There are some very important things you kids should remember.

1. PC retail publishing is dying and Microsoft has no significant digital distribution network. As a publisher theres really no reason to stay in the market when the market they operate in is shrinking.

2. Direct3d is probably some of their best, if not their best work in any space. It actually appears they support and listen to developers just from the tone and language I hear from the GDC presentations.

MS is leaving PC gaming because they simply can't make much money from it. One reason is illegal downloads - there's a lot of pirates out there lol.

I just hope they still have good reasons to keep making Age of Empires.

Sounds like you need an Xbox 360.

As others have already stated: Why stay in a sinking ship?

PC gaming sales are down year after year, and the only ones winning are Steam/Valve and of course Blizzard-Activision. Obviously there is more money in the XBox in the long run then the PC because they can sell more accessories and games.

The whole MMORPG scene has really cut into the PC profits. WOW and other less popular online games which only charge say 5-15 a month are a complete bargain in comparison to PC games. Ah well. :/ the end of an era as they say.

MS probably sees that Steam seems to be to most likely future of PC gaming and they are just folding.

Maybe one day MS and valve will announce something where steam and 360 (or 720) players can play together.

ahh Fasa. MS hasn't been damaing companies just this decade they have been doing it for years. One would think destroy the compition of course, but the truth is that they even destroy their allies.

Fasa use to be one of the major RPG power houses. They opened their own electronic division. The games were good. Then they let MS in with MechWarrior3. That was it. The owner saw what was coming as employees were being transfered to the electronics division. He sold the original IP to different companies(Red Brick, WizKids..). Soon after MS pretty much closed all non computer gaming down and he left. The days of the great Fasa and the wonderful creations was over. All that was left were shadows of the games as just computer games.

So while I know most computer game players miss ensemble. I will far more miss Fasa and what potential they could have brought to the VG world. Cause Shadowrun Genesis awesome RPG, Shadowrun SNES good gameplay. If they ever combined those two. well I say Bioware would have some high standards to make :)

so I say boo to MS computer game department management.

Microsoft leaves PC gaming because they can't have the total control they have on the XBox.

Total control over hardware (20GB harddrives for 100 Euro/$130 , HDMI cable for 50 Euro/$65 in Europe).
The XBox360 itself is a piece of crap.

Total control over software (region-locked demos and software, DLC)

Total control over online gaming (fees apply)

They know what you've bought, when you are online, what you have downloaded.

Total control over anything.

Microsoft's old dream fulfilled.

I never played AoE3, but I heard that while it was a good game, it was nowhere near the awesomeness of it's antecessor. It was just good. But AoE3 still had 2 expansions though, which made more money for the developers since PC gamers tend to buy expansions for games they enjoy.

About piracy, you are crazy. Have you seen the PC games lineup this year? It totally crushes any console, hell maybe even beats all consoles lineups combined.
PC is evolving to online, and Digital Distribution brings higher profit margin, neverending shelf space and features that cannot be pirated. Steam is awesome by the way.

I think that this is the winner.

@topic

I didn't know that about Big Huge Games.  I really like Rise of Nations.  I've actually starting playing it again the past couple of weeks.