30th April 2005, 12:45 AM
Yes, the fact that the PC isn't a competing vendor's platform is important, for a first party like Microsoft. But probably more important is limited exclusivity -- X-Box only for a year (or six months, or a year and a half, it depends, title to title), then release the PC version. Halo 1 did that. Lots of games do limited exclusivity... Fable, GTA 3/VC/SA, etc, etc...