Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it was bringing parts of the Xbox Live experience to Windows 8 and today, the company announced the first wave of Xbox games for its new desktop operating system. There aren’t too many surprises here and the focus is clearly on casual games. Among the 40 titles in this first wave are hits like Angry Birds, Angry Birds Space, Fruit Ninja, Reckless Racing and old Microsoft standbys like Mahjong, Solitaire and Minesweeper.
It’s worth noting that 29 out of these 40 games come from Microsoft Studio. Other partners include Rovio, Miniclip, Gameloft, ZeptoLab, Glu Mobile and Halfbrick Studios.
Most of these games will find their way into the Windows Store by the time Windows 8 officially launches on October 26th (some are already in the store) and, as Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc notes, “ongoing new releases will of course be available through the holiday and beyond” (just in case you were worried that Microsoft would stop adding games to the Windows Store after December).
The games will feature the usual Xbox achievements and take advantage of other Xbox features like leaderboards and multiplayer modes.
Here are the 40 games that will make their Windows 8 debut in this first wave:
- 4 Elements II Special Edition
- A World of Keflings
- Adera: Episode 1
- Adera: Episode 2
- Adera: Episode 3
- Angry Birds
- Angry Birds Space
- Big Buck Hunter Pro
- BlazBlue Calamity Trigger
- Collateral Damage
- Crash Course GO
- Cut the Rope
- Disney Fairies
- Dragon’s Lair
- Field & Stream Fishing
- Fruit Ninja
- Gravity Guy
- Gunstringer: Dead Man Running
- Hydro Thunder Hurricane
- IloMilo
- iStunt 2
- Jetpack Joyride
- Kinectimals Unleashed
- Microsoft Mahjong
- Microsoft Minesweeper
- Microsoft Solitaire Collection
- Monster Island
- PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX
- Pinball FX 2
- Reckless Racing Ultimate
- Rocket Riot 3D
- Shark Dash
- Shuffle Party
- Skulls of the Shogun
- Taptiles
- Team Crossword
- The Harvest HD
- Toy Soldiers Cold War
- Wordament
- Zombies!!!