Microsoft opens online PC gaming shop-front
Points in store
Microsoft is opening the Games for Windows Marketplace - an online store that integrates Xbox Live and Windows Live services to make it easier to buy PC games.
Some 100 top titles are on offer at launch,including Fable, Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne, along with newer titles such as Dead Rising 2 and Lost Planet 2.
Gamers can log on anywhere, re-download games they've already purchased and take advantage of special offers, seasonal discounts and a new Deal of the Week service.
Anyone with a Windows Live ID can immediately start to shop and in addition to credit card purchases, the Marketplace supports Microsoft Points, which allows users of Xbox Live, Zune Marketplace and Games for Windows to use their points across multiple platforms.
The Games for Windows Marketplace launches November 15. ®
COMMENTS
Heh....
At least El Reg didn't do what the mainstream newspaper tech-section article I read did - blather in apparent horror about how counterintuitive it is that you "have to download a piece of software before you can buy a game". This was from their technology columnist.
I considered sending him an email, but it seems fairly likely that he hasn't yet gotten beyond the shock of how strange it is to read messages on a screen instead of on paper.
erm....
Steam, Direct2Drive.....i think Microsoft are only erm 7 years (Steam) & 6 years (Direct2Drive) late, If only they'd taken PC Gamers seriously instead of trying to whore up the already saturated console market *sigh*
Unless they can drastically undercut Steam (Direct2Drive aren't even worth the money tbh, Steam does it so much better) then i won't be using them.
They could call it STEAMing (pile of shite)......oh wait....Valve might has that trademark registered.
Flame Icon = Hot Air = STEAM ftw!
Steam...
Well, they can't call it Steam, but how about "Microsoft Hot Air"?
too little far too late...
miserysoft is dead.
Android Mobi
Eee netbook
Ubuntu PC
busybox NAS
Media Streaming PVR (and iplayer + skyplayer)
PS3 - for gaming (and media straming)
Wii - for gaming (and iplayer)
so who needs MS anymore?
Once upon a time a pc would do everything and was all that you needed, but someone thought that fragmenting the market was a good way to go.
Oh and what is this apple of which you speak? they are MS's largest competitor? not on my list.
Wow those "Recent Releases" on the front page...
...include games that are ~10 years old!
"Deus Ex: Game of the Year" that year was 2000 though.
"Deus Ex: Invisible War" was release in 2003.
"Thief: deadly Shadows" - 2004
"Hit Man" almost worthy of recent... 2006
plus 2 for from this year.
Not the greatest advertisment for a new service.
