Not so long ago PC gamers everywhere got sneak-attacked by a program, and it hit a CRITICAL! A program, that came with certain new games, a program that no one asked for, let alone wanted to install and run. This is Games For Windows LIVE.
Many new releases came with GFW, and in order to play the game, you have to register an account and log in. In case you are not familiar with Games For Windows, it's essentially the same thing like on the 360. You register an account, log in, start the game, and from then on, the client logs everything you do in-game and gives you gamescore and achievement points for certain actions or by completing certain objectives. It lets you download stuff for your games, chat with friends and play online.
It sounds alright, in fact, it sounds great, in theory. But there are an increasing number of problems surfacing, and an increasing number of pissed-off gamers questioning the very existence of GFW. For example, GFW handles your savegames, assigns them to your profile. But if for some reason, your computer crashes and you are forced to reinstall your game (or your OS), your saved games won't work anymore. I had this same problem myself, when my computer crashed and I had to reinstall, after that my GTA IV saves didn't work. I had to search troubleshooting pages and internet forums for days, before I found a solution that worked. It wasn't an official method or patch either, it was a community made (gulp) hack.
In fact, most of the problems associated with Games For Windows doesn't have official solutions, only some community made workarounds and hacks that are tedious and hard to do in most cases, but inevitable if you want to play. GFW fails in many levels. Most of the time, it prevents players from actually playing the game, fracks up downloaded content and expansions, messes up savegames and online play, and a myriad of problems that shouldn't exists in a properly constructed and developed program. But, okay, nobody's perfect, but then you can simply go without GFW if you don't need those features, right? Wrong! A live and logged in GFW account is required to even play the game, else you can't save your game, can't advance, can't go online, or in extreme cases, can't even start it.
Well, what's your take on this?
Many new releases came with GFW, and in order to play the game, you have to register an account and log in. In case you are not familiar with Games For Windows, it's essentially the same thing like on the 360. You register an account, log in, start the game, and from then on, the client logs everything you do in-game and gives you gamescore and achievement points for certain actions or by completing certain objectives. It lets you download stuff for your games, chat with friends and play online.
It sounds alright, in fact, it sounds great, in theory. But there are an increasing number of problems surfacing, and an increasing number of pissed-off gamers questioning the very existence of GFW. For example, GFW handles your savegames, assigns them to your profile. But if for some reason, your computer crashes and you are forced to reinstall your game (or your OS), your saved games won't work anymore. I had this same problem myself, when my computer crashed and I had to reinstall, after that my GTA IV saves didn't work. I had to search troubleshooting pages and internet forums for days, before I found a solution that worked. It wasn't an official method or patch either, it was a community made (gulp) hack.
In fact, most of the problems associated with Games For Windows doesn't have official solutions, only some community made workarounds and hacks that are tedious and hard to do in most cases, but inevitable if you want to play. GFW fails in many levels. Most of the time, it prevents players from actually playing the game, fracks up downloaded content and expansions, messes up savegames and online play, and a myriad of problems that shouldn't exists in a properly constructed and developed program. But, okay, nobody's perfect, but then you can simply go without GFW if you don't need those features, right? Wrong! A live and logged in GFW account is required to even play the game, else you can't save your game, can't advance, can't go online, or in extreme cases, can't even start it.
Well, what's your take on this?
