-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Games for Windows Live shutting down July 1, 2014.
- Thread starter Archie
- Start date
Mass Effect
Member
Oh, well that's good to know.
Well I know that AC has a bad habit of randomly deleting people's saves (because of GFWL). And if they were not to patch it you wouldn't be able to save at all when GFWL shuts down. But luckily they are patching it so you don't need to worry about it.
Metalmurphy
Member
But isn't this all of them?
plagiarize
Banned
and there I was hoping that the Bioshock 2 patch today had already stripped GFWL out. I'm going to be very pissed if RE5, GTA4 and DR2 don't work come July 2nd next year. Laugh all you like, but I was planning on playing through Dead Rising 2 and GTA4 late next year when I do the PC upgrade I'm saving for as they're about the only games that don't work so well on my current PC.
Well on one hand, I'm friggin' ecstatic that this piece of shit of a software is finally dying. (Love Bioshock 2 but fuck the PC port of that game)
On the other, there are still fairly healthy online communities in games like GTA4 and Dark Souls so I hope they'll at least patch GFWL out for steamworks for those titles.
On the other, there are still fairly healthy online communities in games like GTA4 and Dark Souls so I hope they'll at least patch GFWL out for steamworks for those titles.
Highly unlikely :/
Absolutely true. I was just addressing the fears of not being able to play bought games anymore, and not the issue of buying them.
They didn't even patch their GfWL client when ToS were changed, so now when you try to log in with the client (and haven't accepted new ToS yet) you just get a generic error with no explanation at all. You have to manually visit the xbox.com site and accept new terms from there.
Just saying.
maniac-kun
Member
Gabe is right in not trusting the Windows platform anymore. What if they ditch DirectX or something else on this level?
Lasthope106
Member
I just thought of something. Since that dude from Valve is on charge of pc games at MS, we might have a good chance of they releasing a patch to get rid of at least the authentication portion.
That will never happen. DirectX is Windows, like a core of the OS now. What Gabe fears is windows going the way of the Mac store. Where a single platform holder controls the destiny of the entire ecosystem. That might sound hypocritical coming from Valve, but they don't own any platform and they are actually in as many platforms as possible. Knowing how good Gabe is with business, he is just following the "diversify" advice. You can't put all your eggs in one basket.
That will never happen. DirectX is Windows, like a core of the OS now. What Gabe fears is windows going the way of the Mac store. Where a single platform holder controls the destiny of the entire ecosystem. That might sound hypocritical coming from Valve, but they don't own any platform and they are actually in as many platforms as possible. Knowing how good Gabe is with business, he is just following the "diversify" advice. You can't put all your eggs in one basket.
SteveWinwood
Member
I don't know, Steam already has games on sale that are pre-modded with user created contents (like System Shock 2, and Deus Ex I think) to enhance them and make them playable on newer systems. Some even have modded .exes if I'm not mistaken.
I know a crack it's something different, but between a different .exe and removing the game from the store (therefore losing sales), I think publishers will choose the different .exe.
My two cents.
SneakyStephan
Banned
Which is a good thing.
I'd like the head on a pike in front of the city gates, it's a reminder.
It shows:
-the bullet we dodged with xbox one
-MS cannot EVER be given the benifit of the doubt reminder #1954636974
-closed platforms are bad and you always want to have contingency options when you buy anything DD
-multiplayer games have to be allowed to be ran by the community, matchmaking is bad for everyone in the long run
-DD games or account based games without contingencies are nothing more than ticking timebombs or rentals and you don't own your games
I saw him first!
Fucking Relic still hasn't patched the borked Steam achievements in Dawn of War II: Retribution, they're not going to do anything for vanilla II or Chaos Rising.
Better play those superior campaigns while you still can, battle-brothers!
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
... but that has nothing to do with Valve. You get the distinction, right? Obviously tons of publishers use cracks or user mods for their older games. That's fine. Publishers can apply cracks here. But some won't--Codemasters is basically much reduced from what they were, LucasArts is toast, THQ is toast. Bulletstorm is doubly cursed by a publisher that doesn't care about it and a developer that doesn't care about it. At some point, there literally won't be a person at the publisher capable of applying the patch, even if testing were not required.
Apparently not, although it's almost certainly a majority.
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
Bamco needs to patch out GFWL, now.
Its not just on Microsoft here, this decision is affecting the bottom line of multiple huge publishers.
You can count on something being done.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
I hope this shows the defenders of the original Xbox one plan this is why we don't want an always online console. The service is barely 7 years old, Rather than try and improve it, they just scrap it entirely.
Yes, I'm not saying that Valve should crack the game themselves, I'm saying that publishers may go down that route, if it's the only way.
No kidding, this is why I would be worried if they ever got into a dominant position in the console market.
Beer Monkey
Member
Fallout 3 works without GFWL. You can install and play Fallout 3 with no internet whatsoever.
poopninjamvc3mk
I sucked six dicks to get this tag.
That same method you posted you can do with any GFWL game since it's basically just a crack.
There's also a crack that let's you activate about 30 games on GFWL for free but I won't discuss that since it's piracy(even though none of it will matter come July 1st,2014)
Well, failing that I can at least see them staying in business and not actively burning bridges to old software. Which is the thing really, Microsoft's HUGE and it's not out of the question they could keep this going indefinitely... but they don't want to, and while I'm not sure I can wholly blame them it still indicates they can't be trusted for keeping access to your stuff despite being a company with basically zero chance of collapsing in the near future.
That probably depends on the contracts to be on Steam and how the Steam wrapper works. It's starting to sound like an urban legend admittedly, but it does seem possible to have a clause from the start that if Steam were to ever go down for good they will issue patches to kill their own DRM in games (which could also explain why some STILL throw their shit DRM on anyway, someone is that anal about how easy it is to get their games even if they'll probably be ancient history by the time this matters), similar to how every Vita and apparently PS4 game sold HAS to be on PSN too.
Kacho
Member
What scares me about this is what Microsoft has coming to replace GFWL. I avoided any game that used that shit and I'm glad I did. I do the same with Uplay titles.
Hopefully we see more publishers do what we saw with the Batman games and Bioshock 2. Give me them Fallout 3 Steam achievements, Bethesda!
Hopefully we see more publishers do what we saw with the Batman games and Bioshock 2. Give me them Fallout 3 Steam achievements, Bethesda!
SteveWinwood
Member
im stickin to my horses see how them newfangled cars break down sometimes
good luck with that "engine" future
AcceptableGhost
Member
Yeah, it just has to be realized that some of these games will probably become completely unplayable (legally).
diffusionx
Gold Member
It is possible, I just don't think it is likely. Plus the EULA says they don't have to.
I just worry that gamers put way too much faith in what was an off-hand comment from Newell. We are still very much at the mercy of Steam with their digital PC collections.
toddhunter
Member
In related news, Mucrosoft set to launch GFWL2, a windows 8 exclusive service which promises long term support....
Seriously though we all saw this coming. Same as the other services. When people ask "what is wrong with uplay?" This.
Valve could make their games work, that is about it. Even then promises made about a company going out of business are not worth anything. Often there is nobody left to fulfill them or another buyer.
The difference is steam is valve. It isn't just another product that they are trying to shove onto consumers. GFWL is dead, Microsoft remains to sell their next bad idea.
Seriously though we all saw this coming. Same as the other services. When people ask "what is wrong with uplay?" This.
Valve could make their games work, that is about it. Even then promises made about a company going out of business are not worth anything. Often there is nobody left to fulfill them or another buyer.
The difference is steam is valve. It isn't just another product that they are trying to shove onto consumers. GFWL is dead, Microsoft remains to sell their next bad idea.
If we will still be able to launch our GfWL games, you can always set up an Hamachi server for co-op play.
It should work right? At least for those games with local co-op, I think.
SneakyStephan
Banned
Your car stops working if the factory shuts down.
Much more accurate analogy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_automobile_manufacturers_of_the_United_States
Sup
RE5 actually has LAN support, so it should still be playable if you can get a tunneling service (eg Tunngle) working.
Syphon Filter
Member
Bioshock 1 was never gfwl.
AHA-Lambda
Member
I don't see the link in the OP mention anything about it, did they remove it?
What's going to happen to our old games?
What's going to happen to our old games?
I bought a used Dungeons and Dragons and a used Bioshock 2 game at a yard sale a while ago but was never able to use them because of needing to verify on GFWL. Do you think Microsoft will release a patch so I can finally play these games? I'm actually not to hopeful to be honest.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
This is a point I've been making about major media companies entering gaming. They enter, they spend a fucking ton of cash, they buy up a bunch of companies, they generate good will... but after a few years shareholders say "What can you show me?" and if the answer isn't good enough, the company exits and moves to a license-only business. Some companies, like Disney, have done this several times. Koch Media and WB will face the same pressure.
If you are a company, and you have a department that's an endless money sink, you will be asked to cut that department. No company has a cultural attachment to anything. If Nintendo was making money selling hot dogs and losing money selling games, shareholders would want them to be a hot dog company long-term. That's how the system works.
With companies that only do one thing, you can trust that as long as they are solvent, they'll do that thing. Steam isn't shutting down unless Valve dies. Of course, when they die, it's all bets are off what happens because who knows how they will die. But for companies that do many things, each department needs to stand on its own.
So what I'm saying is that I don't think there's anything unique in MS's culture that makes them cut out losers. And in MS's case, their winners win so big that their losers face scrutiny. Whereas with, say, Sony, all of their departments are kind of oscillating between losing and winning so no one department gets the firing squad.
But the biggest conclusion is don't trust companies, and have a personal exit strategy.
True, frankly the fact it's currently a very stable service and Valve seems to be very healthy and not beholden to shareholders makes me optimistic more than some comment that's a pain to verify.
It's why unfortunately monopolies of some sort on digital services may not be a bad idea, so long as those in a monopoly position are great about ownership anyway. So many services can and have crumbled without giving anyone recourse, a unique position relative to physical goods where it basically doesn't matter where you bought them and who made them, just whether they're available to buy or not. Though on that note it's still a problem for DD with developers/publishers going out of business even if they don't run a storefront, nevermind that we can get something similar to that physical space by being able to just buy codes from whoever and put them into the service it's for, thus making something like Steam more like a reliable backend than THE only store around.
Hip Hop
Member
I feel like something will be introduced by Microsoft to replace Games For Windows.
No way will smaller companies like Ubisoft have their own online service for games but Microsoft doesn't.
It's only a matter of time, only question is,
have they learned from their mistakes to make a better platform?
No way will smaller companies like Ubisoft have their own online service for games but Microsoft doesn't.
It's only a matter of time, only question is,
have they learned from their mistakes to make a better platform?
Syphon Filter
Member
It seems like they gave up ,i don't think they will release another platform client. That is why age of empires used steamworks.
I think GFWL games maintains a ping limit to prevent tunneling software to work. I don't know if there's any hack to disable that limit though.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Am I the only one who can't see that text from the OP in that link? That page doesn't mention it shutting down to me.
The only GfWL games I have are the ones I bought through Steam. I can't say it'll have much of an impact as it's been a few years since I've booted them up (and probably even longer since I used any kind of multiplayer or matchmaking component). Still, pretty sad to see I wouldn't be able to play RE5 online in co-op if I wanted to.
soulassssns
Banned
They better patch them. I haven't got around to beating Batman AA or AC and I recently purchased Dirt 3 on Steam as well.
FML if i loose all 3 of these games because of MSFT.