Games For Windows Live Gets Fallout 3

Microsoft's Games for Windows Live service is now totally, completely free to use - actually as of July 22 it had that status but its very likely that you didnt notice, because there wasnt one really big game out for the service that you could play. All that has changed with the release of Fallout 3 for PC - its the only truly first class, triple A offering to debut on the service. What this means is that if you have a PC with a broadband connection, your PC will function just like an Xbox 360 when you have a Games for Windows Live enabled game playing. You can text chat, voice chat, send and accept invites, and earn achievements for your gamertag. If you are on your 360, friends playing Games for Windows Live titles on their PC will appear with a small white computer monitor icon to the right of their gamertag in your friends list.

Assuming you have the 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows, you will be able to use your Xbox 360 controller and headset on your PC in these games, just like you would with your 360 console. Games for Windows Live titles can of course be played with a mouse and keyboard, if that suits your old school PC gaming taste. Also Games for Windows Live branded games are fully tested by Bill Gates to support wide-screen monitors with true HD widescreen resolutions like 1900x1200 - no fake HD 640P here.

The achievements overlap with your 360, so if you pop in Fallout 3 and you already have certain achievements from when you played the 360 version, you will see those achievements there. You cant unlock them again, but all the ones you never unlocked on the 360 will be unlockable on your PC version of the game. So, theoretically, you can be playing one campaign of Fallout 3 on your laptop, for when you travel, where you earn all the achievements for being good and save all the princesses from evil, and at the same time have another campaign going on your Xbox 360 where you are the blackhearted sum of all things evil and you get all the achievements for eating live puppies for breakfast. So basically, Microsoft has turned your PC into a giant, beastly Xbox 360. Currently only one game that I know of supports cross platform play - where PC gamers and Xbox 360 gamers can play together on the same servers - and thats Shadowrun, but expect more cross platform enabled titles to start shipping soon now that the service is free. Below is a list of PC games that currently support the Games for Windows Live service.

• Fallout® 3

• Battlestations™: Pacific

• The Club™

• Gears of War® for Windows

• Halo® 2 for Windows Vista

• Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

• Lost Planet™ Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition

• Shadowrun™

• Universe at War™: Earth Assault

• Viva Piñata™ for Windows

• Warhammer® 40,000™: Dawn of War® II