Games for Windows Live (Rant)

ancapailldorcha

Sorry for the rant but I need to get this off my chest. I have just spent the last half an hour trying to figure out how to get Steam to launch Bioshock 2 without it crashing. Turns out there was some Terms and Conditions I hadn't agreed to despite me playing the same game earlier. Is there any reason for this service to exist at all? It's sluggish, slow, awkward and I cannot discern what it's purpose is at all. It's like Microsoft felt Steam was working a bit too well for their liking so they decided to stick this abomination on us.
I got Resident Evil 5 on sale of Steam about a month ago and I had to set up an account which took me half an hour between signing in multiple times and downloading a load of pointless software. I had a pop at some posters here who were moaning that the Dark Souls port had this turd attached to it. If you're reading this, I apologise and if you could tell me what GFWL is for (aside from inciting anger and frustration) that would be great.

cherryghost

Never really had any issues with GFWL except when it came to mods. Then I'd just disable GFWL altogether.

Grimebox

Steam is great now but you have to remember how ****ing awful steam was at first as well. It was universally hated. It makes perfect sense for microsoft to attempt to enter the digital download market. EA is doing the same with Origin and its actually not that bad

ancapailldorcha

It's gotten to the stage now where I can't play or even launch Bioshock 2 at all. Anyone have any ideas?

gizmo

The biggest issue I've had with GFWL is the front end software and how ill-conceived it is. For instance, it's lack of persistence with regards game versions and sign-in states are painfully obvious when compared to its competitors. The often quoted startup screens for both Batman: AA and Bulletstorm have demonstrated this quite well.

Things could improve with Windows 8 though. Since you'll be using your MS Account to sign in to your machine, you won't need to sign in and out of the Live service when restarting games (for whatever reason) and from there they can monitor your games for required updates. They all seem to be contained in a rather XBox Dashboard-esque app which tracks your friends on the service and will be great for some folk.

If they fix that then they could be onto a winner since their backend service, as evidenced by the 360, is pretty damn solid. That's also ignoring the possibilities for cross platform play that the service allows which, while not being suitable for all types of games, certainly holds many possibilities in the future.

As for whether it should exist at all, well yes it should. Any competitor to Steam is a good thing in my book and as long as MS aren't forcing anyone to use it in order to get onto the PC via Windows 8 I see no issue with it (in theory) at all.

ancapailldorcha

Turns out I was too impatient to restart the game and proceeded to make save files. Problem solved!

Antar Bolaeisk

Grimebox wrote: »

Steam is great now but you have to remember how ****ing awful steam was at first as well. It was universally hated. It makes perfect sense for microsoft to attempt to enter the digital download market. EA is doing the same with Origin and its actually not that bad

Yeah but Steam improved, GFWL hasn't and won't. It also requires a lot of fiddling to try and get working on Windows 8 or at least that's been my experience.

gizmo

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Yeah but Steam improved, GFWL hasn't and won't. It also requires a lot of fiddling to try and get working on Windows 8 or at least that's been my experience.

Are you using the preview build of Win8 or retail? Curious as I'm considering upgrading soon and would prefer to avoid such issues. The only problems I've heard of folk having is with using an older version of GWFL.

Sarky

Damage done really. Windows 8 could come with free coke and hookers, but I'm not touching GFWL again if I can possibly help it.

ronkmonster

gizmo wrote: »

Are you using the preview build of Win8 or retail? Curious as I'm considering upgrading soon and would prefer to avoid such issues. The only problems I've heard of folk having is with using an older version of GWFL.

I started Dark Souls yesterday and when I went to start it through Steam, Windows 8 (rtm)prompted me that it needed a new version of GFWL and linked me to it. No problems starting the game after that. I did do a clean install though. Maybe there are issues when upgrading.

Overheal

GFWL is an underdeveloped thought bubble that Clippy spat out one day.

Refined, GFWL would ideally be an integration between Xbox and PC gaming, with players able to chat cross-platform, if not play cross-platform. Currently though it only seems to track achievements in such ways, which services like Raptr can tap into.

For the most part I find it to be an irritatingly useless layer of code that serves little purpose.

gizmo

Overheal wrote: »

Refined, GFWL would ideally be an integration between Xbox and PC gaming, with players able to chat cross-platform, if not play cross-platform. Currently though it only seems to track achievements in such ways, which services like Raptr can tap into.

For the most part I find it to be an irritatingly useless layer of code that serves little purpose.

It allows from cross-platform play already. As far as I'm aware Shadowrun, Universe at War and Lost Planet are the only three that support it.

There was also the story from awhile back of how MS tested it for use with Halo 2 when it was eventually released on the PC. The idea was scrapped after the results were...well let's just say they were what we all expected.

As for the rest of the functionality, it basically handles the multiplayer and social aspects of Live i.e. Friends, Achievements, Leaderboards, Matchmaking etc... It's far from useless on paper, it's just let down by that horrid client.

Azza

Its a clunky interface alright but of the most part I just ignore it.

Its effectively the Xbox 360's online interface bolted onto PC. Its considered fine on the Xbox where people pay for it, but on PC its actually easier and faster to use thanks to the keyboard and mouse, but its still awful compared to other online systems.

AnCapaillMor

Going by dark souls it's a piece of sh1t. Waay too much summoning failed for my liking. 1 in 4 summons work.

Azza

Could be a ports issue. Certain ports on your router needs to be open and same for the people you are connecting too. Its also possible in Dark Souls PC the amount of disconnects could be a lack of players.

Antar Bolaeisk

gizmo wrote: »

Are you using the preview build of Win8 or retail? Curious as I'm considering upgrading soon and would prefer to avoid such issues. The only problems I've heard of folk having is with using an older version of GWFL.

Release preview so I suppose I've only myself to blame.

Still, I lost a couple of hours gaming on Arkham Asylum as a result so wasn't best pleased.

saiint

never had a problem with it myself
just waiting for it to happen though
il snap haha

Shiminay

I don't buy games that use it. It stems from when Dawn of War 2 came out and this "service" simply would not work and I couldn't play the game. I think I managed to play it twice in the month after I'd bought it because it could never sign into GFWL despite the fact that I was signed into Hotmail, MSN Messenger and my XBox at the time.

So as far as I'm concerned, GFWL means nothing but problems and if I see it on the box for a game, I will steer clear of it.

Azza

You won't be able to sign into GFWL if your logged into Xbox Live with the same account.

ShadowHearth

GFWL is an awful service. Thx **** down of war franchise switched directly in to steam.
It's a shame batman and gta games are still with that rubbish.
Constant server issue, update issue, friend list issue, totally bollox UI, stability etc. to make it even worse Microsoft completely abandoned it too.

I have no idea why developers choose to use such an aweful service when there are so many alternatives. Damn, even use origin. As much as it is crap it's still 100 times better then GFWL.

gizmo

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I have no idea why developers choose to use such an aweful service when there are so many alternatives.

The reasons devs would choose to use GFWL have nothing to do with the client program. It's all about being able to reuse the network functionality they've built for the 360 on the PC.

Adyx

I reinstalled GTA 4 the other day. It took longer to get GFWL working than it took to install and patch the game and uninstall Rockstar Social Club.

ScumLord

I have limited experience with it as I don't play games as much these days and don't do much if any online when I do play. I could never figure out what games for windows was supposed to be, at first I was excited because I thought it would be like steam allowing me to have an online store for my games but it worked the exact opposite preventing me from linking my games to steam. All it seemed to be after that was a menu that I accidentally opened with the xbox controller.

It does annoy me during installs though, because I don't play that often I usually end up having to install updates and find passwords when I do go to play a game. The only interaction I have with it is it getting in the way.