As the future of PC gaming approaches with the upcoming launch of Windows Vista and Direct-X 10 we were interested in seeing what wonderful pre-set desktop games the big boys have in store for us in their latest all singing all dancing operating system.

With Windows XP, we were inflicted with games such as solitaire, minesweeper and hearts to keep us amused on our lunch breaks, but surely Microsoft must have something new planned for their latest operating system, something that will keep us amused whilst trying to avoid eye contact with the boss or inspire us on those cold winter nights.

Erm, no...the Window's collection of games includes all of those familiar favourites. Yes, that's right, we can look forward to solitaire, minesweeper, hearts and freecell all over again. Just how long have these games been doing the rounds on Windows operating systems?

At least they're free I suppose, been visually updated and will feature more game modes than before, but the line-up hardly captures the imagination.

Microsoft have added a few new games, including the traditional Chinese strategy game Mah-Jong and Chess Titans, which looks rather snazzy, but why haven't they even included just one exciting game that will make us sit up and take note of how this new O/S will revolutionise gaming.

Chess Titans

I suppose we've got Crysis to look forward to, and there will be thousand of other games that we'll be able to download to take advange of the new operating system's capabilities, I just feel they could have offered a little bit more.

I understand that there are far more important issues with Vista, I'm just having a rant, must be the hot weather.

Credit : Picture courtesy of Hyperso Forum