Windows XP games: We're not dead yet

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 4th 2007 at 6:00PM }

That thud you heard last week was the sound of Windows Vista hitting the market. We know the Games for Windows crew weren't impressed and we're still a little confused about buying Vista before having it naturally part of a new PC. Despite the confusion, Voodoo Extreme, looking to toss a $20 on the counter and kick Windows XP out, declares their Top 20 PC games for the "last generation."

The list is all good and fine with Rise of Nations, Rome: Total War, Half-Life 2, WoW and other PC-centric masterpieces. We've just never thought of PC games as being "next-gen," "last-gen," or any other type of buzzword. PC games don't have that fanboy console mentality attached to them. In the average consumer's mind, PC games evolve in a completely different manner than by console generation. Windows Vista, in time, is what a majority of consumers will use for PC, an eventual unavoidable upgrade as Microsoft intended. The idea that consumers are rushing out, upgrading to Vista and Windows XP games are soooooo passé is a little silly.

Tags: games, last-gen, next-gen, windows vista, windows xp, WindowsXp

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

SIP YEK NOD @ Feb 4th 2007 6:29PM

that is quite possibly the dumbest thing i have ever heard. "last gen" pc games? does this mean in 5 years we are going to have to buy another 500 dollar OS to play the "next gen" of pc games after the vista generation of games?

tehWabbit @ Feb 4th 2007 6:18PM

Agreed.

Jecrell @ Feb 5th 2007 12:42AM

I got Windows Vista for the sexy sassy looking new OS, the games that are eventually released for Vista are merely a side bonus.

Also I downloaded the Japanese language pack (which turns all of Windows Vista's English into Japanese) and now, for the first time, I think I can say I have a Japanese OS. =P

Mwahahahaha

F @ Feb 4th 2007 6:28PM

damn straight

The_Mhor @ Feb 4th 2007 6:35PM

"does this mean in 5 years we are going to have to buy another 500 dollar OS to play the "next gen" of pc games after the vista generation of games?"

Yep, that's exactly what Microsoft want.

williambraski @ Feb 4th 2007 6:42PM

See this is why PC gamer makers and ATI/nVidia/(and now Intel) should work together on a platform to get hardware acceleration working in a format that doesn't require an OS. Yeah similar to console, but this way you could easily sell games to all OS users. With enough support from the right people this could break the dependence on Windows for gaming. I hear so many people say "I only use Windows because of games at home." it's stupid.

Ritz @ Feb 4th 2007 6:43PM

No, I don't think so. I actually broke down and picked up Vista, recently. It was too hard to resist a genuine Home Basic Upgrade for $110 Canadian...

Anyways, Vista is a new generation OS, yes. Programs designed and built for XP and DirectX 9 are by definition "old gen". Although it doesn't matter much. Even as games that take advantage of DirectX 10 come out (that won't be playable on XP), I imagine there will be plenty of games and apps that will also let you run it with DirectX 9.

Games I have tried so far include Half-Life 2, BoosterLogic, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, and Guild Wars all work and run fine on Vista like they did with XP.

Avoid the FUD =(.

Fatal Fury @ Feb 12th 2007 2:59PM

"does this mean in 5 years we are going to have to buy another 500 dollar OS to play the "next gen" of pc games after the vista generation of games?" --SIP YEK NOD

Welcome to the life of a console gamer. :\

Ritz @ Feb 4th 2007 7:12PM

HOME PREMIUM, sorry.

Arno @ Feb 4th 2007 7:19PM

I didn't know there were other people who still read VE.

King @ Feb 4th 2007 7:21PM

I agree with Ritz...Avoid the FUD

I purchased Vista Ultimate and all my games run as smooth as they did on XP.

Vista even optimized my downloads so they run faster than they did with XP.

LordMinogue @ Feb 4th 2007 7:41PM

I'll get Vista when I need it (college this fall)

It's funny...people I know spend over a thousand dollars on new PCs every 3 to 5 years. I've had three PCs myself - one was being thrown out at my dad's workplace and worked fine for another two years. Then I built two additional PCs last fall, a 733mhz P3 and a 1.8ghz P4, out of components my friends were discarding as Broken (shot power supply) or Outdated. Even my laser printer and apple keyboard came from throw-away piles at schools.

Sure, this rig can't handle Oblivion. Instead, I used some of the money I saved to buy a 360 and a pile of amazing classic PC and Xbox games.

Kwipper @ Feb 4th 2007 7:43PM

I have to ask. What does FUD mean?

Rubang B @ Feb 4th 2007 7:55PM

FEAR/UNCERTAINTY/DOUBT

Apache @ Feb 4th 2007 8:08PM

DirectX 10 = Next generation for the PC :)

DarkXaero @ Feb 4th 2007 9:44PM

The worst list that I have ever seen. There is so much better stuff that could have been added. I mean they have Doom 3 over there, are you kidding me? BF1942 over BF2? Rome TW over Medieval II Total War?Halo CE over NOLF 2?

Eric @ Feb 4th 2007 11:55PM

I'd pick Rome: Total War over Medieval: Total War. In Medieval, most of the nations had pretty similar armies; not enough variety. In Rome, most of the nations were fairly unique so it did not seem like you were constantaly fighting against the same army over and over again.

But then again I got bored fairly quickly with the Total War games. You can only do so many sieges and battles before it gets monotonous.

Loque @ Feb 5th 2007 12:04AM

I'll upgrade to vista when my frame rates aren't downgraded by it.

Ritz @ Feb 5th 2007 12:15AM

That's a good call, Loque. If you drink MS kool-aid, you can expect that graphic cards that take advantage of DirectX 10 will handle graphics 8 times faster than DirectX 9.0c.

But for current games on current GPUs? XP is the way to go until further optimizations are made.