Rant Games for Windows Live...

[caLLous]

...can fuck off as far as I'm concerned.

I created an offline profile for all games connected with this pos that I played (when I was on dialup and online gaming/achievements and all that wank didn't concern me in the slightest); GTA4, DiRT 2/3 etc... I faithfully tracked down all the savegame data because I was about to reinstall Win7. Found it all, backed it all up, reinstalled Windows, reinstalled games... and then find out that I'm screwed and I'm just gonna have to start all the games over because I didn't backup some little file buried in the Microsoft folder in AppData. I have all the savegames but apparently I might as well delete them because without the GFWL ID that I created when I made the offline account they are worthless.

Fucksake!

 

[Scouse]

I've yet to see a gaming content delivery platform that beats steam tbfh.

But aside from that - all this registering guff that we have to jump hoops through, DLC and the like. It makes a compelling argument for piracy...

 

[Tuthmes]

The 6 Most Ominous Trends in Video Games | Cracked.com

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

The 6 Most Ominous Trends in Video Games | Cracked.com

Really interesting article that.

 

[PLightstar]

Had that same problem recently. Luckily I had my old HD to hand so I could find the file I needed. Its a stupid system, it should be tied to your gamertag. Hopefully the cloud saving that Live users are getting will be transfered to the PC market.

 

[DaGaffer]

Really interesting article that.

Very good, and I agree with his conclusions. I think it was when I had a go with the last MOH title and realised that the multiplayer version was a completely different game experience (totally different game engine and everything) to the SP, that something was really rotten in the state of Denmark. That and the fact that the "traditional" games software industry seems to be creatively bankrupt at a time when the hardware side has never been so innovative.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to BF3 etc. but shouldn't I be looking forward to something else rather than a shinier version of the game I've been playing for the last 8 years?

 

[caLLous]

In a second bout of narrow-minded and just plain stupid game programming, I just tried to update Crysis 2. I have it installed in a non-standard place (naughty me!) on e: because I encrypt the system drive and thought it would unnecessarily slow stuff down. The 1.8 update downloads and then runs, it spends about 10 minutes searching every single folder on all my harddrives and then tells me it can't find my Crysis 2 installation and that I need to re-install it and then re-run the patch. What the fuck?? Why don't you just ASK me where I installed it?? There doesn't seem to be any way of passing a parameter to it to tell it where to look, it doesn't pop up a dialog asking me to point the folder out. It just basically says "it's not there because we can't find it so stop being so stupid and install it properly you numpty".

I am left shaking my head, in disbelief, more than anything.

 

[rynnor]

Excellent article - I think the first point was the saddest - all the bestselling games are FPS...

 

[Chronictank]

Games for Windows is pretty poo, but it is heaven compared to the EA service
We'll see what happens now they have yet another re-branding to try and fix its rep

 

[caLLous]

I've been partially saved on the GTA4/EFLC front by xliveless, which completely bypasses the GFWL crap and lets me load my offline saves.

Now someone needs to mod it for DiRT 3 and I will be a happy bunny again. I was ~150 races in, I just can't bring myself to start over from scratch.