Microsoft Pledges to Save PC Gaming, Again

[WickedSkin]

The ony thing GFWL means is that sooner or later you are going to have to pay for online PC gaming. Keep the PC platform more open and don't give way to GFWL. DRM and things like GFWL cocks everything up for anyone who wants to play when not connected or do a litte moding... or a lot. The only thing that can save PC gaming is keeping it PC gaming. Consolization is not the way to go. Looking at you L4D and COD: MW2... amongst others.

Proper PC gaming is far superior to console gaming.

 

[obisean]

When I first heard about GfWL, I thought it was a great idea. Connecting (sort of) your console to your PC with the GamerTag was a good idea. I loved being able to get achievements and increase the GamerScore (I'm not an achievement whore, my 16k points proves that, I just thought it was a cool idea) without using my 360. Then they tried to make it a DRM and content host, that's when it failed. Leave the DRM and content hosting to places like Steam and Impulse. GfWL is a great idea in theory, and will actually sell games to people just because they are achievement whores, but not as the atrocious monstrosity that it is.

Make it lighter, make it faster, and GfWL will be purchased by companies just for the fact that achievement whores will buy it. I can almost promise that.

The ony thing GFWL means is that sooner or later you are going to have to pay for online PC gaming. Keep the PC platform more open and don't give way to GFWL. DRM and things like GFWL cocks everything up for anyone who wants to play when not connected or do a litte moding... or a lot. The only thing that can save PC gaming is keeping it PC gaming. Consolization is not the way to go. Looking at you L4D and COD: MW2... amongst others.

Proper PC gaming is far superior to console gaming.

What was so bad about L4D? I felt it was always meant for PC.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I think you misread the document Andy, it's more of Micro$oft banking the PC rather than saving it.

Seriously, the best thing they could do to save it is, like Kotick, to bugger off.

 

[Morgan3rd]

You are 3 years too late MS.

Steam is becoming the mecca of PC gaming. There are a few holdouts (blizzard, RTS gaming). But pretty much everybody is hoping on board, indie devs too.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

I think Microsoft realized the key to it's monopoly on operating systems relies too much on gaming. You can argue all you want that the Mac OS X and Linux are far superior, but that doesn't mean much when their game libraries are small to nonexistent. So you choose Windows, or you dual boot with Windows, if you have any interest in gaming on your computer. With PC gaming slowly declining, Apple and Linux are gaining ground with gaming being less important, which is in turn making more developers make Mac ports, making things even worse for MS.

So when Microsoft says they want to save PC (Windows) gaming, i'm inclined to believe them.

 

[deadguynotyetburied]

I feel so left out. Was PC gaming in danger?

 

[Tourette]

I tend not to believe anything Microsft has to say as it's normally the oposite.

 

[DSK-]

PC gaming doesn't need to be saved. The only thing that it's missing are the titles that are being released as exclusives for the likes of the 360 and PS3; as well as gamers being crippled by DRM.

 

[tzimize]

The massive trainwreck that was GFWL has convinced me to take this with an entire ocean of salt, but you never know, there's hope.

Although I'm betting that this "Save PC Gaming" really means "Put all games on Windows 7 and add DRM"

Hehe. Ocean of salt. And yes, I agree. Gfwl makes my brain bleed.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I actually found GFWL was a fine idea that could've worked with more support. >.>

 

[shaboinkin]

You want to know how to really revive PC gaming?

First.
We need a large well renown company that publicly announces that all PC gaming myths are false. You don't need $3000 for a gaming computer. You can play with a controller if you don't like the mouse keyboard. You can set your PC up to your TV if you still want the console experience. Etc...

Second.
Since people these days now jack shit about what's in their computers. We all get together and tell Intel to stop putting shitty integrated graphics in everything they can. Start to get ATI and Nvidia to cover all graphics relating things whether it's integrated or dedicated. Anything is better than Intels shit.


Third.
To take that point further, provide a easy way to tell consumers if said laptop/PC is meant for gaming. AMD has done this..or at least tried to but this is something that needs to be on a massive scale. Put a big ass sticky note on the computer that says "LOOK AT ME!! I CAN PLAY THE LATEST GAMES!!" or "HEY!! LOOK AT ME!! I CAN ONLY TO BASIC DAY-TO-DAY TASKS!"

Fourth.
Make some damn games FOR the PC. Not for consoles then port it to the PC. When you port, you get mad people. Most of my problems when I try to play a game on my computer is because of a port.

Fifth.
Developers need to start supporting modders. Look at what happened in COD4 for PC. The modders made all sorts of crazy shit that got put into MW2, which if I'm not mistaken, sold quite a bit.

That's all I got for the moment.

 

[Mercurio128]

Yay! I got DoW 2! time to kill me some ork scum! ok, I'll just install that, ok, run game, ok. Oh I need to what now? create a what account? fine, 'inputs information', do I want to sync with my xbox gamertag? Hells yeah I do, 'inputs more data', right now let's play!

=error-cannot connect to GFWL=

ummm what? I just did that, didn't I? OK maybe offline mode will work....

=error must log in to GFWL=

WHAT? I AM LOGGED IN!! arghh. Ok I'll try this again... 'quits out, reloads' .. Ok then time log in,

=ERROR, HOPE DETECTED, ACTIVATING IMMEDIATE SYSTEM CRASH MODE=

-blank screen-

shit

 

[Mercurio128]

I actually found GFWL was a fine idea that could've worked with more support. >.>

BURN THE HERETIC!

'ahem'

I politely disagree, I feel that the almost unlimited funds at their disposal should have been support enough. You can't make a mediocre musician play like a virtuoso just by shovelling cash at him. someone actually needs to have talent somewhere in the equation.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

BURN THE HERETIC!

'ahem'

I politely disagree, I feel that the almost unlimited funds at their disposal should have been support enough. You can't make a mediocre musician play like a virtuoso just by shovelling cash at him. someone actually needs to have talent somewhere in the equation.

Well maybe I'm biased because I use GFWL a lot because I play DOW2 and Chaors Rising. But essentially GFWL is online DRM to stop pirates, it acts in a way like steam and I personally liked a gaming account that incorporated PC games ans Xbox games.

But yes it was very lacking at points... No party support was quite abysmal and there were nowhere near enough good games.

...and halo 2 being vista only was a stupid and ridiculous idea...

But still the 3(Or 4 depending on how you view DOW2:CR) games I own that use GFWL really aren't bad. PC is my RTS platform and I do hope GFWL keeps going with more games released.

 

[Silver Patriot]

The only thing that's broken in PC gaming is things like Games for Windows Live, and about the only way to fix it is to make it go away.

So then what does that make piracy? If anything, STEAM has roughly the same function as GFWL, but Steam does it a hell of a lot better than Microsoft can ever imagine.

Release gears of war 1-3 in a trilogy set for 70$, release Halo in the same way, start porting all your titles to PC........ assholes......... your the reason why mainstream PC gaming has declined.......

As if Epic, let alone Bungie would care enough to port their games to the PC unless they had some real incentive to. And even then, they'd probably be all half-assed ports with Games for Shitty Windows Live Support.

I wouldn't blame Bungie or Epic for Microsoft's desision.

The massive trainwreck that was GFWL has convinced me to take this with an entire ocean of salt, but you never know, there's hope.

Although I'm betting that this "Save PC Gaming" really means "Put all games on Windows 7 and add DRM"

Sorry if this sounds stupid but could they lock out or hinder Steam on Windows?

 

[TheMadJack]

Last I checked games on windows didn't need saving. What does need saving is Microsoft's share of it.

This isn't M$'s attempt to resuscitate gaming on the PC. Oh no. They want a piece of the pie, make more money, like they need more, and integrate themselves more and more into each... into EVERYTHING frankly. If they could they'd buy Valve and get Steam at the same time (mostly for Steam I think). That could easily replace GFWL, which is utter crap, and go on distributing and reaping the benefits.

No. Gaming on the PC doesn't need a savior, much less Microsoft. They should concentrate on working on their OS period.

What gaming on the PC needs is more developers like VALVe, iD, Bethesda, Ubisoft (even though I profoundly hate them for their DRM), and a few others. If every developers acted like those mentioned above, the gaming industry would flourish like it never has.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

The massive trainwreck that was GFWL has convinced me to take this with an entire ocean of salt, but you never know, there's hope.

Although I'm betting that this "Save PC Gaming" really means "Put all games on Windows 7 and add DRM"

Exactly what I just thought.
I find this doubtful.

 

[rebus_forever]

The massive trainwreck that was GFWL has convinced me to take this with an entire ocean of salt, but you never know, there's hope.

Although I'm betting that this "Save PC Gaming" really means "Put all games on Windows 7 and add DRM"

Sorry if this sounds stupid but could they lock out or hinder Steam on Windows?

Technically, they could, but I'd imagine if they did, Valve would sue the living fuck out of them. And probably win, too.

id be outside the courtroom cheering : D