The Windows 10 Store or how not to digitally distribute games (Gears 4 related)

[MercurySteam]

*Sigh* I'm getting real tired of bringing up the shortcomings of software and its no real surprise that MS borked its comeback with a digital distribution platform.

So this week Gears 4 (early access) came out and while I had some initial reservations I decided to bite the bullet and preorder after seeing positive reviews and decent PC support. What I didn't count on was just how atrociously MS handled getting the PC version out there.

For starters it's the same price as the XB1 version, but no surprises there as the only reason Gears 4 is even on PC is due to their "Play Anywhere" scheme. Secondly, there is no retail copy which means no matter how poor your internet you have to download all 75GB from the Windows 10 store (for reference, I live in Aus and my broadband speed is 4Mbps). "Okay then", I thought, "I'll just ask one of my friends with cable to download the files." Well it turns out after having issues with even letting someone else sign in with my account, it seems all Windows 10 'apps' from the store are encrypted and cannot be backed up/restored. This means not only can you not exchange files with your friends but in the event that you lose your data or reinstall your OS you'll have to download that 75GB again. So that it is it would take up to 4 or 5 days for me to download the goddamn game.

Now I'm not saying it's The Coalition's fault, it's not like they get to choose how their game is sold as they're a MS owned studio but it really shows what a lack of foresight MS had when they decided that their "app store" was good enough when they're competing with the likes of Steam. Hell, they could've even released a version on Steam as they recently have with Quantum Break, though I suspect that even if it does happen it won't be for some time.

As it currently stands, The Windows 10 store is inferior as a platform to Steam, Origin, GOG Galaxy and even bloody Uplay missing backup/restore features, a proper download speed tracker, a slow updating downloaded size tracker, slow servers, sign-in issues and the list goes on. It seems that to implement their "Play Anywhere" scheme they've done the bare minimum for PC users, which is ironic considering MS primarily makes software for Windows.

TLDR: If you bough Gears 4 for PC and you have shitty internet, you're in for a bad time.

 

[CaitSeith]

It's in posts like these that I miss a "thumbs up" or "like" feature in the Escapist. I agree completely, and the OP has just everything I could say.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Okay, putting aside all of the other stuff the OP mentioned: 75 GB!? Are you serious? I know games are getting bigger because they're all full of HD textures and whatnot, but even so, there must be better ways of compressing a game if they're going to force digital distribution on anyone who wants a copy. That's a great enough file size that a significant portion of their customers is gonna be pissed off at the idea of having to download it, even the ones with decent internet.

 

[CritialGaming]

Okay, putting aside all of the other stuff the OP mentioned: 75 GB!? Are you serious? I know games are getting bigger because they're all full of HD textures and whatnot, but even so, there must be better ways of compressing a game if they're going to force digital distribution on anyone who wants a copy. That's a great enough file size that a significant portion of their customers is gonna be pissed off at the idea of having to download it, even the ones with decent internet.

You better get used to that size of download buddy. Because it isn't getting better. With the gaming industry pushing itself tooth and nail towards 4K gaming, you are going to start seeing games get huge! File size really shouldn't be a problem for most areas though. Sure people with shitty internet will have slow download speeds, but they can get their game eventually, and frankly I bet you can download 75Gigs on your PC faster than the Xbox One can install the fucker from the game disc.

I swear I tried to play Madden on Xbone and it took the console 5 hours to figure out what I had just put in the disc tray. I don't get it, what's the point of having a fucking disc if it still has to download shit? Fuck the Xbox I swear.

 

[votemarvel]

I don't have a great issue with the Windows Store as a distribution platform. It does what it needs to, sell games in a clear and relatively easy to find manner.

My issues stem from the god awful Xbox app they have installed on my system. It's far too buggy for something that has been in beta for a good while and it's just to fiddly and featureless (with the ones that are there just not working very well.)

That being said, Microsoft could offer every triple A title for free and people would still demand that they be put on Steam.

I don't get it, what's the point of having a fucking disc if it still has to download shit? Fuck the Xbox I swear.

I think consoles need to get back to basics and stop wanting to be mini-PCs.

Problem is the "we can patch it later" mentality that is in the industry these days just wouldn't allow for such a thing. I can't see that ever changing sadly.

Edit: To speed up install times try disconnecting the One from the internet while doing it. Installs get slow because the console tries to download the updates for the game at the same time, not a good thing since the original version only sports a 5200rpm hard drive.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm pretty sure that Microsoft doesn't want me to buy games on Windows Store. So I'm going to respect that decision.

 

[Rip Van Rabbit]

South Africa here! Reporting in with 1Mbps.
So I really feel your pain.
(I'm a student, the interwebz plan is dirt cheap. Sue me. [small]Please don't.[/small])

Although that freakin' download size reeks of piss poor compression techniques. I'm not asking to be catered to, but when illegitimate sources can repack games into more manageable sizes while stripping out extraneous data like unused localisation files and such. One has to wonder whether a digital storefront shackled to an operating system is really offering any real benefit to the consumer that has to jump through unnecessary hoops --- hypothetically speaking, of course.

All in all, compression techniques should be worth looking into. Especially in the rapidly growing age of digital distribution. It's less of a pain in the butt for all parties involved.

 

[DoPo]

South Africa here! Reporting in with 1Mbps.

That's fine then - if you let the game download at constant full speed 24/7 it would take you literally 7 days times 24 hours. Actually slightly more - it'd be ~171 hours to download which is very little over a week[footnote]for reference, a week has 168 hours, in case you don't feel like calculating it[/footnote].

I hope you don't have any sort of usage cap and that your speed is stable, or it may easily either incur you more charges, take twice as long (or more) or both.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

Blame your shitty internet provider instead, 4mbps is ridiculously slow, if I had that I'd have a bad time no matter what PC platform I was using to download games.

 

[MercurySteam]

It's in posts like these that I miss a "thumbs up" or "like" feature in the Escapist. I agree completely, and the OP has just everything I could say.

Thanks, if we can get this problem noticed more and more maybe they'll actually do something about it. I'm tired of hearing that these are all known issues - fix some of them for fuck's sake MS.

Okay, putting aside all of the other stuff the OP mentioned: 75 GB!?

When I read about the file size I had the exact same reaction, but I wasn't worried because I didn't think MS would cut off all alternatives and downloading off my shitty internet the only option.

Of course it's the Coalition's fault! Instead of biting the bullet and upgrading a system that is based on 100 year old tech with something a bit newer, (and in some parts, probably about a 100 years old as well), they throw a fit abou....oh, wrong Coalition, right?

Ha I see what you did there. Any up to date telecommunications engineer could tell you the copper network has been failing badly for years, and they wanted to make it the backbone of their 'superior' NBN plan? And when it takes twice as much projected per node to refurbish the copper network because of the blatantly obvious reasons already stated? Well by now they've already shat the bed and can't get out of it so they just muddle through while calling Labour's scheme a joke, glad I didn't vote for the bastards. /rant

Blame your shitty internet provider instead, 4mbps is ridiculously slow, if I had that I'd have a bad time no matter what PC platform I was using to download games.

I don't know how things work geographically over there in Sweden but here in Oz the majority of people either live on the east and west coasts with a great big desert making up more than 50% of the country between us. Adding to the fact we're particularly widespread over a large area along the coast, means that public transport, phone networks, and internet needs to cover a much wider area just to reach most people. Means slower and more expensive internet for everyone, so providers aren't the issue over here (everybody runs off either Telstra or Optus as there is no room for anyone else) but more the infrastructure is ancient.

Most of my friends have cable but that ends just before my street and as I've stated above, the National Broadband Network is supposed to be on its way but I won't be holding my breath at least for another year. I actually did a speed test just today and it's more like 2.5Mbs. Surprisingly that's only in the bottom 30% of speeds in my country, any other country and I'd undoubtedly be in the bottom 5%. I think that should tell you just how bad off we are over here.

 

[pookie101]

the moment i hear something is available on the windows store i just outright dismiss it. if it eventually pops up on steam or something then ill check it out

 

[kilenem]

I've learned from PC gaming don't buy anything at full price because Developers and Publishers are extremely shitty some times. I would probably value Microsoft X1 games lower then then their MSRP because of the way their store front works for PC.

I think Target goofed because I end up getting a Digital Copy of Forza Horizon 3 for 20 bucks so the value out weighed the inconvenience of having to download 50 freaking GBs.
It makes you feel any better Forza Actually runs pretty well, surprisingly. I kind of hate the stupid Groove app you have to use for using custom music play list bcause they gie you a trial and eventually you have to pay for it. Even Though Custom music in GTA 5 is as simple as linking a Folder on you PC to the GTA 5 game files.

 

[Bad Jim]

75 GB!? Are you serious? I know games are getting bigger because they're all full of HD textures and whatnot, but even so, there must be better ways of compressing a game if they're going to force digital distribution on anyone who wants a copy.

All in all, compression techniques should be worth looking into. Especially in the rapidly growing age of digital distribution. It's less of a pain in the butt for all parties involved.

Compression doesn't really work like that unfortunately. The main issue is that the most important compression techniques are the ones that allow you to fill up RAM with compressed data instead of raw data. This seems like a good thing, and it technically is, but what developers do with it is add more data, leaving you with the same bloated install size that you would get if they never compressed anything.

Still, it would be nice if you could have download options for quality. Textures can be recompressed at smaller sizes, they often make less detailed models to swap in at long distances so the large ones could be left out, audio can be compressed more aggressively and still be tolerable etc. Your game would necessarily look/sound worse, but it could be a good tradeoff if you have a slow/metered connection or if you like to have lots of games installed.

 

[MercurySteam]

It's in posts like these that I miss a "thumbs up" or "like" feature in the Escapist. I agree completely, and the OP has just everything I could say.

Yup, and then have it spread virally so all PC gamers can see it and chime in until MS gets the hint that their bread n butter isn't the bloody XBox. The only thing they continuously excel at is keeping the platform open so places like Steam, GOG, etc. can do it right. I also am pleasantly surprised that DS4 works natively for some games on Steam in Win10.

Having said that, maybe they shouldn't even bother with their own game store. Just keep making stable, full featured and open OS's (even if it is just updates going forward from the sounds of it) and let the other folks handle the rest.

 

[MercurySteam]

Don't feel too bad OP. I have a 75MB connection here in the States and rarely see above 10MB/sec no matter what site I'm on, so I'm literally wasting at least 87% of my money. The problem is the middleman available bandwidth is lacking.

 

[MercurySteam]

Don't feel too bad OP. I have a 75MB connection here in the States and rarely see above 10MB/sec no matter what site I'm on, so I'm literally wasting at least 87% of my money. The problem is the middleman available bandwidth is lacking.

Either you mean 75 megabits or you do literally mean you have a 75 MB/s connection which is more like 500 megabits/s. In either case the difference between our internet is almost literally the difference between a moon and a galaxy.

 

[MercurySteam]

Don't feel too bad OP. I have a 75MB connection here in the States and rarely see above 10MB/sec no matter what site I'm on, so I'm literally wasting at least 87% of my money. The problem is the middleman available bandwidth is lacking.

Either you mean 75 megabits or you do literally mean you have a 75 MB/s connection which is more like 500 megabits/s. In either case the difference between our internet is almost literally the difference between a moon and a galaxy.

Literally 75megabytes. Still the principle is they're charging for something I'm nowhere close to being able to actually use as-advertised.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Sounds about right from what I've heard. Shamus was complaining about The Windows 10 Store a couple of weeks ago.