Games for Windows Live -- Microsoft's version of Xbox Live for PCs running Windows Vista -- is about to get its first third-party release in the form of Universe at War from Sega. While Microsoft's latest Vista games Halo 2 and Shadowrun are both GFW Live enabled, it is yet to be seen how many third parties will embrace the Live model, with its pay-to-play and cross-platform multiplayer.

Universe at War is also coming to the Xbox 360, so Xbox Live players will be able to compete against GFW Live players over the Internet. Is that really fair, though? Universe at War is a real-time strategy game -- a genre that controls very differently with a keyboard and a mouse than with a console controller. There's going to have to be some interesting gameplay balancing to make cross-platform multiplayer work.

via Gamasutra