Xbox Arrives on iOS: Earn Achievements on iPhone

Microsoft Studios has today crossed the line that Windows Phone users never thought would be breached: gamers can now earn Xbox Achievements, access leaderboards and friends lists in-game on iOS devices. Wordament marks the debut of Xbox LIVE on iOS devices and is available to download now, for free.

[Edward75]

Awesome!

[Welshy]

This is great for iOS users, but doesn't it kind of shoot their own Windows Phone with built in Xbox Live in the foot?

They pretty much gave away the defining feature and selling point of their own smartphone.

[Muffins1223]

They have had this way long ago on windows phone......xbox is still the best experience on windows phone for any mobile experience with xbox live...

[rpgenius420]

They merely just expanded their user base. Fact is Windows Phone is awesome, but people have money invested in games and apps so switching over may not be an option. A lot of people have an iphone and being able to link into xbox live could only help M$ with the xbox brand overall.

[rainslacker]

Nope. If anything it can help strengthen their Live name recognition, and promote their own products to people who may not have access to it otherwise. If they integrate it into mobile games on the iOS itself, then they automatically get a new person that is integrated into their social network.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

lol you think MS knows what hey are doing? Windows 8 is selling less than win7 was.
http://adage.com/article/di...

[ShinMaster]

Casual/Mainstream heaven.

[UnholyLight]

Not really sure why rpgenius420 got downvoted. That is exactly why it's expanded to include a broader user base. I myself do not own a windowes phone or tablet yet so It is nice to have some iOS capability with my iPod touch and stuff for smartglass usage. Seems like people just downvote to downvote? Or are they too stupid to understand that not everyone has a Windows product?

[LocutusEstBorg]

Enter hacked leaderboards and achievements from jailbroken devices. It'll be worse when it's on Android.

[bozebo]

How can it get worse than 100% compromised?

Also, you don't need a device to then jailbreak, it can be done from a Windows, Mac or Linux desktop quite trivially. The only devices that leaderboards can't be hacked from, is a non-jail-broken closed system, or something without internet access. But then most routers run Linux and they deal with all the packets so...

[SilentNegotiator]

"gamers can now earn Xbox Achievements, access leaderboards and friends lists in-game on iOS devices"

Ummmmmm, yeah, other than that first one (which I couldn't care less about) I could do that via iPhone (well, or Android, as I use) forever ago.

Browser -> Xbox.com

[DOMination-]

They meant access it in game. But yeah i used to do it with the browser and now you can also access that stuff with the smartglass app.

[joeorc]

why are you getting disagree's? The fact that Now Gamer's can access their data for their Gaming Achievements on the go on more platforms for their online network is a good thing.Being able to do that Soon on any Smart Device is a benefit. the Threat of the Game console going away does not make sense since this is functionality is built around the xbox platform not the other way around. Could Microsoft up and make the xbox redundant? Sure but they would be giving up a hell of a lot of Money if they did, Microsoft is just making sure their is more growth by not ignoring smart Devices, its good for their company because it means more money to operate and good for the consumer because of more consumer options.

Sony and Nintendo both are also doing this, the speed at which smart devices such as iOS, Android and now windows Mobile all have grown the Game Market cannot ignore that growth. The publisher's and developer's and the companies that make the systems all know this. It just means more access to you content on the go at anytime. How is that a bad thing?

Awesome is exactly Right!

[olLANDSHARKlo]

@joeorc come on man why the disagrees, you have the sony faithful around here. Sony faithful see headline of another nail in sonys coffin, and they rage disagree. I mean have you ever played ps3 online, you would know its very inferior to live, but hey its free, $30-$40 a yr is expensive for some, but are the same ones who pay $30 a month to have internet on their smartphone.

[Jazz4108]

The hate for anything ms on this site is laughable. Its no wonder Sony fans have the reputation they have. Im very happy to see ms reaching a much larger audience which I am quite sure is the goal. If sony are ms release or do something well then stand behind them as a gamer and not a fanboy or hater as this childish console war was old years ago.

[JayD-1K]

i'm sorry but, how did Sony/fans get put into this? i mean, a person could have simply disagreed with the post because, he/she has a windows phone and doesn't like the fact that the option is now on the iPhone!

but i know it's the Sony fans that almost caused the end of the world on the 21st right?!!!

how flippen stupid!

[C0MPUT3R]

MS going 3rd party confirmed.

[Edward75]

I just don't really see anything negative about it. I still think it is awesome.

[Sp1d3ynut]

Perhaps this is what the Mayans were ACTUALLY referring to... I expect to see pigs in the sky, and "Hell on Ice" at Disneyworld next.

[rpgenius420]

It was the Azteks not the Mayans.

[rpgenius420]

Whoever disagreed is an idiot. Look it up.

[BlueTemplar]

It's Aztecs.

[DOMination-]

2012 was the Mayans.

[Reverent]

Just looked it up. Said it was the Mayans.

[proskatercam]

It's like no-one checkes for reposts...

[Sp1d3ynut]

I couldn't care less about reposts...it's the flood of Kotaku BS and hit-magnet opinion pieces that piss me off.

[landog]

lol....god of war, halo, mario, zelda and uncharted, all headed to an iphone near you...

seriously

i just got four megaman games for my iphone for .99, they look better and run better than they ever did on any console, in some ways its sad, but, in some ways its cool

sony and ms better put BEAST hardware in their next consoles or they are in big trouble

phones please all the people who don't really care about graphics, so ms and sony need to really step up or people are going to think, "that doesn't really look much better than games on my phone"

[Sp1d3ynut]

Wordament hardly = any of the games you listed. You couldn't possibly be dumb enough to think that's where this will lead.

[Welshy]

Whatever you say @landog...

Go play Modern Combat on your iPhone with your touch controls, then fire up your 360/PS3 on your 40" and play some KZ3/Halo 4 with an actual gamepad and seriously come back and tell me that phones and tablets are the future.

And if you ARE correct when it comes to next gen and they release as tablets with touch controls? Consider that day my resignation from more than 15 years in gaming.

[landog]

I'm not saying its what i want, I didn't want freaking motion controls on my ps3 and 360 either, but...well....we all know awhat happened

corporations follow the money, the money is is phones right now, I would not be suprised to see halo 2 hd and uncharted remastered on my iphone someday soon, will i play them, hell, if they're on sale for .99 why not

grand theft auto vice city hd is on my phone, can you get it in hd on ps3 or 360?

its just the current trend, and it sucks

but 100 millon dollar games need to sell 3 million just to be worth it

not many games sell 3 million on consoles

megaman controls faily nice and looks beautiful on my phone

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Welshy]

Why does it have to be one or the other?

The PS3 plays big budget games, downloadable games, small indie games, PS1/PS2 games, $1 Minis, motion games etc.

I don't think it's a matter of whatever sells most or is most popular at the time that defines 100% how hardware is designed, choice is the key.

For example this gen, everyone thought it would be all about the graphics and single player like the PS2 era was dominated by, then look how it actually turned out, pretty much every title (ones that don't realistically need or suit it included) are even shoe-horning online in.

If nothing else, next gen needs to be versatile, theres no point 100% commiting to casual 99 cent games or massive AAA $20m games. It must be able to adapt to trends and what sells over the course of several years to come.

Edit: i'm not the disagree btw =P

[TekoIie]

"And if you ARE correct when it comes to next gen and they release as tablets with touch controls? Consider that day my resignation from more than 15 years in gaming."

Just move to PC gaming. Touch screens will never replace mouse and keyboard!!! A more likely (and better) alternative is a console that's a touchscreen tablet WITH an external game pad. Basically allowing you to play on the go and when your home you can plug it into your TV :)

[bozebo]

Why are you hung up over touch controls?

You know phones/tablets are computers? Guess what, bits work, so like. Data is sent from controllers, and wow, the phone/tablet can read controller input. HOLY FUCKING SHIT HOW DO THEY DO THAT? /sarcasm by the way

Yes, touch screen controls suck big donkey dick but when people are talking about the future of gaming on mobile devices they are assuming people are not so retarded that they think all games will only ever allow touch controls for all time.

10 or so years from now, high-end computing will only need to be done on servers. 60fps games at crazy resolutions will be trivial for phones to pump out. All you need is the peripherals hooked up (all wirelessly, automatically, whatever you want) and you have that premium gaming experience.

I'm making a 3D platformer for Android right now, it controls far smoother than Spyro or Crash ever did and that is with my crappy touch screen controls (still better than any mobile game I've ever played though, because their programmers seem to be on work-to-rule industrial action or they are taking the piss out of their bosses who are pouring millions into a mobile game), it's pretty easy to connect to and receive input from a PS3 controller (or, you can theoretically get 7 of them working at once, want a 360 controller? Not a big problem, it'd be simple if MS didn't purposefully make it hard) and output the video to a TV. In actual fact, you can output different streams to different screens, the devices just have so little power right now that it isn't useful for games.

[majiebeast]

Playing megaman on a phone are you a masochist?

[jocomat9]

final nail to the playstation coffin..

[M-M]

Lol.

[ThatsGaming]

Nope, that will be when you can earn live achievements on the ps3 and vita.

[GraveLord]

Playstation Vita says hi. So does Playstation Mobile, available on many Android devices.

[cee773]

dont be so ruff on him guys he's only 9 lol

[Belking]

Achievements and gamer scores are awesome.

[snowman2149]

SHIT JUST GOT REAL

Not really..

[stage88]

Nice try Microsoft but I'm still not paying for Xbox live and especially not paying to access achievements on a mobile phone!

[CatXFlash]

Achievements = pad on the head... useless.

[shamon]

just downloaded it pretty good

[chukamachine]

I have windows 8, but other then the front end, looks the same as win7.

[skottey]

I'd like to get some achievements for the Android games I waste so much time playing in between Xbox sessions. To heck with iPhone.