Microsoft has been pushing their Games for Windows platform pretty hard both before and after Windows Vista was released, but will it last? Is Games for Windows meant to promote the games, or Windows itself? These are the questions that Valve marketing manager Doug Lombardi raises in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz. He observes that the whole Games for Windows label seems geared towards selling Vista more than anything else.

Right now it seems like it's part of the marketing push to help Vista.

To really back a platform is a sustained effort over years and years, so we'll see if in two years Microsoft is still spending money to put Games for Windows sections in retail, and having PR people preach that message that the PC isn't dying, it's actually bigger than all the consoles put together.

I'd have to agree with Doug here. People who generally don't game on the PC aren't going to be swayed by a label on top of a box. The whole thing feels like an effort to link Vista and gaming together, so PC gamers eventually feel that they need Vista to get the most out of their games. As someone about to format his PC to put XP back on, I'd say the jury is still out on that one. Michael Fahey

Valve questions Microsoft's commitment to PC gaming [GamesIndustry.biz]