need async mp, or even for shooters with blood needed the rating system *why splinter cell has been delayed as they are m rated*. So after mango give 5-6 months and we will see if gameloft announces some of there other titles.

 

[Paul Acevedo]

Pronk, you're basically saying that even though you know it takes time for a software library to build up and for "AAA" games to come out on a platform, Microsoft needs to leapfrog that and instantly make the WP7 software library into the equivalent of the iOS library. But that's impossible. A lot of bigger games just won't come along until the install base is higher, and that's not going to change.

I guess it's true that Microsoft could just dump piles of money on a developer's doorstep and completely pay them to port a big game like Infinity Blade to WP7 regardless of how profitable it would be. But that really wouldn't make them more money than just waiting and letting the developer do it on their own when the time is right.

With that said, Microsoft should definitely be courting developers and publishers who aren't on board yet, like id, Square Enix, and Zynga. They are probably doing so right now and we just don't know about it yet.

 

[Pronk]

It's not about building up a software library which yes, would take time, so much as getting some really top top quality titles there that people will take note of. Will it cost? Yes. Would it be worth MS paying for to improve the format's image and prospects? Absolutely.

Consider it a form of advertising if you like, to show the OS is mature and has really arrived.

Oh, and Hydro Thunder's pretty good - that's approaching the kind of quality I mean.