Gameloft ports 12 Xbox titles to Microsoft's Windows Phone 8

October 30, 2012 | By Jason Ankeny

Gameloft will adapt a dozen of its most popular titles for Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox platform to run on the software maker's new Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system.

Titles include the forthcoming Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, the marquee release on Gameloft's 2012 holiday season slate. Gameloft has sold more than 6.3 million copies of Modern Combat since the first-person shooter franchise launched in 2009. The publisher also will roll out versions of UNO and Friends, Shark Dash, TexasPoker for Prizes and Fashion Icon optimized to support Xbox Cloud Storage's Play-Pause-Resume feature, which enables gamers to begin playing on one Xbox-connected device and continue on another device exactly where they left off.

Gameloft additionally will introduce Windows Phone 8 editions of multiplayer games Asphalt 7: Heat, N.O.V.A. 3: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance and Order and Chaos Online, as well as Ice Age Village, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man and Real Soccer 2013. Titles will run across all Windows Phone 8 devices from manufacturers including Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Samsung Electronics and HTC.

Gameloft first pledged support for Windows Phone 8 this summer. "We're excited by the platform," Gameloft Vice President of Publishing for the Americas Baudouin Corman told FierceMobileContent in July. "We feel that Microsoft is great from a developer standpoint, and we can bring some really advanced games to the platform. The hardware is good. The platform is good."

Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 8 on Monday. The revamped platform touts multi-core Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) chipsets to bolster smartphone performance and optimize battery life, a choice of three screen resolutions, integration of VoIP and video chat, a customizable start screen and Wallet Hub, which supports Near Field Communications-enabled m-commerce services. Users can also share content across Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 for PCs and Xbox gaming consoles.

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