Windows Phone sports Xbox Live integration where consumers can download and interact with their avatar and account, which pulls down gamerscore, friends and more. It's a strong selling point for the platform since the Xbox Live service boasts over 40 million subscribers. If Microsoft can successfully tap into that pool of consumers, Windows Phone's marketshare would pose more of a threat to Apple and Google.
An MSDN member has published a quick look at a GLQuake port for Windows Phone 8. Jmarshall23 (Justin Marshall) has not only thrown together the above video showing off some gameplay on a Lumia Windows Phone, but has added D3D11 support. The project is currently available to download and run to test out what's being developed. It's a strong foundation, especially since work only too place over the festive period.
For the time being Windows Phone has an array of popular titles available on the store. Unfortunately, there has been a serious lack of support for video game engines. Developers have therefore been unable to utilise available tools and features that are sported by the leading engines to create truly immersive gameplay. While the current selection of games is good, there's always room for improvement.
At the Windows Phone 8 launch, Microsoft took a few moments to highlight a number of partners who have pledged support for its mobile platform. This list included the likes of Unity, Cocos2D, Havok, Marmalade, and Ogre. Gaming components were also mentioned and included SharpDC, Photon, and Autodesk.
For the GLQuake Windows Phone 8 port, there's a long way to go. The engine itself is still reportedly riddled with bugs, but we're excited to see such projects being erected to further improve the selection of quality games available for consumers. With more official engine support well on the way, we're likely to see more developers pump out higher quality games using tools crafted for the platform.
