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125-413: On Windows 10, the app additionally serves as a launcher for PC games installed on a device (including games obtained from Microsoft Store , Bethesda.net , Battle.net , Steam , GOG.com , Epic Games Store , Humble Bundle , Origin and Ubisoft Connect ), provided access to the system's screen recording functions, and streaming of games from an Xbox One console on a local network. During E3 2019 ,

250-529: A Microsoft account in order to complete first-time setup. This restriction is also applied to Windows 11 Pro since version 22H2 as it was announced in February 2022, although a Microsoft account isn't required if it's not for personal use. Windows 11 SE was announced on November 9, 2021, as an edition exclusively for low-end devices sold in the education market; it is intended as a successor to Windows 10 S , and also competes primarily with ChromeOS . It

375-490: A Software Publishers Association conference that the market for console games ($ 5.9 billion in revenue) was 12 times that of the computer-game market ($ 430 million). However, computer games did not disappear. The industry hoped that the CD-ROM and other optical storage technology would increase computers' user friendliness and allow for more sophisticated games. By 1989, Computer Gaming World reported that "the industry

500-497: A Software Publishers Association study found that 74% of personal computers were IBMs or compatible, 10% Macintosh, 7% Apple II, and 8% other. 51% of IBM or compatible had 386 or faster CPUs. By 1992, DOS games such as Links 386 Pro supported Super VGA graphics. While leading Sega and Nintendo console systems kept their CPU speed at 3–7  MHz , the 486 PC processor ran much faster, allowing it to perform many more calculations per second. The 1993 release of Doom on

625-428: A computer game or abbreviated PC game , is a video game played on a personal computer (PC). The term PC game has been popularly used since the 1990s referring specifically to games on " Wintel " ( Microsoft Windows software/ Intel hardware) which has dominated the computer industry since. Mainframe and minicomputer games are a precursor to personal computer games. Home computer games became popular following

750-457: A license key and USB flash drive ) were released on May 9, 2022, and digital licenses became available via Microsoft Store on July 28, 2022. On September 20, 2023, around two years after the release date of Windows 11, Microsoft announced that users would no longer be able to use Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 keys to activate Windows 10/11. However, as of 2024, there are some reports that they still work, under certain conditions. Windows 11,

875-416: A news aggregator with personalized stories and content (expanding upon the "news and interests" panel introduced in later builds of Windows 10). Microsoft Teams is similarly integrated with the taskbar, with a pop-up showing a list of recent conversations. The Start menu has been significantly redesigned, replacing the "live tiles" used by Windows 8.x and 10 with a grid of "pinned" applications, and

1000-429: A U.S. court ruling that prevents Google from requiring its Play Billing system, enhancing choice for developers. The update will facilitate immediate streaming of purchased games via Xbox Cloud Gaming . Additionally, Microsoft is developing a browser-based Xbox mobile store, initially focusing on first-party games and later including deals and in-game items. PC game A personal computer game , also known as

1125-539: A centered taskbar and updated Start menu without Windows 10's "live tiles". Legacy Windows applications would also be required to run in "containers" to ensure performance and power optimization. Microsoft stated that it planned to release Windows 10X devices by the end of 2020. In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , Panos Panay , Microsoft's chief product officer for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office , stated that "as we continue to put customers' needs at

1250-507: A core part of the talk. It argues that Nixon was referring to the fact that he could talk freely at the event because 10 was the last version in current development. In October 2019, Microsoft announced " Windows 10X ", a future edition of Windows 10 designed exclusively for dual-touchscreen devices such as the then-upcoming Surface Neo . It featured a modified user interface designed around context-sensitive "postures" for different screen configurations and usage scenarios, and changes such as

1375-521: A dedicated Windows media event at 11:00 a.m. ET on June   24, 2021. Microsoft also posted an 11-minute video of Windows start-up sounds to YouTube on June   10, 2021, with many people speculating both the time of the Microsoft event and the duration of the Windows start-up sound video to be a reference to the name of the operating system as Windows 11. On June 24, 2021, Windows 11

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1500-696: A different configuration. (The game Les Manley in: Lost in L.A. satirizes this by depicting two beautiful women exhaust the hero in bed, by requesting that he again explain the difference between extended and expanded memory .) Computer Gaming World provided technical assistance to its writers to help install games for review, and published sample configuration files. The magazine advised non-technical gamers to purchase commercial memory managers like QEMM and 386MAX and criticized nonstandard software like Origin Systems 's "infamous late and unlamented Voodoo Memory Manager", which used unreal mode . By 1996,

1625-516: A different connotation on consoles which are typically restricted much more heavily. As publicly released development tools are rare, console mods usually refer to hardware alterations designed to remove restrictions. PC games are sold predominantly through the Internet, with buyers downloading their new purchase directly to their computer. This approach allows smaller independent developers to compete with large publisher-backed games and avoids

1750-494: A game for the platform and 66% of developers currently developing a game for PC. In 2018, the global PC games market was valued at about $ 27.7 billion. According to research data provided by Statista in 2020 there were an estimated 1.75 billion PC gamers worldwide, up from 1.5 billion PC gaming users in the previous year. Newzoo reported that the PC gaming sector was the third-largest category across all platforms as of 2016 , with

1875-419: A game is popular enough mods generally arise even without official support. Mods can compete with official downloadable content however, or even outright redistribute it, and their ability to extend the lifespan of a game can work against its developers' plans for regular sequels. As game technology has become more complex, it has also become harder to distribute development tools to the public. Modding has

2000-542: A genre that would become one of the highest-selling in modern times. The game was originally distributed through the shareware distribution model , allowing players to try a limited part of the game for free but requiring payment to play the rest, and represented one of the first uses of texture mapping graphics in a popular game, along with Ultima Underworld . In December 1992, Computer Gaming World reported that DOS accounted for 82% of computer-game sales in 1991, compared to Macintosh's 8% and Amiga's 5%. In response to

2125-657: A late-2021 feature update codenamed "Cobalt". Internal documentation stated that the aim for "Sun Valley" was to "reinvigorat[e]" the Windows user interface and make it more "fluid", with a more consistent application of WinUI , while reports suggested Microsoft planned to adapt UI elements seen in Windows 10X. In January 2021, it was reported that a job listing referring to a "sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows" had been posted by Microsoft. By December 2020, Microsoft had begun to implement and announce some of these visual changes and other new features on Windows 10 Insider Preview builds, such as new system icons (which also included

2250-566: A list of recent applications and documents. File Explorer was updated to replace its ribbon toolbar with a more traditional toolbar , while its context menus have been redesigned to move some tasks (such as copy and paste) to a toolbar along the top of the menu, and hide other operations under an overflow menu. Task View , a feature introduced in Windows 10, features a refreshed design, and supports giving separate wallpapers to each virtual desktop . The window snapping functionality has been enhanced with two additional features; hovering over

2375-406: A major influencing factor for the development and marketing of graphics cards . Emulators are able to play games developed for other platforms. The demoscene originated from computer game cracking . The uncoordinated nature of the PC game market makes precisely assessing its size difficult. PC remains the most important gaming platform with 60% of developers being most interested in developing

2500-768: A much greater falling off of disk sales than anyone anticipated." A third attributed the end of growth in sales of the Commodore 64 to the console, and Trip Hawkins called Nintendo "the last hurrah of the 8-bit world". Experts were unsure whether it affected 16-bit computer games, but games lost shelf space at computer software stores, and many of the hundreds of computer-game companies went out of business. Hawkins said that while foreign videogame competition increased, "there's an increase in product supply without an increase in demand". He in 1990 had to deny rumors that Electronic Arts would withdraw from computers and only produce console games. By 1993, ASCII Entertainment reported at

2625-561: A new Xbox app in beta exclusively for Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903), which has a redesigned interface, and serves as the client for Xbox Game Pass on PC. In advance of the conference, Microsoft rebranded the existing Xbox app on Windows 10 as Xbox Console Companion . The new Xbox app is pre-loaded software on Windows 11 . Microsoft will update its Xbox mobile app on Android in November 2024, allowing U.S. users to purchase and play Xbox games directly on their devices. This follows

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2750-422: A powerful graphics processing unit (GPU), which accelerates the process of drawing complex scenes in realtime. GPUs may be an integrated part of the computer's motherboard , the most common solution in laptops, or come packaged with a discrete graphics card with a supply of dedicated Video RAM , connected to the motherboard through either an AGP or PCI Express port. It is also possible to use multiple GPUs in

2875-611: A reader's challenge to find a DOS game that played better than the Amiga version the magazine cited Wing Commander and Civilization , and added that "The heavy MS-DOS emphasis in CGW merely reflects the realities of the market". A self-reported Computer Gaming World survey in April 1993 similarly found that 91% of readers primarily used IBM PCs and compatibles for gaming, compared to 6% for Amiga, 3% for Macintosh, and 1% for Atari ST, while

3000-497: A redesigned out-of-box experience (OOBE) and Windows 11 branding. Microsoft would later confirm the authenticity of the leaked beta, with Panay stating that it was an "early weird build". At the June 24 media event, Microsoft also announced that Windows 11 would be released in "Holiday 2021". Its release will be accompanied by a free upgrade for compatible Windows 10 devices through Windows Update . On June 28, Microsoft announced

3125-820: A resurgence in the United States with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). In Europe, computer gaming continued to boom for many years after. Computers such as the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro were successful in the European market, where the NES was not as successful despite its monopoly in Japan and North America. The only 8-bit console to have any success in Europe would be

3250-509: A separate "Widgets" panel on the taskbar , the ability to create tiled sets of windows that can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a group, and new gaming technologies inherited from Xbox Series X and Series S such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage on compatible hardware. Internet Explorer (IE) has been replaced by the Chromium -based Microsoft Edge as the default web browser, like its predecessor, Windows 10, and Microsoft Teams

3375-414: A single computer, using technologies such as NVidia 's Scalable Link Interface and ATI 's CrossFire . Sound cards are also available to provide improved audio in computer games. These cards provide improved 3D audio and provide audio enhancement that is generally not available with integrated alternatives, at the cost of marginally lower overall performance. The Creative Labs Sound Blaster line

3500-698: A single group. PCs may possess varying processing resources of video gaming systems. Game developers may integrate options to adjust screen resolution , framerate, and anti-aliasing . Increased draw distance and NPCs amount is also possible in open world games. The most common forms of input are the mouse / keyboard combination and gamepads , though touchscreens and motion controllers are also available. The mouse in particular lends players of first-person shooter and real-time strategy games on PC great speed and accuracy. Users may use third-party peripherals . The advantages of openness include: There are also disadvantages, including: The openness of

3625-607: A unified storefront for apps and other content, is also redesigned in Windows 11. Microsoft now allows developers to distribute Win32 , progressive web applications , and other packaging technologies in the Microsoft Store, alongside Universal Windows Platform apps . Microsoft also announced plans to allow third-party application stores (such as Epic Games Store ) to distribute their clients on Microsoft Store. Windows 11 supports x86-64 software emulation on ARM-based platforms. The collaboration platform Microsoft Teams

3750-513: A userbase of about 40 million accounts. Origin , a new version of the Electronic Arts online store, was released in 2011 in order to compete with Steam and other digital distribution platforms on the PC. The period between 2004 and now saw the rise of many digital distribution services on PC, such as Amazon Digital Services , GameStop , GFWL , EA Store , Direct2Drive , GOG.com , and GamersGate . Digital distribution also slashes

3875-402: A window's maximize button displays pre-determined "Snap Layouts" for tiling multiple windows onto a display, and tiled arrangement of windows can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a "snap group". When a display is disconnected in a multi-monitor configuration, the windows that were previously on that display will be minimized rather than automatically moved to the main display. If

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4000-541: Is episodic gaming , an adaptation of the older concept of expansion packs , in which game content is provided in smaller quantities but for a proportionally lower price. Titles such as Half-Life 2: Episode One took advantage of the idea, with mixed results rising from concerns for the amount of content provided for the price. The defining characteristic of the PC platform is the absence of centralized control, an open platform ; all other gaming platforms (except Android devices, to an extent) are owned and administered by

4125-544: Is a cross-platform API for graphics rendering that is also used. The version of the graphics card's driver installed can often affect game performance and gameplay . In late 2013, AMD announced Mantle , a low-level API for certain models of AMD graphics cards, allowing for greater performance compared to software-level APIs such as DirectX, as well as simplifying porting to and from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, which are both built upon AMD hardware. It

4250-472: Is achievable using only the CPU, potentially allowing players a much greater degree of control over the world in games designed to use the card. Virtually all personal computers use a keyboard and mouse for user input, but there are exceptions. During the 1990s, before the keyboard and mouse combination had become the method of choice for PC gaming input peripherals, there were other types of peripherals such as

4375-695: Is also available. The Windows Subsystem for Android and Amazon Appstore became available to Release channel users in the United States on February 15, 2022, in Windows 11 Release build 22000.527. On March 5, 2024, Microsoft announced deprecation of WSA with support ending on March 5, 2025. WSA is based on the Intel Bridge runtime compiler; Intel stated that the technology is not dependent on its CPUs, and will also be supported on x86-64 and ARM CPUs from other vendors. Home and Pro (since version 22H2 ) edition installation requires internet connection and Microsoft account login (only if for personal use on Pro)

4500-500: Is available in two main editions; the Home edition, which is intended for consumer users, and the Pro edition, which contains additional networking and security features (such as BitLocker ), as well as the ability to join a domain . Windows 11 Home may be restricted by default to verified software obtained from Microsoft Store ("S Mode"). Windows 11 Home requires an Internet connection and

4625-457: Is designed to be managed via Microsoft Intune , and has changed based on feedback from educators to simplify the user interface and reduce "distractions", such as Snap Layouts not containing layouts for more than two applications at once, all applications opening maximized by default, and Widgets being removed. It is bundled with applications such as Microsoft Office for Microsoft 365 , Minecraft Education Edition , and Flipgrid, while OneDrive

4750-545: Is integrated into the Windows 11 user interface, and is accessible via the taskbar. Skype will no longer be bundled with the OS by default. In early 2023, the Phone Link app gained limited support for iMessage . Microsoft claims performance improvements such as smaller update sizes, faster web browsing in "any browser", faster wake time from sleep mode, and faster Windows Hello authentication. Windows 11 ships with

4875-496: Is integrated into the Windows shell. Microsoft also announced plans to allow more flexibility in software that can be distributed via the Microsoft Store and to support Android apps on Windows 11 (including a partnership with Amazon to make its app store available for the function). Citing security considerations, the system requirements for Windows 11 were increased over Windows 10; Microsoft only officially supports

5000-545: Is mandatory unless manually bypassed to create a local user. However, Microsoft has since blocked one of the last remaining easy bypass methods that allowed local account creation during initial setup, complicating the bypass process further. All other editions are excluded from this requirement. As part of the minimum system requirements, Windows 11 only runs on devices with a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 security coprocessor, albeit with some exceptions, see § System requirements for details. According to Microsoft,

5125-406: Is moving toward heavy use of VGA graphics ". While some games were advertised with VGA support at the start of the year, they usually supported EGA graphics through VGA cards. By the end of 1989, however, most publishers moved to at supporting at least 320x200 MCGA , a subset of VGA. VGA gave the PC graphics that outmatched the Amiga. Increasing adoption of the computer mouse , driven partially by

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5250-477: Is not unusual for a game company to use a third-party game engine , or third-party libraries for a game's AI or physics . Multiplayer gaming was largely limited to local area networks (LANs) before cost-effective broadband Internet access became available, due to their typically higher bandwidth and lower latency than the dial-up services of the time. These advantages allowed more players to join any given computer game, but have persisted today because of

5375-554: Is present frequently throughout the operating system, building upon the Fluent Design System ; translucency, shadows, a new color palette, and a rounded geometry are prevalent throughout the UI. A prevalent aspect of the design is an appearance known as "Mica", described as an "opaque, dynamic material that incorporates theme and desktop wallpaper to paint the background of long-lived windows such as apps and settings". Much of

5500-532: Is the first version of Windows since the original retail release of Windows 95 to not ship with Internet Explorer. The updated Xbox app , along with the Auto HDR and DirectStorage technologies introduced by the Xbox Series X and Series S , will be integrated into Windows 11; the latter requiring a graphics card supporting DirectX 12 and an NVMe solid-state drive . A redesigned user interface

5625-476: Is the latest major release of Microsoft 's Windows NT operating system, released on October 5, 2021. It succeeded Windows 10 (2015), and is available for free for any Windows 10 devices that meet the new Windows 11 system requirements . Windows 11 features major changes to the Windows shell influenced by the canceled Windows 10X , including a redesigned Start menu , the replacement of its "live tiles" with

5750-646: Is used to save files by default. Windows 11 SE does not include Microsoft Store; third-party software is provisioned or installed by administrators. To target organizations migrating from Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge is configured by default to enable the installation of extensions from the Chrome Web Store . Other editions include Pro Education, Pro for Workstations, Education, Enterprise, Enterprise multi-session, IoT Enterprise, Enterprise LTSC, IoT Enterprise LTSC, Home Single Language, and Team; along with regional variations. These editions remain fundamentally

5875-500: The BASIC source code of even commercial games. Microchess was one of the first games for microcomputers which was sold to the public. First sold in 1977, Microchess eventually sold over 50,000 copies on cassette tape. As with second-generation video game consoles at the time, early home computer game companies capitalized on successful arcade games at the time with ports or clones of popular arcade video games . By 1982,

6000-586: The Burj Khalifa in Dubai being illuminated with imagery of the Windows 11 logo and default "Bloom" wallpaper, and Mikey Likes It ice cream parlors in New York City distributing free cups of "Bloomberry" ice cream. Though a support document listed October 4, 2021, as the initial release date, Microsoft officially released Windows 11 on October 5, 2021, as an opt-in, in-place upgrade through either

6125-469: The Chromium -based Microsoft Edge web browser (for compatibility with Google Chrome web browser ), and does not include or support Internet Explorer . Its rendering engine MSHTML (Trident) is still included with the operating system for backwards compatibility reasons, and Edge can be configured with Group Policy to render whitelisted websites in "IE Mode" (which still uses IE's rendering engine MSHTML , instead of Blink layout engine ). Windows 11

6250-739: The Mad Catz Panther XL , the First-Person Gaming Assassin 3D , and the Mad Catz Panther , which combined a trackball for looking / aiming, and a joystick for movement. Other common gaming peripherals are a headset for faster communication in online games, joysticks for flight simulators , steering wheels for driving games and gamepads for console-style games. Computer games also rely on third-party software such as an operating system (OS) , device drivers , libraries and more to run. Today,

6375-630: The Master System . Meanwhile, in Japan, both consoles and computers became major industries, with the console market dominated by Nintendo and the computer market dominated by NEC 's PC-88 (1981) and PC-98 (1982). A key difference between Western and Japanese computers at the time was the display resolution , with Japanese systems using a higher resolution of 640x400 to accommodate Japanese text , which in turn affected video game design and allowed more detailed graphics. Japanese computers were also using Yamaha 's FM synth sound boards from

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6500-649: The microprocessor and microcomputer , computer gaming on mainframes and minicomputers had previously already existed. OXO , an adaptation of tic-tac-toe for the EDSAC , debuted in 1952. Another pioneer computer game was developed in 1961, when MIT students Martin Graetz and Alan Kotok , with MIT student Steve Russell , developed Spacewar! on a PDP-1 mainframe computer used for statistical calculations. The first generation of computer games were often text-based adventures or interactive fiction , in which

6625-562: The nVidia PhysX PPU , ostensibly competing with middleware such as the Havok physics engine . Issues such as difficulty in ensuring consistent experiences for all players, and the uncertain benefit of first generation PhysX cards in games such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and City of Villains , prompted arguments over the value of such technology. Similarly, many game publishers began to experiment with new forms of marketing. Chief among these alternative strategies

6750-765: The top-selling games for the Atari 8-bit computers were ports of Frogger and Centipede , while the top-selling game for the TI-99/4A was the Space Invaders clone TI Invaders . That same year, Pac-Man was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, while Donkey Kong was licensed for the Coleco Adam . In late 1981, Atari, Inc. attempted to take legal action against unauthorized Pac-Man clones , despite some of these predating Atari's exclusive rights to

6875-626: The video game crash of 1983 . In the 1990s, PC games lost mass market traction to console games on the fifth generation such as the Sega Saturn , Nintendo 64 and PlayStation . They are enjoying a resurgence in popularity since the mid-2000s through digital distribution on online service providers . Personal computers as well as general computer software are considered synonymous with IBM PC compatible systems; while mobile devices  – smartphones and tablets, such as those running on Android or iOS platforms  – are also PCs in

7000-405: The 2015 Ignite conference , Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon stated that Windows 10 would be the "last version of Windows". The operating system was considered to be a service , with new builds and updates to be released over time. PC World argued that the widely reported comment was however taken out of context , noting that the official event transcript marks it only as a segue rather than

7125-773: The Commodore or Apple, and the Tandy 1000's enhanced graphics, sound , and built-in joystick ports made it the best platform for IBM PC-compatible games before the VGA era. By 1988, the enormous popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System had greatly affected the computer-game industry. A Koei executive claimed that "Nintendo's success has destroyed the [computer] software entertainment market". A Mindscape executive agreed, saying that "Unfortunately, its effect has been extremely negative. Without question, Nintendo's success has eroded software sales. There's been

7250-664: The Home and Pro editions, and three years for the Education and Enterprise editions. Microsoft has stated that Windows 11 provides no lifecycle guarantee if it has been installed on a machine that does not meet its minimum hardware requirements. Windows 11 receives annual major updates, though Microsoft sometimes adds major features in mid-cycle releases. Starting in 2022, in the Enterprise and Education editions, major features added in yearly releases will be turned off by default until

7375-776: The Internet. Online multiplayer games have achieved popularity largely as a result of increasing broadband adoption among consumers. Affordable high-bandwidth Internet connections allow large numbers of players to play together, and thus have found particular use in massively multiplayer online role-playing games , Tanarus and persistent online games such as World War II Online . Windows 11 24H2 (10.0.26100.2454) (November 21, 2024 ; 2 days ago  ( 2024-11-21 ) ) [±] 23H2 (10.0.22635.4515) (November 22, 2024 ; 1 day ago  ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] 24H2 (10.0.26120.2415) (November 22, 2024 ; 1 day ago  ( 2024-11-22 ) ) [±] Windows 11

7500-539: The OS can be installed on devices with unsupported configurations, Microsoft does not guarantee the availability of updates . Furthermore, Windows 11 completely removes support for 32-bit CPUs, including both 32-bit x86 and 32-bit ARM processors, ensuring compatibility only with 64-bit x86-64 and ARM64 processors. Windows 11 received a mixed reception at launch. Pre-release coverage of the operating system focused on its stricter hardware requirements, with discussions over whether they were legitimately intended to improve

7625-409: The PC as opposed to porting from other computers. Bing Gordon of Electronic Arts reported that customers used computers for games more than one fifth of the time whether purchased for work or a hobby, with many who purchased computers for other reasons finding PC games "a pretty satisfying experience". By 1987, the PC market was growing so quickly that the formerly business-only computer had become

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7750-522: The PC difficult; an observer said that year that Flight Simulator had sold hundreds of thousands of copies because customers with corporate PCs could claim that it was a "simulation". From mid-1985, however, what Compute! described as a "wave" of inexpensive IBM PC clones from American and Asian companies, such as the Tandy 1000 and the Leading Edge Model D , caused prices to decline; by

7875-492: The PC platform allows players to edit or modify their games and distribute the results over the Internet as "mods". A healthy mod community greatly increases a game's longevity and the most popular mods have driven purchases of their parent game to record heights. It is common for professional developers to release the tools they use to create their games (and sometimes even source code ) in order to encourage modding, but if

8000-476: The PC was a breakthrough in 3D graphics, and was soon ported to various game consoles in a general shift toward greater realism. Computer Gaming World reiterated in 1994, "we have to advise readers who want a machine that will play most of the games to purchase high-end MS-DOS machines". By 1993, PC floppy disk games had a sales volume equivalent to about one-quarter that of console game ROM cartridge sales. A hit PC game typically sold about 250,000 disks at

8125-517: The SSI Gold Box games such as Pool of Radiance , or The Bard's Tale , for example. By the late 1970s to early 1980s, games were developed and distributed through hobbyist groups and gaming magazines, such as Creative Computing and later Computer Gaming World . These publications provided game code that could be typed into a computer and played, encouraging readers to submit their own software to competitions. Players could modify

8250-471: The Settings app on Windows 10 version 1703), and has a library display for games installed on the device, such as those obtained via Microsoft Store , Bethesda.net , Battle.net , Steam , GOG.com , Epic Games Store , Humble Bundle , Origin and Ubisoft Connect . Support for Xbox Cloud Gaming as well as Remote Play from Xbox consoles was added to the app on September 14, 2021. Xbox 360 SmartGlass

8375-850: The TPM 2.0 coprocessor is a "critical building block" for protection against firmware and hardware attacks. In addition, Microsoft now requires devices with Windows 11 to include virtualization-based security (VBS), hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), and Secure Boot built-in and enabled by default. The operating system also features hardware-enforced stack protection for supported Intel and AMD processors for protection against zero-day exploits . Like its predecessor, Windows 11 also supports multi-factor authentication and biometric authentication through Windows Hello. In subsequent updates, Microsoft added several features based on artificial intelligence (AI), like live captions, background noise removal in videoconferencing, webcam auto-framing that follows

8500-488: The Windows 11 Installation Assistant application (which can perform the upgrade, or generate an ISO image or USB install media), or via Windows Update in a phased rollout; Microsoft anticipated that Windows 11 would be available via Windows Update to all eligible devices by mid-2022. New installations of Windows 10 on eligible hardware may present an option to upgrade during the OOBE. Retail copies of Windows 11 (consisting of

8625-455: The Windows imaging process. Any user, not just admins, can now add both the display language and its features, which can help users in business environments, but these exact options for languages (both LP and LIP) still depend on the OEM and mobile operator. Like Windows 10, Windows 11 follows Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle Policy. Each annual feature update has its own support lifecycle: two years for

8750-431: The app, displaying supplemental content. The app can also be used as a remote control for the console. The Windows 10 version of Xbox Console Companion allows users to stream games from an Xbox One console over a local network, and has the ability to view and edit Game DVR recordings from an Xbox One console. It also serves as a front-end for a PC version of Game DVR on supported hardware (Game DVR settings were moved to

8875-472: The company". At the Microsoft Build 2021 developer conference, CEO and chairman Satya Nadella teased about the existence of the next generation of Windows during his keynote speech . According to Nadella, he had been self-hosting it for several months. He also teased that an official announcement would come very soon. Just a week after Nadella's keynote, Microsoft started sending invitations for

9000-512: The computer's hardware, often requiring a fast central processing unit (CPU) to function properly. CPU manufacturers historically relied mainly on increasing clock rates to improve the performance of their processors, but had begun to move steadily towards multi-core CPUs by 2005 . These processors allow the computer to simultaneously process multiple tasks, called threads , allowing the use of more complex graphics, artificial intelligence and in-game physics. Similarly, 3D games often rely on

9125-485: The console sector second-largest, and mobile gaming sector biggest. 2.2 billion video gamers generate US$ 101.1 billion in revenue, excluding hardware costs. "Digital game revenues will account for $ 94.4 billion or 87% of the global gaming market. The APAC region was estimated to generate $ 46.6 billion in 2016, or 47% of total global video game revenues (note, not only "PC" games). China alone accounts for half of APAC's revenues (at $ 24.4 billion), cementing its place as

9250-471: The console. Windows 10 introduced a revamped version of SmartGlass referred to simply as Xbox , which notably added a library display for PC games , and the ability to stream games from an Xbox One console on a local network. On June 12, 2016, the mobile versions of the Xbox One Smartglass apps were updated for parity with the desktop version, and renamed "Xbox" as well. Xbox 360 SmartGlass

9375-432: The cost of circulation, eliminates stock shortages, allows games to be released worldwide at no additional cost, and allows niche audiences to be reached with ease. However, most digital distribution systems create ownership and customer rights issues by storing access rights on distributor-owned computers. Games confer with these computers over the Internet before launching. This raises the prospect of purchases being lost if

9500-466: The crash were largely limited to the console market, as established companies such as Atari posted record losses over subsequent years. Conversely, the home computer market boomed, as sales of low-cost color computers such as the Commodore 64 rose to record highs and developers such as Electronic Arts benefited from increasing interest in the platform. The North American console market experienced

9625-405: The distributor goes out of business or chooses to lock the buyer's account, and prevents resale (the ethics of which are a matter of debate ). Valve does not release any sales figures on its Steam service, instead it only provides the data to companies with games on Steam, which they cannot release without permission due to signing a non-disclosure agreement with Valve. However, Stardock ,

9750-478: The early 1980s. To enhance the immersive experience with their unrealistic graphics and electronic sound, early PC games included extras such as the peril-sensitive sunglasses that shipped with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or the science fiction novella included with Elite . These extras gradually became less common, but many games were still sold in the traditional oversized boxes that used to hold

9875-647: The early-mid-1980s, and by 1985, the NEC and FM-7 computers had built-in FM sound. The first PC sound cards , such as AdLib 's Music Synthesizer Card, soon appeared in 1987. These cards allowed IBM PC compatible computers to produce complex sounds using FM synthesis, where they had previously been limited to simple tones and beeps. However, the rise of the Creative Labs Sound Blaster card, released in 1989, which featured much higher sound quality due to

10000-488: The end of 1986, the equivalent to a $ 1600 real IBM PC with 256K RAM and two disk drives cost as little as $ 600, lower than the price of the Apple IIc . Consumers began purchasing DOS computers for the home in large numbers. While often purchased to do work on evenings and weekends, clones' popularity caused consumer-software companies to increase the number of IBM-compatible products, including those developed specifically for

10125-596: The existing version of the Xbox app for Windows 10 was renamed Xbox Console Companion , and a new Xbox app was introduced in beta. This app is more specifically oriented towards PC gaming, serving as a front-end to games distributed on Microsoft Store , and as the client for PC Game Pass . Through the app, users can access their activity feed, Xbox Live friends and messages, manage their party, watch saved Game DVR clips, browse OneGuide , and view their achievements . Some games and apps can provide second screen integration via

10250-801: The extra " feelies ". Today, such extras are usually found only in Special Edition versions of games, such as Battlechests from Blizzard . During the 16-bit era , the Amiga and Atari ST became popular in Europe, the Macintosh and IBM PC compatibles became popular in North America, while the PC-98, X68000 , and FM Towns became popular in Japan. The Amiga, X68000 and FM Towns were capable of producing near arcade -quality hardware sprite graphics and sound quality when they first released in

10375-411: The first major Windows release since 2015, builds upon its predecessor by revamping the user interface to follow Microsoft's new Fluent Design guidelines. The redesign, which focuses on ease of use and flexibility, comes alongside new productivity and social features and updates to security and accessibility, addressing some of the deficiencies of Windows 10 . The Microsoft Store , which serves as

10500-460: The forefront, we need to focus on meeting customers where they are now", and announced that Windows 10X would only launch on single-screen devices at first, and that Microsoft would "continue to look for the right moment, in conjunction with our OEM partners, to bring dual-screen devices to market". In October 2020, reports emerged that Microsoft was working on a user interface refresh for Windows 10 codenamed "Sun Valley", scheduled to be included in

10625-410: The general sense as opposed to console or arcade machine . Historically, it also included games on systems from Apple Computer , Atari Corporation , Commodore International and others. Microsoft Windows utilizing Direct3D become the most popular operating system for PC games in the 2000s. Games utilizing 3D graphics generally require a form of graphics processing unit , and PC games have been

10750-537: The growing popularity of Microsoft Windows simplified device driver and memory management. The success of 3D console titles such as Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider increased interest in hardware accelerated 3D graphics on PCs, and soon resulted in attempts to produce affordable products with the ATI Rage , Matrox Mystique , S3 ViRGE , and Rendition Vérité . As 3D graphics libraries such as DirectX and OpenGL matured and knocked proprietary interfaces out of

10875-404: The higher latency of most Internet connections and the costs associated with broadband Internet. LAN gaming typically requires two or more personal computers, a router and sufficient networking cables to connect every computer on the network. Additionally, each computer must have its own copy (or spawn copy ) of the game in order to play. Optionally, any LAN may include an external connection to

11000-596: The home versions of Namco 's game. As the American video game market became flooded with poor-quality cartridge games created by numerous companies attempting to enter the market, and overproduction of high-profile releases such as the Atari 2600 adaptations of Pac-Man and E.T. grossly underperformed, the popularity of personal computers for education rose dramatically. In 1983, American consumer interest in console video games dwindled to historical lows, as interest in games on personal computers rose. The effects of

11125-441: The improvements introduced with products such as ATI's Radeon R300 and NVidia 's GeForce 6 series have allowed developers to increase the complexity of modern game engines . PC gaming currently tends strongly toward improvements in 3D graphics. Unlike the generally accepted push for improved graphical performance, the use of physics engines in computer games has become a matter of debate since announcement and 2005 release of

11250-502: The inclusion of a PCM channel and digital signal processor , led AdLib to file for bankruptcy by 1992. Also in 1989, the FM Towns computer included built-in PCM sound, in addition to a CD-ROM drive and 24-bit color graphics. In the late 80s and throughout the entire 1990s decade, DOS was one of the most popular gaming platforms in regions where it was officially sold. By 1990, DOS

11375-423: The interface and start menu takes heavy inspiration from the now-canceled Windows 10X. The Segoe UI font used since Windows Vista has been updated to a variable version, improving its ability to scale between different display resolutions. The taskbar 's buttons are center-aligned by default, and it is permanently pinned to the bottom edge of the screen; it cannot be moved to the top, left, or right edges of

11500-425: The languages available for download on supported PCs). The 38 fully-localized Language Pack (LP) languages were available as both lp.cab and .appx packages, while the remaining 72 partially-localized Language Interface Pack (LIP) languages were only available as .appx packages. With Windows 11, that process has changed. Five new LP languages were added — Catalan, Basque, Galician, Indonesian, and Vietnamese — bringing

11625-516: The largest and fastest-growing, and most important platform for computer game companies. DOS computers dominated the home, supplanting Commodore and Apple. More than a third of games sold in North America were for the PC, twice as many as those for the Apple II and even outselling those for the Commodore 64. With the EGA video card , an inexpensive clone had better graphics and more memory for games than

11750-585: The largest video game market in the world, ahead of the US's anticipated market size of $ 23.5 billion. Bertie the Brain was one of the first game playing machines developed. It was built in 1950 by Josef Kates . It measured more than four meters tall, and was displayed at the Canadian National Exhibition that year. Although personal computers only became popular with the development of

11875-675: The magazine mocked as "amateur acting" in the added audio and video —new games such as Myst included many more assets for a richer game experience. Many companies sold "multimedia upgrade kits" that bundled CD drives, sound cards, and software during the mid-1990s, but device drivers for the new peripherals further depleted scarce RAM. By 1993, PC games required much more memory than other software, often consuming all of conventional memory , while device drivers could go into upper memory with DOS memory managers . Players found modifying CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for memory management cumbersome and confusing, and each game needed

12000-717: The market share. Windows 11 has an estimated 23% share of all PCs (the rest being other Windows editions and other operating systems such as macOS and Linux ), and an estimated 8.6% share of all devices (including mobile, tablet and console) are running Windows 11. To comply with the Digital Markets Act , Microsoft is allowing users in the European Economic Area to remove the Microsoft Edge browser, Microsoft Bing search engine, and advertisements to comply with users' interests. At

12125-585: The market, these platforms gained greater acceptance in the market, particularly with their demonstrated benefits in games such as Unreal . However, major changes to the Microsoft Windows operating system, by then the market leader, made many older DOS-based games unplayable on Windows NT , and later, Windows XP (without using an emulator , such as DOSBox ). The faster graphics accelerators and improving CPU technology resulted in increasing levels of realism in computer games. During this time,

12250-547: The mid-to-late 1980s. Among launch titles for the IBM Personal Computer (PC) in 1981 was Microsoft Adventure , which IBM described as bringing "players into a fantasy world of caves and treasures". BYTE that year stated that the computer's speed and sophistication made it "an excellent gaming device", and IBM and others sold games like Microsoft Flight Simulator . The PC's CGA graphics and speaker sound were poor, however, and most customers bought

12375-407: The operating system on devices using an eighth-generation Intel Core CPU or newer (with some minor exceptions), a second-generation AMD Ryzen CPU or newer, or a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 ARM system-on-chip or newer, with UEFI and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 supported and enabled. Although, there are some exceptions to these requirements (see § System requirements for details). While

12500-525: The player communicated with the computer by entering commands through a keyboard. An early text-adventure, Adventure , was developed for the PDP-11 minicomputer by Will Crowther in 1976, and expanded by Don Woods in 1977. By the 1980s, personal computers had become powerful enough to run games like Adventure , but by this time, graphics were beginning to become an important factor in games. Later games combined textual commands with basic graphics, as seen in

12625-406: The powerful but expensive computer for business. One ComputerLand owner estimated in 1983 that a quarter of corporate executives with computers "have a game hidden somewhere in their drawers", and InfoWorld in 1984 reported that "in offices all over America (more than anyone realizes) executives and managers are playing games on their computers", but software companies found selling games for

12750-431: The previous owner of competing platform Impulse , estimated that, as of 2009, Steam had a 70% share of the digital distribution market for video games. In early 2011, Forbes reported that Steam sales constituted 50–70% of the $ 4 billion market for downloaded PC games and that Steam offered game producers gross margins of 70% of purchase price, compared with 30% at retail. Modern computer games place great demand on

12875-472: The release of the first preview build and SDK of Windows 11 to Windows Insiders . On August 31, 2021, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 was to be released on October 5, 2021. The release would be phased, with newer eligible devices to be offered the upgrade first. Since its predecessor Windows 10 was released on July 29, 2015, more than six years earlier, this is the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows operating systems, beating

13000-436: The removal of features like the ability to move the taskbar and increased system requirements that may exclude older devices. As of November 2024 , Windows 11, at 35% worldwide, is the second most popular Windows version in use, with its predecessor Windows 10 still being the most used version in virtually all countries (with Guyana being an exception, where Windows 11 is the most used ), with it globally at over 2 times

13125-547: The replacement of shell resources dating back as far as Windows 95 ), improvements to Task View to allow changing the wallpaper on each virtual desktop , x86-64 emulation on ARM, and adding the Auto HDR feature from Xbox Series X . On May 18, 2021, Head of Windows Servicing and Delivery John Cable stated that Windows 10X had been canceled and that Microsoft would be "accelerating the integration of key foundational 10X technology into other parts of Windows and products at

13250-448: The same as their Windows 10 edition counterparts. Two new editions called IoT Enterprise Subscription and IoT Enterprise Subscription LTSC have been introduced in version 24H2 . Before the launch of Windows 11, OEMs (as well as mobile operators) and businesses were offered two options for device imaging: Component-Based Servicing lp.cab files (for the languages to be preloaded on the first boot) and Local Experience Pack .appx files (for

13375-410: The same day. The Windows 11 name was accidentally released in an official Microsoft support document in June 2021. Leaked images of a purported beta build of Windows 11's desktop surfaced online later on June 15, 2021, which were followed by a leak of the aforementioned build on the same day. The screenshots and leaked build show an interface resembling that of the canceled Windows 10X, alongside

13500-481: The same display is reconnected, the windows are restored to their prior location. On October 21, 2021, Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) became available to Beta channel builds of Windows 11 for users in the United States, which allows users to install and run Android apps on their devices. Users can install Android apps through any source using the APK file format. An Amazon Appstore client for Microsoft Store

13625-405: The screen as in previous versions of Windows without manual changes to the registry . The notifications sidebar is now accessed by clicking the date and time, with other Quick Actions toggles, as well as volume, brightness, and media playback controls, moved to a new settings pop-up displayed by clicking on the system tray. The "Widgets" button on the taskbar displays a panel with Microsoft Start ,

13750-519: The security of Windows, or as a ploy to upsell customers to newer devices, and over the e-waste associated with the changes. Upon release, it was praised for its improved visual design, window management, and stronger focus on security, but was criticized for various modifications to aspects of its user interface that were seen as worse than its predecessor; some were seen as an attempt to dissuade users from switching to competing applications. Additionally, some users have pointed out disadvantages such as

13875-522: The speed and capacity limits of the optical discs which most other gaming platforms rely on. Valve released the Steam platform for Windows computers in 2003 as a means to distribute Valve-developed video games such as Half-Life 2. It would later see release on the Mac OS X operating system in 2010 and was released on Linux in 2012. By 2011, it controlled 70% of the market for downloadable PC games, with

14000-400: The success of adventure games such as the highly successful King's Quest series, and high resolution bitmap displays allowed the industry to include increasingly high-quality graphical interfaces in new releases. Further improvements to game artwork and audio were made possible with the introduction of FM synthesis sound. Yamaha began manufacturing FM synth boards for computers in

14125-437: The time between Windows XP (released on October 25, 2001) and Windows Vista (released on January 30, 2007). The first television commercial for Windows 11 premiered during the 2021 NFL Kickoff Game on September 9, 2021; it was intended to showcase a "feeling of immersion and fluidity", with imagery of operating system features and Xbox Game Studios ' Halo Infinite . Other promotional campaigns on release day included

14250-656: The time, while a hit console game typically sold about 1 million cartridges. By spring 1994, an estimated 24 million US homes (27% of households) had a personal computer. 48% played games on their computer; 40% had the 486 CPU or higher; 35% had CD-ROM drives; and 20% had a sound card. Another survey found that an estimated 2.46 million multimedia computers had internal CD-ROM drives by the end of 1993, an increase of almost 2,000%. Computer Gaming World reported in April 1994 that some software publishers planned to only distribute on CD as of 1995. CD-ROM had much larger storage capacity than floppies, helped reduce software piracy, and

14375-399: The total number of LP languages to 43. Furthermore, these 43 languages can only be imaged using lp.cab packages. This is to ensure a fully supported language-imaging and cumulative update experience. The remaining 67 LIP languages that are LXP-based will move to a self-service model, and can only be added by Windows users themselves via the Microsoft Store and Windows Settings apps, not during

14500-502: The user's activity (including content transcribed using live captions), and allow users to search through them. This feature will be exclusive to devices certified under the "Copilot+ PC" branding. Following pushback from the cyber security community, Microsoft delayed the feature in June 2024. A preview version will be added to the Microsoft Insider program at later date in order to test added security measures. Windows 11

14625-425: The user's movements, and AI-powered Bing Chat in the taskbar's search field. Following the integration of GPT-4 in Microsoft's other products, the company announced that by summer 2023, the newly released Microsoft Copilot would add GPT-4 integration to the Windows taskbar. On May 20, 2024, Microsoft officially announced "Recall"—a feature that will use a hardware AI accelerator to locally store "snapshots" of

14750-467: The vast majority of computer games are designed to run on the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. Whereas earlier games written for DOS would include code to communicate directly with hardware, today application programming interfaces (APIs) provide an interface between the game and the OS, simplifying game design. Microsoft's DirectX is an API that is widely used by today's computer games to communicate with sound and graphics hardware. OpenGL

14875-499: Was 65% of the computer-game market, with the Amiga at 10%; all other computers, including the Apple Macintosh , were below 10% and declining. Although both Apple and IBM tried to avoid customers associating their products with "game machines", the latter acknowledged that VGA, audio, and joystick options for its PS/1 computer were popular. In 1991, id Software produced an early first-person shooter , Hovertank 3D , which

15000-463: Was for many years the de facto standard for sound cards, although its popularity dwindled as PC audio became a commodity on modern motherboards. Physics processing units (PPUs), such as the Nvidia PhysX (formerly AGEIA PhysX) card, are also available to accelerate physics simulations in modern computer games. PPUs allow the computer to process more complex interactions among objects than

15125-500: Was less expensive to produce. Chris Crawford warned that it was "a data-intensive technology, not a process-intensive one", tempting developers to emphasize the quantity of digital assets like art and music over the quality of gameplay; Computer Gaming World wrote in 1993 that "publishers may be losing their focus". While many companies used the additional storage to release poor-quality shovelware collections of older software, or "enhanced" versions of existing ones —often with what

15250-770: Was not updated and was discontinued in May 2018. The mobile apps were updated alongside the Xbox One's May 2019 software update, adding cross-platform status indicators to friends. In May 2019, Microsoft also revamped the Xbox Game Bar feature of Windows 10 into a widget-based overlay, which features pop-up windows for features such as screen recording, managing audio inputs, viewing the Xbox Live friends list, and monitoring system components. On June 9, 2019, coinciding with Microsoft's E3 2019 press conference, Microsoft released

15375-403: Was officially announced at a virtual event hosted by Chief Product Officer Panos Panay . According to Nadella, Windows 11 is "a re-imagining of the operating system". Further details for developers such as updates to the Microsoft Store , the new Windows App SDK (code-named "Project Reunion"), new Fluent Design guidelines, and more were discussed during another developer-focused event on

15500-582: Was originally announced at E3 2012 , for Windows 8 , Android and iOS. Microsoft demonstrated use cases for the new app within both games and entertainment, including a minimap for Ascend: New Gods , a second screen experience for School of Rock with supplemental content, and Game of Thrones (with interactive maps and family tree diagrams). With the release of Xbox One in November 2013, Microsoft released an accompanying Xbox One SmartGlass app for Android, iOS, Windows 8.1 , and Windows Phone , which contained more extensive functionality for controlling

15625-473: Was the company's first in their line of highly influential games in the genre. There were also several other companies that produced early first-person shooters, such as Arsys Software 's Star Cruiser , which featured fully 3D polygonal graphics in 1988, and Accolade 's Day of the Viper in 1989. Id Software went on to develop Wolfenstein 3D in 1992, which helped to popularize the genre, kick-starting

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