Microsoft said the list includes titles familiar to any casual gamer from companies such as Rovio, Mindclip, Gameloft, ZeptoLab, Glu Mobile, Halfbrick Studios, and of course, Microsoft Studios.

Some of the games announced today are already available in the Windows 8 Release Preview via the Xbox Live Games app. These include Wordament and Pinball FX 2.

Microsoft has been promising Xbox would be a big part of Windows 8 ever since announcing Windows 8-Xbox integration during E3 2011. The new will feature , leaderboards, as well as some multiplayer games.

Microsoft's Xbox announcement is the second gaming launch the company made this week. On Wednesday, the software maker announced a partnership with Atari to reboot some of the game maker's classic games such as Asteroids, Centipede, Combat, Lunar Lander, and Missile Command.

The classic Atari games are available at and feature updated graphics and a touch-friendly design. And (surprise, surprise) the games work best when you use Internet Explorer 10, especially the formerly-known-as-Metro version in the . When you use IE 10, you also get an ad-free experience with Atari Arcade.