Thursday, June 19, 2008

Games for Windows

Microsoft loves to win in every business they are in. When they moved into the video game console space with the original Xbox they knew they weren't going to win right away, but they did manage to sell something like 24 million Xbox's. Not bad for a first outing. Then, they leapfrogged the competition to get the Xbox 360 into the hands of consumers and it has worked--despite hardware problems. The games are there, and people are loving it.

What they don't seem to be loving these days is PC gaming. We've all read articles spelling out the "Doom" (pardon the pun) of gaming on your computer, and yet many people still play games on their computers. Why not? Computers and gaming go together like marshmallows and Rice Krispies. I'm personally a console gamer, but as curator of the Personal Computer Museum I know the importance of gaming on a computer over the years and that it's still quite strong today.

When Microsoft came calling us looking for help in creating a retrospective view of gaming and computers over the years I was both surprised and honoured. So we're going to be part of the Games for Windows event occurring on June 27, 28 at Toronto's Interaccess gallery at Queen & Ossington.

Computers change quickly. Gaming is changing quickly. It's important to preserve the history as it unfolds---because before you know it, it's gone. These are your memories and your good times. We just help you remember them.