Microsoft Game Studios to Port Games to Gizmondo

GamesIndustry.biz has the story that Microsoft Game Studios will be porting games to the Gizmondo handheld device. The "handheld console" is set to recieve some of the Microsoft greats, such as Age of Empires and Mechwarrior. From the article: "The system runs Microsoft's Windows CE operating system, which may explain in part the software giant's willingness to support it."

Re:no more conker on the gameboy?

[RomSteady]

For Windows CE, there is a pretty large leap. We're not talking about the PocketPC, where there is a reference architecture and compatibility suites you have to pass to use the moniker. We're talking about a componentized version of Windows. PocketPC is a specifically designed subset of Windows CE.

For Windows CE, all Microsoft does is provide the software. The manufacturers are free to select any hardware/software combination that they want. There are about 3,000 seperate modules for Windows CE. If you aren't going to be using the .NET Compact Framework, for example, one click and it's gone from what gets pushed out. Not using a display? Click-gone. Not using a keyboard? Click-gone. Not using networking? Click-gone.

In addition, the latest licensing terms allow OEM's to make some pretty major modifications to the Windows CE software in order to make it a better fit for their products.

So in short, aside from labelling and licensing requirements, Microsoft has no control over Gizmondo. Microsoft probably chose the Gizmondo because of the comparative ease of porting from Win32 to WinCE.