50 Windows Phone 7 Games Revealed50 Windows Phone 7 Games Revealed

Microsoft has announced a number of upcoming entertainment titles for Windows Phone 7—a mobile environment that many observers feel is the company's last chance to make a splash in the smartphone market.

The roster of 50 titles, disclosed at Gamescom 2010 in Cologne, includes games ported from other platforms, including the Xbox, as well as others that will be exclusive to Windows Phone 7.

The lineup also extends from casual games like "Bejeweled" and "Uno", to mobile versions of frenetic Xbox titles like "Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst" and "Rocket Riot."

Microsoft plans to integrate gaming across the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7 via the Xbox Live online service, so that points scored on one platform will be combined with those scored on the other.

"We're really approaching this as we would a console, so we have to deliver the breadth of games and the quality people expect from Xbox," said Kevin Unangst, Microsoft's senior director of PC and mobile gaming, in a statement. "To have this quantity and quality of games committed this far ahead of launch, with even more to come, is a statement of support that says Windows Phone 7 will be a big success," said Unangst.

Microsoft has said Windows Phone 7-based devices will be available in time for the 2010 holiday season. Asus, LG, and Samsung are among the handset makers now shipping their versions of Windows Phone 7 smartphones to software developers to allow the latter group to start building applications.

Microsoft also plans to launch an Apple-style app store for Windows Phone 7, as it's crucial that a rich selection of software is available for the platform at launch if the company and its partners are to keep up with the latest offerings from Apple and Google.

The list of other game titles for Windows 7 announced by Microsoft on Monday includes "Age of Zombies", "Assassins Creed", "CastleVania", "Frogger", "Puzzle Quest 2", "Star Wars", and "Guitar Hero 5". A full list of the games is available on Microsoft's Web site.

Microsoft badly trails rivals Apple, RIM, and Nokia-Symbian in the mobile platform market, a fact that has lead many pundits to declare 2010 a make-or-break year for the company in the mobile space.