[casual_games] Portal Sales

[Joe Pantuso]

"It is absolutely possible to create a deployment that does not require any
elevation."

This would imply MS is OK with games being installed to the
\user\[username]\AppData\ area.  Games (and gee, trojans and spyware) do run
just fine out of there, but this kind of defeats the purpose of LUA/UAC, and
really makes the whole thing a bit of a farce.

Services also have the ability to perform updates without triggering UAC or
having LUA problems, so it is likely we will go that route in the long run
(our current Vista solution installs and update games for LUA users without
triggering UAC, but if we make any updates to our core client the updater
does have to ask for UAC permission which we feel is dicey as not all users
will automatically understand what they are being asked).


On 12/21/06, Chuck Walbourn <chuckw at microsoft.com> wrote:

>

> Given a statement like "The BEST thing Microsoft could do to make Vista a

> better gaming environment would be to simply delete the Game Explorer before

> shipping Vista, thereby making the parental control issue irrelevant.", it

> is pretty clear that Alex St. John has made up his mind. I'm not going to

> get into an argument about the utility of the Game Explorer and Parental

> Controls in Windows Vista. My job is primarily to help game developers

> understand the technology, how it is intended to be used, and provide as

> much information about it I can. It exists, it does what it does, and there

> are opportunities and implications for it being there. I will say that some

> of these opinions seem to be based on the early versions and not the RTM

> version, for example I've never seen it 'offering to delete blocked games'.

> Again, the best thing to do is for developers to get a copy of Windows Vista

> RTM, look at the Game Explorer & Parental Controls, and try their games on

> it. From there you c

> an make an informed decision. As with every piece of software, there are

> great improvements and there are areas of change that are frustrating. On

> the whole, Windows Vista has a lot offer as a gaming platform.

>

>

>

> It is absolutely possible to create a deployment that does not require any

> elevation. If you have a fully side-by-side per-user installation and do not

> install any system components, you never have to elevate. For large

> DVD-based games, standard installs are a better choice but for download

> games it makes sense. Windows XP LUA was not widely used largely because it

> was off by default, but was not that difficult to support for gameplay. For

> the past few years, we've been telling game developer audiences about

> Windows Vista and pointing to "LUA by default" as the most impactful change.

> As the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make

> it drink."

>

>

>

> The technology that needs the most updating for Windows Vista are the

> portals themselves. Casual games rely heavily on the deployment technology

> provided by the portals. Reaching and educating the portal technology

> providers is therefore the real challenge. That said, it is absolutely

> possible to make it work. MSN Games has proven it and will be talking about

> it soon.

>

>

>

> Again based on many of the posts I've seen on this list the past few days,

> it seems pretty clear that the level of engagement and education with

> respect to Windows Vista is pretty low. There's a lot of speculation and

> rumors. The Windows Gaming DRG group is not that big, so we have to rely

> heavily on events like our GDC developer day and GameFest to reach

> developers, and it seems like few people on this list actually make it to

> those events. Please take a look at the current SDK and the presentations on

> the DirectX Developer Portal (http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/). The sky

> is not falling, and there are plenty of things you can do.

>

>

>

> -Chuck Walbourn

>

> Game Technology Group

>

>

> _______________________________________________

> Casual_Games mailing list

> Casual_Games at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

> Archive: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/

> Archive Search:

> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

> List FAQ:

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/attachments/20061221/9334f86c/attachment.htm