Now more than three years after promising, and some say failing, to deliver a PC gaming renaissance with the Vista operating system, Microsoft is set to roll out Windows 7.

But this time there are no apologies or promises. PC gaming, it seems, has taken a back seat.

When Windows 7 goes on sale on Oct. 22, PC gamers will have little reason to run out to buy it, says Matthew Murray, managing editor of ExtremeTech.

"I don't think there's a lot about (Windows 7) that's going to make it that much more compelling to gamers than Vista," Murray said. "It's a bit better using memory, and it's a bit faster in certain areas, but the performance overall isn't really that much different. If you have Vista and you're happy with it, you can probably keep it, at least for now."

To be fair, much of that promised renaissance in 2006 was tied to the Games for Windows initiative, which launched alongside the Windows Vista operating system.

While the two hit at the same time, they're not directly connected.

The biggest idea behind Games for Windows was to make it easier to play games on your PC. This was done by creating a set of criteria that computer games needed to meet to have the Games For Windows label on their box.

Those criteria included compatibility, easy installation and including parental controls. There were also a number of neat ideas tested out, but never fully realized. Most computer games require an installation before playing, but the Tray and Play option was meant to allow gamers to pop a game in their computer and start playing almost immediately, similar to what most console gamers experience now. Unfortunately, only one game, Halo 2 for the PC, currently uses this system.

The most noticeable way in which Vista and Games for Windows crossed over was the operating system's Game Advisor and Games Explorer.

The Game Advisor ranks a person's computer and available games making it easier to tell if a title would play on a PC.

The Games Explorer was meant to collect all the games installed on a computer and display them in one folder. It's here that Window 7 does bring a modicum of improvement for gamers.

One of the biggest issues with Games Explorer was that it often didn't detect games that were purchases through online retailers and providers like Steam.

While Windows 7 still doesn't seem to include Steam in the Game Explorer, it now has the ability to if the company wants to support the service. If a game provider does choose to be listed in the Game Explorer, computer owners will be able to view news from the service and information about the service's games, all inside the window.

Another update to Games Explorer allows you to be notified when a game you own has an update or patch and then install the update from the explorer without having to launch the game.

Finally, Games Explorer will track statistics for the games you play, showing you how many times you've played, how long and your win and loss ratio.

Currently only the included games seem to support this function, but I'm sure more will include it after the operating system officially launches.

Murray says the only improvement he can find in Windows 7 for gamers is in the Games Explorer, but even he doesn't find it that useful.

"Being able to check for updates for all your games in one interface is a nice feature, but since it doesn't install the updates automatically (the way Windows Update itself does), I don't know how useful that's going to be to a lot of people," he said. "And I've never gotten that into using the Games Explorer anyway—I tend to just add icons to the new taskbar, as with everything else. Aside from that, there aren't a ton of game-friendly changes I've come across."

The problem I have with Windows 7, though, isn't its failure to vastly improve the gaming experience, it's Microsoft's failure to take advantage of the attention brought by the launch of a new operating system to once more thrust PC gaming into the spotlight.

The biggest promise the Games for Windows initiative made when it initially was unveiled was that it would be backed by a huge marketing campaign, one similar to the push Microsoft gave the Xbox 360 when it hit.

But that was never fully realized and PC gaming was left to suffer as a second favorite system next to the Xbox 360 and Microsoft's continued marketing blitz for its gaming console.

In the vacuum left by Microsoft game developers, chip manufacturers and PC builders have come together to try and reinvigorate PC gaming though the PC Gaming Alliance. But even this effort seems oddly absent during Window's big week?

If Microsoft want its PC gaming platform to thrive they will need to do more than offer lip service in the future. But with the lasting success of the gaming console and PC gamers' ability to seemingly put up with anything, why should they?

Microsoft declined to comment for this article.

Well Played is a weekly news and opinion column about the big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.

So says Microsoft's VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business for the EMEA region, Chris Lewis, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz about the future of PC gaming.

"Windows 7 will be great for games, undoubtedly," he said. "It's all good news - it's even more robust, it's quicker relatively, and the early testing cycles are proving very promising overall.

"I think it'll be nothing but good news for PC gamers, but we'll have more to say on that later on this year"

Great news for nervous gamers everywhere, until you think about it. I mean, they wouldn't come out and say it wasn't good for games, would they?

Personally I've had few problems with things running in the beta version of Windows 7. I do miss Vista, if only because on Windows Vista you knew where you stood - hip-deep in mud. Yes, we'll call it mud, for the sake of the children.

Windows 7 will be "great for games" [GamesIndustry.biz]

FiringSquad have taken a look at how it runs across two systems: a mid-spec one (AMD Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition) and a high-end machine (Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition). While the results areworth a look at, it's worth remembering, remembering then remembering again that Windows 7 is still in beta. So there's room for improvement.

Anyway, that caveat out of the way, above are some of the results more relevant to you, the game-playing public.

More detailed break-downs - including Crysis at DirectX 10 - below.

Windows 7 Beta Gaming Performance: XP vs Vista vs 7 [FiringSquad, via Evil Avatar]

When I first upgraded to Windows Vista, I wasn't just disappointed. I was depressed. It looked lovely, had all these new bells and whistles, but bells and whistles take up memory, slowing things down to a crawl. Well TechRadar UK's article on Windows 7 has me feeling a great deal better.

Windows 7 is essentially what Windows Vista should have been. They've taken the same OS and streamlined it, making it much more efficient memory-wise. Essentially what this means is you wind up with more free memory and an OS where all the bugs that plagued Windows Vista's launch as far as 3D performance goes are already ironed out. It's like getting a memory upgrade and a lovely new interface.

I've yet to try Windows 7 myself, having been understandably worried about screwing up the grudging agreement my PC has reached with Vista at this point, but after reading TechRadar's thoughts I'm feeling a bit more confident. Should I take the plunge?

Windows 7 - what it means for gamers [TechRadar UK - Thanks Sensai-N]

Any armchair Karl Roves might be tempted by a freebie version of the game, The Political Machine Express'08, which offers all the thrills and spills of the full game's 21-week election campaign, less a couple of extra features (such as running historical campaigns or trying to become president of an alien world)

We thought the 2004 edition relied a little too much on issues and rational thought - cynics and realists will be pleased to learn that the '08 version incorporates spin doctors, smear merchants and political intimidation.

The Political Machine Express '08[Stardock]

In another case of "Because it's there", some brave/misguided soul has gone to great lengths to get Windows Vista running on a PlayStation 3. How? Emulated via Linux, of course. That translates to blazing speeds, making the Microsoft OS boot in a mere 25 minutes. Notepad opens in just 12!! If you're interested in the techniques required to get Vista on your PS3, PS3HaX has a handy tutorial. Just think — you could be playing Minesweeper in just a few days, at single digit speed percentages! Impress your friends!

Vista running on PS3 & more BD-J homebrew [ via Gizmodo]

Games for Windows - Live multiplayer features are free, effective today, Microsoft announced at today's GameFest 2008 conference in Seattle.

The move to free means that achievements, enhanced "truskill" matchmaking, cross-platform play with the Xbox 360, voice and text chat, friends lists, are all now free to Windows gamers. This change to free is for all Games for Windows LIVE titles, past and future.

Microsoft also announced plans to introduce Games for Windows - Live marketplace this fall, which will include free and paid downloadable game content, demos, trailers and "more." Finally, the company said they are working to streamline the interface for the PC and reduce technical requirements for developers. Too little, too late? Too early to tell, I say.

In other news from GameFest, DirectX 11 was unveiled.

The company calls DirectX 11 a "big step forward for gaming, adding features onto existing DirectX 10".

Key components of DirectX 11, will include:

o Full support (including all DX11 hardware features) on Windows Vista as well as future versions of Windows
o Compatibility with DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware, as well as support for new DirectX 11 hardware
o New compute shader technology that lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor
o Multi-threaded resource handling that will allow games to better take advantage of multi-core machines
o Support for tessellation, which blurs the line between super high quality pre-rendered scenes and scenes rendered in real-time, allowing game developers to refine models to be smoother and more attractive when seen up close

vmcNetFlix [vmcNetFlix, via Gizmodo]

With steep hardware specifications, difficult and inconsistent installs, convoluted patching processes and unstable operating systems, the PC has developed a problematic barrier to entry for most consumers, who've voiced their difficulties in one crucial way — they've moved to consoles. So what will become of PC gaming?

Microsoft understands that the market has looked to it to save the PC gaming industry, says Kevin Unangst, senior global director for Windows Gaming. "There are more gamers on the PC platform than any other platform, and yet retail sales are going down," he adds. "It is a decline which makes us go, 'hmm... is there a problem here?' We saw an opportunity and an obligation. We are the platform leader; we own the platform. We need to make sure we do the right thing."

Unangst calls the last twelve months of Microsoft's Games For Windows effort "the first full year in the market." But the initiatives were announced just about two years ago, at E3 2006. Now, following a clumsy Vista rollout that sure hasn't appeared to be "the right thing" for gamers, and continuing issues confronting a broad adoption of PC as a gaming platform, what exactly is Microsoft doing?

According to Unangst, the PC market is actually growing; he says the struggle at retail basically comes down to the fact that PC gets second-class treatment in the public eye as a gaming platform. So, he says, most of the effort so far has largely come down to a branding campaign to address declining retail sales.

"We stepped up; we did a couple things," he says. "We looked at the packaging... PC games were in the back [at the store] and just looked like bookshelves rather than games. We addressed the retail issue by spending millions of dollars in retail in the U.S. and Europe to work with Target to move the PC gaming aisle out of the back and up next to the console games. And also at GameStop, where we worked in branding for not only the PC gaming section, but in over a thousand of their stores, Microsoft paid for and worked with them to install PC gaming kiosks. Those customers can be more engaged and try things out. No one had done that before for PC games."

Microsoft also created the Games For Windows branding program — pretty much, it's a logo on the box that lets publishers like Activision and EA sell their PC titles under the "Games For Windows" brand name without paying royalties.

Moving the shelves closer to the front of the retailer, offering kiosks and putting a stamp on the box might be marketing 101-type tactics to improve sales figures, but what has Microsoft accomplished since 2006 as far as improving the PC gaming experience? "It takes time," Unangst maintains. "When you look at things like retail and advertising and building up brand programs and impacting games in the process of shipping, it takes years of investment to start seeing that really show up."

And, he says, the Games For Windows branding initiative is more than just a logo on a package. "There's a set of 25 different tech requirements these games must meet," he explains. "The installation [process], support for specific hardware, or if a game is running on Vista it needs to support Games Explorer... those types of things. It's all about raising the baseline experience, offering users an easier option... so you don't have to answer 17 quesstions to get the game to install."

But it sure has looked as if Vista and its Game Explorer are part of the problem, not the solution. Unangst doesn't agree, though. "We're very happy with the sales of Vista so far," he says.

So, when consumers are having widespread problems with gaming on their PC, the solution is a brand campaign aimed at raising sales numbers? And a large-scale public backlash against Vista is not a problem as long as the sales numbers are good?

"There is a curve," admits Unangst on the slow uphill climb towards broad and stable Vista adoption. He pointed to the operating system transitions of previous eras; Unangst has been with Microsoft nearly 18 years, and some of his first work was on the equally tricky Windows 95 launches. "When we moved to XP there were very similar concerns.... [about] expensive new hardware. Game developers and video card makers had to rewrite drivers for the operating system. We've now had Vista out for over a year; we've attacked this on a couple of fronts and it continues to get better."

What should frustrated users do, then? "We hope they will try Service Pack 1," he says.

He mentions the company's investment in DirectX 10 — but the support doesn't really seem to be quite there yet, does it? "The hardware install base is huge now," Unangst disagrees. "There are now some 60 million people that can run it. Would I have liked to have had it closer to the launch of Vista? Absolutely."

So, Unangst admits it would have been better to have the support closer to Vista's launch, but he's still pleased with the way Microsoft's PC gaming initiatives have been going. "We went to publishers, we've got the majority of top publishers signed up who've been delivering games... they've delivered some really high-quality AAA titles. These are big games that came out, like Crysis and BioShock and World in Conflict. These were some of the big award winners.

Crysis is hardly an example of a title that anyone with a PC can pick up and play, though. "Well, they've sold quite a bit of units," Unangst declares. "Crytek wants to push the envelope - and that's what's great about the PC. The common problems that people are seeing, we address. We're trying to solve actively... the requirements of getting it on your system. The other side of it that is just as important, is providing guidance to both developers and cosomers that say... there is a consistency that the game you buy will run on a particular piece of hardware. In Vista, we invested in the Windows Experience Index that is a simple way of communicating... especially when compared to the expectations consumers have for consoles."

The Experience Index, explains Unangst, assigns a certain number to your computer based on certain requirement capacities. But if you know your PC's number, can you then look at a box in the store and find out if the number, and therefore your requirements, match? Not yet. "It's on the way," Unangst explains. "The system is built into Vista... every Games For Windows-branded title is required to compute those numbers and make a recommendation, but we haven't seen broad adoption of this on packaging at retail."

So as of yet, unless you know hardware and software very well, there's no way of telling at a glance in the store whether you have the ability to run a given game. And while PC loyalists are savvy about their tech, what about a new and broader audience which might not even know how to find out which version of a Web browser they use? "Publishers have to put this on the box," Unangst admits. "Developers come to us and want to make a game that will ship in Holiday 2010 — and that's a year and a half out. One of the other efforts that Microsoft has been involved with is the PC Gaming Alliance, to try and address some of these broad industry problems... to forecast that [hardware] guidance so that developers can make an informed decision when they want to make a game that runs on the broadest choice of hardware, or make a scaleable experience."

That scalability, Unangst says, is the real strength of PC as a platform — but why does it seem that only cutting-edge PCs are appropriate for gaming? "We can do a better job of giving guidance to developers," Unangst concedes.

But according to Unangst, everything's going just fine for PC gaming. The widely publicized NPD numbers that raised the flag of alarm on the health of the PC gaming industry are actually a source of confidence to him: "When you look back to some of the [NPD] numbers for this year, just in 2007... more people in the US bought Windows games at retail than they did for the Wii," he says. "It's 36 million units for PC games, versus 31 million units for wii. When you look at the numbers from DFC Intelligence, people spent more money on PC games, including online distribution, than they did on PS3 games in the U.S. in 2007. When I try to do an apples-to-apples comparison, surprising figures come out.

But when pressed, Unangst did identify the areas of concern on which he says Microsoft is currently hard at work. "It's the product issues we're working on... the installation needs to be easier. We need a consistent way... to have user IDs without different clients. People are unable to play with freinds. These are the services we need to build and we're continuing to invest in. We've made great progress, but there's still more to be done - when you walk into a store it'd a carnival for the consoles. There's... all the demos and the lights and the great retail. Microsoft has had to get quite a bit of money to... treat the PC as a first-class citizen there. We have to do a better job of communicating the value of PC and giving it more credit."

Unangst is right when he says that the most widely publicized picture of the PC game space isn't the whole picture — it doesn't capture the growth of web-based casual games, WoW's millions of monthly subscribers, Valve's healthy Steam sales and other digital distribution, or the microtransactions revenue of PC products like Gaia Online or Nexon's MapleStory, both of which also have hefty userbases. And, continues Unangst, these PC-only game opportunities are part of the platform's strength."There is a reason you don't see WoW on the console; the gameplay is fantastic on the PC," he points out.

So, everything's just great in PC-land? Does Unangst see any barriers that prevent or limit some users from gaming on PCs? "The biggest barrier to PC gaming is the perception that there is a barrier," he says. "I mean that very seriously."

So if you're having issues gaming on your PC, it seems you should blame your "perception," not Microsoft.

ExtremeTech took a long, hard look at the improvements, not just on the file and operations side, but those that appeal to PC gamers. In addition to the requisite 3DMark and PCMark benchmarks, performance reviews against Company of Heroes, Supreme Command and Crysis provide insight. The good news? It's faster, with the exception of Crysis, which suffers under certain circumstances.

Bar chart heaven awaits upgraders at ExtremeTech.

Vista Shootout: Hotfixes Vs. SP1 [ExtremeTech]

It is best to consider Alan Wake to be a Vista exclusive game.

Following a lackluster infomercial CES keynote, Microsoft sent out a press release this morning touting the "powerful momentum" of Games for Windows and the addition of nine new Games for Windows-branded titles including Alone in the Dark and LEGO Indiana Jones.

"Games for Windows truly thrived in 2007. We went from two titles in 2006 to a continually growing portfolio of over 60 titles here at CES 2008," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "We delivered on our promise one year ago to reinvigorate the PC gaming space and bring the best portfolio of games to Windows. And this is just the beginning. With our partners, we will continue to drive the resurgence of Windows-based gaming."

The full list of new GFW games includes:

• "Alone in the Dark" (Atari)
• "Bionic Commando" (Capcom)
• "Conflict: Denied Ops" (Eidos Interactive)
• "Empire: Total War" (SEGA)
• "LEGO Indiana Jones" (LucasArts)
• "Microsoft Train Simulator 2" (Microsoft Game Studios)
• "Sins of a Solar Empire" (Stardock)
• "Space Siege" (SEGA)
• "Tomb Raider: Underworld" (Eidos Interactive)

The release also went on to point out that the casual games industry generated $2.25 billion in revenue last year and has a projected increase of 20 percent. I wonder if that now includes the Wii? Hit the jump for the full release.

Microsoft Unveils New Titles and Powerful Momentum for Games for Windows
New titles added to the Games for Windows portfolio; Games for Windows initiative and MSN Games going strong.

LAS VEGAS — Jan. 7, 2008 — Following one of the hottest years in video game history, Microsoft Corp. today announced at the 2008 International CES the addition of new titles to the Games for Windows portfolio and strong first-year results for the Games for Windows initiative. Games for Windows drove the PC gaming category in 2007 with some of the most popular Windows-based games available, and will continue the momentum for Windows-based gaming in 2008.
"Games for Windows truly thrived in 2007. We went from two titles in 2006 to a continually growing portfolio of over 60 titles here at CES 2008," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "We delivered on our promise one year ago to reinvigorate the PC gaming space and bring the best portfolio of games to Windows. And this is just the beginning. With our partners, we will continue to drive the resurgence of Windows-based gaming."
CES attendees will get to experience some of the great games of 2008, with six upcoming Games for Windows titles on the show floor: "Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures" (Funcom, Eidos Interactive), "Conflict: Denied Ops" (Eidos Interactive), "Frontlines: Fuel of War" (THQ), "Space Siege" (SEGA), "Turning Point: Fall of Liberty" (Codemasters) and "Jigsaw Too Photo Edition" (Carbonated Games), a game for Windows Live Messenger.
Delivering Great Games
Microsoft announced the addition of nine new Games for Windows-branded titles joining the portfolio from renowned publishers Atari Inc., Capcom, Eidos Interactive, LucasArts, Microsoft Game Studios, SEGA and Stardock., bringing the growing Games for Windows portfolio to more than 60 titles. "Alone in the Dark" (Atari) and "Sins of a Solar Empire" (Stardock) join other branded games from top publishers around the world committed to delivering quality-tested Games for Windows titles, including 2K Games, Activision Inc., EA Partners, Midway Home Entertainment Inc. and Ubisoft. New Games for Windows-branded titles announced at CES include the following:
• "Alone in the Dark" (Atari)
• "Bionic Commando" (Capcom)
• "Conflict: Denied Ops" (Eidos Interactive)
• "Empire: Total War" (SEGA)
• "LEGO Indiana Jones" (LucasArts)
• "Microsoft Train Simulator 2" (Microsoft Game Studios)
• "Sins of a Solar Empire" (Stardock)
• "Space Siege" (SEGA)
• "Tomb Raider: Underworld" (Eidos Interactive)
Other highly anticipated Games for Windows-branded titles expected to release in 2008 include "Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures" (Funcom, Eidos Interactive), "Borderlands" (2K Games), "The Club" (SEGA), "Fallout® 3" (Bethesda Softworks®) and "Frontlines: Fuel of War" (THQ).
Driving the PC Gaming Industry Forward
In a year when gaming was one of the most popular choices of entertainment, the Games for Windows initiative drove the PC gaming category forward. Games for Windows has brought Windows-based gaming to the forefront of retail stores, raising consumer awareness of Games for Windows titles and positioning the category for successful sales. In November 2007 alone, the Games for Windows portfolio accounted for 20 percent of all PC game sales at retail stores in the United States, according to the NPD Group/Retail Tracking Service.
"Games for Windows-branded titles were among the most popular Windows-based games purchased as gifts this holiday," said Bob McKenzie, senior vice president of merchandising for GameStop Corp. "Microsoft's efforts to revive Windows-based gaming have helped grow the category."
Consumers can find Games for Windows titles featured in retail stores including GameStop, Circuit City and Wal-Mart in the United States, and PC World, Game, Media Markt and Saturn in Europe.
Casual Games on Windows: Windows Live Messenger Games and MSN Games
According to the Casual Games Association, the casual games industry generated $2.25 billion in revenue in 2007 worldwide, with a projected increase of 20 percent in 2008. Microsoft is a leader in the casual games space through gaming platforms including MSN Games and Windows Live Messenger Games. Today, MSN Games is enjoyed by 14 million people each month and offers them more than 600 games to play including "The Office," "Luxor 3" and "Diner Dash: Hometown Hero." Windows Live Messenger Games reaches 16 million people per month around the world and has 26 games to choose from, including the new exclusive title "Jigsaw Too Photo Edition." "Jigsaw Too Photo Edition" is available now and lets players personalize the game by inserting their own photos. Players can also cooperate with each other via Windows Live Messenger to solve their personalized jigsaw puzzles.

About Games for Windows
Microsoft Windows is the most popular operating system in the world for games, delivering the widest range of titles, the most gaming hardware choices and advanced gaming technology for players of all types. With Windows as the cornerstone, the Games for Windows platform offers publishers and gamers the most enjoyable and innovative gaming experiences available on a PC. More information can be found online at http://www.gamesforwindows.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Title Update 3 Contains:

Gameplay

Dwarves can no longer be unawared with the katana or Artifact.
Elves' regeneration ability has been tweaked:

Increased time before Elf begins to heal by a quarter second.
Increased essence cost of healing by ~15%.

Audio

Enemy footstep audio will now be easier to hear in Live games.

Bots

Bot difficulty will scale with players' average Trueskill in Public Match games.

UI

Added "Advanced Settings" screen when setting up a Private Game, which contains the following options:

Max players - Ability to determine the maximum number of players that can join the game
Preferences - Ability to use the preferences of all players to determine the map rotation
Handicapping - Ability to turn Karma on or off

Fixed "stop" functionality for when a game-start countdown has begun in the lobby.
Improved messaging for when your party is split or rejoined due to team balance.
Improved messaging about Artifact clearing bodies in Attrition.

Network

Improved server reliability.
Dedicated Server
Improved voting reliability.
Improved network reliability.
Improved error messaging.

General

Local Match games can now be played without a profile.
Fixed numerous crashes.
Fixed numerous exploits and glitches.
Improved Vista multi-monitor functionality.

Featuring a hulking Big Daddy and a Little Sister hiding in the shadows, the official cover art for the 360 and PC versions of Bioshock is about what you'd expect. Brian Crecente

Hushed Casket has a great piece up about all of the issues with Games for Windows Live. The service, I think many of us thought, was meant to be as robust and easy to use as the 360 version of Live, but instead it's just sort of an awkward appendage.

Once you're in a game you can use it like you would Live on the 360, but if you're not in the only two games that currently support it, then you're out of luck. There is no desktop application for the service. Worse still, as Hushed Casket points out, a lot of the little things that make Live sparkle on the 360 are completely missing from the Vista version.

You can't download movies or games, you can't use it to listen to music, you can't customize the user interface. The service doesn't even alert you to achievements.

It looks like GFW-Live has a long way to go before they catch up with their 360 counterparts. Brian Crecente

Top ten things that are wrong with Games for Windows - Live [Hushed Casket]

Luke reported yesterday on Hot Spartan, the news that Halo 2 Vista shipped with "accidental" partial nudity . The "accident" led the ESRB to issue warning labels for the game saying it contains "Partial Nudity."

But what part, exactly, was nude? And how was it in the game "accidentally"? I'll let the ESRB explain after the jump, but be warned the explanation features a naked ass.

"After the M (Mature 17+) rating assignment was issued for Halo 2 for Vista and just prior to the shipment of the game to retail, Microsoft notified ESRB about pertinent content found in a map editor tool that is being bundled with the game. The content in question, although likely to be inaccessible to the vast majority of users, displays a photograph of an individual showing his bare backside to the user when a particular error occurs, and thus warrants a 'Partial Nudity' content descriptor in order to alert consumers to its presence in the product. Microsoft has therefore applied stickers with correct ESRB rating information to the packaging of virtually all copies that will ship to retail in the U.S. and Canada. We have been advised by Microsoft that future runs of the game will be produced without the content in question, thus negating the need for the descriptor to be displayed on those versions.

"ESRB's job is to ensure that games are appropriately labeled, and that is precisely what we did in this case. We greatly appreciate Microsoft's cooperation in this matter." - Entertainment Software Rating Board

That's right, some dip at Microsoft Games Studio (or perhaps Bungie) thought it would be funny to moon users when Vista craps out and churns out a certain error message. Hmm, wonder if it was Steve Ballmer? Maybe he's had our pants around our ankles so long he decided to return the favor. Brian Crecente

I don't hate Vista...I can see it has potential. I certainly don't hate Halo 2. I do hate the two of them together. As much as I'd love to be able to create and share my own maps over the PC, it just isn't worth it. Michael Fahey

The list seems a bit unbalanced at first glance. Beating the game on normal nets you 100 points, while heroic and legendary only nets you 50 apiece? Poppycock I say!

Heehee. Poppycock is an awesome word.

Just completing the game you've probably already finished nets you 490 - 590 points (if you do all three difficulty levels), and the rest are spread among various multiplayer achievements, including two viral ones, which are always good for a giggle.

A nice little list, but are achievements enough to make a gamer want to upgrade his PC to Windows Vista? Seeing as my home computer has recently undergone a much-needed Vistectomy, have I finally met a Halo product that I won't impulsively buy? Michael Fahey

Halo 2 launches onto Vista, now with achievements. [Achieve360Points.com via Arrogantics]