Support NeoGAF

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I'm with you, but there seems to be panic setting in around here with this. Now, all of a sudden GFWL was a good thing because it presented a service competitor to Steam.

It's as if the last 5 years where no one cared about GFWL as a service, or actively detested it, never happened.

Basically, until I see evidence that Steam/Valve are going mad with power and I become dissatisfied with their offerings, I'm not going to hope for competition merely out of principle. And, if they do start offering worse value, then that will provide the opportunity for challengers to actually offer something competitive. If Steam's value is too good for any serious competitors to challenge them at the moment, then "good" I say.

I like having all my games in one place, on one account.

 

[Totobeni]

said it on the other thread, Good riddance.

now lets hope publishers patch their games to make them playable after july 2014.

So, what happens to all (lol) my GFWL games?

Will I be able to play Dark Souls?

Hopefully publishers offer something like Steam codes replacement program if they have their games on Steam as well (like what Telltale did for TWD retail version/dlc issue)

all retail/GFWL Dark Souls can be activated on steam, so do that to have it on steam and wait/pray for an online patch that remove GFWL.

 

[Uraizen]

So ... what happens to my SFxT? I'm fucked?

 

[Im_Special]

There is still some chance for games like Dark Souls and Resident Evil 5 for example, these games still sell well when they're 75% off on Steam, so that's reason enough to patch them, and Dark Souls is always 1st in the top seller list when on sale and From now has experience with Steamworks so maybe they can do a quick hack job.

 

[Bittercup]

This. I'm worried about my fav games that actually use this shit (IE Fallout 3)

So what happens to fallout 3?

So with something like Fallout 3, if we were to buy it after Aug. 22 (when the store shuts down) does that mean we wouldn't be able to activate it? Or is activation still staying active?

With Fallout 3 GfWL was always optional (only for achievements and DLC).
You could play the game without ever using GfWL, not even an offline account was needed and neither does the game require any online activation so the game is not affected. I never registered the key that came with my box or played while using GfWL.
For DLC, just copy the files from the GfWL folder to fallout 3\data and enable them like normal mods.
There is no need for worries and no need for a patch.

 

[Big_Al]

I wouldn't worry about Fallout 3. From what I remember last time I installed it you don't need to use GFWL at all. Hell I forgot all about it until I randomly pressed the HOME key and it brought it up. Didn't even need to sign in or anything. The game's essentially independent from it already.

EDIT - As CopyCat says

I'll be gutted if other GFWL games don't get patched though, especially games like Dead Rising 2/OTR and Red Faction Guerilla

 

[Dr. Kaos]

Get ready for Xbox for Windows (tm) !

 

[Iorv3th]

But I don't want to have Dawn of War 2 and Dark Souls stop working or lose online components/saves.

 

[Grief.exe]

Basically, until I see evidence that Steam/Valve are going mad with power and I become dissatisfied with their offerings, I'm not going to hope for competition merely out of principle. And, if they do start offering worse value, then that will provide the opportunity for challengers to actually offer something competitive. If Steam's value is too good for any serious competitors to challenge them at the moment, then "good" I say.

I like having all my games in one place, on one account.

Valve already fosters competition through Steamworks.

They do not take a cut from any titles sold from retailers other than Steam. That is why places like GMG can sell games for low prices, because they are reducing their margins.

Valve could take that ability away, but it wouldn't be good.

 

[nampad]

All GFWL games:
- Achievements fail
- Matchmaking fails and online features are permanently broken

GFWL games that require sign-in for initial activation:
- Permanently unplayable

GFWL games that require sign-in / user profile access for saving:
- Permanently unplayable

Wow, it's that bad? Never was interested in GFWL and am really happy now that I wasn't.

Remember pre-DRM 180 when they told us they and many many fans said that they would never consider doing something like this even though they already did with MSN Music?

This just shows us again how happy we should be about the 180. Hope all apologists now see the problem, too.
On the other hand, whoever willing to buy the original Xbone vision may have deserved it.

 

[VariantX]

Crap I own a few of those. I don't really care about blacklight though since literally no one plays it since retribution came out. Don't know if this will have a effect on me just playing sp in red faction.

 

[blackMamba1187]

Microsoft will probably issue one last patch before the system goes down in order to close down that authentication.

But then they'd have to keep servers online to download said patch. I don't think its likely. And there's also the issue of the game-specific patches that I assume Microsoft hosts on their servers.

 

[Booshka]

By the time this happens I will be balls deep in Dark Souls 2 on PC, so unless DkS2 is terrible, I won't be too crushed about not having Dark Souls on PC. I think you can still play Offline in Dark Souls anyway as long as you play with an Offline account to begin with. The netcode of PC Dark Souls is terrible too, failed invasions, summons and just a general lack of activity compared to the Console versions. PC is the best way to speedrun or run solo playthroughs of Dark Souls, but the online aspect is a pain in the ass.

I wonder if GFWL being shut down will have any ramifications for Cross-platform play titles, I guess Shadowrun will be Xbox 360 only next July. Kind of prefer it that way to be honest, it was never properly balanced anyway.

 

[Eusis]

Redesigning that online system could get expensive.

On the other hand depending on how their system's supposed to work (and if their "new engine" is as new as Skyrim's was and really is just the latest version of PhyreEngine) they could probably use Dark Souls PC as a trial run to ensure Dark Souls 2's works just fine on PC. Probably depends on how much effort they're willing to put into it, but eliminating GFWL will sure as hell give them more freedom for patching.

And... yeah, personally I'm going to expect the worst unless Microsoft says otherwise (or if literally everyone makes moves to patch it out of their games at least), they discontinue Zune with its DRM'd music and that was a hell of a lot more relevant to most people AND probably came around the time iTunes was scrapping DRM out of music. They seemingly have become a company very uncaring about older stuff entertainment-wise.

 

[diffusionx]

So I have a year to finish DoW2 and Bulletstorm to my satisfaction?

Microsoft. You know this isn't right.

 

[DorsalAxe]

You can already strip out GFWL for GTA IV, although it does disable multiplayer (not that this will be a problem come July 1st). It's a damn shame that so many games are going to be incomplete or unplayable though.

 

[Isaccard]

Why did I buy Dark Souls

 

[LiquidMetal14]

You can already strip out GFWL for GTA IV, although it does disable multiplayer (not that this will be a problem come July 1st). It's a damn shame that so many games are going to be incomplete or unplayable though.

If they tare down GTA4's online a lot of people will be mad. I still boot it up regularly to game.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

* looking at his collection of games*
I have two games with GfWL: RE5 and Batman: AA. Batman is probably being patched, so I'm good with that. But RE5... it seems I will have to replay it for the last time before July 2014 because I doubt Capcom can be bothered to patch the game :/

But seriously, this is horrible. It's one thing (although it's still bad) to shut down online severs for games that are rarely played nowadays, it's completely other to shut down the whole infrastructure so games can't be authorized and patched at all.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Think this through... so all the companies that used GFWL for their PC products all of a sudden cannot sell another copy due to Microsoft.

Major publishers and developers we're talking about here.

You really think that those companies are going to say "Microsoft, it's cool. You don't want to disable online authentication? We'll just not sell any more PC versions of GTA or Dark Souls or Fallout 3? Okay, sure. That sounds good to us!"

Come on people, you're smarter than this.

If they care that much they can patch it out themselves as countless other devs have.

Or they could beg the company shutting down this last thing to do even more work on a failed project just to save their ass.

 

[Gbraga]

Can Durante fix this too?

 

[Syphon Filter]

 

[Beer Monkey]

But then they'd have to keep servers online to download said patch. I don't think its likely. And there's also the issue of the game-specific patches that I assume Microsoft hosts on their servers.

Honestly given the volume at this point one virtual server would probably be enough. Not even a single dedicated computer.

 

[the_prime_mover]

I havent really had any issues with gfwl, viewing it more as a bloated inconvenience than anything else. However possibly losing access to bulletstorm and dark souls makes me feel really sad. I love those two games and look forward to playing them over and over again (unlike most other games). Not having them on pc is a real loss and only increases my dislike for microsoft. I hope they release a universal patch to remove gfwl and ensure that every game can still be activated and played offline, otherwise I am inclined to just give up on the company completely.

 

[massoluk]

My damages: Batman AA, Batman AC, GTA IV, RE5, Dead Rising 2, Dark Soul, Lost Planet.

/Shrug.

Could be worse I guess. Not really into any of them. Batman games were fun, but it's not like I'm compelled to replay it. Still have yet to play Dark Soul after tutorial area, guess I'd better get on that.

EDIT: Oh, Fall Out 3 too. But filed that under Batman, not really replaying it.

 

[Nokterian]

Thank god!

But..i hope for the love of god eveyr single company is going to patch out GFWL. I still like playing Batman AA/AC from time to time

 

[Im_Special]

* looking at his collection of games*
I have two games with GfWL: RE5 and Batman: AA. Batman is probably being patched, so I'm good with that. But RE5... it seems I will have to replay it for the last time before July 2014 because I doubt Capcom can be bothered with patching the game :/

But seriously, this is horrible. It's one thing (although it's still bad) to shut down online severs for games that are rarely played nowadays, it's completely other to shut down the whole infrastructure so games can't be authorized and patched at all.

To be fair don't blame Capcom, this is Microsoft fault 100%, they are the ones who should have a plan in place for things like this. Like how Gabe said many times that if Steam were to die they would patch everything to work offline, well Microsoft should have the same thing ready to go.

 

[Marvel]

Good riddance.

 

[fantomena]

Im pretty sure Microsoft will either patch out GFWL authentication on the games or devs/publishers will go over to Steamworks.

 

[Durante]

I havent really had any issues with gfwl, viewing it more as a bloated inconvenience than anything else. However possibly losing access to bulletstorm and dark souls makes me feel really sad. I love those two games and look forward to playing them over and over again (unlike most other games). Not having them on pc is a real loss and only increases my dislike for microsoft. I hope they release a universal patch to remove gfwl and ensure that every game can still be activated and played offline, otherwise I am inclined to just give up on the company completely.

If nothing else, you'll always be able to play singleplayer Dark Souls on PC, Fairlight fixed that for you.

 

[Lasthope106]

To be fair don't blame Capcom, this is Microsoft fault 100%, they are the ones who should have a plan in place for things like this. Like how Gabe said many times that if Steam were to die they would patch everything to work offline, well Microsoft should have the same thing ready to go.

It's never been confirmed that Gabe actually stated that. However, with their current track record I have no doubt Valve would do it.

 

[santeesioux]

But Dark Souls is still on my (massive) backlog. I hope we can still play these games after because i wouldn't be surprised if i still haven't gotten to it by then.

 

[Ubiquitar]

I'm new to PC gaming (after a 10 year absence) and to GAF. I see that the hate for GFWL if strong here. Why? I only have one game in my library that uses it and I have not played that game yet (Batman: Arkham City).

 

[Bluth54]

With Fallout 3 GfWL was always optional (only for achievements and DLC).
You could play the game without ever using GfWL, not even an offline account was needed and neither does the game require any online activation so the game is not affected. I never registered the key that came with my box or played while using GfWL.
For DLC, just copy the files from the GfWL folder to fallout 3\data and enable them like normal mods.
There is no need for worries and no need for a patch.

I wouldn't be surprised if Fallout 3 still sells well enough in Steam sales for Bethesda to remove the GfWL and add Steamworks to it.

 

[Cizeta-Moroder]

"You don't hate GFWL, you're just jealous"

Should I install Operation Flaspoint: Red River before it's too late?

 

[rockmanjoe]

Good riddance indeed. Good thing that the only gfwl games I own are the batmans (which will get patched) and ssf4 (which is being upgraded to usf4 anyway).

 

[Hellsing321]

Thank god! And thank god we dodged this bullet with Xbone.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

or devs/publishers will go over to Steamworks.

But only so many would.

 

[Stumpokapow]

If nothing else, you'll always be able to play singleplayer Dark Souls on PC, Fairlight fixed that for you.

Well, real talk: All of these games have probably been cracked. From an actual long-term preservation standpoint, everything will always be playable barring MMOs. But the real problem is that a store can't in good conscience sell something that cannot boot for any user sans-crack, and a store can't in good conscience apply a crack to the games they sell against the wishes of the publisher, so the real question is on July 2, 2014, which of these games will still be available for purchase somewhere?

 

[ghst]

the crowing turd on top of the GFWL shitpile. forever cementing its legacy as the official badge of PC gaming's darkest hour.

 

[Zizbuka]

Wikipedia says only 73 games use the service. Seems kinda low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Games_for_Windows_–_Live_titles

Quite a few games on that list I play and enjoy. Hope they get patched.

 

[Satchel]

RIP in peace.

Rest in peace in peace?

 

[Vire]

Well thank god for that.

What a colossal failure GFWL was...

 

[Dipswitch]

Welp, guess I better get my GFWL titles played before next year. I don't mind the service as it stands, but I'm getting increasingly irritated with MS mothballing services and eventually leaving people high and dry. Zune is well on its way there as well. My irritation will turn to rage if they don't have a proper solution to handle the authentication check when this goes dark. Be that game patches or whatever

And they wonder why people were up in arms about the always online aspects of XB1. I'll be watching how they handle this very closely. If they fuck it up, I'll swear off their digital goods permanently. On all platforms.

 

[diffusionx]

It's never been confirmed that Gabe actually stated that. However, with their current track record I have no doubt Valve would do it.

It's a frequently heard myth, but I really doubt Valve could do it with anything outside of their own titles.

 

[Deadstar]

Can someone fix the Dark Souls pc online? I'd like to enjoy the game forever.

 

[TronLight]

Wait what?
They're completely shutting down GfWL? Not just the store?

YES!

Although, I have a few GfWL games, and I'm sharing other users worries.
What about Bioshock 1, Bulletstorm and all the other games? I think that not many will switch to Steamworks.

 

[SteveWinwood]

the crowing turd on top of the GFWL shitpile. forever cementing its legacy as the official badge of PC gaming's darkest hour.

I like you

 

[chaosblade]

If nothing else, you'll always be able to play singleplayer Dark Souls on PC, Fairlight fixed that for you.

That's good, this means my only casualty should be AoE:O. Which is a bit disappointing since it's decent once you're not grinding to unlock basic stuff anymore.

 

[CosmicQueso]

If they care that much they can patch it out themselves as countless other devs have.

Or they could beg the company shutting down this last thing to do even more work on a failed project just to save their ass.

You vastly underestimate how important good 3rd party relations are to Microsoft and their future plans. I don't know, maybe you heard they're bringing out a new console?