QuakeCon Pours Revitilization for PC Gaming

Microsoft has been touting the return of PC Gaming as they promote the heck out of the Games for Windows branding. The only problem with their strategy there were no good games out, and none on the horizon (until Gears was announced) to really make it seem viable. Halo was old, Shadowrun's a console game, Crysis will never run on my computer, and Supreme Squadron was dwarfed by C&C 3.

After id's QuakeCon presentations I'm excited for PC games again. Not only did they announce an entirely new IP, Rage, using their I'd Tech 5 platform, but the entire back catalogue of their old IP will be made re-available via Steam shortly. If buying games again doesn't get you excited they also let word that Quake 3 Arena would be made available through the magic of web-browsers and advertising. It will be called Quake Zero and expect it to revitalize interest in public school computer labs. Thanks to he success of Doom on the XBLA, Quake Arena will also be hitting the virtual arcade sometime in the future. Lastly, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars was given a release date of October 2nd.

With such big announcements, the PC Gaming community must be swimming. The interesting part about this is that with steam now providing distribution for id's titles, will the games be branded under GfW? Although the two are not mutually exclusive the two never seem to have got along well. It would appear then that Microsoft's attempts to sweep in with their logo on all things PC gaming will in fact be contested, as the PC platform always has.

If this continues we will definitely see a different type of games war with MS and Valve each vying for brand exclusivity. This won't affect PC game enthusiasts, except offer them a choice whether they prefer Games for Windows Live or Steam (winning so far). While I could definitely be wrong, expect to see some nabbing on either side. I fear the day we see a multiplatform release within the PC universe, but then again, Microsoft probably doesn't care too much, you still need Windows to play.