En el blog de Andrej Budja publicó un mensaje donde menciona que dentro de los cambios que se esperan en Longhorn hay buenas nuevas para los jugadores de videojuegos en PCs. Copio el texto original de su mensaje.

Esto me recuerda que Microsoft ha dicho que sus productos deben de tener cierto porcentaje de sus características nuevas por parte de los miembros de la comunidad así como mencioné que Longhorn esta abierto a las críticas de tal forma que cualquier cosa que se desee cambiar se puede exponer el comentario y se tomará en cuenta. Claro, esto no quiere decir que vayan (y mucho menos que puedan) darle gusto a todo mundo.

¿Hay algo que siempre han deseado cambiar/agregar/eliminar de alguno de los productos de Microsoft? Díganmelo y lo enviaré a los empleados de Microsoft (usando las ventajas de ser MVP).

After posting my wish about games that would require no installation I finally found a link to an interview with Dean Lester, the general manager of Windows graphics and gaming technologies at Microsoft. Lester talked about the visions for the future of Windows gaming. Note that some of the ideas listed below might not make it to Longhorn.

Here are some snippets from the article. Make sure you read the whole article here.

1) Simplify the Purchasing Experience
Instead of the user having to know their CPU speed, graphics card, amount of RAM, sound card, etc., Microsoft hopes to come up with a tiered system. Longhorn will tell you what “level” your system is, so during the boot screen you’ll see that your system is level four. This means you can play games that will run on level four systems and lower.

2) Simplify Setup
Lester would like more publishers to have its games run straight off the disc. Naturally, if the advanced user wishes to install it on their hard drive, this option should be available, but Lester envisions pop-in-and-play as the future of Windows gaming.

3) Drivers
He thinks that drivers are something that Windows should update for you -- something that the user shouldn’t worry about.

4) Standardized Controls
The goal is to make a standard that all developers can use and that all PC gamers will become accustomed to. The same way most PS2 gamers know that X is the primary action button, so to will Windows gamers.

5) Patching
He envisions a system like Windows Update that asks the user if he’d like to check for patches to his games.

6) Easing the Way to Online Gaming
Lester spoke about implementing gaming functionality into Windows Messenger, so when you right click on a person on your buddy list you can send a message, send a photo, or play a game.

7) My Games
A My Games folder would house all your games, provide hardware information pertinent to gaming, access to the integral control panels, and links to all your games, online matches, and uninstall options.

8) Parental Controls
Lester wants to make it easy as one click for parents to restrict access to any games they feel are inappropriate for their spawn.