Friday, 10 December 2004

Revving the Microsoft Tablet PC: Arcs of Fire and the Game SDK

In a bid to increase the appeal of its Tablet PC, Microsoft is co-developing new Tablet-specific games and a new game software development kit in conjunction with software partner 3 Leaf Development. According to Microsoft Watch, you can look forward to beta 1 of both the Arcs of Fire Tablet game and the Tablet PC game SDK in early January 2005. Microsoft is hoping that by making the Tablet PC more of a gaming platform that it will encourage more of these kinds of customers to test-drive Tablets. The game SDK "will focus on the intersection of Tablet Development and Game Development to provide functionality common to games that leverage the Tablet's pen capabilities. Arcs of Fire will be a game like Tank, a simple 2D war game that will rely on the Tablet stylus for taking aim, setting velocity, and the like.