windows-7 posts

Just a few years ago Microsoft was one of the most prolific first and third party publishers for PC games, releasing titles like the Age of Empires/Mythology series, the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, the Mechwarrior series, Freelancer, Impossible Creatures, Rise of Nations and many more. However Microsoft has been doing some cost cutting in the past 18 months as they have shut down a number of their internal PC developers such as ACES Studio and Ensemble Studios while cutting back their third party PC game publishing lineup.

At the same time, Microsoft has tried to work with third party publishers on their Games For Windows marketing push for PC games, They have also tried to improve their Games For Windows Live online service which got off to a rocky start just over two years ago but has made improvements since then. Big Download got a chance to chat with Michael Wolf, the Senior Marketing Manager for Games for Windows Live, to get an update on their PC game development and publishing plans and their future plans for Games For Windows Live.

We expected that the month of June would generate a ton of huge PC game stories thank to E3 2009 being held in the first week of the month. We had no idea that the biggest PC game story would actually happen near the end of June. Yet that's exactly what happened and today Big Download looks back at what we think were the top 10 biggest PC game stories in the past 30 days.

Yes, E3 2009 was in fact the source for many of the stories on June's list but as you will see it wasn't the only source; not by a long shot.

Click on the image to the right to read more of the top 10 Biggest PC game stories of June 2009.

As Microsoft gets ready for the launch of Windows 7 on October 22 they have revealed more info on both the pricing of the various versions of the PC OS as well as the packaging of the retail version. As we reported several days ago, today is the first day of the Windows 7 upgrade program for new PCs. If you purchase a new PC from participating retailers and PC makers that has Windows Vista installed, you can get an upgrade to Windows 7 for little to no cost when it ships.

As far as Windows 7 pricing, here are the numbers for the upgrade version:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

If you want the full version of Windows 7 here are the prices:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

In addition beginning today for a limited time you can purchase the upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium for just $49.99 and the upgrade version of Windows 7 Professional for just $99.99. Finally Microsoft talked about the retail packaging for Windows 7, saying it is 37 percent lighter than the packaging for Windows Vista.

Windows 7 is now set for release on October 22 and with that release come DirectX11, the next version of Microsoft's 3D graphics API. So it's not a shock to learn that AMD (via their ATI brand) and Nvidia are prepping to launch their next major PC graphics cards this fall that will support DirectX11 features.

VentureBeat reports that AMD's director of software developer relations Neal Robison stated that AMD will be ready this fall with DirectX11 supported graphics chips. However, rumors that Nvidia's team are behind in their next-gen graphics tech are dismissed by anaylst Jon Peddie who believes the company will also have DirectX11 chips ready by this fall. Nvidia itself won't comment on their future plans. Intel is also developing their own high end graphics chips under the code name Larabee but it's now expected that it won't be ready for launch until next year.

Windows Vista was pretty much of a train wreck of an OS when it was released 2 1/2 years ago. There were tons of performance problems and driver support was poor. However it looks like Microsoft's next OS release Windows 7 will be a much better product (it's due out on October 22) and Stardock CEO Brad Wardell feels game developers need to get on the Windows 7 bandwagon now.

Chatting with Gamasutra, Wardell feels that one of the big features of Windows 7 is Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP) which will allow a PC's CPU to handle some DirectX graphical features even if the PC has a poor gaphics card or no dedicated graphics card installed. Wardell feels that feature will allow lots of games to be played on low end machines: "We want the game to look incredible on high-end systems, but I want people to be able to play this on their three-year-old laptop on the airplane."

Earlier this week Microsoft officially announced that October 22 is the target date for the release of Windows 7, the next version of their PC operating system that is pretty much required to run nearly every PC game. Now our sister site Engadget has posted up the contents of a leaked memo from Best Buy with some pre-release details on Windows 7.

After pretty much slamming the previous OS, Windows Vista, in their opening paragraph, the Best Buy memo states that on June 26 nearly every PCs sold at the retailer that has Windows Vista installed will get a guaranteed free upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released. This also apples to any sales of Windows Vista software. Also on June 26, Best Buy (and it admits other retailers) will have a special pre-order price of $49.99 for a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and a $99.99 pre-order price for a Windows 7 Professional Premium Upgrade. This deal will only be offered until July 11.

Microsoft's new PC operating system now has a final launch date. This week the company revealed that it will make Windows 7 available to the public on October 22. That should be a huge boost for the OS as new PCs will have it installed and ready for the busy holiday shopping season.

Microsoft decided to go ahead with the launch date following a good response to the already released release canidate version of Windows 7. Microsoft also plans to have a program where people who buy a Windows Vista PC close to the release of Windows 7 to upgrade to the new OS

After months of not committing to a release of Windows 7 by the 2009 holiday shopping season, Microsoft is apparently confident enough to make some official statements on the matter. News.com quotes Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte as saying, "We are tracking well to a Windows 7 holiday."

This is likely a relief to consumers, PC makers and PC game developers who all had to deal with a January 2007 launch of the current version of Microsoft's PC OS, Windows Vista. Having Windows 7 be made available on new PCs as well as upgrades during the busy fall-holiday shopping season should spur a lot more sales. A release candidate version of Windows 7 was released to the public last week and early feedback from its users convinced Microsoft that it would be ready for prime time this fall. An exact ship date has not yet been revealed.

If you have been iching to try out Windows 7, this may be your last chance to kick the tires on the upcoming PC operating system for free before Microsoft asks you to pay for it. A little earlier than planned, Microsoft has now released the Windows 7 release candidate to the public. This will be close to the final version (hence the name "release candidate) but Microsoft will try to get any last minute bugs out before it's official launch (which many believe will be sometime before the end of the year).

Technically this free pre-launch version of Windows 7 will work until June 1, 2010. In reality you will likely get rid of it long before then since Microsoft has set up the release candidate version to shut down any PCs that have it installed every two hours after March 1, 2010. One interesting feature is the Windows XP mode which will allow programs made for Windows XP to run even if they cannot run on Windows Vista. While this new mode is mostly for business apps, you can bet that gamers will try it out.

Microsoft has insisted they have not yet settled on a launch date for their Windows 7 OS but a new report on News.com may have had a third-party spill the beans on a possible release date. A rep for the UK division of PC maker Acer claims that Windows 7 will in fact launch on October 23.

That's certainly in line with what others are expecting Microsoft to do with the launch of the next major OS. Idealy they would like to have PCs with Windows 7 installed and in stores before the start of the busy holiday shopping season. In the meantime the release candidate for Windows 7 is now available to download for MSDN and/or TechNet subscribers. The general public can download the release candidate on May 5.