wraggster
December 5th, 2006, 16:21
Until pretty recently, PC gaming was very much an exercise in harnessing the power of hardware and an operating system designed for general productivity and applying it to a hobby far less business oriented. Though Microsoft first gave gaming a nod when it began hyping the release of Windows 95 and a collection of APIs dubbed DirectX, PC gaming has never approached the simple and cohesive experience possible on a dedicated gaming console. A couple of OSs and a decade after Microsoft's first attempt to call one of its operating systems a "gaming platform," the dynamic may finally be about to change.
Windows Vista will be Microsoft's warmest embrace of gaming yet. As we discussed in Part 2 of our Windows Vista Journal, Vista's Games Explorer consolidates installed games and offers features like parental control. That's actually only the surface of a broader "Games for Windows" push that Microsoft is only just beginning to ramp up, which will shortly include a lot of marketing, unified design for game boxes and more prominent retail placement in stores.
Full review at IGN (http://uk.gear.ign.com/articles/749/749090p1.html?RSSwhen2006-12-04_181200&RSSid=749104)
Windows Vista will be Microsoft's warmest embrace of gaming yet. As we discussed in Part 2 of our Windows Vista Journal, Vista's Games Explorer consolidates installed games and offers features like parental control. That's actually only the surface of a broader "Games for Windows" push that Microsoft is only just beginning to ramp up, which will shortly include a lot of marketing, unified design for game boxes and more prominent retail placement in stores.
Full review at IGN (http://uk.gear.ign.com/articles/749/749090p1.html?RSSwhen2006-12-04_181200&RSSid=749104)