Leipzig Games Convention: Ubisoft signs up for Games for Windows

Ubisoft and Microsoft have proudly revealed that Ubisoft is the latest publisher to sell it soul sign up to the Games for Windows branding strategy. It joins other major publishers who have already made the move, including 2K Games, Activision, Atari, EA, LucasArts, Midway and Sega.
It is important to note that this is NOT the same thing as Games for Windows Live – Microsoft’s effort to introduce a community service similar to Xbox Live (and in some cases charge for it, which is probably why it ain’t doing so hot). GFW is simply a branding strategy that lets you know that, duh, this PC game you’re buying is designed to work on your Windows PC. It also offers/demands proper support for the Xbox 360 controllers.
Putting my cynical hat on for a second, I can only see this ‘branding’ strategy as a long term effort to undermine PC gaming. Standardising controllers to those nice familiar 360 pads seems to be just trying to make PC gaming as similar to console gaming as possible, and earn Microsoft an extra buck or two on hardware peripherals.
Plus, Microsoft will no doubt be encouraging more and more cross over between the PC and Xbox 360 platform. Current titles like BioShock prove that is easily possible, and in many cases without any limitations on the PC version, but as PC hardware evolves at its usual lightning fast pace we’re going to start leaving the 360 way behind, which in turn could lead to PC games being dumbed down so as to not outshine their console counterparts.
Games for Windows Live may not be a part of this scheme, and lots of publishers and developers are sensibly steering well clear. But you can bet that Microsoft will be starting to up the pressure on those companies sooner or later as cross-platform multiplay has been successfully generating a lot attention. While it seems appealing in theory, implementing this strategy in its crudest form (such as Shadowrun) can really only mean PC games getting nerfed to suit the limits of the control pad over mouse and keyboard play.
Microsoft seems hell bent on turning PC gaming into a console gaming model, where as I’m sure most PC gamers would like their platform to stand on its own, celebrating its technological edge and fundamental difference between it and the consoles. Companies getting into the bed with the Games for Windows scheme may think it will put a more user-friendly face on the PC gaming market, but I wonder at what cost?