Naturally, if Microsoft wants to have a shot at reentry into the smartphone market with , it needs to offer great gaming. The company seems to have put in a lot of effort, adding full integration and exploiting its relationships with top-tier game publishers to bring hot titles to phones.

Now that Windows Phone 7 phones are launching, what is gaming really like on Windows Phone 7? Are there plenty of games, and are they good? Does the Xbox Live integration function well? Is gaming a slam-dunk for Microsoft's reborn platform, or just another in a long list of features that show promise but still need work?

Before I dive into , let's check our expectations. This is a nascent smartphone operating system. It's literally in the middle of its launch: Phones became available in Asia and Europe on October 22, and will launch in North America on November 8. Although Microsoft has been in the smartphone business for as long as smartphones have been around, is a fresh start with a new interface, new development tools, and a totally new software library. Over are available now, with over 250 of them in the games category. That's a good start, but it's only a start.

The limited selection is probably the worst part about gaming on Windows Phone 7 right now. If Apple is the new king of mobile gaming with the iPhone, Microsoft clearly has a lot of catching up to do. Popular phone games such as , , , , , and are nowhere to be found on Windows Phone 7. Even the Android Market, often criticized for its lack of high-quality games, has some of these titles. You can find some acceptable Windows Phone substitutes (AlphaJax is a decent replacement for Words With Friends), but Apple's App Store has an enormous head-start on providing a huge number of great games. That said, Windows Phone 7 does have wonderful renditions of popular phone titles such as , , and .