E3'07: Games for Windows Live domination

[applekid]

9:27 PM - Sega, Eidos and THQ are delivering a dozen Games for Windows Live games this year. Epic is building GFW Live into Unreal Engine 3.0.

9:29 PM PDT - Nearly ten million gamers have moved to Vista. Games like Crysis, Hellgate: London, and Conan: Hyborian Advenures on Windows are all joined by: Thrillville: Off the Rails, the Bee Movie Game
(YEAH x2!) Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties, Stranglehold, Bioshock, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Blacksite: Area 51, World in Conflict, Lost Planet, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Zoo Tycoon 2: Exctinct Animals, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Viva Pinata, Spider-Man Friend or Foe.

The lack of GFW Live games being ported to the Mac makes me wonder if Mac gaming has come to an end. Sure, EA is testing the waters this summer, but they're probably going to join the GFW Live bandwagon soon. Mac gaming might be completely dead with GFW Live.

Games for Windows Live, for those of you uninformed, is almost the equivalent of Xbox Live for the PC. Paying for a gold membership doesn't unlock too many things besides TrueSkill, cross-platform gameplay (Xbox/PC), and matchmaking. The free silver membership still gives you multiplayer support, voice-chatting, and normal multiplayer features you would expect from games.

Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but I am not a fan of Live on either platform (one month of it on my Xbox and I'm ready to cancel), and as Mac gamers, we have yet to see GFW Live ports.

I'm surprised by the Viva Piñata port to the PC. I would prefer a mouse and keyboard for that game. Oh well.