back to article Microsoft opens online PC gaming shop-front

Microsoft is opening the Games for Windows Marketplace - an online store that integrates Xbox Live and Windows Live services to make it easier to buy PC games. Some 100 top titles are on offer at launch,including Fable, Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne, along with newer titles such as Dead Rising 2 and Lost Planet 2. Gamers …

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  1. Miek
    Linux

    a tit is required

    Wow, it sounds just like Steam.

  2. Avatar of They
    FAIL

    MS always copying.

    Sounds a lot like Steam to me (and Impulse). Except for the number of titles is small and some stupid logic about MS points which are mainly for Xbox 360 fans.

    It will probably only be for MS games as they won't sell the competitions offering surely. Especially when they are better than MS offering. Which given most MS games of any worth are Xbox 360 only, can we see Halo3, Gears of war2, HaloODST and Halo Reach making it to the PC. You talk of cross platforms, MS going down that road? (Insert laughing and expletives)

    So what you are possibly saying is that I can log on, buy Dead rising 2 (for example only), download it to my Xbox and never need the CD? With my really small and vastly over priced XBOX 360 plug in HDD? I think 250GB is the biggest, so that is a few popular titles and a full HDD later.

    Ain't going to happen when they fear piracy and it would impact on the Xbox 360 false pricing and hype factor keping up the price of their games to stupid levels. Unless they hope to recoop the loss with sales of more plasticy cases filled with crappy HDD's?

    Or more likely, all of this is to download the not very flagship type games (Those that firmly remain MS and Xbox 360 land) onto your PC.

    Which steam does better, cheaper, more stable etc.

  3. MinionZero
    WTF?

    @"Anyone with a Windows Live ID can immediately start to shop"

    Is "Windows Live ID" now our new virtual ID card? ... the way Microsoft are pushing it onto everything it feels like it (how long before its built into windows). :(

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      title

      "how long before its built into windows"

      Windows XP let you associate your LiveID with your Windows account. Although I'm pretty sure they call it your .NET ID back then -- not old, but still forgetful.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Steam...

    Well, they can't call it Steam, but how about "Microsoft Hot Air"?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll give it a look

    I'll check it out on the 15th, but it seems pretty redundant to anyone who has Steam.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Steamy

    So it's almost exactly like Valve's Steam only it won't support thousands of games, only those published by MS and only those for Windows. (Steam recently added a handful of Mac games - i.e. all of them).

    So tell me again why would I want to use it? Are they pulling their games from Steam?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      RE: Steamy

      It's all that, and it's availability is limited to exactly 6 countries. Steam is available in most countries, even second world Asian ones.

      I'm sure many users will be pissed off when they click on the "buy games online" item in the start menu of Windows 8 only to receive a "not selling to your country" message and turn to Steam in an eager urge to give M$ the middle-finger. And no, it's unlikely that they'll extend the service here, given how Windows Marketplace isn't available here yet either even if it's been out for years.

  7. Craig 2

    title

    MS will bundle theirs into Windows as a default `buy games online` button on the start menu. Fast forward 5 years for lawsuits and eventually a `marketplace` ballot screen like for browsers.

  8. Dex
    Flame

    erm....

    Steam, Direct2Drive.....i think Microsoft are only erm 7 years (Steam) & 6 years (Direct2Drive) late, If only they'd taken PC Gamers seriously instead of trying to whore up the already saturated console market *sigh*

    Unless they can drastically undercut Steam (Direct2Drive aren't even worth the money tbh, Steam does it so much better) then i won't be using them.

    They could call it STEAMing (pile of shite)......oh wait....Valve might has that trademark registered.

    Flame Icon = Hot Air = STEAM ftw!

  9. Dex
    FAIL

    Interestingly...

    "Valve originally approached several companies—including Microsoft, Yahoo!, and RealNetworks—to build a client with these features, but all turned them down.[38]"

    [38] - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/the-last-of-the-independents

    {Excerpt from STEAM wikipedia entry.}

    Microsoft fail much?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Heh....

    At least El Reg didn't do what the mainstream newspaper tech-section article I read did - blather in apparent horror about how counterintuitive it is that you "have to download a piece of software before you can buy a game". This was from their technology columnist.

    I considered sending him an email, but it seems fairly likely that he hasn't yet gotten beyond the shock of how strange it is to read messages on a screen instead of on paper.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wow those "Recent Releases" on the front page...

    ...include games that are ~10 years old!

    "Deus Ex: Game of the Year" that year was 2000 though.

    "Deus Ex: Invisible War" was release in 2003.

    "Thief: deadly Shadows" - 2004

    "Hit Man" almost worthy of recent... 2006

    plus 2 for from this year.

    Not the greatest advertisment for a new service.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    too little far too late...

    miserysoft is dead.

    Android Mobi

    Eee netbook

    Ubuntu PC

    busybox NAS

    Media Streaming PVR (and iplayer + skyplayer)

    PS3 - for gaming (and media straming)

    Wii - for gaming (and iplayer)

    so who needs MS anymore?

    Once upon a time a pc would do everything and was all that you needed, but someone thought that fragmenting the market was a good way to go.

    Oh and what is this apple of which you speak? they are MS's largest competitor? not on my list.

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