Despite its insistences to the contrary, Microsoft seems to have forsaken the PC as a gaming platform. Sure, Fable 3’s gotten a PC release along with an impending new online Age of Empires…but that’s really about it. The first Gears of War got released for PC – as did Halo 1 and 2, but all successive releases in both franchises have been for the Xbox 360 only.
Microsoft tried to bring a unified, console-like experience to PC gaming (forgetting that Steam already exists) with its Games for Windows service, but that hasn’t worked out especially well for PC gaming.
Recently, Microsoft integrated Games for Windows Live with Xbox.com – so it could be a central hub for all video game related goodness, included downloads, trailers, add-ons and all the things Xbox Live users have come to love. While it does perhaps add a little credence to the rumour that Windows 8 might be able to play Xbox 360 games it also shows just how little Microsoft cares about PC gaming. Why? Because the section for the PC master race is tucked neatly away between Xbox Downloads and Avatar goodies – with nary a mention of the recent merger – or that Xbox.com is a destination for PC gaming related items.
Clicking through shows a handful of featured PC games; Rift, Super Street Fighter IV, Crysis 2, Dirt 3 and the six year old Age of Empires III. They really just don’t care anymore, do they?
Source and image credit : Kotaku.com
Last Updated: July 12, 2011
