Speculation: Will Microsoft Unveil Xbox Live Multiplayer for Mango at E3?

We're labeling this one as speculation because we have basically no information to back up anything we're about to say, but we thought we'd mention it anyway. This could be an interesting topic and has some possibility of coming true.

WMPoweruser just reported on a teaser announcement of a new Windows Phone game from successful Xbox Live Indie developers Ska Studio to be detailed at E3. For those who don't know, E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo and is arguably the biggest video gaming event of the year. Announcements pour in left and right, new blockbuster games are demoed in full, and the Big 3 companies show off their future plans for their systems. Who are those Big 3? Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft.

Let's go to something else for a bit. Yesterday WPCentral reported on a new Mango hands-on video that showed the new Games Hub and included the word 'multiplayer' under the Requests section. The announcement of multiplayer gaming is something we expected at launch for Xbox Live on Windows Phone and details were also disappointingly absent from the Mango preview event last week.

After seeing those two items of news, here's what we're thinking: what if Microsoft is going to announce Xbox Live multiplayer for Windows Phone at E3? It's an interesting thought, right? Think about it logically: Nintendo will be showing off their 3DS and trying to keep momentum up by announcing some new first-party titles like Mario, Zelda, etc. Meanwhile, Sony is set to steal the show with new details about its NGP, a portable gaming beast with a touchscreen, touch-sensitive gesture area on the back, two analog joysticks, and all powered by a quad-core processor. So what will Microsoft do in order to steal some attention away from its competitors' handhelds? Well we think they'll be pushing Windows Phones as their on-the-go Xbox Live solution.

What better way to show the world that they're serious about Xbox Live on Windows Phone than to make some huge announcements at the biggest gaming event of the year? What we don't know is what those announcements could actually be, besides making multiplayer official. Will there be new Kinect features like the tech demo shown at MWC? Could we see a slew of new blockbuster games set for the Mango launch? Will Microsoft announce a new Halo game for Windows Phone? Man, if they did that Windows Phone adoption here in the States would go through the roof!

What do you think of our speculation? Would Microsoft really announce new Xbox Live features for Windows Phone at E3 or do you think they'll save the goods for Mango's launch?