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Oct 1 / Ozymandias

Vista Game Doctor

Although Windows Vista has a lot to recommend it, one challenge some folks have is trying to install and run some older/legacy Windows games. This is most often due to a title expecting to be able to write almost anywhere on the Windows machine (something that’s just not the case anymore with Vista’s new security model.)

Most recent games “just work” with no problems, thanks to some amazing efforts by the Windows gaming folks here at Microsoft. Older games can have challenges, and I just wanted to point out a useful site called Vista Game Doctor to help you get past those. These guys are testing a huge library of games (especially many of those old and obscure ones) and have put together a fantastic index to help you if you have problems. Good site to bookmark!

Related posts:

  1. Windows Vista Coming Together
  2. Vista "Hacked" at Black Hat Conference
  3. Games for Windows Articles
  4. Finally! The solution to playing Windows games on Linux!
  5. Get your Windows 7 Beta!

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  • RomeoDude

    It’s a good site to keep handy in case you need a workaround or have trouble installing some of the great old games.  Hopefully the site will grow and include some more of my old favorites (Lode Runner FTW!).

  • JohnCz

    What do you make of the rumor'd Oct 12 price cut on PS3..$399?  Do you think they can include a blu-ray drive in such a reduce price model?  Does it matter?

    My take is if its permanent cut to $399 and keeps their hidef dvd promise then it probably will pose the first real challenge to the XBox 360.  If its just a holiday promotion that I don't make much of it because I'd imagine XBox division will match or better and deal Sony could offer.

  • ㅉㅉㅉ

    Xbox 360 = Unplayable console

  • Ozymandias

    Odd. I seem to have played a great deal of Halo 3 recently. <shrug> ;)

  • JohnCz

    Ozy, do you have filtering turned on?  I wrote a comment that has not shown up.  Thanks

  • http://www.ntcompatible.com Dosfreak

    Here ya go guys, My PC Game Compatibility List. Only been working on it since 1999….

    "This is an excel spreadsheet of all of the games that I have tested. Each game has been tested by me so that you can be sure that the results are somewhat more accurate than other compatibility results that you may see elsewhere.

    Close to about 3,156 games have been tested (or in the progress of being tested) under Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, BartPE (XPSP2), Windows 2003, Windows Vista and Suse Linux.

    The games on the list have been tested with all updates applied to whichever OS that I use and the latest patch for the game unless specified otherwise. "

    vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php

  • vittala

    Thanks for for the link to this site. I have had some problems with a few games on Vista so maybe this will help? I just never had the time to really try and trouble shoot them.

  • JohnCz

    I wonder what everyones take is on the rumor’d $399 PS3 sku.  Do you think this will seriously impact XBox sales?  My take is if its just a promotional/limited time offer than it shouldn’t impact XBox too much.  I just can’t imagine them offering this at this price permanently…considering it has a hidef dvd player built in.  Frankly, I kind of saw this coming because Sony knows that a lackluster holiday season is going to set them sofar behind..that they may never catch up.  And that directly impacts their Blu-ray effort.  So, hopefully Microsoft is anticipating this and making preparations to come out on top this holiday.

  • Porktree

    I ran Vista for about 2 months and really hated it.  I’m back on XP now and am happy.  I look at Vista as the ME of today (and as big of a mis-step by MS as the PS3 is by Sony).  It’s nice to see there’s help out there for folks that don’t have the option of going back to XP. As a side note, my office of some 500 people is going to a Linux desktop :)

  • Monkey65

    To be honest, I don’t really want to dive into the Vista "Wow" experience. These incompatibility problems don’t surprise me as it was the same with trying to get older versions of games like System Shock 2 to run on XP… I’m still glad they’re offering new desktop machines with the option to grab XP too.

  • vittala

    I like Vista and have not had too many problems so far. Tis the future so why fight it.