Tycho explains (with his greatly tuned instruments of eloquence) yet another reason to pass on Games for Windows Live. Apparently, using your account on both your PC and your Xbox doesn't work simultaneously as it should.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun also lists some problems with Games for Windows Live while attempting to get the DLC for Fallout 3.

Now I understand why Microsoft is still trying to push this crap onto our desktops: The mere thought of charging for downloadable content makes the suits salivate. However, I don't think they're seeing the big picture: That they're walking through a pile of dogshit. It's smelly and most PC gamers recoil at the thought of getting any of that on their PCs.

It's not a question of whether Microsoft will eventually get it right, it's that they're dragging the PC as a platform down while they get it wrong.

And now a special letter to Microsoft:

. . .

I know you're going for world domination, please go ahead and rake in those extra bucks on the Xbox, but remember that the PC market is a different beast. Cutting and pasting your cash-cow isn't working.

Work on the value of your operating system, which is tied into the PC games market. Remind gamers that they need Windows for a great gaming experience, make that experience as smooth as possible with the best tools possible, even from 3rd parties (*ahem* Steam). You used to understand this once, back when DirectX was young.

Otherwise, you're taking a dent out of your pocketbook in both games and OS. Surely you cannot be so arrogant that you're blind to how this hurts you on two fronts.

. . .

I somehow doubt they'll take it to heart.

I pointed out recently that Windows 7 is mostly Vista. I even used Ballmer's quote in a followup comment that it was Vista "just better".

Now I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that's actually a good thing.

Yeah Microsoft didn't remake Windows as they'd implied, plus most people think of Vista as an all-bad train wreck (IMHO half true, but that's a negating statement isn't it?), so anything leveraged onto it is more of the same, right? Maybe not.

Take Vista. Pull out a lot of the more annoying default bits, like the stupid sidebar, the popup control panel window and a lot of the unnecessary services hogging up RAM. Reduce RAM usage overall, so 2gigs of RAM becomes comfortable again. Turn off all that clutter stuff that most Vista users learn to turn off anyway. So by default, it looks and acts cleaner right from the install.

There have been fringe efforts online to create Vista 'lite' installers to streamline the OS like this, to put Vista where it should have been by default.

Then tweak a few of the UI elements, make the taskbar more useful and automatically toggle Aero off when games are launched. Organize everything with a bit more common sense, so the user can barely care about the OS rather than wrestle against it. At this point, Vista's improvements in areas like video streaming might actually get noticed by the common user. The entire experience is smoothed out more.

That could actually work well.

I don't really intend to review the Windows 7 Beta directly, it's a Beta. I just hope this is what the experience is like upon release, because I might actually *gasp* use it.

I'm also crossing my fingers that DX10 / 11 gets a little more stable before the OS releases. Drivers could still be a big issue.

Even I had a bit of faith that Microsoft might come to their senses and make Windows 7 more lean and mean, but frankly it's just a slightly more matured version of Vista with a new name.

I've been under the assumption that I'd finally trade XP for Windows 7 and just skip over Vista, but most likely I'll be sticking with XP for awhile still.

My PC blazes brightly enough, but I don't see much sense in trading framerate in games for slightly better shadows with DX10, especially at the tune of a couple hundred bucks for a new OS.

Marketing-wise (or should I say marketing machine-wise), Microsoft is going to do really well with this. Windows 7 will perform better simply because the average PC is catching up, although it'll still be a dog on most laptops. In other words, buy a new PC this year with Windows 7 and it will run faster than a PC from last year with Vista: The PC itself is faster.

I think Microsoft is doing their customers a disservice though, the minor tweaks and improvements just aren't much. A whole lot of current laptop owners will upgrade to (desperately?) push their performance a little bit more, no matter how small. And for some of them, it could be the threshold they need, although for many others they won't see much difference at all. Either way, the mainstream press has been run over by Microsoft's marketing steamroller.

Apple could have capitalized on this at MacWorld, but they're being dumbasses this season, going back to their old passive-aggressive nature instead of the simply aggressive stance they took against Vista. Oh I'm sure there will be a bit of rumblings, but it's after the fact at this point. It's like they're Microsoft customers themselves, playing wait-and-see. That'll be too late, Microsoft will win this round and it may be the end of Apple's recent upward curve unless they can leverage another iPhone-like device.

I was also a little delusional last year thinking I could maybe switch to Linux on my desktop once Wine catches up to DX10, but once again I overestimated desktop usage on Linux overall, I think it's almost moving backwards in usability while the geeks keep adding flashy gadgetry.

*sigh*

Update: If you want to try it for yourself, the Windows 7 Beta should be available (starting tomorrow afternoon) at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

Another Update: The Beta is available again after being offline for a day or so.

I've been as guilty as any doom and gloomer over the noticeable downtrend of the PC gaming market in the past few years, but there's no doubt to me that PC games are about to make a comeback.

Hello Spore, Left4Dead and Dragon Age. There are significant PC games on the horizon. The MMORPG market has exploded, thanks to WoW's high subscriber rate and I believe WAR will hit big and expand this even further. Plus digital distribution is finally poised to push brick-and-mortars into irrelevance.

The question is how much Microsoft will continue to botch it up and will Apple grow some PC gaming balls to take advantage of the missteps of Vista + DirectX 10?

Apple's PC marketshare is on the rise again. They've got some gaming fanbois despite themselves, thanks to Blizzard's stubbornness to give triple-A quality to their treasured platform. If they just tried a little, they could capitalize on the discomfort PC gamers are feeling from Microsoft's squeeze to push Windows Live.

Apple needs to do what Microsoft did once-upon-a-time and support PC game developers in a big way, flat out cater to them. This isn't Apple's strong suit, I think they like absolute control even more than the Redmond giant, but if they're going to do it, they should skip their usual tendencies and wrest the steering wheel away now before Microsoft realizes what they've screwed up.

They just need to convince one man really: Gabe Newell. He may not like Apple much, but he's an opportunist too. Partner with Valve, let them take the reins of a new gaming initiative for the Mac. If Apple was smart they'd realize these are the PC gaming savvy guys, they're the ones that get stuff done.

If Apple doesn't clue in quick, they'll still trickle in more marketshare, but they'll be missing out on an opportunity to grab the whole shebang while it's sitting right on the table being neglected.

You've probably already heard it elsewhere, but I'd just like to say on a personal and selfish perspective that I'm glad Microsoft has given up their pursuit to buy out Yahoo!.

I'm neither a Microsoft nor a Yahoo! fan, but I do use some of each of their products and in particular I didn't want to see what Microsoft would have done with properties like Flickr and MyBlogLog.

Truth be told, I was a bit baffled by the whole thing, Microsoft could not have dreamed that they'd meet with anything but a wave of bad press from trying to fold Yahoo! via acquisition (after wrapping in what they'd want to keep, namely the advertising space). And obviously they were mistaken thinking that they'd be met with open arms by a company that operates much differently than their own.

As many people have been pointing out, Microsoft should have set their sights on AOL instead.

Note: I've posted two followups to this article.

Will Age of Conan tone it down to avoid an Adult Only rating? The folks at Funcom seem to embrace the adult-content, staying true to the world Robert E. Howard created, or at least the way Frank Frazetta envisioned it in stunning detail.

The thing is, Microsoft only allows max M rated games for their Games for Windows brand. Funcom has an agreement with Microsoft for the DirectX 10 / Vista stuff with this branding and I'd bet there is some fine print about the game's rating. No doubt for the Xbox 360 version too.

A bit of fuss was kicked up recently when Rockstar's Manhunt 2 was labelled as Adult Only, causing Nintendo to drop it like a hot potato. Frankly, I think it's about time that videogame publishers stopped acting like Blockbuster and pretending that anything not-for-kids isn't publishable. Responsible adults should still be able to play these games.

I would love to see Age of Conan leave the prudes and children behind. I'm looking forward to playing an MMORPG where the game doesn't feel dominated by pubescent adolescence. A little while ago in WoW, Sakkara told someone they were acting like a 12 year old and the player turned out to actually be aged 13. Hey, that's fine, let kids play WoW, but I'd like AoC to be a vacation from that crowd.

Let me make it clear, I wish AoC could have a rating and content that makes parents flinch and insist that their children will not play it. M doesn't cut it, it's the kind of rating where parents go "oh, okay, I guess so" to their kids and then if they do see something shocking they complain. See this gorgeous and gratuitous Frazetta artwork?

This is what Conan should look like. Gorgeous and cheesy with that Heavy Metal-esque adultness.

But I understand that Funcom may make compromises for a reduced rating. It would disappoint me, but they may be forced to make changes given the current climate with the Media, politics and publishers.