Digital Game Distribution Coming To Games For Windows Live

Great until Microcock get fed up with it and turn off the DRM servers, it wouldn't be the first time. Anyone who buys off this needs their head examined.

It sure is devious

I wondered how long it would take. So if I enter my GFWL key, I can download my game?
 
If so, ozcdkeys and cdkeysdirect will finally get more of my business.
 
Also from an achievement perspective, I'd take GFWL ones anyday.

" @Buccura: Yes, you can get Achievement Points off of GFWL games bought on Steam.  Dawn of War II requires Steam, and gives me points. "

Give me... 
 
Halo 3 
Gears 2 
Fable 2 
GTA 4 DLC 
 
Then I'll want to use it.

GFWL ain't got shit on Steam.

It's about time but it's also probably too little, too late.

Too little, too late.

Steam has awesome deals, my money is worth more then my gamerscore which adds nothing to real-life accomplishments.
Steam has a great community, my friends all use Steam in some way or shape and it's a great way to join in on games or talk to them while I'm playing a different game.
Steam has served me well for over 6 years, GFWL hasn't even begun WORKING well - yet alone serving me well.

The only good thing about this, is that it adds a new competitor on the market. This means Steam might have to put out more, to stay on top of their game. We'll see though, time will tell.

I have my friends on steam and so on i'll just stick to that for now. :)

" This service will fail.  As a primarily PC gamer I can tell you that the GFWL brand is like nails over a chalkboard for anyone that's been following the charade for the last couple years.   GFWL  promised to bring PC gaming back as a serious platform bla bla bla and Microsoft dumped it (and us) like yesterday's garbade.  Microsoft finally wants to woo the PC gamers now?  Pfft.  Thanks a ton for remembering us when Fable and Halo 3 came out... oh wait.  You want to buy PC games from a company that doesn't even release its own games on PC AND develops the platform OS?  No thanks, its steam for me. "

GTA: Lost and Damned achievements on PC just made a whole lot of sense ;).

Steam achievements don't add to your gamerscore, easy decision.

I hate games for windows live, now they want to sell games? Lol, not buying it unless it's in stores or on steam.

This service will fail.  As a primarily PC gamer I can tell you that the GFWL brand is like nails over a chalkboard for anyone that's been following the charade for the last couple years.   GFWL  promised to bring PC gaming back as a serious platform bla bla bla and Microsoft dumped it (and us) like yesterday's garbade.  Microsoft finally wants to woo the PC gamers now?  Pfft.  Thanks a ton for remembering us when Fable and Halo 3 came out... oh wait.  You want to buy PC games from a company that doesn't even release its own games on PC AND develops the platform OS?  No thanks, its steam for me.

" @Tampolini said:

" Seems like a relatively low risk gamble for Microsoft. Aside from a bit of bandwidth I don't suppose this attempt to dabble in the digital download market will cost them anything. You have to wonder why they've not tried it sooner though??? "

They still have to pay people to do the work.  Those are wages that could be spent elsewhere. "

" Those Microsoft guys... they're gonna make it big one of these days. "

I admit it: This makes me glad I didn't buy Osmos when it was on sale on Steam last week. GFWL Achievements > Steam Achievements, even if Steam is a better PC service. Gotta add to that Gamerscore!

Steam >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>....................>>>>>>.....>>>>.......... GFWL 
 
But really, GFWL doesn't have a shot. You can't do something like this and expect it to work. You're going up against a well established competitor that has millions of users, a thousand+ games and about 6 or 7 years under it's belt. It's just not doable.  
 
It'd be like the PS4 coming out in 2010 and then the 720 decides to hit in 2016 (with roughly the same technical specs as the PS4), it wouldn't do anything.

Seriously, a lot of GFWs titles are on Steam already so, why bother. Unless you can't get LIVE Achievements in the steam versions of GFWL games. Can you?

Hey, good luck with that. Watch what your competitor does and then do it better.

" Steam is better because:  A) I have an account on it B) Steam is a better name C) GWFL IS FOR N00BZ D) Steam has awesome adverts flashing across your screen E) RIIIIIDGE RAACER "

Competition is good for us as Steam no doublt will start doing an even better job to keep us spending money with them. 
Also Microsoft not just buying out steam, then destroying it is also a big plus.

Steam is addicting, thats true.

" Seems like a relatively low risk gamble for Microsoft. Aside from a bit of bandwidth I don't suppose this attempt to dabble in the digital download market will cost them anything. You have to wonder why they've not tried it sooner though??? "

Another avenue for digital distribution is great. Competition, woo hoo! Also, ACHIEVEMENTS

Sorry, gfwl I have very little faith in you. I wish you the best of luck but, frankly I'm pulling for  Steam. 

GFWL or a hot stick in my eye?

Considering they have botched nearly every aspect of GFWL I don't have high hopes. Yet increased competition in the digital distribution sector will only help drive down prices. So go for it!

Pass on that, rather stick with Steam. GFWL has been a shitty ass and dated service since its made its debut with DoW2, and it's barely even functional in the rest of the games.

" Typical price of a brand new PC game on Steam: £35 Typical price to have a physical copy delivered to my house: £25  It's not like I feel any loyalty toward Steam.  If Microsoft (or anybody) can beat the delivered price then I'll consider switching to digital distrubution, until then I don't see the point for anything other than the mega-cheap deals. "

What I want more than this is for them to connect all their "Live" brand shit. Right now, the only way to check my 360 messages (voice and pictures) is to start up a GFWL game and use the in-game overlay thing. If I go to the xbox site it says I can't view the images or listen to the recordings. The GFWL desktop software doesn't support any of this. Windows Live Messenger doesn't either. Also, why isn't this stuff just going into my Hotmail account? The accounts are linked.
 
That's what bugs me more than anything about the "Live" stuff. Until my 360 friends list shows up in Live Messenger and my 360 messages go into my Hotmail - where I can look at the pics and listen to the voice messages - they're doing it wrong.

Gosh I was just thinking yesterday why GFWL is fail, and the proves it more, they don't put shit loads of content there they have like 3 demos a little DLC for 5 games I think and now what 2 games on demand. This is outrageous and a waste of time.

They will overprice their games, I'm sure. It's a bit late to be throwing their hats into the market, with Steam, D2D and other dig dist sites years ahead of them. 
 
How bout fixing GFWL and making it something presentable instead of tacking on money making mini-features.

This could be interesting, competition is always good tough i don't expect much from Microsoft, steam works pretty well and from i hear Windows Live not so much...
 
PS: Also Osmos is awesome buy it.

I, more often than not, like to play RPG's on my PC. But if they have achievements and are still VERY playable on the Xbox 360, then I'll buy it for that platform. 
 
I hope GFWL get's Dragon age: Origin's in it's games catalogue. :-) 
 
@TheKidNixon:   I'm in tandem with both PC and Xbox 360. 
(Only because I had to send in my PC to get it fixed for whatever reason, and found out that I had to get my gaming fix in while I waited for it to come back. Then found out something even stranger... I was an elitist PC gamer betraying my sensbilities and friend's. Xbox Live is pretty damn cool aswell!)

who knows, by the time the update hits Reactor Zero might have actually patched some of the launch day bugs from September in Red Faction like broken 5.1 surround, running at hyper speed in Windows 7, 360 controller moving at different speeds, turret controls running at different speeds ...

World of Goo with achievements? SOLD!

Competition is good, but so's intention.  Valve, like Google, seems good at balancing the interests of the various parties that utilize their systems.  Steam doesn't seem to benefit the publisher any more than the consumer, and compared to the offerings on XBL and PSN, Steam feels a lot more price friendly toward the customer. 
 
Microsoft's strategy with Live on the 360 has seemed to be figuring out how to make the most money off of their player base without pissing the majority off.  Using Gold memberships to create artificial value over content and features that are free on other platforms.  Hamstringing publishers (including Valve and Epic) from releasing free content, insisting that gamers pay for something.  In other words, Microsoft isn't a company that started as a games developer and grew into a digital distribution powerhouse--they're a software publisher that is keen on securing as many ways to profit from the overall business as possible.  Their moves toward digital distribution might make Steam more competitive, but that's the only upside here that I see.   

I thought GFWL already sold games :/ 

Awesome. Instead of improving functionality of the system as a whole, just add shit that will make them money.
 
I think I'll stick to steam.

Seems like a relatively low risk gamble for Microsoft. Aside from a bit of bandwidth I don't suppose this attempt to dabble in the digital download market will cost them anything. You have to wonder why they've not tried it sooner though???

So if I buy a game on GFWL instead of Steam, does that mean my gf can't watch netflix on 360 while I play the game on PC?
 
No thanks.    

Whats funny is that Red Faction: Guerrilla doesnt even support windows 7 yet. I bought the game on the steam sale (THQ Pack) and after it kept crashing due to windows live, i went to the support forums on THQ that states the game doesnt support the newest Microsoft OS yet...

This is all fine and well as long as they don't pay for exclusivity. The only download service I use is Steam, because I've already gotten so many games through them, I like almost everything about the way it works, and I don't want to have to remember which service I used to download what game (nor have to worry about what happens when they go out of business, as many of the lesser-used services would seem sketchy).
 
If the GFWL service ends up splitting the PC community even further, I'm going to stop buying PC games. Then, even worse for Microsoft, I'd have little to no reason to use their operating system, as I find a decent Linux distro or, one better, Mac OS X, better as a day-to-day operating system.
 
If anything, my argument is that the thing holding back gaming on PCs is a lack of unity. Microsoft has the most half-assed in-built support for it in Windows, as if they don't realize how lucky they are to have such exclusivity when it comes to the majority of games releases. The potential for money is the only reason I see Microsoft competing against Steam. Since Gabe is a former Microsoft employee, and the relationship between companies seems pretty good, it would seem like a good idea to partner up and integrate the service directly into the OS, were it not for the money (and possibly some ridiculous anti-trust lawsuit shite).

Another Digital Distribution platform... So now we have Steam, Impulse, Game Tap, and ...GFWL? Wait I think I missed one. Why are they still pushing this crap anyway? I don't get it. GFWL has been so poorly executed at every step of the process I can't take it seriously, or see it as anything other than a huge failure if it a serious attempt.