Games for Windows

[business]

Microsoft has talked about it since last E3 but is now finally
starting to take some initiative with their "Games for
Windows" brand.

With the soon to be released official Games for Windows
magazine coming up next month, the new commercials that are starting to air, Live anywhere, and then soon to be
dedicated "Games for Windows” sections in major retailers, do you think Microsoft could turn the tides for PC gaming?

[business]

Wow, that post is fucked up. It's times like this I wish we had that edit button. Sorry guys. :)

[Push Upstairs]

Turn the tides for PC gaming?

What you say? You talk like PC gaming has gone to shit or something.

[Overbite]

well, it has.

Gamestop/EB has a tiny section with WoW and the latest FPS game on it.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart have bigger selections, but most of it is shovelware crud

[business]

well, it has.

Gamestop/EB has a tiny section with WoW and the latest FPS game on it.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart have bigger selections, but most of it is shovelware crud

Yeah, here in the US PC gaming is nowhere near as huge as console gaming. Other than WoW, there just isn't a lot happening for it.

In countries like China and Korea it's a different story. They love the stuff. But over here it's just not the same.

[jajaja]

well, it has.

Gamestop/EB has a tiny section with WoW and the latest FPS game on it.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart have bigger selections, but most of it is shovelware crud

I think there have been released about 150-200 PC games this year so the PC games are going very strong. Dont mean to sound rude, but USA isnt the world, dont forget the rest of the continents. PC games in Europe might be bigger than in USA tho, dont know, but its far failing/slow times.

I think the "Games for Windows" thingie is just some promotion stuff. 99% of the PC games gets released for Windows only anyway.

[Synergy]

Gamestop/EB has a tiny section with WoW and the latest FPS game on it.

Yes, and it makes me sad. Then again, I don't shop at Gamestop or EB anymore anyway. Whenever I want to check out the latest PC games, price drops, new box sets, etc. I usually go to Best Buy. At least they still have an entire long rows dedicated to PC. :P

I'm glad to see Microsoft trying to help advertise PC games more with the whole "Games for Windows/Live Anywhere" stuff. I don't see how it can hurt.

I don't want anything bad to happen to PC gaming, but I highly doubt anything like that will happen anyway. Ever since I played Doom in DOS back then, and my PC used to lure me away from my consoles more and more, I knew it would turn out to be something special. And it is, to me anyway. :)

[Push Upstairs]

well, it has.

Gamestop/EB has a tiny section with WoW and the latest FPS game on it.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart have bigger selections, but most of it is shovelware crud


I actually see more games for the PC i'd like to play than on console systems. The only thing stopping me from enjoying some "Age of Empires 3" is system requirements. :(

EB sucks. Their selection is limited and pricey.

As for shitty PC games, its not any different than trying to weed out shitty console games.

P.S. WOW is overrated.

[jajaja]

Im also under the impression that PC isnt that popular in USA. I mean, most games afaik still gets released on CD-ROM over there instead of on DVD. Maybe thats why many stores over there done have so many PC games for sale because its not so popular?

[heybtbm]

Some gaming genres will never die on the PC. RTS games are still going strong...Company of Heroes anyone? Easily one of the 5 best games of the year (console or PC).

[Push Upstairs]

RPG's are alive and doing very well on the PC, and i dont mean WOW or Everquest.

I'm kind of glad that RTS games are evolving and getting beyond "Mine/gather stuff and build tons of tanks/knights".

But i still have a soft spot for "Age of Empires 2" :D

Dropping knights with primitive guns has never been so fun.

[Synergy]

EB sucks. Their selection is limited and pricey.

As for shitty PC games, its not any different than trying to weed out shitty console games.

P.S. WOW is overrated.


But i still have a soft spot for "Age of Empires 2"

Dropping knights with primitive guns has never been so fun.

Agreed on all accounts. :)

[Iron Draggon]

I've been doing most of my gaming on the PC ever since the death of the Dreamcast, so this is great news to me... hope it will finally force retailers to start carrying more PC games, and to have them available on the same day of release, like they do with all the console games... I've been having to go to specialty stores to find most of the games that I'm looking for, and even then they don't stock most titles until a couple of weeks after they're released... so I've been having to order alot of games online too... it sucks!

but what I really wanna know is, if MS is gonna market the PC as a gaming system, then when are we finally gonna get a PC gaming forum here on DP? doesn't seem like it would be fair to exclude it anymore with all those kiosks in all the game stores touting it as a gaming system now, does it?

[boatofcar]

but what I really wanna know is, if MS is gonna market the PC as a gaming system, then when are we finally gonna get a PC gaming forum here on DP?

That's like asking when we're going to get a PS3 forum on DP. I would think you could just post in modern gaming with all PC gaming-related topics.

[swlovinist]

I think the PC market is huge, but is hard to account for. Games like WOW and other MMO games are a large percentage of the market...but what makes games on the PC great is that they are so varied. You have everything from budget titles to most major console games ported to PC. Most of the game usually are just as good on the PC...if you have the computer to run them. I make no mistake that I am a total console gamer that left the PC market of games when my computer stopped running the current stuff(1999). Recently I upgraded my computer so I can at least run some of the current stuff. I mostly collect PC games now because it is so available at thrift stores. I will end the ramble and say this about PC games that make is so appealing:

1. Huge varied library(every type of game covered, including the best emulation around.) It is seriously is like having every other console in one machine.

2. Total lack of game stores taking in used PC games makes finding used PC games in the wild abundant and cheap. I usually find PC games that were out only a couple years ago at thrift stores from $4.99 and under.

3. Free online support for outdated games, and tons and tons of game modding for specific titles(Counterstrike being one major one)

If you took a survey of how many people had a computer that at least played one game on it, I bet it would be a very, very large number. The thing that makes this difficult is that the hardware is so varied that this number is impossible and inaccurate to calculate.


PC games are alive and well, it is just that MMO games take the spotlight because they sell millions. In actuality the PC market is the last hurrah for game companies that have smaller budgets and niche titles. Even though I am a total console gamer, I have to at least respect the PC market for being around as long as it has. Even if the current PC market ended tomorrow that would leave someone thousands of games to play. What console can say that they have that library?

[SarKenobi]

PC Gamer magazine just did an article on Games for Windows. Games have to pass specific guidelines/minimum requirements to get the Games for Windows brand. Of course all games are NOT required to have the label, working with M$ to get the Games for Windows label on their games makes sure ALL the games will be able to be played on all Vista computers. And XP computers too? Reducing the need to always upgrade to play newer PC games. Becoming more accessible to PC owners!

[business]

PC Gamer magazine just did an article on Games for Windows. Games have to pass specific guidelines/minimum requirements to get the Games for Windows brand. Of course all games are NOT required to have the label, working with M$ to get the Games for Windows label on their games makes sure ALL the games will be able to be played on all Vista computers. And XP computers too? Reducing the need to always upgrade to play newer PC games. Becoming more accessible to PC owners!

I think that's an extremely intelligent move. To me, having to upgrade my PC every 6-12 months is the only thing that keeps me away from gaming on my PC. I've been dying to get my hands on a few titles, but just haven't had the hardware to run them properly.

[Iron Draggon]

can't imagine why you'd need to upgrade that often, unless you're still running a dinosaur... I finally upgraded to a new PC in 2003... went from a 366MHZ P2 to a 3GHZ P4... had to so I could play some of the newer games coming out at the time... nursed the old one along for over 5 years with the only upgrades being a larger hard drive to store all my games, a little extra RAM that was more of a desire than an absolute necessity, and a new video card that I needed to run a few games that required an extra boost for graphics

now I'm finally looking at upgrading the RAM in the new one just so it will perform better, switching from XP to Vista after I do that, and finally getting a new graphics card which will be required the first time I want to play a game that requires Direct X 10... don't expect to need to do anymore upgrades after that for several years, unless I just want to... I've already upgraded to a larger hard drive again, but that's all that I've had to do so far, and then only because I keep alot more games installed than I used to... luxuries like a faster DVD drive and a better DVD burner would be nice, but not required for a long time

what I think we're going to see is as long as you have a P4, you aren't gonna be likely to have to upgrade much for many years... perhaps if you have one of the early P4's that only ran at 1GHZ you might need a new CPU and possibly a new mobo to support it, but if that's the case you likely might as well just get a new system or build a new one from there... add the rest when you need to...

what will put a nail in my current PC's coffin will be when they stop supporting AGP and regular PCI slots... then I'll need a new mobo that supports PCI express, but my CPU will prolly still be good for many years... and by the time I need a new mobo, it'll be time for a new graphics card again anyway, so I'll likely just start building a new system from there... shouldn't need to do more than one upgrade every other year or so... perhaps a couple at a time, from time to time, but still no more often than every other year

[YoshiM]

PC Gamer magazine just did an article on Games for Windows. Games have to pass specific guidelines/minimum requirements to get the Games for Windows brand. Of course all games are NOT required to have the label, working with M$ to get the Games for Windows label on their games makes sure ALL the games will be able to be played on all Vista computers. And XP computers too? Reducing the need to always upgrade to play newer PC games. Becoming more accessible to PC owners!

I think that's an extremely intelligent move. To me, having to upgrade my PC every 6-12 months is the only thing that keeps me away from gaming on my PC. I've been dying to get my hands on a few titles, but just haven't had the hardware to run them properly.

What kind of PC do you have? I've got an AMD Athlon XP 2200 that I just recently upgraded with another gig of RAM (at 2GB now-I do video editing for a local flag football league) and a GeForce AGP 6600 and I can play F.E.A.R. and Oblivion pretty dang well. Sure not at the highest levels but I'm fine with that.

[business]

What kind of PC do you have? I've got an AMD Athlon XP 2200 that I just recently upgraded with another gig of RAM (at 2GB now-I do video editing for a local flag football league) and a GeForce AGP 6600 and I can play F.E.A.R. and Oblivion pretty dang well. Sure not at the highest levels but I'm fine with that.

I'm not gonna lie to you guys. I really don't know that much about computers at all. All I know is, I have a 3-4 year old computer that won't run Counter Strike Source all that well. LOL

I'll be picking up a new laptop for college soon. Hopefully one that I'll be able to run a few games I've been looking into. That's kind of the reason I brought this whole Games for Windows thing up in the first place.

That, and, Company of Heroes looks amazing. ;)

[theshizzle3000]

well, it has.

Gamestop/EB has a tiny section with WoW and the latest FPS game on it.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart have bigger selections, but most of it is shovelware crud

Yeah, here in the US PC gaming is nowhere near as huge as console gaming. Other than WoW, there just isn't a lot happening for it.

In countries like China and Korea it's a different story. They love the stuff. But over here it's just not the same.

Yeah in Korea they going to cafe's and playing MMORPGS is the big thing and they ofter go on dates there.

Not to mention there have been a load of gang wars that have started due to the Koreans taking games like Lineage entirely to serious.