Microsoft: We've Been Killing PC Gaming

MCV has an article up discussing a new intitiative that Microsoft will be launching soon to re-establish the Windows PC as a gaming platform, ahead of the launch of Vista. From the article: "Microsoft has pledged to 'put the game back into Windows', admitting that its lack of investment in PC has been 'killing' the platform. The firm has outlined to MCV details of an 18-month drive to establish Games For Windows as a platform with the credibility of PlayStation and Xbox, ahead of the launch of the Vista operating system."

Comments

Sign your company is way to big #67

[antifoidulus]

When you find that a success in one sector of your business hurts another sector of your business.....

Its lack of investment in PC has been killing it?

[dtfinch]

I suspect Microsoft's war on OpenGL might have contributed a bit as well.

What?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this plan B, in case the XBox 360 fizzles out?

Ok, just so this doesn't sound like a total troll, isn't DirectX set to be replaced by the "Windows Graphic Foundation" when Vista ships? How will this make the job easier for developers, seeing as they've been riding the DirectX bandwagon since Windows 98 (or before - I'm not sure when it started).

Or are the two really that similar that they won't be causing problems for game developers and hardware vendors?

Ah no

[Apreche]

The XBoX has been killing PC gaming. People are playing Halo instead of Counter-Strike. I remember when some people only had one argument against switching to Linux, and that was "there are no games". Well, thanks to MS that's no longer an issue. Personally I dual-boot, but my XP partition is very small and only contains Steam. It doesn't get very much use either, and probably wont anytime soon thanks to Advance Wars: DS.

Let's see if MS actually makes some quality PC games or just brings some XBoX 360 games over that will only run on Vista. I mean, for a gamer there is really no reason to upgrade to Vista. So MS has to go out and make one.

Quote

[RealityMogul]

"put the game back into Windows"

I keep my machine running well, so I don't get to play any of their classic games on my home PC anymore. Although whenever I'm visiting relatives I hop on their pc and play that built-in game of Spyware vs. Spyware.

Wishing for "Games for Linux"

[craters]

Notwithstanding the efforts by various developers to have linux ports of their games, or the efforts of those trying to get Windows games to work on linux -- I simply wish developers would package both types of binaries on their game CDs. Granted there would be an awful lot of extra work to get two versions of games out there, but once big-time games get to linux, it will be all but over for the Windows Desktop.

It would be good for the developers anyway because they won't be paying out the nose to MS in dev tools, and they won't have to deal with Windows APIs that always get in the way.

Ok I know it's a wish for the impossible and maybe it doesn't make a lot of business sense for the devs. However, MS has proven that by ignoring the Windows game devs the past few years that they can't be trusted to help the PC gaming cause anyway. Especially not with a glorified marketing campaign like this.

PC gaming isn't dead yet, Jim, but it needs resusitated, and linux is the perfect platform to do that.

Re:Wishing for "Games for Linux"

[QuantumRiff]

Remember the good old days of building special dos boot floppies for your games to make them run better/faster? Wouldn't it be damn sweet to have a game come on a DVD with knoppix on it? Install it into windows or linux and run it, or boot from the DVD to really make it fly!?

Re:Wishing for "Games for Linux"

[DrMorris]

Those days weren't good. I had no special floppies but about 6-8 boot configurations with different memory managers, each with it's own settings. I don't think that DOS gaming was comfortable. But I don't think gaming on anything other than a device (I'm speaking of the console of your choice) built for gaming is comfortable to deal with (if you _only_ want to play games).

Oh god!

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Does this mean that I actually have to root for Microsoft now?

*sitting down in the shower, screaming in anguish*

The dirt! It won't come off!

Re:Microsoft would *love* to kill PC gaming

[KDR_11k]

Not really, no games for Windows would mean a reason less to use Windows over Linux. Productivity apps are a lot easier for opensource to create than games. That way you'd have the choice between the most limited OS out there (seriously, what other OS comes with that few apps out of the box? Not a single programming language, no serious text processor and no other office apps at all?) or any of the alternatives without there being large differences in software support.