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Geometry Wars, Uno Vista-bound

By Jason Ocampo, GameSpotPosted Jan 7, 2007 11:21 pm PT

Microsoft's Robbie Bach talks up game lineup, reveals new casual titles for 360 and PC, lauds Halo 3 and GTA4.

LAS VEGAS--This evening at the Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft Entertainment division boss Robbie Bach reaffirmed the company's support for Windows as a gaming platform and gave the keynote address audience a glimpse at some of the casual and hardcore Windows and Xbox 360 games on the horizon.

Bach, who spoke during Bill Gates' keynote address Sunday night, also touted Windows-based PCs as one of the most popular gaming platforms.

His 20 minutes onstage highlighted Microsoft's commitment to both its hardware and software initiatives, as well as Bach's rising status within the Microsoft organization.

"The PC and Windows is the number one gaming platform in the world," Bach said. "Two hundred million people every month play games on Windows," he added, referring to both casual and hardcore games. To illustrate how Microsoft is preparing games for both markets, he then showed a brief video highlighting some current and upcoming games for Windows.

In terms of the casual lineup, the video showed a few seconds of gameplay from a number of upcoming games, including the puzzle game Jewel Quest 2, the action puzzle game Luxor 2, the arcade game Bliss Island, and a Windows version of the Xbox Live Arcade game Geometry Wars. In addition, Microsoft showed off a version of Uno running on Windows that was compatible with the company's upcoming Live on Windows initiative, which aims to make a PC version of the popular Xbox Live online service. Indeed, those with the Windows version of Uno will be able to play against those with the Xbox 360 version of the popular card game, and Windows on Live features all the matchmaking and community functionality of Xbox Live.

For more serious gamers, the video gave a glimpse of some currently available Microsoft titles, such as Flight Simulator X, Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, and Company of Heroes, GameSpot's 2006 PC Game of the Year.

The video also highlighted some upcoming games, such as Supreme Commander, Alan Wake, Shadowrun, Bioshock, Hellgate: London, World in Conflict, Halo 2, Age of Conan, and Crysis. The Crysis footage in particular amounted to only about five seconds of footage, but what it showed looked visually impressive, from a rockslide on a mountain road to a North Korean tank plowing into a flimsy hut.

That pretty much covered the Games for Windows portion of the keynote address, though Bach did discuss the future of the Xbox 360 in 2007. While he didn't show a video of upcoming Xbox 360 games, he did mention Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero II, Mass Effect, and Grand Theft Auto 4 as games to look out for in 2007.

And, of course, he mentioned the most anticipated game for the Xbox 360, Halo 3, which is also due out this year. He gave the keynote address audience a little sampling of the game, but no new footage was shown. Instead, Microsoft showed off the 60-second commercial that aired during Monday Night Football late last year.

93 Comments

  • _Sam_

    Posted Jan 21, 2007 3:33 pm PT

    well there have been uno games for the pc in the past (I'm assuming) hopefully more of those 360 games are available on vista

  • ricsuave

    Posted Jan 15, 2007 12:48 pm PT

    "Rawksawce
    smoothn00dle, typing "M$" as opposed to Microsoft or MS does nothing but make you look stupid. >_>"

    As opposed to his whole post in general?

  • Rawksawce

    Posted Jan 15, 2007 6:30 am PT

    smoothn00dle, typing "M$" as opposed to Microsoft or MS does nothing but make you look stupid. >_>

  • smoothn00dle

    Posted Jan 15, 2007 6:26 am PT

    This is the stupidest idea I ever heard. M$ is going to cannibalise their own market. Why should I buy Gear of War when I can play PC version with Keyboard and mouse?? Console make money base on Game sold but PC are free. This mean M$ lost large amount of income for Xbox360. M$ may think more ppl play Live with will help their strategies or just the sound of Window platform help them to win wars. In practice, it required dedicated balance and care, sounds simple but is not easy.

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 5:23 pm PT

    Grid wars 2 is already for pc(its fan based though....a good fan based).

  • blackheart6004

    Posted Jan 12, 2007 11:05 am PT

    I cant wait for GW to come to my Windows Vista (beta that is).

    My wish has finally came true.

  • gellis1981

    Posted Jan 9, 2007 2:25 pm PT

    Who do u think Windows is run by?? Microsoft...who runs the 360?? Microsoft...get it?? It's way beyond the fact of the games being labeled as exclusives now...it's a whole new ballgame now and Microsoft is phasing out Sony's gaming community by force or at least in the future. A move like this could of never been done before...now two major platforms, the 360 and PC will be a force to fight against.

  • noelveiga

    Posted Jan 9, 2007 12:05 pm PT

    Actually the "not truly exclusive" thing has a point. I didn't get a 360 on launch because the best part of its launch lineup was available for PC. With all this push for Vista as a gaming system, Microsoft is making that "let's see what happens" time longer for me. I really want to play Alan Wake, but it seems I won't need a 360 for that. Everybody loves Geometry Wars, but it's not a system seller and now I can get it on my PC...

    This is not bad for MS as a company. I'm certainly going to move to Vista when it comes out, and Windows is still a bigger business for MS than Xbox, but their platforms are indeed competing between them. The biggest problem, marketing-wise is that MS never ensures total exclusivity for the 360. Right now I know I can't play Gears of War on a PC, but just as I got to play Onimusha, Devil May Cry, Halo or Grand Theft Auto there's no reason for me to wait if I all I'm interested in is a specific game. After all, bad ports are playable too, and Xbox gamepads are now Windows compatible.

  • nikefreak

    Posted Jan 9, 2007 11:05 am PT

    "Once again, no Xbox game is truly exclusive."

    Lies... And further, Microsoft implements cross-platform compatibility and extended Live services. And in case you forgot, this is on MICROSOFT Windows Vista... Still exclusive to the Microsoft franchise

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Jan 9, 2007 7:53 am PT

    UNO!

  • zsc4

    Posted Jan 9, 2007 5:43 am PT

    Good News yet again.

  • Destroyeron13

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 10:30 pm PT

    kewl

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 8:54 pm PT

    sounds better by the minute

  • ffgothic

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 5:01 pm PT

    awesome!

  • King_Andy

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 4:10 pm PT

    me like what im hearing

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 4:02 pm PT

    Once again, no Xbox game is truly exclusive.

  • The_AI

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 3:59 pm PT

    Uno? That's it. I want Vista.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 2:33 pm PT

    who dosent like geometry wars, come on

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 2:19 pm PT

    horay for geometry wars

  • datniccah187

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 2:10 pm PT

    Love all these ucoming games being announced, makes for a very exciting time.

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