Digital Trends

The company played up its commitment to PC gaming at the German Games Convention with a handful of announcements.

While it would appear that Microsoft pours the lion’s share of its gaming resources into the Xbox 360 platform, the software giant went out of its way to remind PC gamers that they haven’t been forgotten at the German Games Convention in Leipzig on Thursday. Microsoft announced a new developer for the Games for Windows brand, a new simulator title developed in-house, and the return of its SideWinder hardware line.

Ubisoft Entertainment is the latest to sign on to Games for Windows, which ensures its games will meet certain standards of quality, compatibility, and safety. The publisher joins the ranks of other companies already onboard, including 2K Games, Activision, Electronic Arts, Midway, and SEGA. Ubisoft’s first new game to be branded with Microsoft’s seal will be The Settlers: Rise of an Empire.

The newest simulation Microsoft will hammer out turns out to be Microsoft Train Simulator 2, a title already announced in January that received new attention from Microsoft in Leipzig for its role in building the Games for Windows brand. The simulator will use the same graphics engine as Microsoft Flight Simulator X, which was released in October.

Finally Microsoft reintroduced the SideWinder hardware line with the SideWinder Gaming Mouse. Although news of the mouse had broken the day before, the significance at Leipzig seemed to be Microsoft’s renewed commitment to gaming hardware under the SideWinder name.