New smartphones links to Xbox Live services

Last month, Microsoft announced that it is bringing its video game expertise to the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 line, an attempt to capitalise on the success of th Xbox 360 as the software maker tries to compete with Apple's iPhone. Microsoft said that a dedicated group within Microsoft Game Studio will develop video games for Windows phones, help outside game publishers and scout out small, independent game makers. Video game companies will be able to use the same tools to make a game for a Windows phone as they do for the Xbox 360 console.

Microsoft also announces the list of games which will be available to Windows Phone 7 which includes Xbox 360 popular games
like "Guitar Hero 5", "Halo Waypoint", "Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst", and its upcoming puzzle game "ilomilo" stars Ilo and Milo, two miniaturized Teletubby-looking creatures exploring "surrealistic and ever changing" environments, forever questing to be reunited.

Gamers will be able to keep track to their scores, check out new games and send messeges to their fellow gamers. Gamers can also be able to interact with their animated game-world avatar, a cartoon character customized to look like them. The iPhone showed us that the future of mobile gaming was going to be on your phone, and now that just got a lot more interesting. The potential's there, and hopefully the games will be plentiful and awesome enough to meet it.

Microsoft's Xbox initiative may help sway some phone buyers who are already into video games. The company is also hoping that Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 devices might get a boost from the upcoming launch of Kinect, a motionsensing game controller for the Xbox 360. Like the Nintendo Wii, Kinect is expected to lure people who haven't traditionally been interested in video games.