Windows Phone 7: One step closer to an Xbox Phone?

Microsoft is bringing the idea of an Xbox Phone closer to reality, with the demonstration of its forthcoming Live Anywhere service.

Microsoft’s Eric Rudder, speaking at TechEd Middle East, showed off a simple Indiana Jones platform game over the weekend.

The game, which looks an awful lot like the original Mario Bros platformer, was first played on a Windows PC using the keyboard, then a Windows Phone 7 Series phone using the accelerometer and touch controls, and finally on an Xbox 360.

Sure it’s a pretty basic game but it’s just a quick demo of what Live Anywhere is capable of.

The really cool thing is that you can save your progress on any one of the three platforms and then pick up where you left off on another one.

You could therefore start a level on your work PC in the lunch hour, carry on on the train or bus ride home and then tackle that pesky final level on your Xbox.

We think that this could be a great asset for future RPG titles like the Fable series. You could be sitting on the bus performing simple grinding missions to raise your character’s stats and then resume play on your Xbox once you got home.

It looks at though the console makers are (finally) taking the mobile platform seriously. With rumours of a PSP Phone on the horizon, we just need the Nintendo to get interested and then our mobile gaming prayers will have been answered.

Sources: The Unlockr, Recombu