Microsoft announced today that Games for Windows – Live, the online multiplayer gaming service for Windows that connects Windows gamers to the Xbox LIVE community, is now completely free. "Introducing Games for Windows – LIVE, the free gaming service built for Windows that makes great Windows games even better. With Games for Windows – LIVE, you get an online identity – called a gamertag – and a friends list that works across multiple games, the XBOX 360, and even the Zune music service. You can easily find and communicate with your friends online with text and voice chat. Earn achievements and Gamerscore that lets you track and compare your accomplishments. Play multiplayer games with your friends, or play against new opponents online using our exclusive TrueSkill™ matchmaking system – with other Windows® players or with or against XBOX 360 players. All of this is possible today – and at no charge."
Link: GamesForWindows
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I bought Half Life 2 on CD, installed it and then it wouldn't let me play it until it had updated itself via Steam, which took 2 days!! Then it wouldn't let me play it unless I registered it online and signed in every time I wanted to play. Finally it got the grumps as I reformat my PC every few months as I'm a sucker for trying things that mess up Windows and it started complaining about being pirated!! End result I threw it in the bin and have never bought a Steam connected game since.
I bought Half Life 2 on CD, installed it and then it wouldn't let me play it until it had updated itself via Steam, which took 2 days!! Then it wouldn't let me play it unless I registered it online and signed in every time I wanted to play. Finally it got the grumps as I reformat my PC every few months as I'm a sucker for trying things that mess up Windows and it started complaining about being pirated!! End result I threw it in the bin and have never bought a Steam connected game since.
That's got to suck.. I downloaded The Orange Box (aroung 15gigs) straight to my hard drive and updated completely in 1 hour. I really don't see anything wrong with any of it. Only thing is, I hate having to need an internet connection everytime for HL2..
... and that's why Steam has an offline mode. Admittedly, you do need to have it at the "latest" version (i.e. you can't exit Steam halfway through updating, start it without a connection, and expect it to run the game), but offline mode in general works well for single-player games now.
Personally I like Steam, more so since they introduced the Community features and ironed out all the problems with Steam Friends. It used to be pretty buggy and nasty, but these days I'd much rather have it than not, especially given how handy it is to just be able to join a friend's game in two clicks.
@TickleOnTheTum, just interested - did you reinstall Steam and redownload everything? Because you can just copy the entire Steam folder elsewhere while you reinstall, and run it afterwards (another feature I like). No reinstall needed.
Steam has a feature where you can make it so it doesnt require you to connect to the internet everytime you play the game, of course it does require it for initial registration if you buy the cd but after that you can put it in Offline mode and not hae to worry about connecting.
As far as Games for Windows Live, isnt it esentially Live Gold? I can see this move fracturing Microsoft's customer base as console gamers will feel alienated having to pay for a service that PC gamers get for free...I can see this causeing troubles.
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