According to Kotaku and the above picture from internal Microsoft marketing material, Xbox LIVE is on its way to mobile phones under the name “Xbox LIVE Games.” The catch? It looks as though the service will only be available on phones which run on Windows Mobile operating systems. So unless you have a Windows phone (and let’s face it, you don’t even know anyone who does) don’t get too excited for the prospect of Marvel vs Capcom mobile.
The name of the service seems to promise real mobile gaming rather than mobile access to member information and marketplace storefront ala xbox.com, but without more than the above picture, any statements about what the service actually entails are merely speculation.
If the service really does involve mobile games and branches out beyond Windows phones don’t expect to see it on your iPhone anytime soon. With the restrictive way applications work on Apple’s device, it seems unlikely they would allow an app which essentially serves as a second app store for games on the device.
The decision to limit the service to Windows phones is already drawing criticism, but it’s not much of a surprise given Microsoft’s track record. This is, after all, the company that adopted a standard for music protection (playsforsure) only to abandon it in favor of an exclusive new protection system when they released their own mp3 player, forcing people to re-purchase music bought from the MSN Store if they wanted to play it on their Zune. What is surprising is the lack of any mention of support for the Wi-Fi enabled Zune. It would make sense for Microsoft to follow Apple’s track record of allowing access to apps on both their phone and touchscreen mp3 player. Microsoft has been trying to integrate the Zune with Xbox 360s for several years, most recently by replacing the video marketplace on the 360 with the Zune marketplace.
With these self-imposed limitations this new service almost seems like a waste of time, but maybe as more details emerge there will be something more to this service that will save it from going the way of Windows ME.
