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Following last week's killer deal on Batman: Arkham Asylum, Games for Windows on Demand continues its series of game sales with Street Fighter IV. Right now, the service is offering Capcom's fighter for 50 percent off, knocking the price down to a palatable $19.99. Or, if you prefer, Impulse is also offering it for the same price. Of course, it's worth noting that Super Street Fighter IV will be released in just a month, so you might just skip the whole thing and wait for a couple of weeks.

Unless, of course, the allure of "a nifty little special set of things" is just too much to resist.

Source - Games on Demand Spring Sale
Source - Street Fighter IV on Impulse

[Via 1UP]

We're going to need you to find some way to weasel out of that lunch date you have planned for tomorrow. See, the $12.49 you were planning on spending on that cucumber and cream cheese panini with Italian cream soda? It's about to go towards a much more virtuous cause: Purchasing Batman: Arkham Asylum through Games For Windows' Games on Demand platform, which until March 1, will only cost you $12.49.

It may not be as delicious as the aforementioned sandwich, but it will take you longer to finish. Unless you're the world's slowest eater. Or the world's fastest game-tape solver. Or if it's the world's biggest panini.

Microsoft's experiment in casual game creation, Kodu, is now available in preview form online. PC gamers can download the "Technical Preview" version of the game right here, which features a revamped UI sporting mouse and keyboard controls. Microsoft also added other tweaks, enhancing the "move" verb (allowing for scripted camera movements), "streamlined terrain editing tools" and characters that can respond to mouse and keyboard events.

If you're a PC gamer wondering what all of the fuss is about, we suggest you check out our video walkthrough. Oh, and do let us know if you come up with any Joystiq-inspired games!

[Via Big Download]

Update 3: An online fact sheet [.doc link] from Microsoft reveals that the Game Room itself will be free, while games will range in price from 400 ($5) for a dual-license purchase of arcade classics, 240 ($3) for a single-platform license or 40 ($0.50) for "two quarters" worth of play. Users can try arcade titles for free within a friend's room. For full details, check out our follow-up post.

Update 2: According to Major Nelson, Game Room users will have the ability to purchase games for their virtual arcade and play them on both their Xbox 360 and Windows PC. Additionally, new Game Room titles will be made available every week. Users will be able to invite Xbox Live friends into their respective (and customizable) rooms to show off their arcade collection. Stock up on Microsoft Points, kids.

Update 1: During its CES 2010 keynote, Microsoft's Robbie Bach announced 30 arcade titles will be available in the Xbox Game Room when the service launches this spring for the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live.

Original: Hours following a leaked interview featuring Robbie Bach, Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a virtual arcade room for Xbox Avatars via this trailer unveiled at CES 2010. The Xbox Game Room is slated to hit the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live this spring, allowing players to visit a virtual room filled with classic arcade titles. According to the video, users will be able to customize their arcade rooms (presumably for Microsoft funny money) and challenge friends to a plethora of original arcade versions of games such as Centipede, Outlaw, and Star Raiders.

The news that Game Room will also launch for Games For Windows Live raises the question, will the service see Avatars added in the near future? As the upcoming arcade is centered around entertainment for your virtual identity, we'd hope the service would see an interface upgrade bringing it closer to the Xbox's current NXE, rather than locking our poor Avatars up inside of an executable program.

Microsoft's Games on Demand for Games for Windows Live is now live and on demandable. The launch lineup doesn't exactly conjure up thoughts of exploding confetti, but here goes nothing:

• Dirt 2 ($40)
• Fallout 3 ($50)
• Kane and Lynch: Dead Men ("1600") -- really, that's what it says (aka $20)
• Red Faction: Guerrilla ($40)
  
• Shadowrun ($10)
• Street Fighter IV ($40)
• Viva Pinata ($10)

With established digital distribution systems for PC gamers -- heard of Steam? Impulse? -- already featuring far larger libraries and arguably better discounts, it sure looks like GFWLGOD (we're still working on the acronym ... ) is marching onto the field about an hour after the match ended.

Games on Demand, a.k.a. full game downloads, is one of the more recent additions to Xbox Live -- and today Microsoft has announced that it's bringing the service to its Games For Windows Live platform beginning December 15. GFWL creative director Chuck Osieja calls the initiative "Microsoft's return to delivering Windows games built on unique LIVE experiences." The service has a rocky history of sporadic supported releases and last summer ditched its subscription fees in the face of competition from the likes of Steam.

The move puts Microsoft up against Valve's digi-distribution service, which similarly offers community features and its own Achievements system, but boasts a much larger catalog at present. The GFWL Games on Demand initial lineup will include Resident Evil 5, Red Faction: Guerrilla and Battlestations Pacific along with new GFWL-enabled versions of 2D Boy's excellent World of Goo and Hemisphere Games' Osmos -- all titles currently offered by Steam, with some available via Stardock's Impulse service. Microsoft hasn't divulged pricing for titles offered via GFWL Games on Demand.

A reworked version of the former Windows Vista Ultimate Extra Tinker will be made available free to GFWL users when the Games on Demand service launches a week from next Tuesday.

During Microsoft's big coming-out party for Windows 7 today in New York City, Codemasters showed off the new DirectX 11 version of the upcoming PC port of Dirt 2 that you see above. Though the developer said little of new content additions being made to the game, the already gorgeous visuals have been gussied up with help from DirectX 11, and cheevos will be ready for the taking on Games for Windows Live. Meeting its previously announced delay head-on, Dirt 2 starts shipping in North America on December 1, with December 3 and 4 release dates for the rest of the world (in your face, world!).

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced an initiative to streamline the certification process of games coming to its Games for Windows platform. In doing so, the company effectively offered an olive branch to small developers and publishers who had previously been unable for a variety of reasons -- be they financial, time or size-related -- to release games on the platform. Perri Munsell, director of Windows consumer product management, told Joystiq today that the relaunch means good things for both the little guys and the big guys.

"Now, through the self-certification process, we really allow any developer -- indie on up, from one, two-man teams all the way up to a major publisher -- everyone receives the same automation tools." It's not just a question of making the certification process easier for everyone though, as Munsell says that before, indie devs couldn't even approach the GFW platform. "It goes beyond 'easier' -- it makes it possible."

When asked about Microsoft's criteria for "showcasing" certain games at its events, Munsell says rather unsurprisingly, it has to do with what the company is promoting and how that ties into its plans. For next month's Windows 7 release, the company will be courting game developers large and small that are working on multi-touch games. "[At our events] we have different developers at different times based on what the core message is. One example is that Windows 7 has multi-touch built into it, and so we're actively looking at developers today -- some of them indie -- that have some great examples of multi-touch capability. And it really shows off the technology. 'Cause multi-touch by itself? There's no magic there. Multi-touch with a great partner application? That's where the magic exists."

And sure, we asked when games would be downloadable and if Microsoft's working on cross-platform play, but got the boilerplate "nothing to tell you today, unfortunately" (though we should note there was an audible pause when we asked when we would be hearing more, before the PR handler chimed in). We were promised we'll be "kept posted" on those items, but for some reason, we're thinking "no" on holding our breath.

You'd think that owning and operating the world's most ubiquitous operating system would make Microsoft popular with PC game publishers, that they'd be jumping at the chance to have the company's 'Games for Windows' nomenclature. For the software giant, this hasn't been the case so far, with major publishers like EA and Valve sticking with their own distribution services for PC gaming. Microsoft hopes to change that with its recent announcement of a streamlined approval process for GFW-labeled games, just in time for the launch of Windows 7 -- the "Games for Windows Self Certification Site."

By opening up a website that advertises the various marketing benefits of bringing titles to the GFW label, it appears that Microsoft is putting forth at least a minimal effort to keep its PC gaming business running. We've reached out to Microsoft for more information on the new self certification process and will update this post when we know more.

[Via Big Download]

If you were running about the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3 or tossing hadoukens in Street Fighter IV on your PC recently, you may have noticed a Games For Windows Live update. Microsoft reports the new update is now available, which adds the Marketplace, anti-piracy measures and a host of other new features to the PC suite. Congrats, Microsoft! You've finally turned our PCs into Xbox 360s!

[Thanks, Kent!]

There are some rumors circulating around the internets that Gears of War 2 could make a belated arrival on the PC platform, just like the first title. IGN points to Beantown Games, the originator of this vicious little rumor, which posted details from a supposed unreleased press release for the game, along with supposed box art shots featuring the Games for Windows logo.

IGN then gave Kotaku the nod, who went to work checking into some of the stuff Beantown Games posted. The blog found inconsistencies in the Beantown post, with the supposed leaked press release being a near carbon copy of the original press release for Gears of War 2 on Xbox 360. Then, there's the UPC codes, which apparently all point to The Golden Compass. It's odd, to say the least.

As much as all of this seems like malarkey, one shouldn't entirely rule out the possibility of Gears of War 2 on the PC. The first game released on PC in November of 2007, a full year after the release of the original Xbox 360 game. Since the sequel released on Xbox 360 in November of last year, we wouldn't put it past Epic and Microsoft to crank the game out on PC some time in 2009. Though, when we contacted Microsoft, a spokesperson said "We have no plans for Gears of War 2 on the PC," so take it as you will.

Source - Beantown Games [Via IGN]
Source - Kotaku

It must be quite an annoying wait for you PC gamers, knowing that your console brethren are already finding enjoyment in Street Fighter IV. There must be something we can do to make this interim more bearable? Oh, we know! We have just the thing; we've got the specs, thanks to Capcom.

Wouldn't you just love to know if your PC can handle all of Bison's psycho power? Chances are, it can. Check after the break for the minimum requirements and see if your rig stacks up.

Do you like Games for Windows? Oh, you do? How about E3? Great! Now here's the rub: You can't have them together. According to our brothers from other mothers at Big Download, the GFW announcements at E3 2009 are going to be, well, non-existent. A Microsoft PR rep said that the company doesn't feel as though the game is aimed at PC gamers, but rather console-focused.

And while Microsoft plans on holding a Windows 7 reception at E3 where a variety of PC games will be demoed using the new operating system, the press conference set to "completely transform how people think about home entertainment" (does that mean we'll pay someone else to think about it for us?) won't feature any new GFW newsplosions.

For the few of you out there waiting for a PC version of Street Fighter IV and who, simultaneously, had not prepared for playing the game with a keyboard and mouse, Capcom has luckily thought ahead. It's including a MadCatz Fight Pad in the $60 Games for Windows version of SFIV that'll be sold at your local brick and mortar. We're wondering how many folks are willing to snag one of these for the controller alone!

Problematically, the company has at once solved your problem and caused another -- how are you going to play against friends in your house with only one controller? Knowing that the arcade controllers released have come in fairly short supply, here's hoping the introduction of PC Street Fighter IV brings with it a bevy of the unfortunately necessary controllers to the market.

Poor Games For Windows Live. The branding and service have been so neglected that it actually gives us a little spring in our step to see someone embracing it, like the way we like to hear about Brad Pitt buying mosquito nets for poor countries.

Its latest benefactor is Street Fighter IV on the PC, which will use the service to provide multiplayer and Achievements when it arrives on home computers this summer. Out of curiosity, have any of you been waiting for a PC release to polish up your Tiger Uppercut?

[Thanks, The Weaponeer!]