Microsoft launches first game for iPhone, iPad with Xbox Achievements

In an extension of the Xbox gaming ecosystem to iOS, Microsoft game studio You vs the Internet has launched Wordament, the first-ever game for iOS with Xbox Achievements, on the Apple app store.

Wordament is a real-time competitive word-finding game. Players find and trace out words in 4 x 4 tiles of letters, competing globally with other players for the most and best words in two-minute mini tournaments.

This is Microsoft’s first foray into extending its game universe on to Apple mobile operating system. Once users download and install the app, they can sign in to their Xbox account — or any Hotmail, SkyDrive, or Windows  account — and start playing. Using your Xbox account will help you earn up to 50 Gamerscore from 10 in-game achievements, and will give you access to your Xbox friends.

Apple, of course, has set up its own gaming hub for iOS for friends, achievements, and leaderboards, called Game Center. Launched in 2010, it still has not really found its way — with industry experts calling it “years behind industry standards,” and an outage a month ago hardly drew any notice.

So extending the Xbox gaming ecosystem to iOS is an interesting move by Microsoft. Realistically, of course, for now it is simply a toe in the water, from which Microsoft will gather data, gauge interest, and plan next moves.

Regarding the game itself, it’s the same game that is already available on Windows Phone and Windows 8, accessing the same game servers, and featuring the same players. Wordament is available for English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish, with puzzles in five more languages.

You can find and download the game here.

Image credit: Wordament