Microsoft goes public with list of 40 casual games coming to Windows 8
Summary: Angry Birds, Minesweeper, Wordament and 37 other casual games will be available on October 26, the day Microsoft makes Windows 8 commercially available.
Microsoft's Xbox team has gone public with a list of 40 casual games that will be available on Windows 8 starting the first day the operating system is commercially available.
As of October 26, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Minesweeper, Wordament and other games will be part of the first wave of such titles available to Windows 8 users, according to an August 31 post on the "Windows Experience" blog. Twenty-nine of the listed titles are from Microsoft Studios.
"Xbox is also announcing support from Rovio, Miniclip, Gameloft, ZeptoLab, Glu Mobile, Halfbrick Studios who are also bringing Xbox games to Windows 8 in this first wave. Ongoing new releases will of course be available through the holiday and beyond," according to today's post.
These games will be available through the Windows Store and be discoverable through the Windows 8 Games app. These games will offer Xbox Achievements, "as the ability to take advantage of certain Xbox features such as leaderboards, multiplayer modes, and connecting with friends," the post added.
A number of these games have been availble to Windows 8 testers for months already. It sounds like at least some of those games also will be adapted to work on Windows RT -- the version of Windows that runs on ARM-based devices -- if they haven't already.
Reaction from those on Twitter ranged from calling this an excellent list, to a less-than-impressive one. I'm not a gamer, even a casual gamer, really, so I don't have an opinion. Any games listed there you consider must-haves or ones not listed that you're hoping come later to Windows 8?
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Talkback
Cool
Yes making Windows 8 another XBox alternative
NOT!
Actually all this does is confirm my impression that W8 is foremost a consumer entertainment product that has no place in the corporate enterprise.
Where is the list of 40 business apps that will enhance productivity only in W8?
Try reading up on Win8 enterprise features...
Sorry, but I use my computers
So, each and every Windows PC must pay for itself in productivity or I lose money. Right now the value of Windows PCs is very marginal as their cost to mange in AV subscriptions and lost productivity to updates. If I add to that the potential to have my folks need to relearn everything ti continue to use the "latest greatest" W8 that they can also play on while I am not in the office makes W8 a nonstarter.
When my large enterprise clients start telling me how much they save with W8, I'll reconsider. My guess is that the ice on earth will melt and instead start forming in the furnace below before that day comes to pass.
I hear violins...
I think you'll find supporting older systems like XP and Vista FAR more expensive (in terms of real money, productivity, etc) than the new systems.
As for your current systems - you are aware Microsoft offers small businesses, that run 10 or less computer systems, to use the fantastic "Security Essentials" AV product for FREE... and that in all my benchmarks, has proven BETTER than a lot of the high-priced systems, and impacts the system far less. Time to do some research before you come on here bad-mouthing something you obviously know nothing about.
If you're not willing to pay...
Splork you counterdict yourself
Whu?
Win 8 Enterprise of Microsoft's corporate centered OS. It will integrate more tightly than any Microsoft product preceding it, just as Windows XP integrated with Server 2003 Active Directory better than Windows 2000, and just as Windows 7 integrates into a Windows 2008 Active Directory environment better than XP.
I mean jeez, I find the Microsoft fanboys on this forum bordering on pathetic sometimes, but the Microsoft haters can be just as delusional.
Agree with you
Why are you in here, an article for W8 games,
Do you go to Home Depot and demand where are all the new DVD releases?
List of 40
1. Word (any version)
2. Excel
3. Access
4. Powerpoint
5. Outlook
6. Visio
7. Project
8. Adobe Acrobat
9. Adobe Reader
10. Adobe Illustrator
11. Abode Photoshop
12. Word Perfect
13. Numara Track It
14. Groupwise
15. Xming
16. Oracle
17. WinDOT
18. AutoCAD
19. Bluezone
20. Contribute
21. Clearcase
22. Clearquest
23. Toad
24. Snag It
25. Publisher
26. OneNote
27. JBuilder
28. OfficeTime
29. ACT!
30. Peachtree
31. QuickBooks
32. Klok
33. Thunderbird
34. Skype
33. Go to Meeting
34. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
35. SmartFTP
37. FileZilla
38. Google Chrome
39. Firefox
40. PDF Creator
Remember, anything that runs on Windows 7 runs on Windows 8.
Microsoft doesn't make
Hey, any word on how many companies will have virus scanners ready to go by day 1?
The only one that matters:
And it's already bundled in.
I couldn't care less to have more shovel-ware by the security vendors that use scare tactics to sell their product.
Microsoft defender is built in to windows 8
All operating systems need to have something like this included and enabled by default, because there is no such thing as a "safe" operating system. Not having any malware defense measures is like not having a backup solution based on the belief that a computer will never crash.
And the good thing about Microsoft Security Essentials being pre-installed
Doesn't make money on Xbox?
Maybe he's referring to the actual hardware.
It's the software sales they get deep cuts for.
They make money
Umm......are you?
But on another note, Apple had announced recently they're releasing Anti-Virus software for Windows 8. So you're good there.
Apple to make AV for W8?
Thanks for that bit of comic relief and have a good Labor Day.
LOL