Microsoft Unveils Games, Live For Windows Vista

At a Games For Windows event in San Francisco related to next week's Windows Vista launch, Microsoft exec Rich Wickham has been discussing the company's attitude to PC gaming, DirectX 10, and Vista. He noted that 2006 was "the best year we've ever had" for Windows gaming, and suggested that the launch of Vista and the migration of Live services onto Windows should continue to expand PC gaming's horizons. Wickham's remarks began with his evident delight at World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade's gigantic 2.4 million unit sellthrough in the first 24 hours, and quipping that he hoped Vista will sell just as or more quickly. He went on to praise the role of gaming in shaping the overall Vista platform, specifically commenting: "Gaming and DirectX have brought 3D to the [Vista] platform", and revealing that both EA/Crytek's Crysis and Funcom's Age Of Conan were running at the event using DirectX 10. Other major titles being showcased, though not yet necessarily on DirectX 10, included Hellgate London and Supreme Commander. He also discussed Microsoft's gradual roll-out of the Live service, including Achievement Points and cross-platform play, to Windows Vista over the course of this year. Being shown at the event in cross-playable PC and Xbox 360 forms were Uno (for which Wickham quipped that the casual game "may not be that casual after all," thanks to its addictive nature) and Shadowrun. In addition, single-player PC casual titles which will allow Achievement Points, including Geometry Wars, which will ship later in 2007, were also shown - there was also confirmation that Xbox Live Arcade title Crystal Quest is also coming to the PC, presumably with a Live-enabled scoreboard and Achievements. Microsoft's Wickham, who is Director for Windows Gaming Business, also talked about the new marketing campaign behind Windows titles. Retail boxes including the Games For Windows logo will be placed on games that work perfectly with both Windows XP and Windows Vista, and he also discussed backwards compatibility issues for Vista and other PC games. Wickham indicated that over 1000 games have been tested for backward compatibility, commenting: "I feel better about where we are [on backward compatibility] with Vista today than I have with any other operating system." Various questions from the small group assembled at San Francisco's Dogpatch Studios included a query about Xbox 360 vs. PC 'exclusivity' or staggered release dates for any of the big titles coming out this year for both systems. The Microsoft exec commented that, for third parties, "It's for them to decide... we've made it much easier to make simultaneously shipping games." He also commented that he believed a number of the major titles coming out for PC and Xbox 360 this year will ship at the same time on both platforms. Other inquiries revolved around why Live features are being rolled out gradually to the PC, with many of the same features as the Xbox 360 version of Live only appearing over time. Wickham noted that it's only been 14 months since work started on the Live elements for Windows, commenting that "the goal is to get it to full feature parity" in the long term, and suggesting: "We wouldn't want to wait any longer" to integrate some elements of Live onto Windows.