Microsoft’s finally making its push into mobile gaming. At Gamescom 2010, taking place in Cologne, the company unveiled a mobile version of Xbox Live complete with achievements, avatars, games, and much more running on phones with the Windows 7 mobile platform.

　　The Phone

　　We got some hands-on time with the test units in San Francisco today, and they looked mighty impressive. Microsoft stressed that the units were not representative of final hardware and that phones would be made by various manufacturers given base guidelines. Amongst the guidelines would be a five physical-button limit. Don’t expect D pads and analog sticks to make an appearance. Microsoft made it clear that touch-screen gaming is the set direction for the moment.

　　The phone’s main menu system consists of five separate hubs: people, music, video, office, and games. Within, you can find many applications and lots of automated interaction between them. For instance, the music hub automatically pulls in your most listened to albums and cover art. On the people end of things, you can update your status across a broad swath of social networks simply by selecting your accounts. The overall design is less about individual applications and more about “doing” without having to open anything new. One particularly intriguing instance of that took place in the photos section, where we saw the phone automatically incorporate camera pictures alongside those found in Facebook and other social networks.

　　Xbox Live

　　Enough about the phone’s features--the meat of the meeting revolved around Xbox Live, which is located in the games hub. If you’ve used Xbox Live on the Xbox 360, you’ll be right at home; it’s pretty much all here on the mobile platform. Microsoft brought over just about every imaginable existing interface, as well as more to the handheld, and made them eminently usable.

　　You’ll be able to browse your achievements (whether on mobile, PC, or Xbox 360) and compare them with those of your friends. Regardless of where their account is signed on, Xbox Live members will be able to message others.

　　Avatars will get their own section, multiple even, within the hub. In addition to simply seeing your avatar poke its head onto the phone’s main menu, you’ll be able to swap out clothing and interact with your avatar. You can poke them like the Pillsbury dough boy, shake them to make them fall, and basically harass them in a variety of ways.

　　Microsoft also had an interesting take on a lot of basic applications using Avatar Gadgets. Simple functions like rulers, levels, flashlights, and coin tosses are all animated alongside your avatar. We saw the flashlight app, in which an avatar holds a flashlight, and using the touch screen, you could adjust the brightness of the light and direct it by moving the avatar’s arm around. This doesn’t make too much sense as an actual flashlight, as the screen, and therefore the light (we didn’t see an LED light up on the back), are pointed at you. The level app, as well as being a simple way to determine if something is flat, makes the avatar tilt further and further until it jumped onto the opposing side of the screen if you made a full 90-degree turn. They’re small tweaks to simple functions, but they do make them entertaining to use, if not show off.

　　Xbox Live on the mobile platform will also allow you to invite friends for multiplayer gaming sessions. Microsoft indicated that this would primarily be used for asynchronous, or turn-based, games.

　　Games

　　Microsoft’s deploying an in-house game development team to make first-party titles for the platform. Of particular note, we saw Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst. The game, which thematically employs Crackdown 2, is basically a tower defense game with a few twists. In our demonstration, the presenters pulled in a map of Cologne, Germany, using Bing Maps, and the game automatically generated a playing field based off of it. Enemies flowed down actual streets, and the goal was to set up cannons to prevent them from reaching an ambulance.

　　The following is Microsoft’s current list of launch titles. Expect more titles to be added to the list before launch this holiday season.

　　3D Brick Breaker Revolution (Digital Chocolate)

　　Age of Zombies (Halfbrick)

　　Armor Valley (Protege Games)

　　Asphalt 5 (Gameloft)

　　Assassins Creed (Gameloft)

　　Bejeweled LIVE (PopCap)

　　Bloons TD (Digital Goldfish)

　　Brain Challenge (Gameloft)

　　Bubble Town 2 (i-Play)

　　Butterfly (Press Start Studio)

　　CarneyVale Showtime (MGS)

　　Castlevania (Konami)

　　Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst (MGS)

　　De Blob Revolution (THQ)

　　Deal or No Deal 2010 (i-Play)

　　Earthworm Jim (Gameloft)

　　Fast & Furious 7 (i-Play)

　　Fight Game Rivals (Rough Cookie)

　　Finger Physics (Mobliss Inc.)

　　Flight Control (Namco Bandai)

　　Flowerz (Carbonated Games)

　　Frogger (Konami)

　　Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick)

　　Game Chest-Board (MGS)

　　Game Chest-Card (MGS)

　　Game Chest-Logic (MGS)

　　Game Chest-Solitaire (MGS)

　　GeoDefense (Critical Thought)

　　Ghostscape (Psionic)

　　Glow Artisan (Powerhead Games)

　　Glyder 2 (Glu Mobile)

　　Guitar Hero 5 (Glu Mobile)

　　Halo Waypoint (MGS)

　　Hexic Rush (Carbonated Games)

　　I Dig It (InMotion)

　　iBlast Moki (Godzilab)

　　ilomilo (MGS)

　　Implode XL (IUGO)

　　Iquarium (Infinite Dreams)

　　Jet Car Stunts (True Axis)

　　Let's Golf 2 (Gameloft)

　　Little Wheel (One click dog)

　　Loondon (Flip N Tale)

　　Max and the Magic Marker (PressPlay)

　　Mini Squadron (Supermono Limited)

　　More Brain Exercise (Namco Bandai)

　　O.M.G.(Arkedo)

　　Puzzle Quest 2 (Namco Bandai)

　　Real Soccer 2 (Gameloft)

　　The Revenants (Chaotic Moon)

　　Rise of Glory (Revo Solutions)

　　Rocket Riot (Codeglue)

　　Splinter Cell Conviction (Gameloft)

　　Star Wars: Battle for Hoth (THQ)

　　Star Wars: Cantina (THQ)

　　The Harvest (MGS)

　　The Oregon Trail (Gameloft)

　　Tower Bloxx NY (Digital Chocolate)

　　Twin Blades (Press Start Studio)

　　UNO (Gameloft)

　　Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet (i-Play)

　　Zombie Attack! (IUGO)

　　Zombies!!!! (Babaroga)

　　We can’t wait to get our hands on a final version of the phones and the mobile version of Xbox Live. Menu interaction felt natural, speed was superb, and if the end result is even more polished, we’re guessing that there are going to be a lot of happy Xbox 360 users.