Gearbox: Steam and Microsoft Should "Play Nice"

[SL33TBL1ND]

i have a few games on GFWL and a few on steam...neither of them have anyone playing the multiplayer at all, so i spend all my time hoping to find someone to play with either way! (splinter cell convition i'm looking at you here!) and most of my friends bought the steam copy of borderlands, whereas i'm a tard and bought the retail copy i'm stuck playing with hackers on gamespy, and they're running around having fun on steam someday my time travel machine will be completed and all this will be fixed though

But the steam copy uses Gamespy for multiplayer though.

OT: As long as I don't have to use the piece of shit that is GFWL, I'm happy.

 

[7|-|3 1337]

Wonderful idea! They should do this with Steam and PSN. And PSN with XBL. And all the others.

would make the console debates a bit more interesting

 

[L-J-F]

Wow I never even knew that was the case. I usually try to avoid both GFWL and Steam tbh.

 

[SaintWaldo]

On the other hand, I don't think we would ever see cross-platform play between the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360,

Well, if the Xbox allowed Steam...like the Mac, PC and the PS3 have...

DUN DUN DUN!

 

[Weaver]

I don't really understand what he's saying about the retail copy not being able to play.
My friends bought Company of Heroes on steam and I bought it retail and I can play with them just fine.

I also didn't know games that used GFLW had separate "versions". I've never seen this in my life. Like, for instance, I've never seen game X that used GFWL which has a steam version which also does not include GFWL.

Just because Steam's version of Borederlands didn't use gamespy is really not the fault of Steam or Gamespy, it's the fault of Gearbox. Steam would have had no issues allowing gamespy to continue to provide the multiplayer for the game.

The Steam Version of Borderlands DOES use gamespy last time I played.

Then I guess this just adds even MORE confusion into the mix lol.

 

[Morganan]

Gotta love Gearbox, the company who always relies on "someone else" to handle their multi-player throwing rocks at the people who handle it for them.

Mr. Pitchford should take that golden tongue of his into politics, he would probably be very good at it.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Before Steam and similar platfoms, everyone with a PC copy of Counter-Strike [http://www.amazon.com/QUAKE-Windows/dp/B000H1AGA6/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286738903&sr=1-1] used to be able to play against everyone else. However, the PC market is becoming segmented with games now incorporating programs like Steam and Games for Windows that are incompatible with other types.

And some people call this "progress"...

 

[fulano]

I love how this is like the console wars except in this case it is all about software platforms. Way too funny...

 

[samsonguy920]

Well Steam manages where GFWL fails: maintaining a friends list so you can have buddies to play with. What burns my butt is GFWL running on Steam games: Fallout 3, GTA4, etc...and I swear it slows things down. It would be like me booting up Chrome and alongside it IE boots up as well.
Methinks this is more a call to Microsoft to quit being a moron about its service or it aint gonna get to sell Duke Nukem Forever along with Steam. Good luck with that Gearbox.

 

[Anah'ya]

The Steam Version of Borderlands DOES use gamespy last time I played.

It does. It's hilariously buggy though. But it uses it.

 

[Fire Daemon]

Cross platform play with PC vs consoles would be a disaster, they recently did that with Modern Warfare 2 as I gather and the console players were very much stomped on. It's that added speed and accuracy with a mouse, I didn't think there was that much of a difference if you were used to it but I guess I was wrong.

No they didn't. That never happened, where do you get your information?

What you're thinking of is Shadowrun which allowed for Xbox 360 to GFWL multiplayer, but the game failed horribly on the PC mainly due to it requiring GFWL. The game was shit and the PC servers were actually closed last time I checked, but it didn't fail due to cross-platform balance issues.

Anyway, I've never heard of these problems on the PC before. It doesn't make much sense that if you bought a game on Steam you wont be able to play online against people who bought it in a store.

 

[Snotnarok]

Cross platform play with PC vs consoles would be a disaster, they recently did that with Modern Warfare 2 as I gather and the console players were very much stomped on. It's that added speed and accuracy with a mouse, I didn't think there was that much of a difference if you were used to it but I guess I was wrong.

No they didn't. That never happened, where do you get your information?

What you're thinking of is Shadowrun which allowed for Xbox 360 to GFWL multiplayer, but the game failed horribly on the PC mainly due to it requiring GFWL. The game was shit and the PC servers were actually closed last time I checked, but it didn't fail due to cross-platform balance issues.

Anyway, I've never heard of these problems on the PC before. It doesn't make much sense that if you bought a game on Steam you wont be able to play online against people who bought it in a store.

No, what I'm talking about is Modern Warfare 2, from what I gather there was something set up where they fought eachother pc vs console. It's not something in effect, just something that was set up. I have no links or anything it was word of mouth.

 

[LoganN]

What you're thinking of is Shadowrun which allowed for Xbox 360 to GFWL multiplayer, but the game failed horribly on the PC mainly due to it requiring GFWL. The game was shit and the PC servers were actually closed last time I checked, but it didn't fail due to cross-platform balance issues.

Anyway, I've never heard of these problems on the PC before. It doesn't make much sense that if you bought a game on Steam you wont be able to play online against people who bought it in a store.

Shadowrun still has a large PC following. Not as large are games like Counter-Strike, but you can always find people to play with. In addition to that, there are the console kiddies to play with as well. The servers weren't shut down. It 'failed' on the PC because of the gold requirement to play cross-platform. People took this the wrong way, and thought it meant any multiplayer at all, which wasn't true.

Well Steam manages where GFWL fails: maintaining a friends list so you can have buddies to play with. What burns my butt is GFWL running on Steam games: Fallout 3, GTA4, etc...and I swear it slows things down. It would be like me booting up Chrome and alongside it IE boots up as well.
Methinks this is more a call to Microsoft to quit being a moron about its service or it aint gonna get to sell Duke Nukem Forever along with Steam. Good luck with that Gearbox.

Fallout 3 and GTA4 are NOT Steam games. Steam is loading up with them in that case. GFWL is the client of choice for those two, as well as every other game that uses it. If you don't want a game that uses GFWL on Steam, don't buy it on Steam. Personally, I buy my games that use GFWL from Games on Demand. Gotta keep that shit organized.

As for friends list, both have them. Both have seamless joining and inviting of friends. Steam doesn't have cross-game voice chat. GFWL doesn't have text CHAT, but rather messages.

 

[Unrulyhandbag]

Before Steam and similar platfoms, everyone with a PC copy of Counter-Strike [http://www.amazon.com/QUAKE-Windows/dp/B000H1AGA6/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1286738903&sr=1-1] used to be able to play against everyone else. However, the PC market is becoming segmented with games now incorporating programs like Steam and Games for Windows that are incompatible with other types.

And some people call this "progress"...

and others call it a lie.

Once upon a time, the dev set up servers, gots a third party to or let you set one up yourself , you could play openly.

Now? So long as the dev sets up servers, gets a third party to or lets set up your own then you still can; and if they don't then steam or GFWL can take up the slack.

edit: maybe there's some legal difference once you've signed up to a service but plenty of games are openly playable and to the consumer there is no difference.

 

[vxicepickxv]

Cross platform play with PC vs consoles would be a disaster, they recently did that with Modern Warfare 2 as I gather and the console players were very much stomped on. It's that added speed and accuracy with a mouse, I didn't think there was that much of a difference if you were used to it but I guess I was wrong.

No they didn't. That never happened, where do you get your information?

What you're thinking of is Shadowrun which allowed for Xbox 360 to GFWL multiplayer, but the game failed horribly on the PC mainly due to it requiring GFWL. The game was shit and the PC servers were actually closed last time I checked, but it didn't fail due to cross-platform balance issues.

Anyway, I've never heard of these problems on the PC before. It doesn't make much sense that if you bought a game on Steam you wont be able to play online against people who bought it in a store.

You forgot their other attempt at PC/360 crossover that was epic failure. It was Halo 2. Yes, the PC version of Halo 2 came out AFTER halo 3, and then Microsoft wondered why it failed to do well. It WAS a crossover game, but I'm pretty sure all the Halo 2 servers are shut down now.

 

[LoganN]

Cross platform play with PC vs consoles would be a disaster, they recently did that with Modern Warfare 2 as I gather and the console players were very much stomped on. It's that added speed and accuracy with a mouse, I didn't think there was that much of a difference if you were used to it but I guess I was wrong.

No they didn't. That never happened, where do you get your information?

What you're thinking of is Shadowrun which allowed for Xbox 360 to GFWL multiplayer, but the game failed horribly on the PC mainly due to it requiring GFWL. The game was shit and the PC servers were actually closed last time I checked, but it didn't fail due to cross-platform balance issues.

Anyway, I've never heard of these problems on the PC before. It doesn't make much sense that if you bought a game on Steam you wont be able to play online against people who bought it in a store.

You forgot their other attempt at PC/360 crossover that was epic failure. It was Halo 2. Yes, the PC version of Halo 2 came out AFTER halo 3, and then Microsoft wondered why it failed to do well. It WAS a crossover game, but I'm pretty sure all the Halo 2 servers are shut down now.

And you're wrong. Halo 2 doesn't have cross-platform play, nor are the PC servers down. Shadowrun was Microsoft's only attempt at cross-platform so far. It is far from dead. BlazBlu came out to the PC only last month with cross-platform support. The upcoming Mechwarrior is rumored to have it as well.

 

[Keivz]

Cross platform play with PC vs consoles would be a disaster, they recently did that with Modern Warfare 2 as I gather and the console players were very much stomped on. It's that added speed and accuracy with a mouse, I didn't think there was that much of a difference if you were used to it but I guess I was wrong.

No they didn't. That never happened, where do you get your information?

What you're thinking of is Shadowrun which allowed for Xbox 360 to GFWL multiplayer, but the game failed horribly on the PC mainly due to it requiring GFWL. The game was shit and the PC servers were actually closed last time I checked, but it didn't fail due to cross-platform balance issues.

Anyway, I've never heard of these problems on the PC before. It doesn't make much sense that if you bought a game on Steam you wont be able to play online against people who bought it in a store.

No, what I'm talking about is Modern Warfare 2, from what I gather there was something set up where they fought eachother pc vs console. It's not something in effect, just something that was set up. I have no links or anything it was word of mouth.

This never happened. Please don't spread misinformation. The last cross-platform game released, that comes to mind, was Lost Planet: Colonies Edition. There was a RUMOR that MS tested cross-platform play in general and the PC (kb/m) gamers stomped the console players. But it was only a rumor.

This article is also spreading misinformation. As stated earlier in this thread, the statements presented therein are patently untrue. Shame on the Escapist for publishing it this way.

And I like GFWL The interface is sleek and seamless. I don't have any "connection issues, save issues, login issues, achievement issues" etc. I maintain a healthy friendslist, too. What's not to like?