I wanted to take a moment to share my weekend of ‘Geeking Out’ with my Samsung Slate running the Windows 8 Release Preview.
While I’ve used all 3 versions of the Windows 8 preview along the way, I’ve only recently started diving in deeper this past weekend. My schedule gets to be really crazy often times and I haven’t had an honest moment to sit down and play much with Windows 8.
First, a METRO app: Wordfeud
Wordfeud was the very first ‘word’ app game I download way back on my HTC EVO. While most of you out there may be waiting for Words with Friends, I however wanted this word game more so. I was quite pleased when Wordfeud made it to the Windows Phone marketplace. Words with Friends, on Android, always seemed to cause the battery to drain faster than it already did, so Wordfeud was always my ‘go to’. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it sitting in the Windows 8 shop just WAITING for me to download it.
The photo above is what Wordfeud looks like on Windows 8. From left to right you have your active games, playing board, and finally the player scores and the in-game chat window. It’s all you need, on one screen. The app also supports notifications within the OS. I didn’t have to be in the game to be notified that it was ‘my turn’. I can now play this on my tablet, phone, and even a desktop (yes, I tested it on a desktop and it works just the same). We’ve known that this is what Microsoft had in mind, but to actually experience it is something else!
But it doesn’t stop there. Time to move on to a DESKTOP app!
I’ve been addicted to Star Trek Online since it was released in February 2010 and had even signed up as a ‘lifetime member’. I didn’t want to pay the monthly fee and knew it was going to be a game I’d be playing for a very long time. I was honestly skeptical about how well it would run, if it would run at all, on the tablet! I wasn’t sure the tablet would have enough graphics power or if WiFi was going to be ‘too slow’ to make ST:O playable. Heck, I wasn’t sure it would even install!
It took about 20 minutes to download the torrent, over WiFi, which was a 3.6GB file. About 5 to 10 minutes to install and another 5 to 10 to patch (another 1.2GB file). I did all of this in bed Saturday morning. When all was said and done, I launched it. Things were looking great…until the screen rotation kicked in and I was kicked back to the desktop. Whoops. Forgot to disable that. I got up, went down to my desk, launched it again and started to play for about 5 minutes.
Alas, it was working. I didn’t see or notice any graphical problems or experience lag for that matter. The test, was a success. Keep in mind, I went in to this test thinking I wouldn’t make it past the install, but the tablet didn’t let me down. While it’s not exactly a game to play on a small bluetooth keyboard, It will still suffice for small missions if I choose to use it for such.
So what have I proven? I’ve proven that Microsofts mission with Windows 8 from the get go, to make 1 OS fit different computing devices and run ‘just the same’ has come together. That applications that are built for older versions of the Windows operating systems will run on an Intel processor based version of Windows 8. I’ve seen how Metro apps can talk to each other across hardware platforms seamlessly from tablet, to desktop, to phone. That it just works and it just works well!
At $40 to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, $14.95 for those buying a new PC between now and 1/31/2013, how can you not be anxious to get your hands on this ’1 OS to rule them all’?! I know I can’t!