Today, at Gamefest 2008, Microsoft announced a few hefty changes to their Games for Windows LIVE service, which include a pretty encouraging price drop.

The cost of Games for Windows LIVE features for PC gamers is now: FREE.

This is a great move as PC gamers were apprehensive toward paying for features they felt were classically offered for free since the dawn of online gaming on the PC.

For the future, Microsoft hopes to debut a Games for Windows LIVE Marketplace, which will "offer downloadable game content (free and paid, determined by the publisher), demos, trailers, and more."

There are also plans to revamp the Games for Windows LIVE interface to be "more PC friendly, and reducing the technical requirements for developers."

Also, note that this includes all of the matchmaking features that separate the service from standard server-browser based online gaming.

Great additions and we look forward to checking out more Games for Windows LIVE-enabled titles.