Late tonight here in Redmond, but very early over in Germany we took the wraps off our first wave of game titles making their way this holiday to Windows Phone 7.  I know there has been lots of anticipation about XBOX Live on Windows Phone 7 so I hope this first drop of news is welcome!  First, head over here to get all the latest on the announcement including titles like Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst. This is a tower defense game that uses real locations as the gaming world thanks the Bing maps. Defend the big landmark in your city or even your own house!

In addition to the games, we also announced enhanced Games hub functionality in store for Windows Phone 7 including a rich avatar experience, messaging using Xbox LIVE and the ability to see all your friends’ play status, Gamerscore and latest achievements. If you don’t have a Xbox LIVE account when you purchase a Windows Phone 7 you can sign and up and deck out your avatar all from the phone, no Xbox console required!

This is just the first in many great announcements we have planned for Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone 7 so be sure to stay tuned for the latest. I will drill into some of the specific titles announced today in the coming days, and also try to get some guest posts or interviews with our publisher friends in coming weeks. Also head over to the Windows Phone Developer blog to hear from Michael Klucher on the ground in Germany!

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