Microsoft Making New PC Games DL Marketplace
A Steam competitor?
For PC gamers, the most popular way to buy games digitally is through Steam. And where there's action, Microsoft wants to be there.
Microsoft today announced the overhaul of Games for Windows Marketplace, which will have Games on Demand online distribution. Launching Nov. 15, the Games for Windows Marketplace will sell PC games, and like the Xbox Live Marketplace, will have recurring specials such as Deal of the Week.
"With Games for Windows Marketplace, we set out to create a digital store built for PC gamers end-to-end," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director, PC and Mobile Gaming, at Microsoft. "And by integrating with our existing Xbox Live and Windows Live services, we've made it easier than ever for millions of gamers to see for themselves how easy buying PC games can be."
Logging into Games for Windows Marketplace requires any form of Windows Live ID, such as Windows Live, Xbox Live, Games for Windows – LIVE or Zune account. The new store also supports Microsoft Points, as well as credit card purchasing.
Check out more about the new PC Marketplace at Joystiq.

I say good luck to Microsoft shoe-horning into their territory, they are going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to compete. But if they can pull off a good system and match Steam's deals, a little compition never hurt anyone.
When I first got CODMW2 I had to wait 2 hours before being able to play it & I owned the DVD version but because at the time steam was having problems it would not let me play my new game until they got their servers back up & running. I almost returned the game & said frack it but just as I was ready to give up it told me starting game updates now & then had to wait about 5 more minutes before playing it. Maybe this was just a bad Exp for me on that game but it sure makes online crap like that look bad. The thing that got me is it did not state that the game was attached to steam if it had I most likely would not have bought it because I would have wanted to avoid problems like I had with the game.
Wow, I'm sorry. Here at school, I get roughly 80 Mbps download speeds, so installing large games goes quite quickly.
I purchase almost all my new games through steam, a notable exception being SC2 of course, and love it.
Before I left for class one day I simply began downloading about ten games, including MW2 and other large titles. When I returned from class (55 minutes later), my clean install of W7 was no longer barren of those games.
Steam is the model others should look for... Now if only there were a "steam for movies."
And Zune Pass is a fantastic system for music distribution.
Just partner up with Steam. They've won. It's over. You'll NEVER be as good at this as Steam is, so just sign up with them and call it good. Sometimes I think the tech world purposefully tries to kill itself.
Well, it is good to have competition. If they do turn out to be a good enough option which means price and service wise, I will buy some games from them as well.
I say good luck to Microsoft shoe-horning into their territory, they are going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to compete. But if they can pull off a good system and match Steam's deals, a little compition never hurt anyone.
without competition, we wud still be stuck with windows 95
Otherwise Steam's the way for me! And seeing how both Valve and MS treat customers, I won't be leaving Steam for a long time...
Kept sending me to non existent sites when I tried to make an account to play arkham asylum. When I finally made a live account, it said I had to create some other account but kept linking me to non existent websites. I was about to give up when I found a tiny tiny button that allowed me to just use an offline account.
I guess Microsoft is now what IBM was when personal computers came about. A huge lumbering corporation incapable of doing anything.