Gamertell

Recently Windows 7 beta went live for anyone to test for free. One of the questions that pops up is whether or not the upcoming Windows release would support a gamer’s needs better than Vista did. The new OS, even though a bit glitchy since it is still a beta program, will be revamping gaming possibilities for the PC like the Games Explorer program, among other things.

One of the things that’s changed with the basic interface. Vista’s version of the Games Explorer has basic system needs to be able to run it as well as some development information. Windows 7 takes that and puts a short description of the game as well. It’s a small, but useful upgrade from the Vista OS. Windows 7 will also be taking a page from the Steam by allowing you to search for upgrades for different games. Unlike Steam though, the installing of the updates will be optional. The OS will also feature a more fine-tuned parental control setup, allowing you to ban certain games or ratings for use on the computer. It is being made a bit more active though since you can also set up time-limits and designated gaming times with the parental controls this time around.

When ExtremeTech tested the gaming possibilities, they were working off of a pretty high-end system. They tested it with old games, older games and some recent games (22 total). 14 of the tested games worked without problems. The list of games includes Age of Wonders, Mechwarrior: Mercenaries, Freespace 2 and Civilization III among others.

Six games worked with some issues. These games are Quake II, Left4Dead, Freelancer, Guild Wars, Age of Empires III and Fallout 3. Some of these games are just so old that it occasionally doesn’t recognize the hardware (like Quake II). Some lead to post-game problems (like Left4Dead.  Problems just occasionally pop up for whatever reason. Then again, this is with a beta-version so it might be fixed by the time Windows 7 is released to the public.

System Shock 2 and Falcon 4: Allied Force work like they’ve never worked before, meaning under most circumstances they don’t. The only time that Falcon 4 seems to work under is if you stay in the cockpit view.

So if you really want to test out the abilities Windows 7, just download the Beta and test it out with different games. You might be surprised.

Site [Windows 7] Read [ExtremeTech]