[#SaveXboxWP] Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend.

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

Back to the bad news after a nice resurgence of sorts: on 25 September 2014, Gameloft released their eighteenth-consecutive non-Xbox game for Windows Phone, Asphalt Overdrive . This is the second non-Xbox Asphalt game on WP, the first of which (Asphalt 8) started the #SaveXboxWP movement back in November 2013. Lucky for us, there are still two Xbox-enabled Asphalt games in the store, Asphalt 7 and Asphalt 5.

 

[Jas00555]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

Where is Gameloft Ryan? Maybe he could tell the devs to look into seeing about Xbox integration.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 29 September 2014, Microsoft Studios released Xbox-enabled game Secrets and Treasure for both Windows Phone. As is the trend with their recent releases, it cloud syncs with a Windows 8/RT version. This is a fun--and free--puzzle game akin to Peggle. This is also the 7th Xbox game on WP to be released in the past 7 weeks!

Where is Gameloft Ryan? Maybe he could tell the devs to look into seeing about Xbox integration.

He was initially sympathetic to the #SaveXboxWP movement when he came aboard last year, but we haven't heard from him much since then.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

The good news is that we have more evidence Minecraft: Pocket Edition is coming soon to Windows Phone. The bad news is that, in the screen shot posted on Twitter by one of the developers, the game icon doesn't show an Xbox banner atop it. Please tweet to the developer, @_tomcc, telling him we want it to be Xbox enabled. Or, better yet, retweet my tweet to him saying just that. #SaveXboxWP, baby!

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 13 October 2014, Gameloft released their nineteenth-consecutive non-Xbox game for Windows Phone, Cars: Fast as Lightning .

Anyway, be sure to re-tweet the tweet I posted in my previous post above this one, as it calls out the Minecraft on Windows Phone developers and urges them to make the game Xbox Live-certified!

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 11 November 2014, Ubisoft released Shape Up: Battle Run, a kind of fitness game and companion app to the Kinect-enabled fitness game, Shape Up, on Xbox One. However, the game is not Xbox branded on Windows Phone, which is the first Ubisoft game on Windows Phone not to be an Xbox game. Given the game's hybrid nature as a game/companion app, it's not clear how foreboding this is, but given that it pairs up with an exclusive Xbox One game, it would've made sense (to me) for this mobile version to be Xbox-certified as well.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 12 November 2014, Rovio did the unimaginable: they updated the previously non-Xbox Windows Phone game, Bad Piggies (released on 14 April 2014 as the 2nd consecutive non-Xbox release from Rovio) with Xbox integration ! Even better, their two other non-Xbox games on WP, Angry Birds Epic and Angry Birds Go are popping up in the Xbox section of the Windows Phone app store, intimating that they too may get the green banner presently! This is a major victory for the #SaveXboxWP movement as it marks a turning point where a previously zealous supporter of Xbox gaming on WP abandoned ship and then realized that was a mistake and reverted back to the good side.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

The Lumia Conversations blog has a nice write up about exactly what #SaveXboxWP is trying to convince Microsoft to promote: the seamless Xbox experience between WP and Windows 8/RT.

 

[zalmah]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

Great to see a community movement like this picking up some pace and gathering momentum.

Good luck guys!

 

[anon8855939]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

I think #SaveXboxWP is quite successful.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

Things are looking up for Xbox on WP: on 24 November 2014, Windows Central reported that a new development company, Game Troopers will begin porting games to WP/W8. Their first game will be Tiny Troopers and will have Xbox achievements! Be sure to thank @gametrooperswp and encourage them to bring more Xbox games to WP.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 26 November 2014, just over a year since they released their very first non-Xbox game on WP, Gameloft released their twentieth-consecutive non-Xbox game for Windows Phone, Pastry Paradise . The one plus side is that most of those 20 games are freemium crap, so by abandoning Xbox integration they've actually spared us from slugging through them.

On another positive note, Game Troopers mobile has favorited a #SaveXboxWP tweets that asked them to continue bringing more Xbox games to WP. That bodes well for future Xbox WP ports!

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 3 December 2014, Sega released their first non-Xbox game on Windows Phone, Sonic Dash . Although it had been years since Sega supported mobile gaming on Windows Phone, all previous Sega games were fully Xbox-certified. The loss of another major publisher from Xbox mobile gaming, just after the recent splurge in Xbox-enabled WP games, really stings. Be sure to tell @SEGA how disappointing this is.

 

[Usama Jawad96]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 3 December 2014, Sega released their first non-Xbox game on Windows Phone, Sonic Dash . Although it had been years since Sega supported mobile gaming on Windows Phone, all previous Sega games were fully Xbox-certified. The loss of another major publisher from Xbox mobile gaming, just after the recent splurge in Xbox-enabled WP games, really stings. Be sure to tell @SEGA how disappointing this is.

Regardless,it's a great game for people who love endless runners.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

Regardless,it's a great game for people who love endless runners.

It could've been even better with Xbox achievements, which would've distinguished it from the iOS and Android versions. If they're going to make us wait for games, they should come with extra features like Xbox integration.

Anyway, that bad news has now been replaced by good news, as, on 4 December 2014, Game Troopers made their WP publishing debut with the Xbox-enabled game, Tiny Troopers! This marks the second new third-party developer to release their first Xbox WP game this year (after 505 Games). Rumor has it that Game Troopers will continue to support Xbox gaming on WP in the future, so don't hesitate to send them a tweet of thanks: @gametrooperswp

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 10 December 2014, Microsoft Studios stuck a dagger in the hearts of mobile Xbox gamers by releasing their most anticipated game of all time for Windows Phone, Minecraft: Pocket Edition, without Xbox integration. This is the first Microsoft Studios game on WP to lack Xbox support.

As painful and upsetting as this is, there is still hope that Microsoft will right the wrong and patch in Xbox support later on. The backstory behind this all can partially explain the lack of Xbox integration initially, as Microsoft didn't purchase Mojang--the creators of Minecraft--until September 2014, and the deal didn't finalize until November 2014, meaning that this game was in development for Windows Phone well before Mojang became a part of Mojang. In fact, Mojang's lead developers for Minecraft: Pocket Edition independently confirmed on Twitter months ago that Minecraft: Pocket Edition for WP has been in development for awhile. Eric Neustadter (@thevowel), the Operations Manager for Xbox Live, confirmed this when he promptly replied to a #SaveXboxWP tweet asking why Minecraft: Pocket Edition lacks Xbox Live integration by pointing out that this game was in development months ago but that Mojang only became a part of Microsoft Studios last month. (Alternatively, what this also means is that Mojang would've joined a growing trend of third-party developers who released games for Windows Phone without Xbox integration for, even before becoming a first-party development studio for Microsoft Studios, they could've released the game as an Xbox game on WP but clearly chose not to do so).

As Mojang only officially became a part of Microsoft Studios last month, and as this game was already in development, it's likely that Microsoft Studios choose to get the game out to the marketplace as soon as possible, while fixing omissions later on (more evidence of this is that the game currently is only for WP8.1 devices and won't work with WP8.0). So, the hope is that they will patch in Xbox integration in a future update, but there is no guarantee of this, and, currently, we have no official word from Microsoft that this will happen. So, in the meantime, let's inundate them all with #SaveXboxWP tweets (see the list of Xbox executives above) asking for Minecraft: Pocket Edition for WP to become Xbox certified!

Mini Update: When asked via Twitter if Xbox integration will be patched in later on, Eric Neustadter (@thevowel), the Operations Manager for Xbox Live, said "I have no idea. Sorry."​

 

[theefman]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

More like a dagger to the corpse of Xbox on WP.....

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 11 December 2014, King made their publishing debut on Windows Phone, releasing their undeservedly popular game, Candy Crush Saga. However, as is the trend with recent third-party companies, the game launched without Xbox achievements, another huge missed opportunity for Microsoft to differentiate the Windows Phone platform.

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 12 December 2014, HyperDevBoX Japan made their Xbox-enabled WP publishing debut with ExZeus2, a 3D mech shooter game that is also Xbox-enabled on Windows 8/RT (but not as a universal app)! This marks the third new third-party developer to release their first Xbox WP game this year (after 505 Games and Game Troopers). This is especially promising because they had previously released a JRPG, Spectral Souls, without Xbox Live integration. Be sure to say thanks to @Hyperdevbox, and maybe ask them if they can update Spectral Souls with Xbox Live too!

 

[coip]

Re: Asphalt 8 is NOT an Xbox Title: Let's Mobilize to Reverse the Trend. #SaveXboxWP

On 12 December 2014, Microsoft Studios released Xbox-enabled game Microsoft Bingo for Windows Phone. The game cloud syncs with it's Xbox-enabled Windows 8/RT cousin of the same name, and fits into Microsoft's longstanding selection of Xbox-enabled casual parlor games, along with Microsoft Mahjong, Microsoft Minesweeper, and Microsoft Solitaire Collection.