Games for Windows is a discontinued brand owned by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

and introduced in 2006 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, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

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

. 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, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-dete ...

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

first-party A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

and third-party publishers. Games for Windows was promoted through

convention Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law * Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist i ...

s and through other forums as early as 2005. The promotional push culminated in a deal with Ziff Davis Media to rename the ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine 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 1993. It expanded greatly through t ...

'' 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 client software. Its successor is the Xbox app.

Certification

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 original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

. 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

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

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 Games for Windows is a discontinued brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2006 to coincide with the release of the Windows Vista operating system. The brand itself represents a standardized technical certification program and online service ...

* Compatibility with x64 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 released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearl ...

; 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 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calcula ...

* Support for normal and

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of 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 ratio greater than t ...

resolutions, such as 4:3 aspect ratio (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 Parental controls are features which may be included in digital television services, computers and video games, mobile devices and software that allow parents to restrict the access of content to their children. These controls were created to ...

and family safety features * Support for launching from

Windows Media Center Windows Media Center (WMC) is a defunct 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 Ultimate ...

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 Shadowrun, and

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

consoles and traditional Windows Vista or Windows 7

PCs A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...

Online 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 Voice chat is telecommunication via voice over IP technologies—especially when those technologies are used among players in multiplayer online games. Users might use either a VoIP engine system that is built into the game, or a separate ...

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

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

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. An u ...

gamertags The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. A ...

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) is a digital distribution platform used by Microsoft's Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The service allows users to download or purchase video games (including both ...

, 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 On Microsoft Windows, a special folder is a folder that is presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept instead of an absolute folder path. (The synonymous term shell folder is sometimes used instead.) Special folders mak ...

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, ACB, CERO) through the developer's own game definition file or from information provided by the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

, 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 10 and Windows 11 that is available in the Control Panel under ''Performance Information and Tools'' (except in Windows 8.1, Win ...

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 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 (also known as Instant Search) is a content index desktop search platform by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista as a replacement for both the previous Indexing Service of Windows 2000 and the optional MSN Desktop Search for Win ...

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 In computer graphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to ...

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 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 only r ...

and play the game while it installs itself in the background and streams off the disc with minimal or zero

caching In computing, a cache ( ) is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewher ...

—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 be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

. 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 The Xbox 360 controller is the primary game controller for Microsoft's Xbox 360 home video game console that was introduced at E3 2005. The Xbox 360 controller comes in both wired and wireless versions. The Xbox controller is not compatible wi ...

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

Minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

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 Windows Vista Xbox Xbox network Products introduced in 2006