Drift Mania Championship 2
One of the biggest surprises coming out of GDC 2013 for me was undoubtedly PowerA’s announcement that its MOGA Bluetooth controller SDK would be coming to Windows Phone. On iOS and Android, videogame controller accessories are becoming increasingly popular with core gaming fans. Such peripherals can add more precise control and a console-like experience to smartphones. Sure, they can impact portability but they’re great at home and other places where you’d be playing for an extended length of time.
Windows Phone has always been a bit behind on peripheral support. We don’t have a Bluetooth keyboard, for instance. But Windows Phone 8 does add the ability for apps to communicate with Bluetooth. That ability now makes it possible for hardware add-ons like the MOGA Pro Controller to work with Windows Phone 8 games!
Head past the break for full details on the MOGA Pro Controller and a hands-on video.
One of the big advantages for developers on Windows Phone 8 is the ability to use new gaming engines to drive the graphics. Unity is such an example, and it’s used by many gaming houses for development. The problem previously was that developers would have to rewrite their games specifically for Windows Phone with degradation in performance and appearance. Between the time and the final product, most developers walked away.
We’ve been anticipating the first Unity-driven game for Windows Phone 8 for some time and that day is evidently upon us. Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore tweeted today that Drift Mania Championship 2 is the first game on Windows Phone to feature the Unity engine. The game runs for $1.99 with no trial and weighs in at 200MB.
The game itself is your typical racer game, complete with car customizations and head to head battles, but it also features the whole ‘drifting’ sub-genre where through controlled skids, you drift through turns. Doing so will get you points and doing it with flare even more so.
Peep our hands on video after the break...
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