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An Overview of the Games For Windows Initiative

Posted by Zonk on from the pleasure-to-have-in-class-but dept.

Writing for the Escapist, author Sean Sands takes a hard look at Microsoft's Games for Windows project. The PC version of Xbox live, as well as the coherent branding they've handed out to publishers, doesn't appear to be having the kind of effect they were hoping for. Most especially, Sands points out, when players have the recently released Steam Community as an alternative: "Valve's latest community features, while they don't connect PC to console, have offered virtually every other meaningful feature in a free and functional package. Steam isn't only beating Microsoft at its own game, it's taking Microsoft's lunch money and leaving it tied to the tether-ball pole."

2 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. GfW != GfW Live by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    The article is confused. There are two separate things here:
    • "Games for Windows" is a certification to encourage games to play well with modern hardware, e.g. support widescreen and run on 64-bit operating systems. This is a good thing.
    • "Games For Windows LIVE" is the pay-for XBox Live equivalent. This is a take-it-or-leave-it thing.
    In any case I don't think the article says anything insightful or new.
  2. Re:games for windows by PolyDwarf · · Score: 2, Informative

    I thought exactly this with the PC version of Bioshock. A friend of mine asked me if I was playing it yet, and I said that I hadn't bothered picking it up because it was Vista only.. I then proceeded to nag at him for getting Vista.

    He told me it ran on XP just fine, only without a couple of fancy DX10 options.

    My guess is that Microsoft wants everyone to think exactly that, to get them to "upgrade" to Vista. They realize Vista's been a failure on its own merits, so they are trying to get everyone to "upgrade" by enticing them with ancillary stuff.