Xbox LIVE on Windows Vista

Microsoft has finally revealed details on their plans to provide a single Gamertag for PC (Windows Vista users that is) and Xbox 360 gamers. From May 8th onwards, the Xbox LIVE service will be available for PC gamers so that they can play the first title under the ‘Games For Windows’ banner, Halo 2 using their existing Xbox Live subscriptions. You’ll be able to sign up for an Xbox LIVE Silver membership for free, but for a Gold Membership you’ll have to shell out USD $49.95 per year. The details for both Gold and Silver are given below:
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Silver Membership Features
- Single gamertag
- Common gamer profile
- Common gamerscore
- Single player achievements
- Private chat via text and voice
- Common friends list and online presence
- PC only multiplayer including browsing a list of active PC games_

_Gold Membership Features
- All Silver membership features
- Multiplayer matchmaking with friends
- TrueSkill matchmaking
- Multiplayer achievements
- Cross-platform gameplay
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This is an awesome thing for gamers who already own an Xbox LIVE Gold membership, since they’ll be able to use the same account on their PC, which will contain their friends list, achievements etc. However, for all those who don’t own an account or an Xbox 360, I see little reason to sign up for a Gold membership. Nevertheless, Xbox LIVE is really awesome on the Xbox 360, and bringing it to the PC is a good move by Microsoft.

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