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Valve's Steam service lets its users voluntarily upload their PC system specs up to be compared and contrasted and every month Valve offers up updated surveys of what their users have inside their PCs. Their January 2010 survey results are in and the results show that Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system has now overtaken Windows Vista in gamers' PCs.

Combining both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, Windows 7 now has a 28.53 percent slice of the OS pie in the survey while Windows Vista's slice has 27.91 percent of Steam users. Now the Windows 7 numbers may be somewhat inflated due to the fact that some of Steam's users may still be using the free release candidate version of the OS that was released in 2009. That version will begin to become unusable in March and will shut down completely in June. It's also worth noting that the 32 bit version of Windows XP blows both Windows 7 and Vista away with 41.15 percent of Steam users still using the now 10 year old OS in their PCs.

Last month, Microsoft announced plans for Game Room, a virtual place for Games For Windows Live and Xbox 360 users where people could play classic arcade game via their avatars in customized environments. However, if you thought you might be playing Mortal Kombat in your virtual arcade, you might have to look elsewhere.

GamerBytes reports that the entire Game Room application has been rated E10+ by the ESRB and that a Microsoft spokesperson has told them, "Games available for download within "Game Room" will carry either E or E10+ ratings. We currently have no plans to feature titles of those [higher Teen and Mature] ratings." It's possible Microsoft went this route to save some money by not having to rate every game they plan to put into the Game Room, although this has not been confirmed.

Microsoft may have lost some interest in developing and publishing PC games but it still put in some effort into making hardware specifically for PC gamers. Today the company announced their new SideWinder X4 gaming PC keyboard which they claim will use the best anti-ghost technology.

So why do you want to keep spirits and spooks away from the keyboard while you play? Frst, that's not the kind of ghost we are talking about. Second, the anti-ghosting tech means that gamers should be able to use the new keyboard to perform complex key combinations with no issues. In fact Microsoft claims the SideWinder X4 is capable of accepting 26 keys being pressed at once.

Other features include macro recordings and mode and profile switching. The SideWinder X4 won't be super-expensive,either. Microsoft will release the product in March for $59.95.

Games For Windows Live's Marketplace uses the infamous Microsoft Points system for downloading add-on content for Games For Windows titles such as all those Fallout 3 mini-expansions. It's the same system that's used for the Xbox 360 to purchase and download many different products for Microsoft's game console.

However the system has also been highly controversial for several reasons including the fact that most people are left with excess points they can't use to purchase items. In a recent G4TV chat, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said offering real world prices on all of their downloadable content is "something we're looking at doing." Now comes word via InformationWeek that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft surrounding Microsoft Points.

The lawsuit, filed by Samuel Lassoff of of Horsham, PA, said Microsoft is "collecting revenues for digital goods and services which were not provided" via the Microsoft Points system. He claims that a recent invoice from Microsoft showed "charges for purchases he couldn't complete". Microsoft has yet to respond to the lawsuit.

A while back, Microsoft released a game development tool for the Xbox 360 called Kodu. You wouldn't be able to make a game like, for example, Darksiders, with Kodu but it was designed to make simple casual games easily. It was also designed as a educational tool for schools.

Now Microsoft has just released a version of Koku that is made specifically for making PC games. The user interface has been redesigned to be used with a mouse and keyboard rather than just with an Xbox 360 game controller. While the download is free it does require you to sign in with a Windows Live ID. You most likely won't be able to make the world's hardest game you could make simple arcade titles with the software like a helicopter game.

It had a horrible launch when it was released in late December 2008 but the PC port of Rockstar Games' open world action title Grand Theft Auto IV was the number one biggest online game on Microsoft's Games For Windows Live online service in 2009. Major Nelson's web site revealed the stats on Sunday, which is based on unique users (specific numbers were not revealed).

Relic's RTS game Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II was the number two Games For Windows Live Games title while Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 was number three. Surprisingly the 2007 released multiplayer shooter Shadowrun was the number four game on the list in 2009, indicating that perhaps the title from the now defunct FASA Interactive still has a strong online following. You can check out the entire top 20 list after the jump:

Last night's big reveal at Microsoft's CES keynote was the upcoming Game Room for both Xbox 360 and Games For Windows Live. Now Microsoft has revealed some more info on their plans for the new casual game feature via a CES fact sheet (in .doc format). The actual game room itself will be a free download (it's being developed by Krome Studios).

Each classic game that you put in the virtual room will cost 240 Microsoft points (about $3) if you just buy it for use on your Games For Windows Live client. If you have both Xbox Live and Games For Windows Live accounts you can purchase classic games that can be used in both settings for 400 Microsoft points each ($5). If you just want to have one game session with a title (just like putting in quarters in an arcade machine) you can do so for just 40 Microsoft points (about 50 cents). You can also go to the game rooms of your friends and try out their games for free.

There will be over 30 classic games available for the Game Room launch from publishers like Activision, Konami and others. Online play will include ranked and challenge modes and you can also unlock Achievements in each title. You can also decorate your room with various custom arcade cabinets and themes (there's no word yet on the pricing for those items).

[Via Joystiq]

Microsoft took time during its CES 2010 keynote event tonight to give a little love to Games For Windows Live. Our sister site Joystiq reports that Microsoft plans to launch a new service called Game Room that will let players create their own virtual arcade rooms and have friends (in avatar form) come in to play classic arcade game titles.

Details are still scarce but the Game Room is scheduled to be launched sometime this spring. It's currently unknown if the Game Room will introduce avatars to the Games For Windows Live service.(the Xbox 360 version of Game Room will be using their Avatar feature).

As we run out of hours before the end of 2009, our minds are already thinking about what might happen in the next 12 months. Last year at this time we gave our predictions on what the PC game industry might do in 2009. Some of our predictions were proven to be correct and others, well, not so much.

So now it's time to do it all over again and look into our rather hazy crystal ball and give some predictions on what events mght happen in 2010. Will we bat 1000 this time or will our predictions miss by a mile. In 12 months we should know.

Click on the image above to continue reading 2010 PC Game Predictions

Over two years ago MechWarrior franchise owners Microsoft game a mod team called Wandering Samurai permission to go ahead with their free MechWarrior-based mod project for Crysis. Now at long last the mod team has released the first beta for the mod, titled MechWarrior: Living Legends.

Yes, even before the actual official MechWarrior game revival from developer Piranha Games is released you can try out this beta mod which requires the latest version of Crysis, the 2007 shooter from developer Crytek. In the meantime you can check out a launch trailer, which has lots of gameplay footage, from the mod, after the jump.