Earlier this year, Microsoft revealed its plans to revive flagging PC game sales by treating the PC as a gaming platform in the same way as a console. Microsoft's Peter Moore has offered mea culpas for neglecting the PC platform, saying, "It's a dereliction of duty. We've been distracted." But Microsoft is looking to change that with its upcoming Windows Vista and a big marketing campaign to push the benefits of PCs.

At its recent Gamefest conference in Seattle, Microsoft unveiled more details about its "Games for Windows" plans. Shacknews has a summary of a presentation by Microsoft's Skip McIlvaine.

First of all, Microsoft wants to make PC games a more dominant section in retail stores by setting up dedicated displays and kiosks, and emblazoning game boxes with the "Games for Windows" logo. It won't be a free ride for developers and publishers, though, because only those games that meet Microsoft's standards will benefit from the marketing campaign. Microsoft is encouraging developers to take advantage of the Vista operating system by listing a set of features games should comply with, called Essentials and Showcases.

"Essential" features include support for Windows Media Center and Vista's Game Explorer functionality. Games should use Direct3D as the default renderer, and if the games support controller hardware, they must natively support the Xbox 360 controller. Maybe best of all, Microsoft wants to make installation as quick and painless as possible by having much of it occur behind the scenes. So, for example, gamers might be able to start playing a game before it has finished installing.

To meet the standards of Showcases, games must support 64-bit versions of Windows, multi-core processors and advanced features of DirectX 10. In an effort to increase stability, Microsoft is urging companies support the Windows Error Reporting tool, and to drop support for older operating systems like Windows 9x and 2000.

Microsoft is also pushing its Live Anywhere technology, which it first revealed at E3 this year. Live Anywhere aims to bring similar features to PCs that Xbox Live users currently enjoy, such as voice chat, game Achievements and microtransactions. Further down the line, Microsoft plans to implement Live Arcade for Windows and the Live Marketplace, which have been very popular on the Xbox console.

You can see the rest of the details at Shacknews. In short, it sounds like gaming on PCs will be a much easier and hopefully more stable experience in the future. Let's hope Microsoft succeeds in bringing developers and players back to our favourite platform.

A post on the Avalanche Studios website has revealed that a PC demo for its upcoming action thriller Just Cause will be available on August 24.

Players will be able to control dissident Rico Rodriguez as he strives to overturn the freedom quelching dictatorship that has a hold over the island of San Esperito. With an arsenal of weapons at his fingertips, Rico will be able to open up a can of excessive force and lay waste to all who get in his way.

Keep an eye on the Avalanche Studios website for more details.

Austrian publisher JoWooD has announced Freak Out - Extreme Freeride, a game all about freestyle skiing. It's being developed by Swedish company Coldwood (no relation), who has previously teamed up with JoWooD on the Ski Racing series. Blues News has the press release:


There are no other details or screenshots at the moment, but extreme sports freaks can keep an eye on the game's website, which currently redirects to JoWooD. Freak Out is due for PC and PS2 late this year, and on PSP in 2007.

Developed by Germany's Replay Studios, Sabotage allows players to take on the role of Resistance fighter and MI6 agent Violette Summer as she does her part for the war effort by infiltrating military camps that the German army has stationed in France, Poland and Germany. While stealthily creeping around, Violette will sabotage the camps, rescue hostages, kill high-ranked Nazi officers, and complete a host of various other missions for the Allied cause.

Taking a leaf out of Splinter Cell's book, Sabotage will focus on focus on supense and silent action more than on gunplay and explosions as the best means to complete the mission.

Sabotage is scheduled to sneak its way onto the PC in January 2007. Check out more details as they become available on the official site.

Company of Heroes goes gold with a release date of September 14

THQ has announced that Company of Heroes has gone gold and is ready to hit storeshelves on September 14. Developed by Relic Entertainment, the creators of games such as Homeworld and Dawn of War, Company of Heroes takes place in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. The player must follow a group of American soldiers as they fight to liberate the world from Nazi oppression.

Utilising the Essence Engine, a game engine created by Relic themselves, Company of Heroes features real-time physics, destructible environments, advanced squad AI and almost every lighting and texture feature in the book.

The action-packed real-time strategy title impressed many journalists at E3 2006, receiving a number of awards such as "IGN's Best PC Strategy Game" and "Gamespot's Best PC Game of Show". The recently released demo of the game has also received high praise from the gaming community.