Windows XP Game Advisor

While I was surfing the web today I noticed something new from Microsoft called "Windows XP Game Advisor". The goal of this utility is to simplify a gamer's life. I decided to test it out on my work machine to see if it could live up to all the hype. Once you get past the loading screen (takes a while if you're not on broadband) you'll see that it's packed full of helpful features.

Microsoft has outfitted the Game Advisor with a Game Finder, Demos, Screenshots, Trailers, and Update sections. For the parents out there you can filter the games by age and game type. Below all that you have two displays a sidebar that displays gamming recommendations and a bigger display used for displaying everything else. The four key features to Microsoft's Windows XP Game Advisor are Demos, Screenshots, Trailers, and Updates.

Demos are organized by top five, alphabet, and of course a search engine in case you already know what you're looking for. The Screenshots section offers high quality images. Once clicked a new window will appear taking you directly to the game manufacturers site. For example if you click on Battlefield Vietnam you will be taken to the Electronic Arts homepage for Battlefield Vietnam (screenshot section). The Trailers & Updates feature performs the same basic way by taking you to the game developer's site.

While hardcore gamers may not find this real useful, the rest of us can. With the system scan feature you can find out if your Windows machine can run a game, without leaving your computer. In addition to that you can get the latest updates, demos and screenshots all in one location. No doubt Microsoft is thinking about gamers for future and present versions of Windows.

View: Microsofts Windows XP Game Advisor