Vista gets Live-wired in May

Cross-platform play will be great

alright

very clever. they are using halo 2 and achievements to try and sell more copies of Vista. and I bet it will work.

I like it. I have a Vista PC and a 360 with Live so this is just more for me and its not costing anything more than I'm already paying.

Ok I was likening this idea till now. PC Users never had to pay for a service that they knew they can get it for free thru other websites. Like Xfire which does just about the same thing just no achievements or anything like that. With that being said I doubt this Windows Live thing takes off like they are thinking it would. I also wonder if PC game developers will actually incorporate this into there games? I hope it is not being forced to them to do it.

jordanbijl Now the only other thing is, will we have to buy a seperate pc live account, or is the 50 buck a year thing for both 360 and pc? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Did you even read the article, it states "The Games for Windows portion of Live isn't a separate account--it's actually an extension of the over all Live service. As such, those already with an Xbox Live account will already have a Games for Windows - Live account at no extra cost. " People should really read the articles before posting

Dude read the article again, If you have the xbox live account then you can use that for your PC, and PC vs PC multiplayer is still free.

to jordanbijl... Dude read the article carefully before ranting. The Live service through PC is free for the most part. You are simply limited on what you can do. Silver benefits (Free) Unified with Xbox Live account Single-player achievements Private text and voice chat Friends list PC-only multiplayer, including browsing a list of active PC games Gold benefits (includes all Silver benefits) ($50 a year) Multiplayer matchmaking with friends TrueSkill matchmaking Multiplayer achievements Cross-platform gameplay if you are already paying for XBL on your 360 then you have nothing to worry about on the PC. The account carries over. To those wondering about achievement points, yes they do carry over as well. Halo 2 Vista will have its own set of achievement points to add to the ones you already have. Microsoft hit another money maker with the Live Anywhere program. It has so much potential and changes online gaming as we know it.

I guess this is geared mostly towards people who have already subscribed for Xbox Live that have a pc too. Because I don't think any PC gamer is going to want to dish out 50$ a year,(even though that is a very small amount) when they play PC vs PC for free. But you never know. and jordanbijl If you have an existing XBOX LIVE account then you automatically have a LIVE account on your vista, if you listen to the sound bit, he states that they want it as one program, and one fee.

jordanbijl if you read what it said playing will be free just not with people on the 360. Would it be fair if Xbox players had to pay but you guys didn't and you could play with us? No.

I have a 360, I have a PC. I'd rather Microsoft not turn my PC into a 360 clone... Next thing we know "Games for Windows" will translate into, "Now you pay 2 Live Gold fees, one to play on your 360 and one to play PC games online!" Gah.

no matter how we complain, it will never reach bill's ears ....

Wow on top of paying money per month for my internet service for the computer, Now I have to dish out money for Live too? I don't mind paying 50 bucks a year for 360, but for the pc... PC IS SUPPOSED TO BE FREE ONLINE Microsoft is going down a wrong road this year... there going to lose alot of respected customers... I don't see this as a good thing... doesn't the ps3 have free multiplayer? the pc has always had free multiplayer, regardless if it would be pc to 360 multiplayer it would still not be worth it Now the only other thing is, will we have to buy a seperate pc live account, or is the 50 buck a year thing for both 360 and pc?

uberjannie- PC gaming has outlived all consoles its going no where, and even with last years terrible line up of decent games they still were in a sales up-swing. But this year?! WoW: BC Supreme Commander C&C 3 Spore Crysis ET new half life Bioshock Dragon Age Left for dead LOTR online UT3 AC Long live the PC

Yay?

so if my account from my 360 carries over to the PC, does that mean my GamerScore will too? or will I have a separate PC GamerScore? either way this is a great idea from Microsoft but I'm not sure how many PC gamers will pay the $50 per year just to play against 360 gamers when PC vs. PC is still free if they don't already have a Live account.

I think the desigin of Live for Vista doesn't have to be the same as the original Xbox Live design.

If the PC genre survives long enough for this to be a hit. Then its greate =(

all they need is to provide 360 titles to PC or vice versa...even better...both.

This would be a good model for 360 membership levels as well. MS could do more ads if you have a silver instead of gold level on the 360 to offset costs. If they did this, I would still pay for Gold and be happy that silver people can play along as well. I wish the cross platform play was included with the Silver because that may hurt Shadowrun as it is the most highly touted feature of that game. I already have a Gold account and plan on getting the 360 version but this may limit the number of PC players to play against.

thomastwo Coming soon: pay $49.00/year if you want to play Battlefield or any other multiplayer game on the PC Where did you get that idea? It is simply not true. Any PC Live enabled game has free PC to PC multiplayer. The gold account (the $49 one) allows PC to Xbox360 multiplayer, which god only knows if anyone is actually going to use.

I've been waiting for this since they announced it. As a 50/50 PC/360 gamer this is sweet news to my ears.

I'm not going to pay :cry: This is just not fair.... *waiting for 8th may to get gold subscription * :P

Coming soon: pay $49.00/year if you want to play Battlefield or any other multiplayer game on the PC.

"Also this was a good comeback to Sony's HOME, they create a virtual world to interact in, MS gives us a way to play with another platform!!! Uhh this was announce at E3 2006.

I've always thought a game where there is a comander with an RTS like screen that commands actual players on the ground which are in FPS views would be great fun. It could combine alot of genres into one game, RTS, FPS, Tatical, Driving, Piloting, and probibly others.

The System will be edgey at first, but this now means i can go against my PC Gaming dad, which is great, obviously games will be a little slow at first e.g. not many games doing Live Anywhere, but it lets you do soo much that microsoft will definatley try and invest in all there 1st party games to have it, and try to incurage 3rd party to do the same.

I bet Sony fams are shaking in their boots now. Well, not really, just had to say it cuz they are always saying crap like that about 360 fans whenever Sony does something new or different.

A lot of people are being narrow minded. This is a great idea and this is exactly what the PC is lacking. An actual community of gamers plys cross platform is a nice idea. Imagine racing against people on the PC or playing Uno. There are many games that will benefit from this and it's not only FPS.

Nice strategy on Microsoft's part. It makes the 360 that much more appealing to anyone who already games on a PC.

Woot i just got Xbox live last night so I will so be using this service now i really really want Vista, i hoping for the best out of this service. Also this was a good comeback to Sony's HOME, they create a virtual world to interact in, MS gives us a way to play with another platform!!! Also its great to see some love going to the PC I am happy MS is finally making it, its second console and organizing it into a brand.

For me this is the biggest upgrade to windows that i'm actually interested in from a gaming point of view.As i already own a gold account on 360 i would like to check out this vista version of xbox live too.I might just have too buy a new pc this year to enjoy these new asests. :)

The biggest winner here is, of course, Microsoft. This is a great marketing strategy from their part to get X-Box 360 owners to possibly upgrade to Vista, and at the same time encourages anyone who already has Vista to consider buying a 360. Besides, anyone already playing games on Vista with the free subscription will feel familiar to the 360's interface, and we all know that familiarity goes a long way to getting your clients to buy your products. Now it is up to the developers to back up Microsoft on this move with cross-platform games.

i personally think cross platform is a great idea. i'm excited to play games on my 360 with friends who don't have a 360 and prefer PCs.

Lol, I didn't think about all the whining that would take place. =/ It's a pretty cool idea, then all the games are connected. The best part is that multiplayer is still free.

Xbox to PC gameplay is NOT a good idea. Peoplealready whine and complain enough about what is and isnt 'cheap' we don't need a million threads in a forum about how PC gamers are'cheap' simply because the equipment is more precise than an analoue controller.

TraXxX: "So does this mean that all PC games will have Achievement points from now on?" No. It means that games tagged "Games for Windows" will probably do. (Or is that "Games for Vista"?)

Well, obviously most 360 games won't come out for the PC

Great, hopefully this means that I won't have to wait several years for 360 games to be released for my PC.

wow to all of you who thinks this is a horrible, expensive thing, go back to your ps2 and play gow2. serioulsly, jumping up the amount of people that play videogames online CANT be a bad thing. what the hell is wrong with you people? look at the site that ur on right now its GAMEspot. this is a great thing, and when they go crossplatform, its going to be revolutionary. anti-m$ fanboys always hate when exclusive titles go multiplatform and this right here shows why its a great thing. wonderful job m$

I agree wholeheartedly with dn3atomiced... they're keeping PC multiplayer free and maintaining the status quo while providing a compelling reason to invest in their paid services. Masterfully played, MS... this ought to keep everybody happy.

"Smoke0 Will this mean that the achivements you unlock in Halo 2 on Windows Vista wil be added to your gamerscore on X-Box Live?" Yes that is exactly what it means!!

Damn, these guys don't miss a beat, Sony gets home, we get PC games + 360 games. I guess this means most of the PS Fanboys who play PC games will have an XBL Account no matter what and in time they too will be assimilated, Resistance is futile, Hah!

Will this mean that the achivements you unlock in Halo 2 on Windows Vista wil be added to your gamerscore on X-Box Live?

This seems like a reasonable comprimise between traditional PC gaming practices and Microsoft's new Live Anywhere approach. It doesn't step on anyone's toes, and I like that they've done it this way.

i guess this is why halo 2 is only for vista. not really exited about this already stuff out there can do the same. would be nice to have achievements tho i do hope that they avoid having FPS shooters playing together tho would be abit of a bloodbath

MattHall - "What happened to the mobile phone integration microsoft mentioned? Can you still send/receive game invites on a windows mobile 6 phone?' All in good time. It will take them a while to get everything going and right now their just focusing on the most important things.

good stuff, about time - this seams like a no brainer that just took way to long to make true

this is going to kick Sony and Nintendo into submission.Way to go M$!!!!!!!THATS RIGHT PS3 and Wii fanbois!!!!thats almost 270 million gamers on MS platforms(PC+360+Xbox1)!! muahahahahahahah (sorry about the maniacal laughter...it was uncalled for) Vista+Xbox 360 Rules!!! Sorry i meant Microsoft rules!!!!!!Cant wait to work for this company!!hehe

360 and vista pc = Happy Warden