Comments on: Unangst on Games for Windows’ Year One.

By: pijama

pijama — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:47:04 +0000

Easier said than done, mate. It’s the old problem all over again – the great majority of the suits aren’t gamers and thus don’t understand why we are so pissed off at this outrageous BS.

By: Tak

Tak — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:11:14 +0000

Part of the problem I see is they haven’t really ‘created’ anything for the PC. They just took XBL and ported it to Windows (poorly, at that). If you want people to use GFWL:

- Drop the Gold-only benefits to a smaller level. Make cross-platform play be a Gold benefit, or something. Multiplayer games types (ranked or otherwise) shouldn’t be charged for, at all. That’s standard fare on the PC, and if you want to charge for we’ll stick to things that don’t.

- USE WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE ON THE SYSTEM. Tie in to MSN messenger instead of the clunky GFWL list. Something like Valves overlay is a great model. MS only ever seems to copy what is most popular at the time anyway, so it’s not like you’d be setting some horrible precedent.

- Integrate the system into the game menus more. ‘Home’ to open GFWL menu is annoying. If the game ships GFWL-enabled (not GFW branded) it’s a given that it’s going to be the multitplayer hook-up, so just tidy it into the menu options.

- DO NOT tie every part of the single player experience to a networked account. Don’t require someone to log in to save if the just want to hop on to mess around in single player. Doing so makes your product inconvenient, and it will lose out when deciding what to waste ten minutes on because of that.

I’m sure anyone who has actually spent more than two minutes gaming on the PC can think of more, and better, ideas of how GFWL could not be such a fluster-cluck.

By: Fazer

Fazer — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:10:06 +0000

“It goes back to things we’ve learned. Going out of the gate, we weren’t as clear as we should have been that Games for Windows Live on the PC is free. You don’t have to pay for Gold. (…) Anybody can get a free Silver account on the PC, and if I want to play all my friends on Gears of War on the PC it won’t cost me anything. Our challenge is to be clear on the message we’re not charging for Games for Windows Live.”

At first I understood that I don’t need to pay for Gold = the Gold subscription is free. Then I realised it should be like this: I don’t have to pay for Gold = unless I want to play online. Which sucks big time.

By: Dorian Cornelius Jasper

Dorian Cornelius Jasper — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 03:22:49 +0000

Incognito:

This brings to mind a damned good whimsical thought for the day.

“PC Gaming Alliance announced: Valve restructures itself as new Justice League.”

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:16:06 +0000

Didn’t it make you think paying for Windows Live might be worth it?

By: Cruz

Cruz — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:46:44 +0000

I wish someone would ask him about Universe at War availing ingame rewards to Gold members, or the lack of the dedicated servers that PC gamers know and love, or just the limited choices of game types (no ranked games in Kane and Lynch or Gears of War for Silver members. Paint that in a way that helps PC gaming.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:20:26 +0000

HooHoo: I was going to blog that a bit later actually.

By: RichPowers

RichPowers — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:28:53 +0000

GFWL has a one insurmountable problem: it was created by inept Microsoft execs/marketingdroids. Therefore, PC gamers will never trust the system because it was never designed with their needs in mind. It was designed to lock people into the Windows Universe.

MS also has a bad habit of confusing consumers with excessive product editions. Vista has something like six versions. GFWL has two versions: silver and gold. Steam only has one version: awesome. (Don’t roll your eyes at me!)

But I wouldn’t be surprised if MS leverages its Windows dominance to force people into GFWL somehow. Just like it did with DX10.

Like I’ve been saying, having MS as a member of The Alliance (Arrested Development reference anyone?) is a joke, considering how the company has gone out of its way to tarnish PC gaming. It’d be like me burning down a building, showing up in fireman’s garb 5 minutes later, and proudly proclaiming how I am in fact saving the day.

By: Robin

Robin — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:48:31 +0000

“Kevin Unangst: One, we need to make it clearer you don’t have to pay to play… Two, I do think we need to add more value, and communicate to users the other things we could do on the PC to get them excited and make them think paying might be worth it.”

In other words it’s free for now. It pisses me off when execs who should be asking what they can do to empower developers and improve the quality and variety of games on a platform are instead preoccupied with finding lazy and cynical ways to chisel more money out of people.

By: hoohoo

hoohoo — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:12:54 +0000

surprised you guys havent posted about doug lombardi’s gamasutra interview.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17744

seemed a perfect interview to ask why valve are not in the pc gaming axis of evil. he does make the usual points about the lack of reporting on dd & wow subs & PEGGLE!, and the industry relying on faulty npd for the state of pc gaming.

By: Optimaximal

Optimaximal — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:11:51 +0000

*Why isn´t Valve a member of the PC Gaming Alliance when they for so many people ARE the PC Gaming Alliance?

I think you just answered your own question. They’re doing too many good things for PC gaming for them to be held back by the red-tape committee.

Plus, Gabe frequently locks horns with Microsoft behind the scenes.

By: Incognito_GBG

Incognito_GBG — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:14:09 +0000

RPS should do an interview with someone from Microsoft about Live for Windows vs Steam.

*How do Microsoft think they can succéed with Live when Steam has more than 15 million accounts and is frontrunner when it comes to digital distribution?
*Have they discussed a Steam/Live-integration?
*Why isn´t Valve a member of the PC Gaming Alliance when they for so many people ARE the PC Gaming Alliance?

Questions like thoose need answers.