Microsoft Getting Ready for Digital Distribution

With the recent Games for Windows LIVE update, Microsoft has climbed another step to reach the Digital Distribution door. The software conglomerate has been eying digital distribution for a while now and we may soon see Microsoft launching a dedicated Games for Windows LIVE Application to compete with the likes of Steam and Impulse. Whilst content such as games and DLC. (Although, given its Microsoft, don’t expect it to be free) How will Microsoft fare against Valve’s gigantic userbase, their comparatively unintrusive DRM and constant product support? Only time will tell.

When we get to the place where we do distribute games digitally, will we have a digital rights management system? Maybe. Or maybe we’ll just continue to support the industry leaders in that. Because it is a hard thing to do. You talk to any of those companies, and that is their whole company, is doing digital rights management.

Bad News: Fallout 3 not Coming to India

This news comes as a shocker for those who were awaiting this game which releases on October 28, here’s an excerpt of news piece from GamingIndians.com which says that Microsoft was going to release this game for their Xbox 360 console, Microsoft sent out an official statement that read,

“Microsoft constantly endeavors to bring the best games to Indian consumers in sync with their international release. However, in light of cultural sensitivities in India, we have made the business decision to not bring Fallout 3 into the country.”

I wonder what would be so culturally sensitive in the game that could hurt Indian sentiments,  could it be related to mutated two headed cows in the game which is sacred to Indians? I know however the game would not be available through retail stores, still few game dealers would be able to manage imported copies of this game in India for sure.

Also the article says “Due to distribution issues in the region, Microsoft had taken up the role of distributor for Fallout 3 in India, while the PlayStation 3 and PC versions of the game were never scheduled for release in the country.”

Bad news for all PC, PS3 & Xbox 360 gamers to miss out launch of a high quality game in India.

Note: If you still want your dose of Fallout 3, you can try importing it from sites such as Game.co.uk and Play-Asia.com

Ensemble Says Goodbye

The highly talented developer Ensemble, responsible for the addictive Age of Empire titles has decided to say the final goodbye. Ensemble’s Bruce Shelley has a lengthy blogpost that sheds some light on the closing as well as the future of the developers and the blog itself.

I have mentioned with regret the closing of several quality game studios over the past several years but I never considered that ES would join the list. Everyone at our studio was shocked, and I think remains very disappointed that this is going to happen. I believe we thought we were immune to shut-down talk because our published games have done so well and have been so profitable. Plus we felt we had built a really stable (low-turnover), talented, hard-working, and creative team, which is not easy to do. We thought we were among the best studios in the world, and that may be true, but we don’t fit in the future plans of MGS as an internal studio so we’re out.

This, after Microsoft announced they would be closing the studio. Canning a talented development team that was too much PC focused? A very fucktard move by Microsoft and one we’re very angry at. Good luck to Ensemble workers and many thanks for bringing us such amazing titles over the years.

Grand Theft Auto IV gets GFW LIVE

Rockstar’s GTA IV PC port is getting injected with LIVE. The company has partenered with Microsoft to add Games for Windows LIVE features to the PC version, likes of expanded multiplayer, DirectX graphics and more. GTA IV is scheduled to hit torrents…err PCs this November.

Microsoft Confirms: No Gears of War 2 for PC

Sadly, it looks as if CliffyB’s inane comments were right. PCAuthority contacted Microsoft to inquire about a PC version of Gears of War 2, for the time being, the company has officially denied any and all development for a potential port on the PC platform.

Games for Windows LIVE - Refunds

If you’re one of the 6 people that were actually dumb enough to go out and buy Games for Windows LIVE subscription, fear not, you can finally return the borrowed money as Microsoft is refunding the GFW LIVE subscriptions.

But that’s not all. To reward those gamers who have been with the service from the beginning, Microsoft will be giving refunds to gamers who have been subscribing to the Games for Windows Live service specifically. “Yes, there will be a benefit for customers who purchased gold subscriptions on Windows,” said Unangst. “Proactively, we will be offering refunds for those with Windows-specific Gold subscriptions. Customer service has already begun to get communications prepared.” 

DirectX 11 Is Official

 

The original rumor was true as Microsoft has officially announced DirectX 11. Details below:

Features include new shader technology that begins to allow developers to position GPUs as more general-purpose parallel processors, rather than being dedicated solely to graphics processing; better multi-threading capabilities; and hardware-based tesselation.

Said newly promoted Microsoft’s Entertainment Business Division CTO Chris Satchell during a Gamefest keynote, “We want to break away from purely having a paradigm of pixels, vertices and shaders.”

DirectX 11 will be backwards compatible with DirectX10/9. Though with the lack of DirectX10 applications/game and the miserable adoption rate (due to consolization), it’ll be interesting to see how well DirectX 11 is received.

Games for Windows LIVE goes FREE

Well about time, Microsoft realised PC gamers hate paying to play online multiplayer and thus are making their Games for Windows LIVE service free. All features that required a gold account are now accessible free of cost. Yay indeed as the platform is finally evolving and who knows, maybe big as Steam some day?

In addition to making Games for Windows Live free, Microsoft will also be creating a brand new GFW marketplace this fall to rival the marketplace found on the Xbox 360. As with the Xbox Live Marketplace, GFW’s will offer demos, videos, downloadable content, and more. The GFW interface will also receive some tech-friendly changes, lowering requirements for developers looking to make their games GFW compatible.

EA gets RAGED

 

id Software’s latest project, RAGE, will be published by EA. More details of RAGE will be made available in QuakeCon 2008.

EA has signed an agreement to publish RAGE, the next blockbuster from id Software, the inventors of the first person shooter. Built on the id Tech5 engine, RAGE will be released on the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360(TM) videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft, PC and Macintosh(R) computers. More information about RAGE will be available at QuakeCon 2008 in Dallas, Texas from July 31st to August 2nd. More information about QuakeCon is available at www.quakecon.org.

Fallout 3 - Downloadable Content Details

 

At Microsoft’s E3 2008 press conference, Bethesda Software’s Todd Howard has confirmed DLC for Fallout 3. The DLC will be exclusive to PC, Xbox360.

We love Xbox Live Marketplace, we’re happy to announce that we’re going to be doing substantial DLC for Fallout 3 and it will be exclusive to Xbox 360 and Windows PC.”

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