Part of me wonders if MS are going to announce something at Gamescom since it has a PC presence or if they end up killing off GFWL (officially anyway) if they'll do it on the sly. I couldn't see them wanting to make a big announcement about how they completely fucked up with GFWL.
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Steam Versions Batman:AA/AC & Bioshock 2 Adding Achievements, Removing GFWL/Securom?
- Thread starter Grief.exe
- Start date
Sentenza
Member
Yeah, unless they are announcing something new to take its place, I don't see Microsoft ever going to make any big fanfare about killing GFWL, so their silence so far really doesn't say much in that regard.
Live Free or Die
Banned
Huh? For what? The multiplayer?
Dragon1893
Member
Just give me bioshock 2 already for fuck's sake.
Live Free or Die
Banned
Oh wow, I didn't know they were having a beta for it. How do you get selected?
Bioshock 2 is already available on Steam.
Software development takes time, whatever they are working on will be released eventually but we need some patience.
I've never played through Bioshock 2 or AC because of the DRM, I'm as excited as anyone for this to drop.
There's obviously some details Microsoft and Valve aren't sharing with consumers.
I've noticed Steam-Support lists some GFWL compatible keys that can be activated for Steam.
I'm guessing GFWL services will be converted into Steam and this applies to not just Bioshock and Batman AC but Dark Souls, GTA 4 ( for Steamplay) Fable III and many other GFWL games.
No, its completely separate forms of DRM implemented by different companies.
There is no evidence for the removal of Securom like there is for GFWL, but I would hope that they remove both since they are doing the work anyways.
alexandros
Banned
"Ladies and gentlemen, Microsoft is proud to announce... Games for Windows Live 2.0!"
Sentenza
Member
They are not *directly* linked, but on the other hand I can't think of a single Steamworks title that also uses Securom.
Of course, it could be that I'm missing something.
Borderlands, but only two of the DLCs
http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_3rd_Party_DRM_on_Steam#SecuROM
Reagan's BR
Banned
What are the odds of Bioshock 2 getting the mac version/steamplay added as well? I'm hoping when Infinite for Mac is released it will be via Steam with steamplay as opposed to the Mac App store.
Still holding out hope for Halo 1-3.
Still holding out hope for Halo 1-3.
AcceptableGhost
Member
if you bought stuff through steam then they could possibly give it to you in the steamworks version.
also for these games it could be possible that both executables (GFWL / Steamworks) could be selectable upon boot
Interestingly enough, Bioshock 2 also has a Mac version that was created by Feral Interactive. The same guys behind the Arkham Mac versions. So it is possible.
Nothing to show whether it will happen or not though.
I am also still holding out hope for Halo 1-3. We will see at Gamescom, Microsoft actually has a PC presence there.
Those games are already tied to your app through the Steam Registry.
That means that Steam already has a system in place to recognize that you own those games. If they completely remove GFWL, nothing will change on your DLC ownership.
Bioshock 2 is a different scenario since Minerva's Den wasn't on Steam before.
ebullientprism
Member
So if GFWL completely goes away what happens to games that use it for online play? Dark Souls for example??
Atraveller
Banned
Yeah, I played through the first two Batman games, and then carefully uninstalled them afterwards, for fear that my installation limits would get fucked up.
Your guess is as good as mine.
Going by the reactions of WB, Capcom, 2K, and even Microsoft I am speculating that Microsoft sent out a notification for a GFWL end date.
IE they are only supporting the multiplayer aspect until the end of 2013.
Hopefully, Namco will fund a Dark Souls conversion to dedicated servers after Dark Souls II has released.
Best case scenario.
Knowing Namco, they will just let it die.
That would be attributed to Securom and not GFWL.
And I went down to Sheol instead of cathedral so that made it a bit easier as well. Only have 1 challenge left, 7 Years bad luck.
Edit: Ooops, wrong thread!
Reagan's BR
Banned
Yeah, the fact that both titles were ported by Feral is what had me think Bioshock 2 for Mac may end up on Steam. I'd love to be able to play both Bioshocks on my mac without having to buy them again. Oh well.
Knowing MS they will announce another Windows 8 tablet game before they release the trilogy on PC.
The updates to Batman:AA/AC and Bioshock 2 are also being QA'd by the same company.
Seems like this would lend more credence to removing GFWL. Why would they need to run significant QA and have Test Updates for just adding Steamplay?
The Mac versions have been out for years in the hands of consumers, that is better QA than any team can possibly manage.
Reagan's BR
Banned
Yeah, I'm also thinking that GFWL is done. All of that was just wishful thinking that with the end of GFWL on the pc version of Bioshock we might see the Mac version added with steam play.
It would be very strange for WB to add the Mac version of AC/AA for Steamplay, but not remove GFWL and Securom.
Companies usually like to keep parity with their products, especially those bundled together.
For the Mac versions to be far and away the definitive games would be jarring to say the least.
Hopefully 2K follows suit with Bioshock 2. If they are both using the same QA company, it is possible that they are testing all of the mac versions at the same time.
BasilZero
Member
Sorry for the WAY WAY late reply XD but....
I'm fine with the online DRM but what ticks me off is the limited installations x__x.
I guess I'll get both Arkham games (Origins later) in the next sale.
Well, hopefully Securom gets removed as well.
No evidence to support that currently, but if they are doing all this work, they might as well.
hhhmmm don't know about this one.
Well GFWL tended to randomly delete your Batman saves anyway, so not much changes!
Valid point
It deleted mine when I was a little over halfway through the game. Never finished it.
Felix Lighter
Member
I got lucky. It deleted my save right after I finished the game and was going back to do some of the side stuff I skipped.
I'm probably going to add this to the OP
Huge news! This is, honestly, probably one of the largest pieces of evidence we have seen yet.
This update just went through for Arkham City
They turned off showing cd key on launch, which is a necessity for GFWL games.
From what I can tell, they also completely removed where the CD Key was previously stored. If they remove the key, then Securom's registry entry cannot reference it properly for activation limits. Need a little more evidence on this one.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SecuROM.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
God I'm so pumped for this. The evidence is hard to deny.
Bring it, devs. You can only make your games more enticing.
Bring it, devs. You can only make your games more enticing.
Felix Lighter
Member
Do not hold your breath for that one. Dark Souls 2 should be a proper PC release though.
The game itself was deleting/corrupting the saves, not GFWL. Rocksteady acknowledged the bug and thankfully fixed it a while ago.
GFWL is famous for corrupting/deleting saves as well. It was actually caused by both issues.
Rocksteady only fixed the issues on their end, the save deletions continue through GFWL.
Felix Lighter
Member
GFWL handles saves in a much more complicated way then it should because they are trying to protect the integrity of achievements. That's why the simple task of backing up saves virtually requires a third party utility. It's not surprising that save corruption is relatively common.
Sure, people can have profile issues with GFWL that causes problems with save files. There's plenty of reasons to be unhappy with GFWL (and be happy that it's possibly being removed from these games), but by far the most common problem with losing Batman AC saves was the game itself.