Can you play games made for Windows XP on Windows Vista

Now that Vista has been around for a while and had many of its compatibility problems ironed out there are generally few issues involving incompatible programs. Many recent games made before the release of Vista have had patches released which solves many of the compatibility problems, or fixes are known on game forums. Vista, as suggested below, can run games in a compatibilty mode for XP, which 99% of the time will solve any issues, however many newer games are specifically designed to run with Vista, and either XP fixes have not been created, or a unavailable due to significant advances in technology. It is almost impossible to get a game designed for Windows 95 or 2000 to work on Windows Vista, because of the differences in technology, and in a few years the same will be true of games designed to run on XP, you will need an XP machine in order to run them.

In summary, it is still possible to use games designed for XP, on Vista, 99% of the time, however a few will require the download of additional patches or fixes.

Once you have installed a game that's been designed on XP, the best way to ensuer XP support for the game is to right click on the .exe that runs the game. Select properties and choose "Run in XP Compatability Mode". Fingers crossed this should work, if not refere to manufacturers website or troubleshooting helplines.