Xbox Live on Windows Phone Builds Gamerscore On The Go!

In my last article I talked about my switch from iOS to Android to Windows phone 7.5. One of the features I like about my Windows phone is Xbox LIVE.  Today I want to expand on that subject.  Every Windows phone from 7 on up (If you haven’t updated to 7.5 Mango yet, go do it!) has an Xbox LIVE app.  This is your games hub, and every game you download will be listed here.  There are three categories in your games collection: Recent, Xbox LIVE and Other.  Recent is self-explanatory; Other includes your “regular” games, those not part of Xbox LIVE.  In this article I will focus on Xbox LIVE.  Why?  Let’s find out after the jump.

An Xbox LIVE game is any game that works within the growing Microsoft Xbox ecosystem.  Each Xbox LIVE game has achievements, up to 200 points per title.  Your avatar interacts in some of the games-Shuffle Party for example. In some games you can earn prizes-money and objects that transfer to the Xbox version of the game, like Fable: Coin Golf.  The list of Xbox LIVE games is a decent size (112 Xbox LIVE games at post time) and it’s growing quickly.  Most of the popular games are available: Bejeweled, Frogger, The Sims 3, Need for Speed, Monopoly, Tetris, Earthworm Jim, UNO, de Blob, Guitar Hero 5, Assassin’s Creed, Pocket God, Fruit Ninja, PAC-MAN, Super Monkey Ball, Doodle Jump, Sonic 4, Plants vs. Zombies, Angry Birds, Cro-Mag Rally, Minesweeper, Sudoku, Burn the Rope, Spider Jack, Doodle God, Feed Me Oil, etc.  You get the idea. If you’re looking to feed your Xbox Live Gamerscore while on the go, Windows Phone has you covered.

Let me clarify that, just like apps in any ecosystem, some games are a MUST to have in your gaming library while others are easy pass.  Luckily for Windows phone owners, most games and apps offer a trial version–a feature sorely lacking on iOS and Android.  Download it, play it and if you like it buy the full version.  If not, delete it from your phone like nothing happened.  While some of these trials are limited stages, others are the full version of the game with a time limit.  What happens if you have a trial version and you earn an achievement?  It tells you: if you had the full version  you would have earned the so and so achievement.  As soon as you decide to buy the full version that particular achievement easily gets added to your achievements list. In addition to being a “pretty near” feature, that’s also a great motivator to encourage you to buy the game.

Prices range from free to $6.99; some of the free games are pretty decent and if nothing more they are at least a free source of 200 achievement points.  If you are a self respecting gamer we know that you care all about achievements and trophies.  That is our “badge of honor”.  So hey, if I could increase my gamer point with the help of my cell phone then why not, right?

Now if only Sony would drop a PSN certified app onto Windows Phone I’d be set!