Microsoft Promises Better Mobile Gaming

Better games on your handheld or smartphone – that's what Microsoft is claiming to bring to users of the Windows Mobile operating system that powers these devices.

This push to get more graphically-rich games for Windows Mobile on both smartphones and Pocket PCs is a twofold assault – Microsoft itself is going to release as many as 13 new game titles within the year, and will build support for a mobile version of DirectX, called Direct 3D Mobile (D3DM), into its next operating system.

According to Mark Spain, director of Microsoft's mobile devices division, the company's first initiative is to produce a variety of games specifically for handhelds, of which 13 will be released before the end of the year.

Among the titles being released for Microsoft Smartphone and Pocket PC platforms are handheld versions of Microsoft's Midtown Madness, RallySport and Age of ... titles which are already popular titles on the PC and Xbox platforms. The port to Pocket PC of Age of Empires has already been released.

The next important step towards better gaming on handheld devices is in D3DM, an implementation of Microsoft's own Direct X, but customised for the Windows Mobile platform. Like DirectX, D3DM will be a set of APIs (application program interfaces) that enables programmers to write a program that accesses the hardware features of a computer without knowing exactly what hardware will be installed on the machine where the program will eventually be run.

NB: Remember that Windows Mobile encompasses both PDAs and Smartphones.

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