Microsoft is ushering in a new era of ubiquitous gaming in which the same game can be run on a multitude of devices and platforms. During the recent keynote presentation at TechEd Middle East in Dubai, Eric Rudder of Microsoft played the same Indiana Jones-ish game on stage on a Windows computer, a Windows Phone 7 phone, and an Xbox 360. The game was developed in Visual Studio as a singular project (with 90% shared code) and it can be played on Windows with a keyboard, on a Windows Phone 7 Series prototype device with accelerometer and touch controls, and on the Xbox 360 with the Xbox gamepad.
Interestingly, not only is the development cross-platform friendly, but the game itself saves its place and lets you resume from that spot on whichever platform you happen to pick up. Pretty impressive stuff, and while the words “Windows Phone 7 Series” weren’t spoken by Eric, the use of the prototype ASUS device and the clear emphasis that this would place on Xbox Live for making the magic happen make it obvious that this is the “wave of the future” for all three platforms — at least for casual gaming.
