One thing that has made the PC game market look dead as a doornail has been NPD's grossly inaccurate numbers -- numbers that every half-assed pundit likes to quote. While console game sales continue to grow, PC game sales have appeared flatline, no growth, stuck at around $2.3 Billion per year. Yeah, guys -- AT RETAIL. NPD doesn't take into account online sales, a huge revenue stream! Online kicks in another $2 billion worldwide (projected) by year's end. By end of 2009, projections for online sales alone will be $6.9 billion. "And that's a conservative estimate," added Rich Wickham, Microsoft's Director of Business Development and Strategy.

According to the Microsoft message: Windows games is becoming a big priority. A study done among thousands of users determined that 35% of people use the PC for Web surfing, 18% use it for games and everything else is an also-ran. The next biggest thing, email, is only 9.2%. This gave Microsoft the boot in the proverbial ass to get back to its PC gaming roots.