Microsoft

Microsoft has announced that Games for Windows Live will receive Games on Demand on December 15, essentially becoming a full-fledged game distribution platform. As implied by its name, Games on Demand will allow users to purchase and download titles from their PC.

While this concept is hardly new (think: Steam, D2D, Impulse), Microsoft said its offer won't just be a "cut-and-paste version of existing digital distribution services." Without citing any particular innovations, the company said it has worked to develop an integrated platform that "takes full advantage of the unique capabilities offered by the Live service."

That's the essence of the message from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer this week, who made some remarkably candid comments (for Microsoft, anyway) about the failures of Windows Vista and his hopes for the future.

In new comments, Ballmer referred to the Vista debacle as having been an issue of "some uneven reception" because "we made some design decisions to improve security at the expense of compatibility."