Peter Moore on Games for Windows

Microsoft's Peter Moore, formerly of the Xbox division and now in charge of both Xbox and the Games for Windows group, has reiterated Microsoft's commitment to the PC as a gaming platform. If this sounds familiar, it's because last year Microsoft offered an apology for not only neglecting PC gaming but actually having a role in its retail sales decline. At the D.I.C.E. Summit on Friday, Moore echoed that sentiment, saying, "I want to apologize for the dereliction of duty to our company's number-one platform, the PC, in terms of gaming. We've been a little distracted for the past few years." Since he was already in a contrite sort of mood, he also went ahead and apologized for the slow restocking of Xbox 360 units to store shelves. From Microsoft's end, the big push for PC gaming seems to be coming in the form of Windows Vista. Microsoft announced last week that Bungie's Halo 2 would be a Vista exclusive, but Moore's speech had more to do with the unifying game-related features of the operating system. The company is trying to approach a console-like system for the installation and organization of games on the user's computer; that is, the goal is to make it as easy as possible. From GameSpot's longer coverage:

First, "Games" will be an option embedded into the Windows start menu, just as the "My Documents" and "My Pictures" folders are in Windows XP. Vista will have its own dedicated "games explorer," which shows all games installed on the computer in one place. It will also have an option to display basic game information, such as publisher, developer, ratings, and Web sites, via a metadata system.
... Unlike most current parental control methods, the system doesn't block games based on their overall rating; rather, it will allow parents to disallow play based on specific game content descriptors, like "blood and gore" or "strong sexual content." Parents will also be able to regulate how much time their children can play games, with an Outlook-like schedule that lets them restrict gaming to certain hours of the day.

Another Vista feature not mentioned in either summary is the integrated system through which developers can make games playable as soon as the game disc is inserted into the machine, much like a console; data for the full install can be streamed to the hard drive over time, or the user can choose to simply do a traditionally full install right off the bat. Of course, Moore also addressed the growing trend of digital distribution and subscription-based revenue, something that has been slowly coming to the consoles but which clearly has its roots (and dollars) in the PC gaming market. He didn't go into great detail of how Microsoft would be taking advantage of it, but the company is apparently working on a content delivery system that "is seamless, efficient, and it goes across all platforms." Finally, Moore mentioned the retail space, noting that PC game packaging is unstandardized. The PC gaming section of gaming retailers, if it's even visible, is not nearly as welcoming as its console counterparts. "Quite frankly, it's a mess," he admitted. While huge business in the PC gaming market is done online, it remains important for games with mass-market appeal to be easily obtainable at physical locations. As a former game retailer employee, I can also stress how much of a disadvantage PC gaming has that it doesn't really have an official warden, as do the offerings from the big three console manufacturers. While Sony, Nintendo, and (ironically) Microsoft hold retailers to strict guidelines as to how they display their consoles' titles, nobody is doing that for PC gaming. That means there's less PC gaming marketing material in stores, store staff has not been required to know key details about current PC games, and nobody is lobbying for an appealing presentation of PC games. In fact, many stores keep all their PC games behind the counter, out of sight. Microsoft has displayed a renewed investment in PC gaming recently, contacting individual publishers and showing up at trade shows with a Games for Windows booth in addition to an Xbox booth, but it seems the company feels there is more ground to cover. If Moore's address is anything to go by, there are some interesting initiatives in the works. Well, as long as you upgrade to Vista.