microsoft-flight posts

For the past few days we have been going over our most anticipated PC games in the next 12 months in the first person shooter, action, RPG-MMO and strategy genres. But there are a lot of games that just don't fit comfortably in those categories. But that doesn't make them any less notable in our eyes. Also there are some games that we missed out on writing about in our previous parts of the series.

Today is the conclusion of our most anticipated PC games feature of 2011. Today's list includes a number of racing games along with some sim titles, adventure games and indie titles. As with our previous articles these games are listed in order of their planned release dates but those dates can, and usually do, change with little notice.

Microsoft is getting ready to launch yet another major revamp in its 3 1/2 year old Games For Windows program for PC gaming. Today the company officially announced that starting on November 15, the Games For Windows Marketplace web site will go live. PC gamers can purchase and download full PC game titles from the site. The Games For Windows Live client software, which also supports for full PC game downloads, will be used for other purposes after November 15.

Big Download chatted on the phone earlier this week with Microsoft group product manager Peter Orullian about the upcoming changes for its PC game download service. However before we get to his comments and the specifics of the changes that will be made to Games For Windows Marketplace let's go back in time to see how it has evolved to its current point.

Microsoft has been trying to convince the media that it's really serious this time about improving its PC games business. The company hasn't published a PC game in almost three years but now has three announced PC games in the works (Fable 3, Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight).

In a chat with MCV, Microsoft Games Studios' general manager Dave Luehmann states, "It is our job to lead the way on PC. And in some ways we are doing that and in other ways we are not. So we need to step up." He says that the three games mentioned above represent " .... some real investment and big IPs behind the Windows platform." And he adds, " ... we are not going to stop there."

Earlier this month Microsoft announced a bigger push back into publishing PC exclusive games with the upcoming Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight. However both titles seem to be targeted at a broader PC gamer market. Is Microsoft also interested in the smaller but more hard core PC gamer?

VG247.com chatted with Microsoft's Game Studios general manager Dave Luehmann at Gamescom and asked him if the company "still planned to cater for those that spend large sums of money to upgrade PC rigs for games." Luehmann replied, "There are other products, and I can think of one in particular, that will really encourage that type of behaviour." Of course that response means that Microsoft plans to continue to expand its PC game publishing efforts with Luehmann stating, "There'll be more announcements, there'll be more products over the next 24 months."

Today's early morning announcements of Microsoft Flight and Age of Empires Online seems to signal a true return to publishing PC games from Microsoft. As we have pointed out before, the company in charge of the Games For Windows branding has itself not published a PC game since the Gears of War port in 2007.

In a chat with Computer and Video Games, Microsoft Games Studios' general manager Dave Luehmann states, "I think we need to invest in this space." He also seems to admit that Microsoft has in the past few years not done as much in publishing PC games compared to other companies, saying, "Windows is an important space for us so we need to invest our first-party IP in it as much as anybody else. We can't really ask other companies to step up if the first party isn't stepping up."

He also admits that the company has put most of its efforts on its Xbox console business, saying, "I think it was a focus thing. We started to focus on one area and now we're saying let's start to spread that focus."