Released last week, THQ’s Company of Heroes and LucasArts’ Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy are the first two titles to feature the new “Games For Windows” packaging. An initive from Microsoft to “more closely align Xbox 360 and PC gaming”. A Microsoft spokesperson explained to Next-Gen:

“With the retail branding for console games, [game companies] have some royalties that they need to pay out,” he said. “With the Games for Windows [labeling], it’s just a set of guidelines that we require that them to meet—things such as easy installation, support for the Game Explorer [for the upcoming Vista operating system] and support for ESRB and parental controls.”

Retailers are said to also benefit from the standardized box size that Games for Windows will employ, allowing them to “push” these games “right up against the Xbox, Nintendo and Sony games.”

Titles which carry the Games for Windows branding will also support wide-screen modes, can be launched from within Windows Media Center, will be compatible with 64 bit versions of Windows, and will even support the Xbox 360 Gamepad.