February 19th, 2010 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Platforms: XNA | No Comments »
WMPowerUser managed to get hold of the first Windows Phone 7 Series development documents. It turns out that development for Windows Phone 7 Series will be similar to that for the Zune, in XNA.
With this move, Microsoft steps away from allowing developers access to the complete device and at the same time it confirms that Windows Mobile 6.5 apps and games will indeed not function on Windows Phone 7. Just like on iPhone, developers have to work with the API’s provided. The only exception however are vendors and operators. If needed, they can receive wider access to the system. The system will however still allow multitasking.
Though this limited access it not a huge problem for mobile games, a lot of app developers will see their selves being locked out of accessing special hardware and software features. Just like on iPhone, it means not everything will be possible.
The benefit of XNA is that Microsoft already has experience with the platform on Xbox and the Zune. This makes integration with Xbox Live much more easy and will also mean platforms like OpenFeint will probably have a hard time to capture this market.
The primary development tools for the platform will be Microsoft Visual Studio and Expression Blend. Get the documents here.
