Internet Petition Demands Dark Souls Drop GFWL

[MonkeyPunch]

Didn't someone here on the Escapist once write an article mentioning how bad GFWL is?
(I'm too lazy to dig at the moment)

In any case, I can quite understand that people are against GFWL. I have to use that abomination on a regular basis for Street Fighter and it is just terrible. (It signs me out every hour... for no good reason and that's just one of the gripes I have with GFWL)
It really is as if MS couldn't give a fuck about that service. It's totally archaic and never seems to get updated in any meaningful way. It's been the same terrible service for donkeys years now and everyone knows it.

Sort of depressed that another silly petition is being made, but what ever. At this point does anyone take those online petitions seriously any more?

 

[dvd_72]

It'd be like me not having enough cookies, and you not having one. I go bake you a special cookie that takes up a lot of my time and effort. Then, you decide that I didn't use the right chocolate chips in my cookie, and you throw it in my face. Isn't that a bit of a dick move?

Well, if the chocolate chips you used were made of decayed fecal matter, then no, it wouldn't be.

Isn't that kind of trolling? You're throwing a scenario at me designed for me to fail. Obviously, I said "chocolate chips", not "fecal matter".

And what if you where allergic to chocolate?

The time and effort they put into it is all wasted if you can't enjoy the product because a component is so broken you can't use it. Just like I couldn't enjoy the cookie you made because chocolate makes me ill.

 

[w00tage]

...gee, since Steam can "import" games and manage them thereafter (check it out), they don't even have to release it on any distribution network and pay those fees. They can just contract a download service, pay for the download, and (I would guess) trigger the "Add to Steam" feature at the end of the installation.

 

[Nigawatts]

Oh... GFWL? Yeah that's a deal breaker. The only game I ever played with GFWL was Dawn of War 2 and I said Never Again.

 

[Neonit]

...we should just try to be thankful for what we get.

what kind of stupid logic is this? "oh, we should be thankful they are willing to take our (full price i assume) cash and just suck it up if it doesnt work!" because lets be honest, if something doesnt work 99 times, you would be surprised if it would work the 100th time.

gfwl is a well known for being PoS, if they are in gaming industry they know that, and if they dont - then they should just do their damn market research.

yes, people asked for the game. they are "nice" enough to port the game, but releasing it on gfwl? thats pretty much trolling in my eyes, and you can bet your ass that if it wont sell, we will see a lot of articles saying bunch of stupid bs like "pc gaming is dead! piracy lowers the sales of dark souls!"

 

[Plunkies]

Obviously GFWL is terrible, but it's the only way to port the game to PC easily. They have a small budget and a tight schedule, and converting the game to anything else would be too difficult. Just buy this game, deal with GFWL, and hope the NEXT game they release is done with PC in mind.

 

[lacktheknack]

Don't you people see?!
From is against PC gaming Master Race, so they purposely chose GFWL, expecting that we'd become whiny and angry, and by doing so ensuring that PC gaming Master Race will be hated forever, by everyone!

...until any of the console players actually try GFWL.

 

[lacktheknack]

...gee, since Steam can "import" games and manage them thereafter (check it out), they don't even have to release it on any distribution network and pay those fees. They can just contract a download service, pay for the download, and (I would guess) trigger the "Add to Steam" feature at the end of the installation.

That's not what anyone is complaining about.

"Add to Steam" does not magically integrate the online component with Steamworks. People want Steamworks, not Steam.

For comparison, go play Team Fortress 2 on Steamworks, then play Street Fighter IV on GFWL. The difference is like heaven and hell.

 

[lacktheknack]

It'd be like me not having enough cookies, and you not having one. I go bake you a special cookie that takes up a lot of my time and effort. Then, you decide that I didn't use the right chocolate chips in my cookie, and you throw it in my face. Isn't that a bit of a dick move?

Well, if the chocolate chips you used were made of decayed fecal matter, then no, it wouldn't be.

Isn't that kind of trolling? You're throwing a scenario at me designed for me to fail. Obviously, I said "chocolate chips", not "fecal matter".

GFWL is trolling. It IS like placing fecal matter into my chocolate chip cookie.

If the online component of my online-based game (which I've been told Dark Souls is) is one that crashes every three minutes, takes three hours to initialize properly, and has virtually no usable support, then that's fecal chips in my cookie. And that's EXACTLY my experience with GFWL. My ultimate triumph in gaming was modding GFWL the hell out of Fallout 3.

 

[Souplex]

You people can't be happy with the console version so you whine until they release a PC version.
They take a moral stand against Steam, choosing the viable alternative since the market for PC games is so dried up that you simply cannot get hard copies, and you whine.
Why should they cater to you again?

 

[Signa]

Spoiler: Obligatory TotalBiscuit video

I signed it, but I know it won't make a difference purely from a business standpoint. To be able to get everything they're already doing done in the amount of time Namco-Bandai has allotted them, they can't rewrite entirely new netcode. As it stands, they have to write hardly any, they can just port over the 360 code.

I'm just signing it to let them know for their next game, we won't stand for this shit. It's worked before.

*sigh* I'm done. Is it just me, or is every news story nowadays about gamers bitching about *insert topic here*? Is it just me that sees it?

It's called being a responsible consumer. That's how capitalism works. If there's something you don't like about a product, you let the people making it know. Then if enough people complain, they change it.

Despite some of his rambling (seriously, that episode could have been 5 minutes, not 15), he raises some very good points. I just hope that he's right, and next time Namco will grant a better budget for the port so that it can be done right.

 

[Baresark]

I think people are confused. Nowhere does it say the game will not be available on Steam. I'm willing to bet good money it will be since it's the number one digital distribution PC game network. It simply uses GFWL as shitty ass DRM and matchmaking... There are lots of games that use it and are available on Steam. Most recently, Gotham City Impostors. And since the game never allowed you to purposely join a friends game without jumping through massive hoops, it won't even matter that GFWL matchmaking is complete shit.

Using GFWL and being available only the GFWL Marketplace (or whatever it's called now) are two completely different things.

LoL, this comment thread is hilarious.

 

[Weaver]

my favourite part of GFWL is that it encrypts your saves based on a hash generated by your PC. So even if you switch PCs and login with your account, you can't play your saves. Or, if you upgrade, you loose all progress in any GFWL game.

What a convenient and well thought out feature.

I can't help but think that "Steam or no sale" gamers are cutting off their buttons to spite their mice, to coin a somewhat more relevant expression, but props to them for sticking to their guns. And who knows? Given the precedent set by the "we want Dark Souls" petition, maybe Namco will listen to this one too.

Why steam or no sale? Steam is better than GFWL but its hardly what I would call a good platform, that kinda seams like yelling "Origin or no sale', yeah origin is bad but its better than GFWL so lets settle for that. Why don't people demand that they actually use a good platform rather than one that is just less shit.

Because in terms of pre-built matchmaking systems/online systems on the PC you basically have:

1) GFWL
2) Gamespy (kinda)
3) Steamworks (not to be confused with Steam itself)

Steamworks is just superior to the other two options by a long, long ways.

 

[A_Parked_Car]

I don't touch anything that uses GFWL. Any time I have had the "pleasure" of using that service, it makes me want to punch a child.
When I consider GFWL to be "working" simply when I can get into the game and play for a little bit without something horrifying happening then there is a problem. It adds absolutely nothing to the experience of playing the game. While I understand many people's problem with Steam, I certainly like using that service more than GFWL.

 

[Brad Shepard]

IT ISN'T OUT YET!!! How do you know it doesn't work? I have never once had an issue with GFWL.

Ive seen you around, you just go a the away from popular majority don't you? GFWL is terrible, its broken, and people dont like that at all.

 

[Easton Dark]

now they complain about a system that works perfectly fine.

GFWL does not work fine.

It works like shit.

 

[w00tage]

...gee, since Steam can "import" games and manage them thereafter (check it out), they don't even have to release it on any distribution network and pay those fees. They can just contract a download service, pay for the download, and (I would guess) trigger the "Add to Steam" feature at the end of the installation.

That's not what anyone is complaining about.

"Add to Steam" does not magically integrate the online component with Steamworks. People want Steamworks, not Steam.

For comparison, go play Team Fortress 2 on Steamworks, then play Street Fighter IV on GFWL. The difference is like heaven and hell.

Actually, I don't think Steamworks is the issue here. The only reasons to use a distribution platform are to get a sales channel and a version management system (i.e. Steamworks). Since both are doable without a platform, adopting one is a business decision, not a technology one. (Or if you're a publisher like EA, to attempt to segment a population of consumers so you can establish your own little monopoly, making it more of a d*ckmove decision. But that's about 1000 other threads. )

For users, it's a straight "which middleman's crap do we have to put up with to get our game" issue. I was pointing out that there is no reason for users to have to put up with anyone's crap, the game can be released through direct purchase and download, and if users really want it "on Steam", they have the option of adding it to their Steam library manually.

(As a matter of fact, it would be interesting if users could DETACH a purchased game from its distribution platform and attach it to another. Wouldn't THAT be some power in the hands of us consumers.)

As for your recommendation that I actually allow that creeping infestation of crud known as GFWL onto a computer I want to remain stable and useful, I'm afraid I must decline.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Damn these entitled losers now they complain about a system that works perfectly fine.

1) stop using useless ellipsis.

2) Have you ever actually used GFWL? You sound like someone who owns a console, and as such, doesn't actually know what the issue is.