online multiplayer

One look at the comments section of our article announcing the release of Asphalt 7: Heat on Windows Phone 8 will tell you that the game is pretty popular. Hey Microsoft, we told you people wanted decent mobile Xbox games!

Ahem. With that gloating out of the way, we have more tasty Asphalt 7 tidbits to share with you now. Head past the break for a hands-on video, multiplayer walkthrough, and update news!

As bargain hunting Xbox Windows Phone gamers are surely aware, the fairly new Carcassonne is part of Microsoft’s Black Friday week sale which ends today. Until now, we’ve had mixed feelings about Carcassonne due to its ridiculously grindy Achievements and broken online multiplayer. Thankfully, one of those issues is now fixed at last. Carcassonne’s online multiplayer now works!

It’s always nice when a game launches a bit earlier than its Wednesday release date. Last week, Cracking Sands appeared in the morning (facilitating our timely review the next day), and now Carcassonne from Exozet and Microsoft Studios has done the same. Are you ready for some board game goodness?

Namco Bandai’s Windows Phone output has been somewhat uneven so far. Some of their games like Puzzle Quest 2 are great, many are overpriced (Pac-Man Championship Edition DX anyone?), and a few like More Brain Exercise are simply duds.  Their previous release, Pac-Man Kart Rally, fell somewhere in the middle of the quality spectrum, but I respected the developer’s boundary-breaking use of local Wi-Fi multiplayer. Now Pool Pro Online 3 pushes things even further, becoming the first mobile Xbox Live game with true real-time online multiplayer. While its online mode is unparalleled, a few fouls keep Pool Pro Online 3 from being a truly great pool game.

At the start of the month, Windows Phone Central provided exclusive first details and images of Namco Bandai’s Pool Pro Online 3 for Xbox Live. Now we’re back with first word of its release date: tomorrow, August 1st. Windows Phone gamers will be shooting pool in no time!

Pool Pro Online 3 offers a realistic simulation of three pool games: 8-ball, 9-ball, and snooker. All three can be played either single-player or online. According to word from Microsoft, gamers can view and join online lobbies, so you won’t be restricted to playing with friends as with clunky ol’ Battleship.

Just before summer started, Dallas-based Sickhead Games announced they would be porting their popular indie strategy title ARMED! to Windows 8 and iOS. They weren’t lying, as ARMED! Preview is now available on the Windows 8 store.

Why the ‘Preview’ moniker? As most PC users know, Windows 8 hasn’t been officially released yet. Lots of people are running preview builds in the wild though, and ARMED! Preview is meant for them. The build is free and basically functions as a public beta; you can submit feedback through the Sickhead website. Not a bad move, as it’s best to test online multiplayer games as much as possible before you start charging for them. Also note that the promised cross-platform multiplayer between ARMED! on Windows 8 and Windows Phone has not gone live yet, but it’s still in the works.

In other ARMED! news, Tom Spilman from Sickhead (pictured with a goatee that puts my own to shame!) recently guest-starred on episode 074 of The Metro Developer Show podcast.
Tom shares tons of great development details about the game, widely considered to be the most technically impressive game on Windows Phone. The podcast also has lots of general Windows Phone discussion, so it's definitely worth a listen.

Windows 8 users: get ARMED! Preview here. As for Windows Phone gamers (the finest folks around), the mobile version of ARMED! costs $3.99 and offers a free trial with full multiplayer support. Grab it here on the Marketplace.

Even though we’re knee deep in E3 2012 coverage, the regular Xbox Live release schedule rolls on. This week’s mobile Live game, Battleship from Electronic Arts is now available to entertain the folks at home.

Battleship is an adaptation of the popular board game from Milton Bradley. In the Classic game type, two sides take turns blindly firing at each other, trying to find and destroy the other’s ships. Salvo mode works much like classic, but moves faster than traditional games because you’re allowed to fire as many shots per turn as you have remaining ships. The new Superweapon mode adds a variety of weapons to the gameplay, mixing up the traditional dynamics. All three modes feature 3D attack animations, giving the beloved game a little extra punch.

Battleship supports two forms of multiplayer: pass-and-play and Xbox Live multiplayer. That’s right, Battleship will be the first mobile Live game to support asynchronous head-to-head multiplayer! Our hands-on-demonstration at E3 couldn’t show the Live multiplayer in action due to lack of network access, but now you can simply buy it for yourself and start sinking friends’ ships. The invite system is rudimentary at best - you simply send invites to friends via email or GamerTag from the same interface. The lack of matchmaking means you'll need some friends who own the game to play online. Still better than no online at all though!

Battleship costs $2.99 (a bit more than the iOS version, unlike Feed Me Oil) and there is a free trial. Set course here to the Marketplace to get it.