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[phosphor112]

I know this sounds radical, but I would love to punch the fucking idiots who thought up of GFWL in the face.

I bought Dirt 2, played a bit of it then couldn't log in to my account anymore. Why? My account no longer exists apparently. Can't password recover, cant account recover. Fuck Microsoft. Seriously. If it weren't for needing Windows to run most of my 3D programs, games, and development programs I wouldn't be using it.

 

[Mxrz]

I've never seen such a flat out terrible thing defended as much as this. Well, outside of politics. Did Microsoft start up a 50 cent party or something? Wait, no. They don't actually give much of a fuck about gfwl either.

 

[Cpt Conifer]

What in blue blazes are you talking about? It's listed as a GFWL title everywhere I look (Case in point).

Whether is requires you to login or not doesn't alter that fact.

Indeed, I'm pretty sure it was a full-fledged GFWL title. I clearly remember the overlay being present and being informed of achievements as they were earned.

 

[Red]

Indeed, I'm pretty sure it was a full-fledged GFWL title. I clearly remember the overlay being present and being informed of achievements as they were earned.

From what I understand by the posts here, it was a Live-enabled title, but without the typical GFWL DRM.

 

[phosphor112]

Just an FYI. GFWL on Arkham sucked ass. Not only did you have to have the bounty and generosity of Microsoft letting you fucking login, but since you couldn't save unless you logged in, you had to make sure when you walked through a door, it autosaved for you, since Batman: AA didn't have an actual save function.

 

[Burekma]

The great thing about GFWL isn't playing the games, it's earning achievements along the way.

 

[legacyzero]

Can't wait to get 1000 points on PC and 1000 points on Xbox, bringing my Batman total up to 4000 respect.

Yup

The great thing about GFWL isn't playing the games, it's earning achievements along the way.

 

[aeolist]

You know even if the corruption problem didn't happen for anyone ever the idea of encrypting a single-player game's save file and stopping people from moving it from one computer to another is so godawful the service could be condemned for that alone.

 

[Eusis]

You know even if the corruption problem didn't happen for anyone ever the idea of encrypting a single-player game's save file and stopping people from moving it from one computer to another is so godawful the service could be condemned for that alone.

That's pretty much my stance, really. Viva Pinata hiccups aside I've had no issues I can remember BUT that one. Though come to think of it, I don't think Bioshock 2 was effected by it, so I guess Eidos/Rocksteady and Capcom just sucked on that front.

Edit: Yup, I have saves from 2010 and this OS install is from a few months ago. There's just a (presumably) GFWL feature that either they could just opt to not use OR need to for leaderboards or something (which Batman/SFIV have but Bioshock 2 definitely doesn't.)

 

[legend166]

I literally didn't even sign in to GFWL in Fallout 3 until I'd finished the game.

Don't ask me how I managed it, but I did.

 

[Red]

I literally didn't even sign in to GFWL in Fallout 3 until I'd finished the game.

Don't ask me how I managed it, but I did.

Yeah I don't think I ever needed to be signed into it to play my save files. Memory's fuzzy, but I recall having almost no problems with GFWL in that game.

 

[Emitan]

Yeah I don't think I ever needed to be signed into it to play my save files. Memory's fuzzy, but I recall having almost no problems with GFWL in that game.

You don't need to sign in at all. Aside from the icon appearing at the top of the screen for a second when you launch the game you can basically ignore it.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Just an FYI. GFWL on Arkham sucked ass. Not only did you have to have the bounty and generosity of Microsoft letting you fucking login, but since you couldn't save unless you logged in, you had to make sure when you walked through a door, it autosaved for you, since Batman: AA didn't have an actual save function.

I didn't have to make sure of anything. I just played the game on pc and everything was fine.

 

[Psy-Phi]

Joining the chorus of those who have 0 problems with GFWL. The hyperbole here is a bit ridic. If it were so "shitty" and caused these problems as reliably as some say there's no way in he'll it would be used to this day.

I have a number of games with it, well over 10, and there's no need to list them. The important thing is that they all work. Saves included, if you back up the right files, just like any other save.

 

[leng jai]

Batman is the only game I've played where I couldn't actually save at all without logging into GFWL.

 

[Red]

Joining the chorus of those who have 0 problems with GFWL. The hyperbole here is a bit ridic. If it were so "shitty" and caused these problems as reliably as some say there's no way in he'll it would be used to this day.

I have a number of games with it, well over 10, and there's no need to list them. The important thing is that they all work. Saves included, if you back up the right files, just like any other save.

What's he'll?

Also, though it's "used to this day," it's used by less and less. We've got MGS, Codemasters, Capcom, and Rocksteady. That's basically it.

 

[Psy-Phi]

What's he'll?

Also, though it's "used to this day," it's used by less and less. We've got MGS, Codemasters, Capcom, and Rocksteady. That's basically it.

"he'll" = auto-correct from my iPad and lack of proofreading.

It was never a terribly popular DRM solution anyway. "Less and less" means very little, looking at the release lists, I believe it's more popular now than it was a 2 years ago. But that's just my anecdotal evidence looking at my game collection.

Just an FYI. GFWL on Arkham sucked ass. Not only did you have to have the bounty and generosity of Microsoft letting you fucking login, but since you couldn't save unless you logged in, you had to make sure when you walked through a door, it autosaved for you, since Batman: AA didn't have an actual save function.

Blaming GFWL for this game design decision is facetious at best, and shows a completely delusion of reality at worst. It's called auto-save, and many games use this. Darksiders, Magicka, Mirror's Edge, Mafia II, Metro 2033....many many more, those are just games I've played recently.

Strange personal observation, I just realized I'm playing a lot of games that begin with "M". Weird.

 

[Tenkei]

Fuck Microsoft. Seriously. If it weren't for needing Windows to run most of my 3D programs, games, and development programs I wouldn't be using it.

Whenever I hear something like "if I didn't need majority of X, I wouldn't need X", I can't help but think of this sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso

I can't play video games without being connected in some way, whether it's logging into MSN on my 360, or having my laptop on when I play on my Wii, or playing in windowed mode on a multi-monitor PC set-up. Correlated, I can't say that I've had any issues with any of the three GFWL games that I own.

Wait, Dead Rising 2 multiplayer. Fuck playing that with a shitty USB wireless dongle.

 

[phosphor112]

Blaming GFWL for this game design decision is facetious at best, and shows a completely delusion of reality at worst. It's called auto-save, and many games use this. Darksiders, Magicka, Mirror's Edge, Mafia II, Metro 2033....many many more, those are just games I've played recently.

If GFWL didn't pose the problem of a required login (that rarely works) to even save, one could just play a game, and stop at anytime. But if you login late with GFWL, you can't just be like "oh, ok, well it saved" and turn it off, no, you have to go somewhere and save. Sure it might be a poor design choice on Rocksteady, but GFWL just makes it even worse.

Whenever I hear something like "if I didn't need majority of X, I wouldn't need X", I can't help but think of this sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso

I can't play video games without being connected in some way, whether it's logging into MSN on my 360, or having my laptop on when I play on my Wii, or playing in windowed mode on a multi-monitor PC set-up. Correlated, I can't say that I've had any issues with any of the three GFWL games that I own.

Wait, Dead Rising 2 multiplayer. Fuck playing that with a shitty USB wireless dongle.

All my PC issues come strictly from the Windows OS. I can run my Linux partition just fine with zero issues, but once I boot up Win 7, I get shit from random freezes all the way to not even going into sleep mode or fucking shutting down.

 

[phosphor112]

dp

 

[Tallshortman]

It's an annoying overlay when open but I've never actually had any noticeable problems with GFWL.

 

[Tenkei]

All my PC issues come strictly from the Windows OS. I can run my Linux partition just fine with zero issues, but once I boot up Win 7, I get shit from random freezes all the way to not even going into sleep mode or fucking shutting down.

Linux does have that nice feature where it can mark faulty parts of the computer's RAM as unusable... just sayin'.

 

[Psy-Phi]

If GFWL didn't pose the problem of a required login (that rarely works) to even save, one could just play a game, and stop at anytime. But if you login late with GFWL, you can't just be like "oh, ok, well it saved" and turn it off, no, you have to go somewhere and save. Sure it might be a poor design choice on Rocksteady, but GFWL just makes it even worse.



All my PC issues come strictly from the Windows OS. I can run my Linux partition just fine with zero issues, but once I boot up Win 7, I get shit from random freezes all the way to not even going into sleep mode or fucking shutting down.

How does one login late to Batman Arkham Asylum? When I start the game up, as soon as I press "start" it asks me to login.

There's no "skip" option. There's a "sign in with different account" option, but no way to skip it.

 

[Emitan]

Linux does have that nice feature where it can mark faulty parts of the computer's RAM as unusable... just sayin'.

I never knew about that. I need to start duel booting until I get new RAM.

 

[Red]

I never knew about that. I need to start duel booting until I get new RAM.

I have the same problem, man. Replaced one set and the second has the same problem. I have 12GB RAM and sometimes one stick fails on boot, leaving me with 10GB, other times the PC starts with all 12GB but one goes bad after Windows launches. It doesn't lock up, but CPU usage shoots to 100% and everything goes reeeeeally slow.

Causes OS X to grey screen and Linux to freeze completely if it happens when I boot into them. Windows actually handles it the best.

Sounds like a big problem, but if it happens all I need to do is restart the computer and it runs normally (kills the one stick from BIOS so my machine is unaffected).

 

[phosphor112]

Linux does have that nice feature where it can mark faulty parts of the computer's RAM as unusable... just sayin'.

My RAM is fine.

 

[Mama Robotnik]

The hyperbole here is a bit ridic.

Just seen this, so I need to ask for like the third time in the thread:

Every Games for Windows Live title that I have used has failed. They were rendered unusable by Microsoft's shoddy and broken system. My progress so far on one of the games in particular was entirely erased, as discovered in my attempt to retreive the save data.

In describing this event and being wary to avoid such situations in the future, how am I (and in others in similar circumstances) slipping into hyperbole?

Many have made statements regarding "overreaction" and "hyperbole" but either don't seem to understand or don't care that there are very real experiences informing up these reactions. Games for Windows Live has a one-hundred-percent failure rate. Tell me, why should I and others expect Arkham City to be some miraculous exception?

How is this hyperbole?

 

[Dog Problems]

What I don't understand is why Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is using GFWL when they've used Steamworks in the past. Is there some sort of cross platform thing going on?

 

[bengraven]

The great thing about GFWL isn't playing the games, it's earning achievements along the way.

And telling my friends that I did it.

I can't wait!

 

[Psy-Phi]

Just seen this, so I need to ask for like the third time in the thread:

Every Games for Windows Live title that I have used has failed. They were rendered unusable by Microsoft's shoddy and broken system. My progress so far on one of the games in particular was entirely erased, as discovered in my attempt to retreive the save data.

In describing this event and being wary to avoid such situations in the future, how am I (and in others in similar circumstances) slipping into hyperbole?

Many have made statements regarding "overreaction" and "hyperbole" but either don't seem to understand or don't care that there are very real experiences informing up these reactions. Games for Windows Live has a one-hundred-percent failure rate. Tell me, why should I and others expect Arkham City to be some miraculous exception?

How is this hyperbole?

It can't have a 100% failure rate. If it did the people like myself would have problems too. And, we don't. I have finished Batman AA 2x on windows, two different installs, one on normal and one on hard. No issues. Hence the hyperbole of such statements as "100%" failure rate. Ridiculous statement. If it were that bad there would be legal recourse of some kind. And devs wouldn't continue to use it, because they'd be killing their own fan base.

If you want to say it never works for you, that's a fair statement, but I find it hard to believe given my own experiences. Because I know my machine isn't magic. So I would question why your unable to use it, but I wouldn't say it was hyperbole. My mind instantly jumps to piracy as a reason people hate GFwL, again due to my own experiences with friends reactions to it. Not calling you a pirate, but the only people I know personally that vehemently hate GFWL are the pirates I know (Guildies, and friends from Steam). So it's hard for me to fathom another reason since it seems so simple in my head: friends and I that bought Dead Rising 2, no problems. Friends that tried to pirate it, problems.

I wish i could tell you why it wasn't working for you, but never having an issue across three machines makes it challenging to think about where to begin.

 

[hamchan]

It can't have a 100% failure rate. If it did the people like myself would have problems too. And, we don't. I have finished Batman AA 2x on windows, two different installs, one on normal and one on hard. No issues. Hence the hyperbole of such statements as "100%" failure rate. Ridiculous statement. If it were that bad there would be legal recourse of some kind. And devs wouldn't continue to use it, because they'd be killing their own fan base.

If you want to say it never works for you, that's a fair statement, but I find it hard to believe given my own experiences. Because I know my machine isn't magic. So I would question why your unable to use it, but I wouldn't say it was hyperbole. My mind instantly jumps to piracy as a reason people hate GFwL, again due to my own experiences with friends reactions to it. Not calling you a pirate, but the only people I know personally that vehemently hate GFWL are the pirates I know (Guildies, and friends from Steam). So it's hard for me to fathom another reason since it seems so simple in my head: friends and I that bought Dead Rising 2, no problems. Friends that tried to pirate it, problems.

I wish i could tell you why it wasn't working for you, but never having an issue across three machines makes it challenging to think about where to begin.

How many people are saying it has a 100% failure rate? I think most people are saying it's shit because of bad experiences with it, and this chorus of people saying it's hyperbole and implying that people are lying about their experiences is pretty insulting actually.

 

[Sinatar]

The first one used it and it still remains one of the best console to PC ports I've ever played so no biggy.

 

[Psy-Phi]

How many people are saying it has a 100% failure rate? I think most people are saying it's shit because of bad experiences with it, and this chorus of people saying it's hyperbole and implying that people are lying about their experiences is pretty insulting actually.

What you quoted was obviously direct at the person saying it was. Other people have said it "never" works. But there's more hyperbole than just that. Saying it's prone to deleting saves? Saying it won't let you save at all unless you're signed in? Saying the patches fail to patch all the time?

I understand that sometimes things happen, but some of the people here are obviously stretching the truth. If I were to take my experience with GFWL and do the same, I'd say it's a wonderful thing that always works, because it's never failed on me yet (ecxept for a patch with Dawn of War II; but I've had patches fail on games without DRM at all, and simply trying again fixed it).

GFWL works. Simple enough. I'm not saying it doesn't have flaws, every DRM does. But all of the complaints that people say are frequent or prone to happen, are exaggerating. If it were, one of my friends or myself would have experienced some kind of problem by now. I'd say it's got the same problems as any other DRM, and those problems creep up just as often as any other DRM's problems.

 

[Mama Robotnik]

Just seen your response.

It can't have a 100% failure rate. If it did the people like myself would have problems too. And, we don't. I have finished Batman AA 2x on windows, two different installs, one on normal and one on hard. No issues. Hence the hyperbole of such statements as "100%" failure rate. Ridiculous statement. If it were that bad there would be legal recourse of some kind. And devs wouldn't continue to use it, because they'd be killing their own fan base.

The 100% failure rate is in my individual experience. As I said, the games I have purchased stopped working, and my one venture into Microsoft's 10p sale of Age of Empires wouldn't work from the moment of installation, which was a nightmarish experience in itself. If every experience has been a failure, how can it not be a 100% failure rate?

Yes, its relative, but I imagined that was obvious from the context given in my post.

If you want to say it never works for you, that's a fair statement, but I find it hard to believe given my own experiences. Because I know my machine isn't magic. So I would question why your unable to use it, but I wouldn't say it was hyperbole. My mind instantly jumps to piracy as a reason people hate GFwL, again due to my own experiences with friends reactions to it. Not calling you a pirate, but the only people I know personally that vehemently hate GFWL are the pirates I know (Guildies, and friends from Steam).

I know you have explicitly said that you are not calling me a pirate, but then you follow it up with the idea that everyone you know who has difficulty with Games for Windows Live are pirates. Do you want me to post a photo of my Batman Arkham Asylum box? How about my Age of Empires receipt? How about more evidence?

I'm not pirating. I'm not exaggerating, and would have no reason to. I'm bitter, yes, but only due to repeated failed experiences and lost money with this truly terrible, game-breaking platform.

So it's hard for me to fathom another reason since it seems so simple in my head: friends and I that bought Dead Rising 2, no problems. Friends that tried to pirate it, problems.

There you go again. Sentences like that make me uncomfortable.

I wish i could tell you why it wasn't working for you, but never having an issue across three machines makes it challenging to think about where to begin.

I know at least one of the issues was down to where the Games for Windows Live was saving the files, but I spent four hours going through different forums for solutions and reinstalling the game three times with no successful repair strategem. Another issue was with the downloadable Age of Empires simply not working at all, and repeatedly downloading one of the disc isos for seemingly no reason.

I'm not a novice at this stuff, I know when my drivers aren't up to day, when registry entries are misdirected, when an installation is corrupt. There is no user error here. I installed the games on (what was then) a fully legitimate, perfectly functioning Windows XP machine. I now have a fully legitimate, perfectly functioning Windows 7 machine that I intend to keep free of Games for Windows Live.

I understand that sometimes things happen, but some of the people here are obviously stretching the truth..

I've had a very different experience from you with this platform. I don't doubt your conviction and experiences, it seems like its worked as intended and I couldn't be happier for you. However I'd prefer that you didn't condescend, at at least try to accept my unfortunate experiences with the platform at face value.

 

[CecilRousso]

So to summarize:

*There are plenty of people claiming that GfWL has caused loads of problems.
*For those it hasn´t caused any problem, the best thing they say about it is either "it didn´t bother me", or "I didn´t actually have to sign in to it".

That really says all there is to say about GfWL.

 

[butsomuch]

Next week on GTTV

 

[strem]

Wow I honestly forgot GFWL even existed.

 

[Facism]

Wow I honestly forgot GFWL even existed.

Would be nice if it didn't.

 

[FieryBalrog]

GFWL is pretty terrible but it has better matchmaking than Steam.

Not that it matters at all for Batman AC.

 

[Aaron]

So it's hard for me to fathom another reason since it seems so simple in my head: friends and I that bought Dead Rising 2, no problems. Friends that tried to pirate it, problems.

Dead Rising 2 wouldn't install properly for me because the GFWL setup wasn't properly configured for my resolution and had details cut off. I've only ever seen this problem in poorly coding vis basic programs before. Also, it wouldn't accept my wireless xbox controller despite having full support for wired controllers. This later one might have nothing to do with GFWL, but people who hit the beaches in Normandy during WWII that survived didn't think it was problem free. They knew they were lucky.

 

[demigod]

I know this sounds radical, but I would love to punch the fucking idiots who thought up of GFWL in the face.

I bought Dirt 2, played a bit of it then couldn't log in to my account anymore. Why? My account no longer exists apparently. Can't password recover, cant account recover. Fuck Microsoft. Seriously. If it weren't for needing Windows to run most of my 3D programs, games, and development programs I wouldn't be using it.

lol no shit, I couldn't even recover one of my usernames, can't remember if it was xbox or windows live messenger.

 

[daviyoung]

This later one might have nothing to do with GFWL, but people who hit the beaches in Normandy during WWII that survived didn't think it was problem free. They knew they were lucky.

Wow.