See if the next OS is the best for PC gamers

Feb 28, 2009 08:21 GMT  ·  By

PC gaming has almost always been tied to a generation of Microsoft's Windows operating system. Whether it was 95, 98 or the more recent XP or Vista, the Redmond giant was responsible for the main platform on which developers brought their video games.

Windows XP has been and still is the preferred platform for gamers around the world, due to its low requirements and high degree of compatibility with almost all the titles that appear on the PC. But ever since Microsoft introduced Vista, by saying that it would be perfect for any activity, including gaming, players have been somewhat reticent to upgrade to the company's new OS either because a lot of titles weren't compatible, or the system took up too much of the PC's resources, or due to the fact that it was filled with a lot of bugs or glitches that rendered games unplayable.

But it seems that for gamers Windows 7 will be the best operating system, at least according to Microsoft's VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business for the EMEA region, Chris Lewis, who talked with GamesIndustry.biz about the future operating system. He went on to say that the resource hog that was Vista would be replaced with a much more robust and compatible OS, which would make the transcendence from XP to it almost seamless, while offering a lot of new features, including the hyped-up DirectX 11.

“Windows 7 will be great for games, undoubtedly,” he said. “It's all good news - it's even more robust, it's quicker relatively, and the early testing cycles are proving very promising overall. I think it'll be nothing but good news for PC gamers, but we'll have more to say on that later on this year. Ultimately we're a Windows and PC company at heart, and that's not going to change, and the development on both platforms will remain central and important. The business ebbs and flows, and there will be times when we do more on one platform than the other, but they do co-exist very nicely, and as a company we're in a pretty unique position that we have a strong legacy on PC.”

But what about you? Do you think that Windows 7 will bring a system that will be embraced by gamers such as yourselves? Will it make you change from XP or Vista to it? Leave us your opinion in the comment section below the article.