Hear that, globetrotters? Just months after your hopes and dreams were obliterated, we’re now hearing that the Zune HD and its associated music / video services are going international, and it could happen by the end of the year. At least that’s the word given to Mary Jo Foley from Casey McGee, Microsoft Senior Marketing Manager. In a recent sit-down, Casey noted that the company’s Zune music / video service “would be available in all countries where Windows 7 Phones will ship,” and while it has yet to make that full list of nations publicly available, we already learned that the new mobile OS has gained support from mobile operators all over Europe. Putting two and two together can be difficult at times, but hopefully we aren’t reading too much into this (painfully simple) equation.

Microsoft Zune music / video services going wherever Windows Phone 7 Series goes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple may have the iPhone, but the iPhone doesn’t have the Xbox. Today, Microsoft leveraged their most compelling entertainment asset, the Xbox 360, into Windows Phone 7 Series. But what does this mean, practically speaking?

(Note: If you don’t understand what the heck Windows Phone 7 is, read this first.)

Here’s the official word from Microsoft on how WP7 will incorporate Xbox Live.

“Games—This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.”

What we saw in Microsoft’s demo today fleshes that concept out a bit. There will be a Spotlight section, with your Xbox Live avatar and notice of friends’ achievements. And of course, there will be games—”premium titles” with achievements and multiplayer connected to other cellphones, PCs and Xbox 360 consoles.

Don’t let the simple interface fool you. Xbox Live on a phone is more than having your avatar on one more screen because of the three types of games I believe we’ll see on Windows Phone 7.

The Three Games of Windows 7 Phone

The first type of game will be a lot like an iPhone title. Powerful pocket hardware will push impressive graphics (that make the PSP and DS look sad). That’s a simple idea that I know all of you can wrap your heads around.

Now, some of these games may be released cross-platform, as Microsoft teased today. They’ll be what I classify as the second type of gaming on Windows Phone 7—casual, connected titles that allow anyone with a Live account to join in (no matter if they’re on a WP7, 360 or PC). You won’t see the most beautiful XBLA titles on the phone, of course, but something like Worms? Why not? A buy it once, play it anywhere model would make this type of game incredibly enticing. UPDATE: It appears that Windows Phone 7 will run XNA framework, meaning it should be (theoretically) compatible with the Xbox 360’s XNA games.

The third type of game—the one that will appeal most to the hardcore gamers—is the Xbox 360 expanded title, something unmentioned by Microsoft but that I see coming a mile away. Imagine a minigame accompaniment to Halo that could unlock more content/resources/anything. Now imagine that such a game is driven by some of the most powerful handheld processors in the world. (You should be picturing something that looks a lot like Call of Duty’s Nazi Zombies on the iPhone.) But with the iPhone, Nazi Zombies never leaves your phone—nothing about it will affect your Call of Duty experience on your home console.

Such no longer needs to be the case when the game is connected to Live. AAA franchises can make their way to the mobile space with Microsoft in a way that they never could with Apple. Put differently, pocketable games can have console-level repercussions.

Microsoft’s Mobile Trump Card: Nobody Else Has an Xbox Live…Not Really

While the iPhone is a treasure trove of pocketable amusements, they’re pretty much self-contained entities working in a closed box. Sadly, pretty much the same thing can be said about the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. Nintendo and Sony have both experimented with connecting their mobile and home platforms on a title-by-title basis (and no doubt, the PSP’s early promise of Remote Play still sounds like a revolutionary idea today), but neither company has been all that successful in bridging the gap to create a seamless digital experience.

Plus, let’s face it, neither Sony nor Nintendo is relevant in the smartphone business—the present and future of pocket gaming. And while the iPhone is tough competition, it’s one phone. Windows Phone 7 Series is a specification (that includes baseline hardware specs and software specs) for many phones that could potentially be on many carriers.

Imagine if Nintendo let any willing manufacturer integrate Wii/DS services. That’s essentially what Microsoft is doing here.

But when it really comes down to it, is Microsoft selling us the Xbox 360 experience on cellphones, or are they pitching putting cellphone games on the Xbox 360? And will anyone want to create original, non-ported content for the Windows 7 Phone Series when there are 75 million iPhones and iPod touches out there already?

Time will tell. Despite what promises to be the most full-featured mobile gaming platform of all time, Microsoft must woo developers to create compelling mobile content before any of this matters.

Behold! Windows Phone 7. Someone wasn’t quite careful enough with his last minute update of this MWC signage and a passerby managed to snap this first glimpse of the WP7 interface, featuring bold, rectangular icons and Xbox integration.

This shot seems to confirm, to some extent, the bit of the last significant batch of rumors that promised tight Xbox integration. It also shows off the simplistic, geometric start page, including big, square icons for phone calls, messages, Twitter, and Facebook and a large band for accessing your pictures.

The device in the shot is a simple one: the screen is surrounded by a black bezel with a thin metal trim. Three hardware (or maybe touch?) buttons below the screen are the only visible controls, with a backwards arrow, a home-button with the Windows icon, and something that looks like a sideways magnifying glass. Is this the Zune phone? Or just another device in the WP7 stable? [Engadget]

Zune HD drops $30-$40 at Amazon, Newegg originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spanish blog MuyComputer claims that Microsoft will present the “Zune Phone” this February, at the MWC in Barcelona. According to them, it’s 100% confirmed. Since the phone will use Tegra, Nvidia will team with Microsoft for the anti-JesusPhone debut.

Talking to the blog editorial director Javier Pérez Cortijo, he told me that “the Zune Phone presentation at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress 2010 is 100% confirmed.” I’ve been a close friend of Javier for a couple of decades—he was my first editor—and I completely trust his sources and his judgement, so this is a good one.

As we’ve heard before, this isn’t actually going to be a “Zune Phone” in that it’s Zune, with a phone attached. It’s going to be Windows Mobile 7 with Zune software, just like how the iPhone has iPod software on it. The presentation of the Windows Mobile 7 at MWC 2010, which we’ve been hearing about for a few months now, seems to be inline with the mention of three phones in the Zune software last week, and previous rumors about its introduction.

MuyComputer says that the phone will have a 480 x 272 screen, HDMI video out, and weigh around 2.45 ounces (70 grams). [MuyComputer – In Spanish]

The image is a mockup, not the real thing