Goodbye, Games for Windows Live? Xbox Live Inside Windows 8

Hmm Sony is basically going to advertising the Xbox brand with every PC they sell.

@617_jbug said:

@wickedsc3: It looks like the new Xbox Dashboard coming out later this year but they haven't put any info out there.

Its Microsofts attempt to overhaul all major platforms with the Metro UI, just look up metro ui stuff if you want to get a little bit more info.

They market Live for W8 by claiming multiplayer is a new thing only possible through Live. Won't be surprised if they stick it to Steam and Steamworks the best they can.

So is this just a service or also a storefront? Because Windows 8 already has the Windows (App) Store, and they could probably sell games through that.

wait so are they going to try to charge me to play games online... from my computer? also is it going to be as terrible as games for windows.

@Axleisbored: If I had to guess, you'll have GFWL features for free, and extra's for the same fee as XBL. ie, if you have a 360, and pay for XBL, you already have XBL on the PC. They were smart about it once, why would they go back on that? It was the only thing they did RIGHT with GFWL.

@BaneFireLord said:

I wonder what this means for things like Steam and OnLive?

business as usual

I wonder if they're going to try to make the price a carry-over thing as well...

@MrKlorox said:

Oh rebranding. It worked out so well for EA with Origin, right?

You forgot to add BOOYA at the end of your statement.

I wonder if MS will try to shove ads into the users' faces through the new Metro interface on PC like they do on XBL. It'd be an entertaining shitstorm.

I actually think this is a smart move by Microsoft. It's going to integrate Xbox Live into then phone, xbox, and now PC. A uniformed system is really nice if done correctly. Especially if XBL games carry over to the PC. It'd be great if now I can just buy an XBL game with cloud storage be able to carry my saves inbetween my 360 and my PC.

I think I'm like someone looking over his fence as his neighbor redoes his lawn. You're interested to see what's going to happen.

I don't think we've seen any evidence to prove that XBL gaming is possible on Windows 8. I mean would i theoretically, really be able to play the Halo Reach i bought on XBL on my PC? I think this will be nothing more than just the ability to shop on the PC for games usable on the console that have been sent to the download queue.

Taking bets: who thinks they'll try to charge a sub fee for PC multiplayer now? You can also double down and say that after the massive consumer backlash forces them to strip the fees, they'll try to paint it as charity and goodwill.

@Napalm said:

@ashkanhoss29 said:

We need a new operating system to replace Windows as the primary PC gaming platform.

It's too bad most developers won't touch Linux. I don't blame them either.

Would Linux be a good OS for something like that?

It certainly is possible. But right now most who run Linux have an expectation that everything that runs under the OS is open source and free, so retail games have never been able to succeed on it.

Also from my experience almost all distributions of Linux (not just the kernel) have been too buggy and unreliable to use as a primary GUI desktop environment, let alone for video games.

I'm not a fan of Linux, but even those who I have met who love Linux have agreed that it isn't a very good platform for gaming right now. Of course that could change with some developer and industry support.

Wow that's actually kind of awesome. Props to microsoft.

What utter nonsense. I'd be all like, "gee MS, how did you make my PC go back 6 generations of video card, 6 years backwards in time and....what's that? It's not an Xbox? But it says Xbox Live right here on the screen, and everything!"

The only other thing I'll say, I've been a PC gamer since I had Spacewar on a 5.25" floppy, and in all that time, I've never actually seen this Games For Windows Live thing, and only have a vague notion that it's like a bad website where MS tries to sell games.

About damn time.

I'm pretty Ok with this

Don't make it bloated, don't force devs to use your horrific matchmaking system, and don't you fucking DARE attempt to make PC gamers pay for fucking gold access to play games based in it again, and everything will be ok...

It sounds like they're making it so that Windows 8 is making PCs Xbox360s. Just the act of booting the system will sign you in so you're always connected to Live as long as you're connected to the Internet could be cool. Now they just need to make it so that all your Games For Windows games are integrated into the system so you can redownload them from the games on demand even if you bought them on Steam without buying them again.

@Kordesh said:

Don't make it bloated, don't force devs to use your horrific matchmaking system, and don't you fucking DARE attempt to make PC gamers pay for fucking gold access to play games based in it again, and everything will be ok...

You'll have to pay for Xbox Live just as you currently do, to play games on the service... If a game chooses to create it'sown systems then that's fine, that's how games work now. Forcing developers to use systems is really the only way those system grow and become better, it's the soul reason for Live's success. You have to build in hooks if you want to be a part of the system, imagine if all PC games used steamworks rather than like 5... think of how nice it would be etc. Well that exists, on 360 right now and hopefully on PC with the inclusion of these great features in win8. No one is forcing anything, but if you want to actually use the services Microsoft provides they are, and should, force you to support them fully and properly so the users experience across it all, is great.

As far as bloat, Win8 is going the the opposite direction, running less services and being a lot smaller/snappier than before. Win7 started this movement and win8 continues it.

@zombie2011 said:

Hmm Sony is basically going to advertising the Xbox brand with every PC they sell.

Isn't that pretty much what they've been doing? Microsoft is Microsoft.

So MS is rebranding GFWL as the one thing in the world that could possibly be worse than GFWL? They've already tried pay-for-online PC gaming before and failed miserably, so I'm not sure what they're trying to accomplish with this, but whatever it is I'm sure it's draconian and awful.

@DJJoeJoe said:

@Kordesh said:

Don't make it bloated, don't force devs to use your horrific matchmaking system, and don't you fucking DARE attempt to make PC gamers pay for fucking gold access to play games based in it again, and everything will be ok...

You'll have to pay for Xbox Live just as you currently do, to play games on the service... If a game chooses to create it'sown systems then that's fine, that's how games work now. Forcing developers to use systems is really the only way those system grow and become better, it's the soul reason for Live's success. You have to build in hooks if you want to be a part of the system, imagine if all PC games used steamworks rather than like 5... think of how nice it would be etc. Well that exists, on 360 right now and hopefully on PC with the inclusion of these great features in win8. No one is forcing anything, but if you want to actually use the services Microsoft provides they are, and should, force you to support them fully and properly so the users experience across it all, is great.

As far as bloat, Win8 is going the the opposite direction, running less services and being a lot smaller/snappier than before. Win7 started this movement and win8 continues it.

Microsoft doesn't even have a good justification for the subscription to begin with. The whole thing is marketing. Marketing in the sense that it gives the illusion of the service being superior simply because it costs money and therefore is 'premium', and marketing in that they have managed to get some people to believe that so fervently, that they accept the price and go so far as to defend it and market it themselves. Their justification has always been the ancillary "services" they provide which most people never asked for in the first place. I couldn't care less about support for facebook, twitter, netflix, or the number of other 3rd parties they piled into the system (all of which generate ad revenue might I add), and they provide nothing but really poor matchmaking code so far as the actual multiplayer goes. They tried the whole Gold for LIVE on PC when they first introduced Games for Windows LIVE, and it was a mess. All they did was strip out major features that have always been a part of PC gaming, and slapped a pay gate in front of it. Fortunately because of this, many of those games completely tanked, and devs didn't take interest in adopting it, so they backed off on it. Even still, with the multiplayer being free in it's current iteration, most developers are heavily hesitant to adopt it because of the horrible reputation it's received amongst the PC community for having a poor matchmaking system, often lacking a server browser, and overall being bloated and unnecessary.

You said it yourself, PC already has a unifying platform in Steam that does what LIVE wants to do on the PC, only eclipsing LIVE in every conceivable way. If MS wants to try to charge for Gold again, and use your justification of "well if the developer is using their resources, people should have to pay" then that's fine. It will also be fine when nobody buys those piss poor games once again...

Sounds good to me, more achievements and being able to get in party chats on my pc will be great.

I'm guessing its gonna be the same GFWL with a different name.

Anyone else depressed that they're already talking about Windows 8?

My prediction is that this will be terrible. If it's anything like the Xbox live we know now, it'll be hamstrung with the same restrictions live currently has, like the friends list and limited UI. If Microsoft wants a gaming initiative to be successful on the PC I think they need to design it from the ground up for the PC instead of porting the "xbox experience" over.

Come to think of it, this was obvious ever since they implemented Xbox Live into Windows Phone 7.

I wonder if they're expecting us to pay a monthly fee. Fuggedaboutit

A step in the right direction if they remove that crappy service.

So basically they're renaming Games for Windows Live

Operating systems with monthly fees? Windows 7 is treating me absolutely perfect so far, I've no intention to upgrade :P

Just waiting for microsoft to officially integrate an xbox/xbox 360 emulator into windows 8, and bridge the gab between both systems. Which, microsoft has hinted at just a few months back. God, think of the hardware required.

If they plan to put some fees, they know what will happen. Rakes, rakes everywhere. And a lot of blood.

@FreakAche said:

I like achievement points. I like PC games. So sure, why not?

I have absolutely no problem with this. But sure as hell PC gaming means "Steam" (+Blizzard) to me.

@zombie2011 said:

Hmm Sony is basically going to advertising the Xbox brand with every PC they sell.

Yeah they should probably start focusing more on software too. Maybe include a PSN equivalent in their computers.

No biggie, as long as it's integration is not a requirement for games.

Then I don't have to use their shit service, whatever it's name may be.

The only three encounters I've had with GFWL were

• Fallout 3, which was bullshit that it needed it.
• Gears of War, which did ok untill the whole certificate fiasco that rendered that game useless for a month causing me to quit playing entirely. Not GFWLs' fault.
• Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition, in which GFWL works pretty well except for the fact that with a P2 controller I can't FUCKING ACCESS IT. Need to plug in and out all my other stuff to make my stick player 1 before I can use the Home screen.

@Tennmuerti said:

No biggie, as long as it's integration is not a requirement for games.

Then I don't have to use their shit service, whatever it's name may be.

That's the whole point man, it will end up being a requirement. MS needs to push Steam out of the way on the PC desktop. VALVe has already proved that they can quite easily push into the console service space and MS will not deal with a competitor. Why do you think EA has made so much noise about Steam? EA is the only MS partner on the 360 who uses their own servers. They have a deeply rooted investment in MS's ongoing success in the service space. It's extra weird when you remember that EA is publishing VALVe's games on console. The whole thing is really dodgy and filled with backroom deals.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Tennmuerti said:

No biggie, as long as it's integration is not a requirement for games.

Then I don't have to use their shit service, whatever it's name may be.

That's the whole point man, it will end up being a requirement. MS needs to push Steam out of the way on the PC desktop. VALVe has already proved that they can quite easily push into the console service space and MS will not deal with a competitor. Why do you think EA has made so much noise about Steam? EA is the only MS partner on the 360 who uses their own servers. They have a deeply rooted investment in MS's ongoing success in the service space. It's extra weird when you remember that EA is publishing VALVe's games on console. The whole thing is really dodgy and filled with backroom deals.

If it becomes a requirement I will be among the first to pick up a pitchfork.

Currently however they have not shown any signs that this will be the case at least in Win8. We would have most likely heard such things from devs already if it was the case. Such a move also does not seem like a sound strategy from a business perspective for them in any case, it will create a monumentous backlash as a minimum, it will open up a legal can of worms (IE debacle will seem like sunshine and rainbows), it might also disturb the status quo of Win being the de facto PC gaming OS.

I really really don't see them pulling such a stunt right now, not with Win8 at least. As for future, who can say?

Good. Hopefully between this and Origin, Valve will be forced to be honest rather than keep bullying publishers like they did to EA out of greed over "taxing" their DLC (which Valve did nothing to earn). Anything to keep Steam from being the monopoly Valve is so desperately trying to create and to stop them from causing an otherwise inevitable jump in DLC prices we will see down this current path.

I don't really care for this. I'll stick with Steam. I can't even recall the last time I logged into my Xbox Live account. I would say Fable 3 but I'm pretty sure I played that under my brothers account on his 360. Anyway yeah giving me more fake meaningless numbers on a profile i don't use doesn't make me want to move away from Steam.

The only three encounters I've had with GFWL were

• Fallout 3, which was bullshit that it needed it.

IF IT WORKS then im cool with this. The main problem with GFWL was it was a flaky piece of shit than kept smearing stains all over my fav games on the PC.

I hope that Mircosoft realizes they missed the boat on a gaming platform for PC, and allows this new Xbox Live branch to run easily on top of game from other services.

If they don't fill it full of DRM, and just add support for developers to add the Xbox hooks to games they sell on steam, than that would be great.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Tennmuerti said:

No biggie, as long as it's integration is not a requirement for games.

Then I don't have to use their shit service, whatever it's name may be.

That's the whole point man, it will end up being a requirement. MS needs to push Steam out of the way on the PC desktop. VALVe has already proved that they can quite easily push into the console service space and MS will not deal with a competitor. Why do you think EA has made so much noise about Steam? EA is the only MS partner on the 360 who uses their own servers. They have a deeply rooted investment in MS's ongoing success in the service space. It's extra weird when you remember that EA is publishing VALVe's games on console. The whole thing is really dodgy and filled with backroom deals.

I see what you did there... Iluminatis are up to take down steam

whatch out Gabe, watch out..

@English said:

. If Microsoft wants a gaming initiative to be successful on the PC I think they need to design it from the ground up for the PC instead of porting the "xbox experience" over.

This actually makes sense

Ah. WIndows 8 only 360 emulator just sounded too good.

Rebranding, yay I guess?