Microsoft vows to improve Games for Windows Live

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Microsoft has vowed to improve Games for Windows Live after acknowledging that the service has kicked off to a "rocky start." According to Kevin Unangst, the senior producer of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, the service launched with the right intent, which was to bring achievements, friends, multiplayer gaming and matchmaking to the PC. Unfortunately, the company made a few missteps along the way.

Unangst partially blamed the fact that the platform was originally designed to complement Microsoft's console business more than PCs. Perhaps more importantly, the company didn't back its service with high quality games. "A network by itself isn't valuable," Unangst said, "there needs to be great games to take advantage [of it]." As an example, he pointed to what Bungie and Microsoft accomplished with Halo and Xbox Live.

Despite the shortcomings of Games for Windows Live, Microsoft isn't ready to throw in the towel yet. "I think the underpinnings are great, I think it's going to continue to get better. We launched a new Marketplace which was great, we're selling Live and non-Live enabled games." Going forward, Microsoft will encourage feedback about the service from developers, such as the folks behind Age of Empires Online and Fable 3.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/42750-microsoft-vows-to-improve-games-for-windows-live.html

 

[DDG4005]

Maybe if they made the entire Halo franchise available they'd get more sales. MIcrosoft also a catalog of games going back to 1995 (like Fury, Hellbender, etc) that gamers like me would love to play.

 

[BunchOfPixels]

To hell with Games For Windows Live.
Steam all the way.

 

[Jurassic4096]

if Microsoft wants to keep selling its OS, it has no choice but to make it a worthy competitor. they got the money for it. i wish em luck, they gonna need it.

 

[Omnislip]

MS should just team up with Steam and offer them Windows features Mac couldn't possibly offer. Why continue with this piece of crap windows?!?

 

[dcrosenthal]

The only way windows live is going to survive is if they get a great game to back it up.. Lets say Halo... get Halo over to PC and have it multi-platform so PC could play against Xbox and they would make millions...

 

[yRaz]

BunchOfPixels said:
To hell with Games For Windows Live.
Steam all the way.

+1

Developers need to realize that steam is the only effective PC DRM. Windows live is crap. Xbox live works because there isn't any competition. When it comes to "what the gamers want" windows live will be put aside like an unwanted child. Steam has a very competitive business model that will out do windows live at every turn.

 

[Guest]

Keep Microsoft as far away from Steam as possible,why ruin a good thing.

 

[Guest]

@dcrosenthal
You do realize that Halo and Halo 2 are available for the PC, and Halo 2 was a "Windows Live enabled" game? Microsoft needs to concede and back Steam. I enjoy Xbox Live, but that is because there is nothing to compare it to on the Xbox. PS online sucks, but that isn't the topic at hand. Steam is an amazing all-in-one game shop.

 

[Vrmithrax]

If Microsoft had stuck with the original intent of the "Live" gaming system, they'd be in a much better position now. The original concept was to have a system that supported both the Xbox and Games for Windows products, and have plenty of interleave between the platforms. But, in its infinite wisdom (dominated by greed), MS put much more push behind the Xbox platform, and let the Windows side flounder. Cross-platform gaming was basically abandoned (one of the original impetus points for the Live system, ironically), and the Windows gaming side of the equation just fluttered in the breeze. Now MS has finally decided to actually put some weight behind Windows gaming again, but where Live gaming is considered, it's really too little, too late.

 

[Guest]

This says enough:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/09/on-the-rocks-games-for-windows-live/

 

[Johny47]

I don't really care if a game says 'games for windows' I just like it if I can talk in voice chat with my old XBOX LIVE friends as they're on their 360 and I'm on my PC, but it's so limited because of the 'gold, silver' thing, because XBOX LIVE users need gold to use the party chat(allows groups to talk together instead of just one to one) PC gamers are automatically on silver because it's free to play online.

And not sure if many remember a cool game called Shadowrun but I loved back in my shitbox days =P

Fasa studios made it and they started something cool with cross game play so 360 and PC players could play together then microsoft closed down Fasa... seriously, wake the f*** up microsoft, you don't end good things.

It could have been a start of something very cool, alot of PC gamers will probably say in FPS and RTS games 360 players won't stand a chance and your probably right haha =/

But with other games, racing, 3rd person shooters, adventure and role playing it could have been so good.

 

[Chazz]

Microsoft should just go the Google route and buy steam. No sense in trying to make anything of your own when there is an established platform out there.

 

[yRaz]

Chazz said:
Microsoft should just go the Google route and buy steam. No sense in trying to make anything of your own when there is an established platform out there.

they shouldn't buy steam. Competition is the thing that made steam great, MS will just **** it up if they buy it.

 

[DDG4005]

I don't think Gabe Newell will sell Steam. Valve is making good money from the service. It's easy to use and Valve has partnerships with lots of independent developers whose games are featured on Steam.

Microsoft needs to just make a decision about which is more important: PC gaming and Games for Windows or the Xbox 360 and Live.