After reading this topic the first time, I installed some old games that I was addicted to in the past, like Midtown Madness, Age of Empires II, Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, and Starcraft. Nothing beats a good RTS game, Age of Empires is just a game that I will never grow old of. Now I'm thinking about getting Age of Empires III and Star Wars Empire At War. I absolutely loved the games Microsoft offered on the PC. People don't realize how revolutionary and influential Microsoft has had in the PC game world. Midtown Madness is a very prime example. The same development team that did it is the one responsible for the Grand Theft Auto series, and those that played both know that there are obvious similarities. I can't think of a racing game prior to Midtown Madness where you were able to freely drive around a down to earth simulation of a metropolis such as Chicago instead of race in different tracks that have a set design. And it seems Starcraft is the much more popular game but I always thought Age of Empires II was better. At the time it was the most crisp, detailed, and flawless RTS game out there IMO. There are also aspiring pilots that use Flight Simulator as a serious training method.
Yes I do realize that Microsoft is mostly not directly responsible for these games as they hand those responsibilities to other companies, but it seems that almost any project they produce for turns out to be a very quality or even innovative game.