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Xbox Live coming to Windows phones

Xbox Live friends lists, avatars, and games soon to be accessible from Windows mobile phones; cross-platform multiplayer across Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360 and PC will be possible.

257 Comments

Today at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress show, Microsoft announced that it is set to bring Xbox Live to the Windows Phone 7 Series operating system. This means that Xbox Live account holders will be able to view their friends lists, gamerscore, and avatars using compatible mobile devices, as well as download games to play online.

Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7.
Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7.

As outlined in Bill Gates' "Live anywhere" speech at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2006, games developed for Windows Phone 7 Series devices can support achievements and multiplayer gameplay, allowing Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360, and PC users to compete against each other. Microsoft is enforcing a minimum specification for new devices built on the platform, indicating that they will sport accelerometers, high resolution, and four-point multi-touch screens.

In an interview with GameSpot's sister site News.com, Microsoft senior vice president of Mobile Communications Andy Lees detailed how multiplatform gaming will work.

"So let's say that we were playing Scrabble or something. I'm not sure if we should use that trademark, but just as an idea. If I wanted to play against you, then you want to get a notification on your [Xbox] Live tile that, hey, someone has invited you to play a game. And then I go into the gaming Xbox Live hub, and I see that you've invited me to a game of Scrabble, or in the middle of a game of Scrabble, and it's my turn. I take my turn, and then you take your turn, and you can take your turn on a PC, or you can take your turn on a phone. So Xbox Live is coordinating all of that--coordinates your achievements, has your avatar across screens, and enables you to have multi-screen, multi-user play, particularly focused on turn by turn. Synchronized game play is one thing, but given that people spend less time, really, turn-by-turn is, we think, an important element as well."

The new home screen.
The new home screen.

Xbox Live will form one part of the Windows Phone 7 Series platform, which will also feature a brand new tile-based user interface. The new user interface is based on six hubs; people, pictures, music, office, marketplace, and games. Each hub will pull in data from sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Windows Live, integrating the information from multiple different sources. Zune users will also be able to use their existing accounts to download music and videos. Devices based on Windows Phone 7 Series are set to be made available in the fourth quarter of 2010.

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majindustin

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hey, it's only been 4 years, i mean i've seen some of the dumbest simplest apps on the marketplace and yet it takes microsoft 4 years to make one

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kanstruku

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cool

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LiliShake

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For those who are saying MS needs support... from engaget: "Naturally, there are plenty of companies -- both on the hardware and carrier front -- on board for Windows Phone 7 Series, and so far support has been pledged by Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG (rumored to have a device ready by September), Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Toshiba on the hardware end. When it comes to carriers, the list is even longer, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. Needless to say, there will be no shortage of availability when WP7 comes to market." And remember, this is thier new Windows phone OS. This isn't just a gaming machine. It's go hard or go home, and judging by what they've shown, I can guess which of the two options Microsoft is choosing.

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Spybreak

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@chikahiro94 Yeah Worms Party Mobile! You could play people around the world or locally. Hey I can dream.

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KaizerJinn

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hm... interesting..

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Hvac0120

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Curious if there will be a different experience for Gold and Silver members of XBL... I've watched the videos and read the announcements and WP7S seems like a neat way to go with the mobile platform. If Microsoft can get its XBL video and game marketplace on there as well as greatly expand its phone apps marketplace, then Microsoft could have a hit on their hands. The greatest power of the iPhone is its app store. Produce a comparable OS and match or beat their app store in quality, price, and quanitity and you've got a hit. I'm certainly interested to see the phones and what the Marketplace has to offer. _

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Flint247

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These RRoD jokes are getting old.

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chikahiro94

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@Spybreak Worms? On a smartphone? Maybe have online play? I like the way you think :)

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LVMVP23

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i think windows mobile on my htc pro 2 js pretty good.. so this prollyh want be too bad

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Avatar image for k0r3aN_pR1d3
k0r3aN_pR1d3

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Microsoft's position in the mobile sector has been weakening steadily ever since the release of the Xbox 360 and diversion of funds to their Xbox program. Ever since the iPhone has come out and the wild success it has been (billions for Apple, with a stock price that is the envy of the tech world), they have been looking at their rapidly degenerating mobile services. Then out comes Android and everyone knows the story about Droid and HTC. I'm gonna be cautious about what Microsoft is going to try to do with 7. The mobile arena today is very very different from 4 years ago when Microsoft was king. Not to mention, this is a smartphone, a product catered to the adult audience (21-45 generally) who mostly do not own a video game console. For now, 7 has great potential but right now, we are going to see some very interesting competition between Google and Microsoft respectively. Will developers want to pursue a open source platform with little restrictions or pursue tighter restrictions, but for Xbox? Microsoft needs to think of their focus real carefully. Imagine clean cut professionals on Wall Street, black suits, navy blue ties, walking around, getting a cup of coffee. Do you think they are going to be interested with "Xbox Live" that their 14 year old son utilizes? Or on productivity?

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Zarnaken

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I did say before in a different comment that things may merge and look it seems that the junk will now have a loop hole to jump through and create a lot of shovelware for the major consoles. Well, we all had a good time just looking at a few games and finding some good ones off the bat...now we're gonna have to dig them out...sigh... "Somehow I told you so...doesn't quite cover it."

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JCASHUFL

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PC - xbox multiplayer is NOT a good idea. keyboards vs. controllers? so much for playing modern warfare 2

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Cabal23

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Great now I can be barraged by pop ups telling me that my friends are online while I am at work.

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steelmouth

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am not too much into all this online stuff but this sound great make me wish i was part of the live and all this online stuff

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Ravenlore_basic

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WOW yet anoter attempt and yet another failure. keep it up MS... after having hulu chage the code so it does not run on PS3 (google it) BUt with Android, Iphone, RIM, Palm and others, I do not think this will make much of a dent. I just hope Sony partners with Google to get PSN on phones. and make a PSP2 phone. also a Nintendo DS phone would be cool with Google android.

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SicklySunStorm

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@Fz1994 - yes they do. It's called being a smart company. Sony and Nintendo all have their own ways of doing the same thing - it's why all 3, MS, Sony and Nintendo are successful.

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Fz1994

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wow they always find a way to take more money...

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monson21502

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wow so they are gonna make xbloxlive free then? or they bringing this out for hardcore phone gamers so 360 gamers have someone to beat. since pc gamers beat them all the time with the legendary keyboard and mouse controls.

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Spybreak

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This is the right direction. Now for them to let us play Uno, Worms, Catan/Carcossonne and that new Risk game on our phones we'll be in pretty good shape. Next I expect multiplayer quake live baby!

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sartnd

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So my phone gonna get RRoD?

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Flint247

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I honestly didn't see a Microsoft phone coming. It should be an interesting competitor to the iPhone, but who knows...

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BigBigR

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@sleepnsurf Got mine for $300, Slim. Waited for the price drop, as have many others. And could've gotten it even cheaper, but I prefer to buy a product 1st hand. Besides, with an online service fee on the 360 you really shouldn't be talking about investment on the PS3. Just saying.

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SDBusDriver1979

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Tell me when I can play Xbox Live games on my phone.

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Trogeton

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WOW this is great

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fleshimp91

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Windows Mobile 7 looks nice but first they have to prove their worth against Android, which Sony Ericsson, HTC & a few other compaines are backing up... Once they take over them, they can try and play with the big boys..

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King_Dweedle

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I heard windows 7 is pretty good so why wouldn't it be successful on a phone?

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xFL4WL3SSx

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Windows Mobile 7 will never be better than the iphone OS,not even android,just being honest here,I like microsoft,Im a PC and an xbox 360 owner,but I know this,iphone OS is just simply the best out there.

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Thomasdeleo

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I'll never give up my iPhone so forget it for me.

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okassar

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MIphone, lol jk that would be lame but hey the new interface looks great and apparently they're completely rewriting the code for their mobile series and they're building the new phones ground up, not to mention they will have support for virtually any mobile company in the U.S, unlike Apple and Google. I'll probably end up getting it, I like MS products.

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raimunds

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why xbox live, phone live

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Franzkill

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@BigBIGr Don't worry my friend your not alone.:)

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PS3callofduty

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Imo, all companies try to make alot of products, and most of them turn out suckish(im lookin at you EA.) They should spend that money to make good stuff not make more crap. As the old saying goes, quality beats quanity. And Sony should stop making those fail PSPs. Honestly, its pathetic how theyve changed the PSP.

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redskinStu

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How exciting. How did we ever live without this?

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chikahiro94

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To the PS3 fanboys: The newer systems are far more reliable, and Microsoft covered with a 3 year warranty, no class action lawsuit needed. Get over it. To the 360 fanboys: The PS3 isn't $600 anymore, and the vast majority of PS3 owners didn't buy it at that price anyhow. Get over it. To both of you: Sony and Microsoft end up "in bed" with each other for other things. Its not a black-and-white, "us or them" world out there. LIke Microsoft actually having their codec licensed to both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray (so either way, they win). And because of the way Microsoft is licensing this out? Hey, wouldn't it be funny if Sony made one themselves...?

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Darkon_X

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Can we get this for the Zune HD? Come back when it's announced for the Zune Microsoft. Oh by the way, I'm dissapointed at microsof'ts lack of software support for the Zune HD. I'm loving the Zune HD, but 10 apps? Really? Come on MS, you can do better than that.

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ItsEvolution

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So...there's been no NEW news since Friday? I'm tired of looking at these same news items.

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BigBigR

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There is no Windows 7 Phone yet. The mobile OS has just been announced on MWC. Windows Mobile 6.5 is the most recent OS windows phones have right now. Microsoft is changing their Windows Mobile (which has up to 6.5) platform to Windows Phone (which will start on Windows Phone 7 - NOT Windows 7 Phone). So they're scratching MOBILE and replacing it with PHONE. Also, about sluggish phones with Windows Mobile on them - it's the phone's fault. HTC HD2, with a 1Ghz Snapdragon CPU and Windows Mobile 6.5 is very fast and... snappy. Don't expect phones with a 300MHz ARM11 to run as fast. And no, even though I've had some experience with Windows Mobile and HTC HD2, I have a Nokia phone with Symbian OS. So yeah, I'm no fanboy. Don't have a Sony Ericsson either.

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wiidominance

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I've got the HTC HD2 a Windows Mobile 6.5/7 phone. that thing can freakin play PS1 games, << LINK REMOVED >> only problem, just like anything Windows, its not user friendly, if you have the patience, its far superior than Apple.

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TheBlackSpeed

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People use Windows 7 phones? *snicker*

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King_Dweedle

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if you could see boobies with xbox live it might matter. but you cant. so whats the point?

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oneligas

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Phones are for talking not playing with your "avatar"!

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dreamsteel

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You can access your xbox live account from any internet capable phone and the iPhone has several apps that allow access to your live account and messaging friends.

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rockwii13

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Does anyone use Windows 7 phones?

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Kleeyook

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I still don't think Windows 7 Phone would beat iPhone in term of gaming though. :(

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sircyrus

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Woopty-dee-doo. Get rid of the fee for Xbox Live and then maybe I'd be excited.

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Dmitheon

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The ability to earn gamerscore during my daily commute? It's about time :-)

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rockstar_88

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Yes! This is just what I always wanted! XBOX Live on my smartphone! Now I can get Modern Warfare 2 invites while I'm on the road! Honestly, I think Windows is wasting too much time and way too many resoures for a function many many people are not going to utilize. XBOX Live is already amazing; why not just focus exclusively on that?

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HectorFAO

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Sounds cool but, im pretty sure it will need alot of work since the Windows OS phones dont work too good.. ive had a few of them .. Too bad im with Sony. But good job MS. Keep working on that to make it top notch. and drop the whole paying casual games on the phones.. Noone needs their phone to freeze after playing a game to try to make an important call..

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uberjannie

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Like my windows smartphone isnt SLOW enough. Browsing through the menus makes me want to throw the damn phone out of the window. Ive had many windows mobile business telephones and they are slow as hell. After a certain amount of hours you usually have to reboot them in order to get some snappyness back to the phone.

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DJ_Magneto

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Too bad Windows Mobile sucks. Is this coming out to the Droid marketplace? That's what I want to know.

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