Games for Windows is a former brand owned by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

and introduced in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

to coincide with the release of the

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

. The brand itself represents a standardized technical certification program and online service for Windows games, bringing a measure of regulation to the

PC game A personal computer game, or abbreviated PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer (PC). The term ''PC game'' has been popularly used since the 1990s referring specifically to games on "Wintel" (Micr ...

market in much the same way that console manufacturers regulate their platforms. The branding program was open to both first-party and

third-party Third party may refer to: Business * Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller * Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party * Third-party insurance, such as a veh ...

publishers. Games for Windows was promoted through convention

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s and through other forums as early as 2005. The promotional push culminated in a deal with

Ziff Davis Media Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. Founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology- and health-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services ...

to rename the ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' magazine to '' Games for Windows: The Official Magazine''. The first ''GFW'' issue was published for November 2006. In 2008, Ziff Davis announced that the magazine would cease to be published, though online content would still be updated and maintained. In 2013,

announced that Xbox PC Marketplace would cease operations, which would result in the discontinuation of the ''Games for Windows'' brand. In spite of this announcement, the company stated that content previously purchased could still be accessed via the

Games for Windows – Live Games for Windows – Live or GFWL is a deprecated Online game, online gaming service used by ''Games for Windows''–branded Personal computer, PC titles that originally enabled Microsoft Windows, Windows PCs to connect to Microsoft's Live Any ...

client software. Its successor is the Xbox app. Games certified by Microsoft feature a prominent "Games for Windows" logo border across the top of their packaging, in a manner similar to games developed for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

. Software must meet certain requirements mandated by Microsoft in order to display the brand on its packaging. These requirements include: * An "Easy Install" option that installs the title on a PC in the fewest possible steps and

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clicks * Compatibility with Xbox 360 peripherals * An "Only on Xbox 360 and Windows Vista" or "Only on Windows Vista" stamp for game packaging * Compatibility with the Games Explorer * Compatibility with

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processors with proper installation and execution on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

; games themselves can be

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

* Support for normal and

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

resolutions, such as 4:3

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

(800 × 600, 1024 × 768), 16:9 aspect ratio (1280 × 720, 1920 × 1080), and 16:10 aspect ratio (1280 × 800, 1440 × 900, 1680 × 1050, 1920 × 1200) * Support for parental controls and family safety features * Support for launching from

Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a discontinued digital video recorder and media player created by Microsoft. Media Center was first introduced to Windows in 2002 on Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE). It was included in Home Premium and U ...

Microsoft claimed that it had increased its sales of Games for Windows-branded games in stores that had been giving the games greater focus, and stated that it planned to increase marketing efforts for the brand.

Features

Cross-platform compatibility

Certain games certified under the Games for Windows brand, including

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, and UNO featured cross-platform compatibility, allowing gamers to play against each other across

consoles and traditional Windows Vista or Windows 7 PCs.

Offline play

Starting with Halo 2 on May 31, 2007, certain Games for Windows titles have access to Microsoft's

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network for online play and other features, including voice chat,

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and friends lists, accessed from an in-game menu called the "Guide". Users can log in with their

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

gamertags to gain achievements and play games and chat across platforms with games that support cross-platform compatibility. Some features, including cross-platform multiplayer gaming and multiplayer achievements, initially required a subscription to the Xbox Live Gold. However, on July 22, 2008, Microsoft announced that all Games for Windows functionality would be free for existing and future members, and that early adopters of the technology would receive refunds for previously incurred charges. In addition, Microsoft launched a Games for Windows Live Marketplace, similar to the

Xbox Live Marketplace Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) was a digital distribution platform previously used by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and formerly by the Xbox One. The service allowed users to download or purchase video games (including both Xbox Live Ar ...

, which allowed users to download or purchase content, such as game demos, add-ons, and gamer pics, with Microsoft Points; the publisher of a title would determine if an item required to be purchased. At the same time, Microsoft announced its intentions to make the Games for Windows - Live client software interface more friendly and to reduce the technical requirements for developers.

Games Explorer

The Games Explorer, included with all versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7, is a special folder that showcases the games installed on a user's computer and their related information, essentially making it a games gallery. When a compatible game is installed, the operating system adds a shortcut of the game to the Games Explorer, and can optionally download additional information, such as game packaging and content rating information (e.g., ESRB, PEGI, USK, ACB, CERO) through the developer's own game definition file or from information provided by the

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, although this feature was discontinued since 2016.

Windows Experience Index The Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT) is a module of Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11 that is available in the Control Panel (Windows), Control Panel under ''Performance Information an ...

information is also displayed within the interface. The feature was removed entirely in Windows 10 April 2018 Update. Games Explorer supports custom commands for games and also includes shortcuts to configure various operating system components which may be pertinent to gamers, such as audio devices, display devices,

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...

settings, and game controllers. In Windows Vista, Games Explorer allows developers to expose game metadata and thumbnails to the interface and

Windows Search Windows Search (formerly MSN Desktop Search, Windows Desktop Search, and the Windows Search Engine) is a content index and desktop search platform by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista as a replacement for the previous Indexing Service of Wind ...

through a shell handler. The Games Explorer is fully compatible with the parental controls feature included in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Parental controls allows parents to include or preclude certain games from being played based on their content, rating, and/or title, and can also block games from being played altogether. Compatibility typically depends on the age or popularity of a game, with newer games having better compatibility. If a game is incompatible, a user can manually add a game by dragging and dropping it to the Games Explorer.

Tray and Play

Tray and Play is a technology developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista that allows users to insert a game disc into an

optical disc drive In computing, an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can on ...

and play the game while it installs itself in the background and streams off the disc with minimal or zero caching—in a manner similar to a

game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location conne ...

. The first and only commercial game known to use this technology is the Windows version of Halo 2.

Xbox 360 peripheral compatibility

Part of the Games for Windows initiative involved ensuring that Xbox 360 peripherals, such as the Xbox 360 Controller and Wireless Gaming Receiver worked across Windows platforms. Xbox 360 peripherals not only work with certified games, but also with the default games included with Windows Vista, such as

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References

External links

Games for Windows Technical Requirements

Games for Windows Test Requirements
{{DEFAULTSORT:Games For Windows Products and services discontinued in 2013 Microsoft initiatives Microsoft Gaming Windows Vista Xbox Xbox network Products introduced in 2006