In 2006, then Microsoft Vice President Peter Moore apologised for what he called a dereliction of duty to the company’s number one gaming platform: The PC. More »
Stormrise, a new RTS from Creative Assembly, is coming to consoles. No problems there. But it’s also coming to the PC, and when it does, you better hope you’re not still rocking Windows XP.
,p>Do not fear Windows 7. Sure, the tests might show that Windows XP performs better, but Microsoft assures us all that the next version of their operation system will be “great for games”.
Windows 7 is out and up for download, provided you’re OK with using a beta operating system. It promises a raft of improvements over Windows Vista, but how’s it shaping up for games?
Will the upcoming new version of Windows be yet another Vista for PC gamers to worry about, or will Windows 7 be a boon for the mouse and keyboard set? TechRadar takes a look.
Remedy Entertainment’s “psychological action thriller” Alan Wake may continue to be a no-show at massive gaming events like E3 and Tokyo Game Show, but the new cinematic trailer released today proves that the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista (grrr…) only title is still in the works. Sure, the knees may be sharp, the valleys may be uncanny and the development may be worrisomely bumpy at times, but we’re still excited to see Mr. Wake suffer. Logo’s snazzy too!
In another case of “Because it’s there”, some brave/misguided soul has gone to great lengths to get Windows Vista running on a PlayStation 3. How? Emulated via Linux, of course. That translates to blazing speeds, making the Microsoft OS boot in a mere 25 minutes. Notepad opens in just 12!! If you’re interested in the techniques required to get Vista on your PS3, PS3HaX has a handy tutorial. Just think — you could be playing Minesweeper in just a few days, at single digit speed percentages! Impress your friends!
Games for Windows – Live multiplayer features are free, effective today, Microsoft announced at today’s GameFest 2008 conference in Seattle.
The move to free means that achievements, enhanced “truskill” matchmaking, cross-platform play with the Xbox 360, voice and text chat, friends lists, are all now free to Windows gamers. This change to free is for all Games for Windows LIVE titles, past and future.
Microsoft also announced plans to introduce Games for Windows – Live marketplace this fall, which will include free and paid downloadable game content, demos, trailers and “more”. Finally, the company said they are working to streamline the interface for the PC and reduce technical requirements for developers. Too little, too late? Too early to tell, I say.
In other news from GameFest, DirectX 11 was unveiled.
I got Vista a few weeks back, and have found it nothing short of delightful. No compatibility issues, no performance downgrades, none of the complaints I’ve heard PC gamers cussing over for the past year or so. Then again…I’ve been playing Oblivion and the Battlestar Galactica mod for Homeworld 2, so I haven’t exactly been pushing the OS to its limits. If you’re playing things a little more current, and are finding things on Vista a little slower than they should be, chin up: some benchmarks run by ExtremeTech have compared Vista’s SP1 to XP’s new SP3, and found that over three games tested (World in Conflict, Supreme Commander and Crysis), Vista was just as fast as XP on two, and marginally faster on Crysis.
Gaming Performance: Windows Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3 [ExtremeTech]
Yeah, that question will rule a lot of you out, but for those it doesn’t this should be something of a rare delight. If you’ve got a copy of Vista Premium, and install the vmcNetflix plug-in, you’ll be able to rent streaming movies from Netflix (currently only available to Windows PCs) and – with a little jiggering – beam them over to your 360. It’s apparently a little buggy, but hey, in the absence of an official deal, it’s as good as you’re going to get it for the moment.
vmcNetFlix [vmcNetFlix, via Gizmodo AU]
