At Microsoft’s E3 2006 press briefing, Bill Gates announced Games for Windows Live, then called Live Anywhere, which would let Xbox 360 and Windows gamers square off against each other online. Last year, Microsoft announced Gears of War for PC and demoed a brumak fight live on stage. This year, hardly any time was spent focusing on Games for Windows. Two brief announcements were made: Fallout 3 will have downloadable content and Square’s Last Remnant will be making an appearance on PCs at some point in the future.
We also learned, through Relic’s community site and not Microsoft , that Dawn of War II will have Microsoft’s Games for Windows – Live service built in and will allow gamers to utilize its full range of multiplayer features for free. This is a change from Games for Windows – Live supported titles in the past which required a Gold subscription to access their full range of online capabilities.
So while Games for Windows still has a presence at the show, there’s less of a focus on it this year than last. To find out why, we turned to senior global director for Games for Windows Kevin Unangst.
We started out by asking why there was a 10 minute You’re in the Movies demo and no segment on Games for Windows, and suggested that half of the YitM segment could have been cut to make room.
"At the end of the day, E3 is the battle of the consoles. We know that’s predominantly what people are interested in, that’s what the air time is about," said Unangst. "And so, rather than try and raise a volume level that’s five minutes out of an hour and a half keynote, we said ’you know what, let’s give PC its due.’ We did an event in San Francisco two weeks ago, it had a whole separate rollout, we talked to folks, we showed some of the great new games coming up. And then here tonight we’re having our own dedicated event for the people who truly care about the PC and are tracking it. That was a decision on our part that says the consoles are going to fight it out, I’d rather have a dedicated event where we can talk, where we can showcase the news. There’s going to be even more. We’re talking about it at Gamefest next week. If we did it the other way, you’d be saying why was there only five minutes of Games for Windows during an hour and a half?"
So why not put the Dawn of War II Games for Windows – Live news in the Microsoft press briefing?
"Don’t confuse a focus on the console at E3 with a lack of news or impending announcements coming from us on the Windows side. E3 fundamentally is a console show and do you want to compete and rise above the din or do you want to go on the cadence that we think is important to communicate that out."
What was the reasoning behind making DoW II’s entire multiplayer feature set be accessible for free?
"It was important when we talked to Relic that they be able to bring that full, unapologetic multiplayer experience to their gamers. They wanted to announce the game coming to Games for Windows – Live at E3, so we have a relationship with them and that’s what we worked out. You’ll continue to see movement from us on this front relative to what else we may be doing with Games for Windows – Live sooner than later."
That means games in the future will have the whole multiplayer suite available for free?
"Nothing to announce yet."
Though he wasn’t willing to reveal any details on what Microsoft is working on with regards to Games for Windows’ future, Unangst remained optimistic.
"I think you’re seeing traction on the Games for Windows – Live side. We went from a dozen titles in the first year, and we’ve already announced a few of the big ones: Warhammer Dawn of War II, Fallout 3…That is just the beginning of what is happening on that side. We’re going to see a lot more momentum."
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