id Software on digital distribution and Games for Windows

id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead and lead designer Tim Willits here talk about the difficulties of content creation, their belief in Microsoft's Games for Windows campaign and the realities of digital distribution.  Here are a few snippets from the interview, I suggest you go have a read, it's interesting stuff!

What's your impression of Microsoft's Games for Windows campaign? Do you think they're just trying to flog Vista and they'll give up on it?

Tim Willits: No [laughs]. Microsoft sometimes gets a bad rep for being Microsoft. But they really do know how to write software. One of the great things about 360 games - it's the same with PS3 - is you send them for certification, they run it through the gamut of tests, they make sure that you adhere to all the things you need to, and then when the gamer gets it it's going to work.

So for Games for Windows you'll have a certification, it'll go through Vista, you'll have the correct ESRB ratings. So that works. You'll have good security, you'll have a link in with Xbox Live...

Some people say it's a little too Big-Brotherish, but it's a legitimate progression of making the PC feel more - not like a console, but like a closed system.

For us, if there's a way to link a Live account into your security for your game in a nice closed system, it would help reduce the piracy, which kills us, and is killing the industry. At least Microsoft is doing something, and I think that they're in a position to do it.