The recent launch of the much-awaited Microsoft OS, Windows Vista, has left many people within the gaming circles puzzled and confused. This is mainly due to the fact that despite being touted for its gaming-focused features and capabilities, not a single representative from the gaming industry was spotted at the event; not even members from Microsoft's own Xbox division.

Windows Vista has been promising gamers everywhere the possibility of cross-platform compatibility between the Xbox360 and the PC. One of the benefits of this compatibility would be the incorporation of the Achievements system into PC games.

Despite the absence of game executives at the event, David Weeks, Windows client marketing manager for Microsoft UK, has noted that the gaming community is "an extremely important audience for us, although we didn't really focus on the gaming aspects today". He goes on to point out that they are expecting "great applications to come out in the future" that would be able to harness the full potential of the PC, which would then go on to "change the whole parameters of gaming".

On top of all of these, he also reminds everyone of the exciting promise of DirectX 10 which, once game developers have completed it, will allow gamers to "play games that are of a whole new level of realism and connecting up with other people around the world".

With all these wonderful news things coming our way, there IS one thing on the list that may have raised some eyebrows, and that would be the parental security functions of Vista which would allow parents to limit hours spent gaming, as well as apply industry standard rating systems.