Windows Vista ups the gaming ante

Get an idea of what Vista has in store for gamers of all ages

By Marc Saltzman

Like many Canadian moms, Jordana Richmon is concerned about the computer games her kids have access to. Sure, she reads the ESRB age ratings listed in the corner of every game box before buying for Brandon, 6, and Mitchell, 4. But she concedes it's virtually impossible to monitor downloadable games and game demos.

Family-friendly gaming

A recent incident involved a friend of the boys who brought over and installed an inappropriate game on the Richmon home PC. "You try to do the best you can, of course, but you can't monitor your kids on the computer 24/7," says the Thornhill, Ontario mother.

If this sounds familiar there is a solution. Windows Vista, the new operating system from Microsoft, has built-in parental controls that give parents full control over the games their kids can play.

It was a long time coming, but the parental controls on Vista should help keep young children away from the games daddy likes to play," explains Ted Kritsonis, a freelance journalist in Toronto who covers the video gaming and consumer electronics industries. "Whether it's a gory horror game or online poker, parents should find it easier to implement these types of controls when using Vista."

Windows Vista's family safety settings, by the way, can also be used to monitor and block where the kids are going on the web, who they're chatting with and even limit the time they're on the computer.

Better gaming

Windows Vista doesn't just help provide a safe environment for your kids. It was also designed to be the ultimate gaming system for kids — or kids at heart.

"For the first time in Microsoft's history, we're releasing an operating system built from the ground up with gaming as a core scenario," maintains Peter Moore, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business for Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division.

"With a worldwide presence of over 200 million gamers of all stripes, we're taking the world's most popular gaming platform and making it easier, safer, and more fun for everyone."

Included with every copy of Windows Vista is DirectX 10, which helps drive next-generation graphics in computer games.

At the risk of getting technical, DirectX is a complex set of instructions used by game makers to get the most out of your hardware (such as your PC's processor and graphics card). Microsoft's Moore says DirectX 10 was rebuilt from the ground up, and will make games look gorgeous and run smoothly. Examples of upcoming games that will take advantage of this technology are Crytek's stunning first-person shooter, Crysis, and Gas Powered Games/THQ's intense real-time strategy game, Supreme Commander.

And don't worry — most of your favourite Windows XP games should work just fine with Windows Vista. In some rare instances, however, you may require a free downloadable update ("patch") from the PC game publisher's web site. Much older DOS, 3.11 and Windows 98 games may not run well on Windows Vista.

For the first time, Windows Vista will also let PC gamers engage in online matches against Xbox 360 players. "This cross-platform game-play is an intriguing part of gaming on a Vista PC," says Kritsonis. "This should be a big year in seeing where this goes and might even settle the debate on whether or not PC gamers have a distinct advantage in first-person shooters."

"Now gamers on both Xbox and Windows will have one identity, one friends list, and one consistent set of experiences that will travel with them across both platforms," confirms Moore. "We're calling it LIVE, and this year will produce a powerful first wave of LIVE-enabled games, starting with Uno, Shadowrun and Halo 2. And that's just the beginning."

Speaking of the Xbox 360 video game console, Windows Vista owners can now play their PC games with the Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows, a gamepad that works on both platforms.

Windows Vista ships preloaded with many other family-friendly games, including:

• Chess Titans, a 3-D chess puzzler;
• Mahjong Titans, an easy-to-pick-up-but-difficult-to-master ancient Chinese tile-matching game;
• Purble Place, a collection of three strategy games;
• InkBall, an arcade game that challenges you to steer a ball into the right hole;
• The classic Minesweeper, where you must avoid the mines by guessing where they're located on a grid;
• Card classics such as FreeCell, Spider Solitaire and Hearts.

Easier-to-find games

A new feature of the operating system called Games Explorer helps make it easier to find, manage and launch games. Located on the Start menu, this feature displays box-cover art for all installed games. With one click, you can launch a game title, view its recommended age rating, or change how the game icons are laid out.

Games Explorer also lets you check your system's technical specifications to see whether it can handle new games, and lets you access Parental Control options.

"Games Explorer is one part of a wider feature with Vista that allows you to easily organize all of your stuff, be it media files, Word documents or your video games," explains Kritsonis. "In this one area, you'll know what games you have [installed] and have easy access to them."