Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

So, I’ve been listening to the Gamerscore Blog “Lunchtime Conversations” podcast, and they had an interesting discussion regarding the upcoming “Windows Live” service as it relates to Games For Windows. We all know that there are going to be achievements and whatnot, and with the release of Shadowrun, we’ll see more and more of these games where Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be playing with PC gamers.

Michael Wolf, one of the Games For Windows PR guys said, “We’re not stupid, and we’re not gonna expect PC gamers to suddenly start paying for something that they currently get for free, but we’re also going to be fair to our Xbox 360 owners and not expect them to pay for something that PC gamers are getting for free. So, we’re figuring it out. We’re figuring out a model that works for consumers, that works for us, ’cause at the end of the day we’re working with our partners to make money off this thing. It’s a business after all. Kinda driving towards finding the right solution that everyone’s going to be happy with.”

Interesting. It almost sounds like they’re considering making online multiplayer freely available (like it currently is on the PC) Currently, this is a feature of the pay-only Xbox Live Gold service. Naturally, they have to come up with SOME way of getting Xbox Live gamers and PC gamers on the same page, and it’s not that far-fetched to think that recent successes of Xbox Marketplace sales could subsidize the cost of online play.

Only time will tell, I suppose, but to compete with services like the PS3 and Wii’s upcoming service, this may be necessary.