dx10 games playable in xp?

[mcmiller]

what is live precisely? dont think im goin to switch over to vista for one game to expensive, hopefully someone will come up with a mod or something

[kalniel]

Live! is a multiplayer matching service first and foremost. You can use it to quickly find other players to play a whole bunch of games with, including a decent ranking system I think. Live! gold will also enable you to play with X360 gamers.

The main benefit is that it's basically a centralised/standardised system, so it supposedly won't matter what game you play, you just log in with your gamertag and that does you for all your 'Games for Windows' games.

[Veles]

Live! is a multiplayer matching service first and foremost. You can use it to quickly find other players to play a whole bunch of games with, including a decent ranking system I think. Live! gold will also enable you to play with X360 gamers.

The main benefit is that it's basically a centralised/standardised system, so it supposedly won't matter what game you play, you just log in with your gamertag and that does you for all your 'Games for Windows' games.

Yeah thats pretty much it, although, I don't think Halo 2 PC user will be able to compete against Halo 2 Xbox users. Shadowrun will be able to do this though, theres even some achievements based on cross platform play.

I don't think the account will work for all "Games for Windows" games though, only ones that use the Live! service, SupCom has it's own matchmaking service, as does CoH, but most games from now on that have the "Games for Windows" logo will probably be using Live!

[mcmiller]

ok thanks kalniel, do you know if it works with all games or just 'Games for Windows' games ? sounds to me like there just copying xfire, gamespy etc...

[Tom Scott]

ok thanks kalniel, do you know if it works with all games or just 'Games for Windows' games ? sounds to me like there just copying xfire, gamespy etc...

Its a LOT more in depth than copying Gamespy and Xfire. Its basically Xbox Live for windows, complete with achievement point for games, being able to see what games people have played, and cross-platform messaging with Xbox Live players.

Check out these screens:

http://www.joystiq.com/photos/games-for-windows-live/

[Veles]

It is quite similar to Xfire and Gamespy, but completely different at the same time, I wouldn't say it's a copy at all, just MS bringing over their excellent Xbox Live service over to windows, and allowing play between console and PC gamers, something that never been done before. I must admit, I'm tempted to grab vista, and a copy of Halo 2 and Shadowrun now.