Could Microsoft be making a bigger push for the PC Gaming in the near future?

[T-6000]

These past few weeks we've seen some developers move away from Games for Windows Live and transfer over to Steamworks. This doesn't look good for GFWL, and I think Microsoft realized this. Recently at Gamescom, as we all now know, 3 new titles directly from Microsoft Games have been announced for GFWL, which is Age of Empires Online, Microsoft Flight, and Fable 3 PC.

http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-us/community/pages/gamescom.aspx

In fact, Dave Luehmann of Microsoft Games said that it was time to recommit to PC Gaming. "I think we need to invest in this space," he told CVG. "Windows is an important space for us so we need to invest our first-party IP in it as much as anybody else. We cant really ask other companies to step up if the first party isn't stepping up." And so it *FINALLY* seems like they are getting the message, and what I have been saying for over 2 years now. How can Microsoft expect anyone, both developers *AND* users, to switch over to GFWL if Microsoft isn't even willing to invest in the platform? It would be like Valve releasing Steam and not releasing most of their own titles on Steam itself. How could Valve, in this scenario, expect anyone to use Steamworks if they released few of their own titles on Steam and if they didn't polish up on Steam?

But this effort to revive GFWL will be a wasted opportunity if they just released these 3 titles, then walk away and think that people will come to GFWL in huge droves. Much work is still needed no thanks to years of neglect. Microsoft must release more AAA titles for GFWL, and port their 360 exclusives if they have to. Also, GFWL desperately needs some more polish and features added. If they fail to do this, over time people will once again leave GFWL and this time they won't come back no matter how much their fan(atical)boys flame and troll their own forums and other forums. I am hoping that Microsoft will once again give more focus on PC Gaming, and hopefully I'll get a chance to Play Gears of War 2 & 3 on the PC one day.

 

[63]

GFWL has fanboys?

 

[VirusType2]

Don't get me wrong, I like Microsoft, but I think it's hilarious (and foolish) that Microsoft has the stubbornness to continue to sell their games for $19.99, 9 years after release, and on top of that it had been on a console for 3 years. A 9 year old game selling for $19.99. :blink:

If people didn't buy it years ago, what makes you think they will pay that much for it now? Trying to make it seem valuable? Game is so old, the box has started to yellow.

But if you notice, Wal-Mart and other kingpin retailers won't bother to stock games if they don't sell. In fact, Wal-Mart doesn't have a PC game section anymore, thanks to your Games for Windows 'efforts'. They got rid of it in favor of BluRay and TV series.


Meanwhile, nVidia let go of 1000 engineers who made motherboards for Intel chips and Nvidia has lost millions for the second year in a row. So things aren't all that great in the PC game world without more games to drive sales. Not that I don't expect things to turn around for nVidia (I'm sure they will be alright), but what would it be like without them?

Oh, there's a new $1,000 ATI card out now, by the way. You won't sell many 9 year old Halo games for a $1,000 graphics card. :stare:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102905&cm_re=5970-_-14-102-905-_-Product

I guess some people like to put these in Crossfire configurations. : )


I guess I'm still hopeful for Red Dead Redemption and Super Street Fighter IV at this point. Given up on Forza 3, Condemned 2 and other SEGA titles like Yakuza. Life is too short for everything anyway.

 

[T-6000]

Meanwhile, nVidia let go of 1000 engineers who made motherboards for Intel chips and Nvidia has lost millions for the second year in a row. So things aren't all that great in the PC game world without more games to drive sales. Not that I don't expect things to turn around for nVidia (I'm sure they will be alright), but what would it be like without them?

I guess I'm still hopeful for Red Dead Redemption and Super Street Fighter IV at this point. Given up on Forza 3, Condemned 2 and other SEGA titles like Yakuza. Life is too short for everything anyway.

Nvidia had to let go of 1000 of their engineers?! Oh man, that's definitely not good! And Intel has lost millions as well? And The PC gaming Alliance had just reported, not too long ago, that PC Gaming parts were outselling consoles. But then again, reports from the PCGA are dubious at best. Also, releasing figures isn't exactly helping PC gaming. I just really hope that Microsoft makes a better push for PC Gaming and they release many more PC titles, the PC can get all the help it can.

For some time I was hoping that Condemned 2 would be released for the PC, but I've given up on seeing the title come to the PC.

 

[<RJMC>]

does starcraft2 sales has put a positive effect in the pc?

 

[VirusType2]

Nvidia had to let go of 1000 of their engineers?! Oh man, that's definitely not good!

nVidia and Intel were duking it out in court, and so nvidia couldn't make motherboards for their processors anymore. Those engineers. It was in the news recently.

>And Intel has lost millions as well?
No, Intel is doing well. One of the best fiscal years ever. Nvidia has had back to back losing years, mostly because of their flawed onboard graphics that would overheat. Also problems with Intel, and problems with their new Fermi chip - low yields (defects)


Back on topic, I don't think Microsoft gives 2 shits about Games for Windows. They have the market cornered. All they invest in is things that they actually face competition in. They've lost quite a bit of ground in the mobile phone market, and don't even have a smartphone out yet, they don't have a tablet, they would like a bigger piece of the mp3 player and game console markets. And don't forget the Search, Web Browser, and Advertising markets. They face almost no competition from Gaming platforms in the Desktop computer arena so they won't commit much resources to it.

Right now, they are all about getting Xbox Live on Phone 7. http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/ne...ndows-phone-7-looks-cool-but-is-it-enough.ars

They don't care about bringing Xbox Live Arcade games to the PC. It's a side-show for them. They tried Games for Windows with Vista and Vista tanked, so they maybe don't even want that much gaming attention when their main profit is from businesses using their OS and attachments like Office.

 

[Danimal]

does starcraft2 sales has put a positive effect in the pc?

I was wondering this, too.

Cataclysm as well, to a more minor extent?

 

[Shakermaker]

Microsoft: We Are Doubling Down on PC Games

"We have a different vision that runs parallel to what (Steam) is doing," Orullian said.

The Marketplace will work with nearly all forms of digital rights management, Microsoft told Kotaku, allowing publishers to submit a pre-protected or unprotected build of their game with their choice of DRM and Microsoft will distribute the builds on the Marketplace along with the appropriate activation keys.

But we have scalable DRM! Dumbasses ...

 

[Krynn72]

Uh, Steam lets developers use their own DRM as well. DERP

 

[VirusType2]

I don't understand how Microsoft can keep missing the boat... this goes for game consoles, mp3 players, phones, tablets, and now Direct game downloads.

Steam is officially massive, now they want to invest heavily. Wouldn't it have made more sense to invest heavily before they have allowed a behemoth like Steam to take root?

Do they have absolutely no foresight, to where they can't see something big before it becomes an unstoppable monster?

Facepalm.

The thing that gives Apple such a good lead is that they develop in top secret and don't announce an item until like the day it launches. They catch everyone with their pants down. Why don't others do the same? Imagine the R&D and patent filing that is going on at Sony or something, after Nintendo shows off the 3DS like an entire year before release.

 

[bam23]

gfwl has a horrible reputation, and steam had about an 800 year head start.

****in smashed.

 

[ríomhaire]

The Marketplace will work with nearly all forms of digital rights management, Microsoft told Kotaku. Instead it will allow publishers to submit a pre-protected or unprotected build of their game with their choice of DRM.

There are two things wrong with the second sentence. The first is the use of the word "instead" when the sentence is building on the same subject as the first, not offering an alternative. It's like saying "We offer several different types of icecream. Instead we have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry." It makes no sense.

The other thing wrong is holy **** Microsoft are ridiculously out of touch with what PC gamers want. Why use GFWL instead of Steam? Because it's specifically built to help developers force DRM down your throat! You'd think they'd learn to get to know what PC gamers want after their failed attempt to charge for GFWL when there was a superior and free service available already and since then Steam has improved by miles and GFWL has a horrendous reputation and Valve are attempting with Portal 2 to bring about what the original selling point of GFWL was; cross-platform play.

If Microsoft want to compete on a serious level with Steam they are going to have to invest a shittonne into GFWL and more PC games and I don't think they are willing to put in what is required for this, nor do they realise how unbelievably out of touch they are with their PC audience.

 

[VirusType2]

You have to admit, not many new to PC are going to be familiar with Steam. However, Games for Windows is a Microsoft brand - they've got their foot in the door as soon as you install Windows - especially if you plug in a 360 controller, because you could then be offered GFWL as a Windows update. Also, new PC owners are pretty likely to be picking up a retail copy of a game, and these are often going to be 'Games for Windows'.

I'm pretty sure that they are trying to get newbies on-board with 'browser-like' games that are mega-popular right now on places like Facebook (so I hear), that will also have 'hardcore' games featured if the new costumer wants to delve deeper.

While it may have seemed PC games were dying off or whatever, PC games have come on very strong this year with an expansion for WoW, Starcraft II, MW2, Black Ops, Bioshock 2, Fallout 3+, Dragon Age, and a hell of a lot of other games and I'm not really even paying attention.

 

[ríomhaire]

You have to admit, not many new to PC are going to be familiar with Steam. However, Games for Windows is a Microsoft brand - they've got their foot in the door as soon as you install Windows - especially if you plug in a 360 controller, because you could then be offered GFWL as a Windows update. Also, new PC owners are pretty likely to be picking up a retail copy of a game, and these are often going to be 'Games for Windows'.

More and more games are going from Games for Windows to Steamworks, eg, Metro 2033, CoD 6 & 7, Kane and Lynch 2, Fallout New Vegas. Valve should push to get their own Steamworks banner on the top of games the way Microsoft got companies to have the Games for Windows banner. It would give them a massive boost in brand recognition with people who only buy games in shops.

 

[Shakermaker]

Games for Steam, good idea.

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

It had to uninstall SC because of the recent patch. It improves the shadows and removes the need for SC because of all the complaints.

no it doesn't. it simply removes social club as a separate program and instead integrates it into the game itself.

I really love GTA IV....that is when you actually get around to playing it.
also I social club was never needed to play the game you only needed to to login if you wanted the social club features e.g. uploading clip captures and social club stat tracking. I know this because when I got the game I couldn't get my internet working and had to go thru all the weird shit with the offline installer. this is not me excusing the existence of SC or GFWL, in fact I think it's ****ing retarded when games expect you to sign up to more than one service. one example of this that really puzzles the **** out of me is Relic making both steam and GFWL a mandatory install in order to get Dawn of war 2 working...I can simply not grasp why you would need two services for one game that basically do the same things(except steam does it better) I mean wtf!? I love dawn of war 2 though and luckily I didn't have any issues getting the game running.(at one point though I could boot up the game in steam offline mode...but couldn't get anywhere in the game even singleplayer or offline skirmish because GFWL wanted to connect to the internet >:-( )

as for GFWL in general even though I've actually been pretty lucky with the service I'd still rather see it go away in favour of steam.

the only good thing I can think of GFWL is the offline messaging system, I wouldn't mind if steam got that. also when you actually have connection to the internet I find that the in game overlay seems a bit faster and it's a bit easier to add friends from recent matches.

however there's also some things I really dislike about GFWL. first and foremost I absolutely hate the online save games system...it makes absolutely no ****ing sense...I could maybe understand it if it was actually cloud save games and they stored the save-files on some server somewhere so that you could play your saves from anywhere...but no you have to be online in order to load games that are locally stored WTF!?(and yes I know about offline profiles...still doesn't make any sense)

also the auto-updater both for the platform and the games using it sucks ass. which is one of the other areas where I've had some trouble...I remember one very infuriating experience with bioshock 2 where I was stuck in an infinite loop trying to update both the game and GFWL...something along the line of needing to log in in order to update, but not being able to log in because I needed to update...yeah that was fun! on top of that the patch needed was something for multiplayer exclusively I believe...so after hours of finally getting the goddamn patching working and after hours of downloading the shitty patch...obviously I had to check out the Amazing multiplayer action...only to find out that it was completely utter shit. thx for wasting my time GFWL and bioshock team.

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

Uh, Steam lets developers use their own DRM as well. DERP

yeah and I'm pretty sure that most people wish they didn't.

I know that I for one would absolutely love it if Valve put their foot down and told publishers/developers than in order to carry their games on steam they would have to get rid of any 3rd party DRM/services...unfortunately that probably doesn't make sense from a business point of view for Valve and they would probably rather just take the money.(sadly)

 

[VictimOfScience]

GFWL is the WORST thing to happen to PC gaming in recent memory. Maybe ever. I bought Batman during this amazing Steam sale and the GFWL annoyances almost stopped me from playing it at first. How many times did I have to start the game over to update and load and update and load my GFWL profile??? It is a completely retarded bunch of bullshit that I would imagine pisses people off more than it endears them.

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

well to be honest you also have to update and restart steam when client updates goes out and in certain scenarios you will have to do the same with games, e.g. if you haven't chosen NOT to keep the game up to date, because once steam decides to update one of your games, even if it's it's singleplayer only and doesn't require a connection, once that update process kicks in you have to complete it before you can use your game... it's a little annoying sometimes if you're only a slow connection, you can't say screw this update I just want to play some singleplayer.

unlike GFWLthough steam will usually patch itself and games to the most recent version in one go requiring only a single restart of either.

Company of heroes has a similar problem where you are forced to update the game even if you only want to to play the singleplayer portion...which is annoying because the game needs incremental updates e.g. from a fresh re-install you have to download and restart the game for every single patch they've put out(which is a lot by the way!)...unless you disconnect, but then there's some new problems if it's from a fresh install with setting up the account and needing the CD and shit. worst of all the process isn't automated so you need to sit and babysit the updates and click "ok" every time it prompts you for a restart, even though there's absolutely no reason why you wouldn't want it to restart, since you can't play the game anyway until you do.

 

[VictimOfScience]

Yeah, that is what is so great about Steam. The updates all just happen and I have yet to encounter one that takes me so far from the experience as the GFWL one did. That CoH problem sounds like a very poor design.

 

[ríomhaire]

Get CoH on Steam and you will have no such problems. I didn't have them at least.