Gears of War For PC Ships

The day has finally arrived. If you’re a PC gamer who’s wondered what all that Gears of War hoopla was all about, you can now find out for yourself. The long-awaited PC version of the XBox 360 superhit has now shipped to retailers.

Launching one years after the 360 version, Gears of War for the PC comes with some content that even 360 owners haven’t seen yet. In addition to the entire 360 version experience, the PC version features five new campaigns, new multiplayer modes and full Games for Windows – LIVE support for online multiplayer gameplay sessions (more on this Games for Windows Live stuff in a minute).

You can expect to see PC versions of Gears of War in stores this week.

Now, about the Games for Windows LIVE thing. (if you want to hear my thoughts on GfW LIVE, you’ll have to look after the break).

XBox LIVE is an online service that has revolutionized the way console games are played. Sure, similar services were available prior to LIVE, but LIVE is the most complete, most polished, and most accessible of all the console online services. It’s not perfect, and there are things I like better about PSN, but there’s no arguing with the success of LIVE.

Hoping to capitalize on the PC market in much the same way, Microsoft fired up Games for Windows LIVE. Targeted at the PC gamer, GfW LIVE allows players with Silver memberships to carry their XBL gamertag over to PC games. They can also use the same gamer profile, gamerscore, and friends list. It also tracks achievements, and allows private voice and text chat. Silver members can also take advantage of PC only multiplayer with a list of active PC games.

Stepping up to Gold nets you all that, plus multiplayer matchamking with friends, multiplayer achievements, and cross-platform multiplayer.

Now, I want to take a minute to touch on this. Unlike XBL, GfW LIVE is almost certainly destined to fail. Sure, there will be gamers who have Gold memberships on their 360 using it, but no die hard PC gamer is going to pay money to receive the features that GfW LIVE offers.

The rallying cry of the GfW Gold service has been cross-platform multiplayer. However, that’s hitting some hurdles. Sure, Gears is shipping with it, but Unreal Tournament 3 will not. You can count the number of titles supporting cross-platform on one hand. You may even have fingers left. In addition to lack of titles, cross-platform multiplayer will also suffer from one thing that will hurt more than anything: apathy of PC gamers.

Most die-hard PC gamers don’t play consoles. If they do, they don’t pay money for XBL; simply because they get their multiplayer fix on the PC. Moreover, unless they have friends that play on XBox 360 that they want to embarrass, cross-platform multiplayer doesn’t appeal to the PC gamer. They have all the opponents they need on PC, and that multiplayer doesn’t cost a dime.

I applaud the way that Microsoft is trying to shrink the gap between the console and PC gaming communities. However, GfW LIVE isn’t the answer. There will always be some disconnect between those communities. It’s simply the nature of things. Honestly, I think that that disconnect is a good thing, as it allows each community to stand on its own.