GamerLore.com

As posted on xbox360achievements.org

Previously, any PC user who wanted to play “ranked” games, earn online achievements or partake in cross-platform play (for games like Shadowrun, Universe at War and Lost Planet: Colonies) would have to pay the same monthly fee as normal Xbox 360 Live users for a Gold account, reagrdless if they even owned an Xbox 360 or not.

As of today, PC users will no longer be required to have said Gold account to receive the benefits of Xbox Live on the PC. Truly, this should have been the policy from the beginning, but I feel that Microsoft may be getting ready to push more games onto the PC and could not do so with most PC gamers currently loathing them for being charged for something they would receive for free from any other company (Valve, Blizzard, etc.). Anyone who has played a PC game until now would be hard pressed to even find an opponent using the ranked quick search. You’d have to search unranked games, as most users refused to pay for a Gold account.

This won’t really affect most of us achievement whores out there who got into PC gaming for the extra achievements since we already have the Gold account from our 360, but this is great news for us regardless, as the more popular Games for Windows Live becomes, the more likely it will be for companies to add achievement functionality. To view a FAQ about PC gaming and a current list of Games for Windows Live games with achievements, head here.