There is still room for improvement in the marketing and management of the Games for Windows platform, Microsoft Games for Windows director Kevin Unangst has said.

Unangst addressed complaints that Games for Windows Live doesn't offer enough incentive for those who pay for the service, noting that many gamers were confused that Games for Windows Live-branded titles required paid subscriptions for online play.

"Going out of the gate, we weren't as clear as we should have been that Games for Windows Live on the PC is free," Unangst told Eurogamer. "If you want to play cross-platform games, that's when you need a Gold subscription. Our challenge is to be clear on the message we're not charging for Games for Windows Live.

"People assumed we were trying to bring the Xbox model over to the PC, which we were not," Unangst added.

When asked for comment on the PC Gaming Alliance—a consortium of PC gaming developers in which Microsoft is a key figure—Unangst reaffirmed... Read more

Epic Games founder Mark Rein and designer Cliff Bleszinski voiced their support of the recently founded PC Gaming Alliance, suggesting that the consortium would help unite and revitalize the platform.

"Right now, if you have a laptop with integrated graphics and try to play our game, it doesn't play...So you just lose your interest in that. We don't want that," Rein told MTV Multiplayer. "We want all these people buying laptops and reasonably priced PCs, to at least be able to be exposed to gaming. They can go out later and upgrade to something better, but let’s at least give them a baseline experience."

Added Bleszinski, "I think everybody coming together in that kind of way will essentially kind of help re-glue things back together and kind of help fix the market."

Officially formed at last week's Game Developers Conference, the PCGA hopes to serve as a forum for developers to collaborate on the marketing, production, and analyzation of the PC market. The body will act as an advisory board, with a... Read more

A consortium of corporate giants ranging from Microsoft to Intel joined hands in an effort to advance the PC gaming platform today, officially announcing the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The stated goal of the PCGA is to serve as a forum for developers to collaborate on the marketing, production, and analyzation of the PC market. The body will act as an advisory board, with the focus on providing a single "voice" for the PC gaming industry.

"PCGA members believe that we are stronger and more effective together than any member company is alone, and that our shared vision and group effort will improve PC gaming worldwide," said Intel's Randy Stude. "Industry forums have proven to foster competition and innovation among member companies and grow markets while improving user experiences."

The full list of PCGA members is composed of Acer/Gateway, Activision, AMD, Dell/Alienware, Epic Games, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia. and Razer.

"There's no one source that says 'hey this is where the PC market is going'," said Stude according to Develop. "Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are always calling their market share--we're going to call our market through this group."

"What we intend to do is look at what's out there and tell developers what consumers have and understand what audiences exist," added Microsoft Games for Windows chief Kevin Unagast. "The role of the PCGA is providing guidance to developers when they are making a game, explain how they can achieve consistency."

Well, George and Scott both up at 3DRealms sure talked about the latest issue of PCGamer quite a bit. MajorGaines was kind enough to forward me the actul cover art for the big Duke4 feature. Check it out and stuff:

If are manly with lots of bandwidth, here is a link to a high resolution version. Also, a lot of people seem pretty impressed with the 'Win A Job At Ion Storm' contest listed on that cover image. I'm not sure that contest is the best idea in the world...