Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Kobrar44 on August 20, 2013, 05:20:22 am

Title: GfWL will die?
Post by: Kobrar44 on August 20, 2013, 05:20:22 am
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/425316/games-for-windows-live-to-close-in-july-2014/ (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/425316/games-for-windows-live-to-close-in-july-2014/)

Quote
According to Polygon, Microsoft posted a message on the Age of Empires Online support page warning users of the service's impending closure - and the effect it will have on AoE.

"Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014," the message read.

"Although it is available through Steam, Age of Empires Online requires features of the Games for Windows Live service. You can continue to enjoy all the features of Age of Empires Online as the service will remain 100% operational until July 1, 2014 when the server will shut down."

Apparently MS seems to learn quite a lot lately. That's good isn't it?
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Nuke on August 20, 2013, 05:50:00 am
this is why its bad to make games dependent on online services.

burn in hell gfwl
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Oddgrim on August 20, 2013, 06:04:45 am
Good riddence, GFWL has been a tedious experience from the start and all the games it has been implemented in. While its unfortanate that AoE:O will be effected by this closure,  but seeing how MS aggressively forced this service on games that even was available on steam, makes me just glad it will be gone.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: An4ximandros on August 20, 2013, 06:28:19 am
I have never forgiven you nor SEGA for the failure of UaW:EA. Burn in hell GFWL.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Nakura on August 20, 2013, 09:29:43 am
No great loss here. Kind of scary though, imagine what would happen if Steam dies ~10+ years from now.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: The E on August 20, 2013, 09:37:06 am
but seeing how MS aggressively forced this service on games that even was available on steam, makes me just glad it will be gone.

Slight issue: MS was never in a position to force GFWL on anyone (well, except us customers of course). I can't quite fathom why a reasonably clueful dev would choose it willingly, so money has to have been involved somehow.

In the end though, good riddance to it.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: BloodEagle on August 20, 2013, 09:39:45 am
No great loss here. Kind of scary though, imagine what would happen if Steam dies ~10+ years from now.

Assuming that the world hasn't ended or Valve reneges on their promises?

I'd imagine we'd rush to the pirate version of Steam.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Fury on August 20, 2013, 09:59:51 am
but seeing how MS aggressively forced this service on games that even was available on steam, makes me just glad it will be gone.
There are many other games available on online distribution platforms that requires another online distribution platform to function. One example would be Far Cry 3 and Blood Dragon, both of which are available on Steam but require UPlay to work.

I've never had any issues with GFWL though, I wonder if some of my games that uses it will work after July 1. Probably not, sadly. :(
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Nuke on August 20, 2013, 10:14:54 am
all the games i had bought in the 90s, of the ones that dont work anymore, it was usually because of software/hardware comparability. now games die because services they depend on get taken down. its quite sad. sounds like some games are getting a last minute patch to liberate them from their impending doom. the ones that dont will probibly be hacked by pirates and put on pirate bay. the moral of this story is that if you dont patch your games, the pirates will do it for you, and then pirate it.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Dragon on August 20, 2013, 10:29:54 am
Of all games I have bought over the years, the only ones that don't work are the ones that were on disks my younger brothers got their hands on (really, can't believe how those little brats can destroy CDs. When I was their age, I was careful with them). :) Emulation FTW, some things caused problems, but in the end, all the best stuff works. As for GfWL, good riddance, I hate that thing. I only hope purely SP titles like DiRT2 and DoW are not affected too much. They're all Steam games, so there's a chance they'll be promptly patched. Microsoft Flight would also be not nice to lose, but it was free anyway, so it's not that big of a loss.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Kobrar44 on August 20, 2013, 01:02:24 pm
I once registered DoWII on my sisters steam account which we shared, because we also shared computer and had no real perspectives for another one. I created my own live account though. Now we got a free DoWII copy from CDP, which was apparently giving away THQ stuff during their "giermasz" sale, so I registered it on my own steam account. Live required me to enter a second serial key for the same game. Makes sense? No.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Dragon on August 20, 2013, 01:29:43 pm
Actually, it does, under the current law. IIRC, a game on GfWL isn't tied to an account (like on Steam), but to a license. OSes work the same way. Of course, this is dumb (Steam way of doing this is way better), but that's copy protection for you. As far as they go, GfWL isn't exactly the best, but also not the worst choice. There are worse DRM systems than a CD code and GfWL.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: MP-Ryan on August 20, 2013, 02:16:19 pm
GFWL can die in a fire.

all the games i had bought in the 90s, of the ones that dont work anymore, it was usually because of software/hardware comparability. now games die because services they depend on get taken down. its quite sad. sounds like some games are getting a last minute patch to liberate them from their impending doom. the ones that dont will probibly be hacked by pirates and put on pirate bay. the moral of this story is that if you dont patch your games, the pirates will do it for you, and then pirate it.

Quite a number of games either get fan-made patches or official patches to disconnect them from online services.  Hell, Tribes 2 STILL has a community playing despite the fact that the official servers were shut down years ago.  A fan-driven server system is now in place instead.

Like you said, either companies liberate the games when the server dies or the fan base will do it for them.  I expect nothing less from the AoE community as well.  Hopefully Microsoft got the memo.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Mongoose on August 20, 2013, 02:34:14 pm
I think the only game I've played that relies on GfWL is Batman: Arkham Asylum, and that's primarily for the achievements and high score listings.  Those parts aren't a big loss, but hopefully they'll patch things properly so that the game itself doesn't have any issues running.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: BloodEagle on August 20, 2013, 07:33:34 pm
I think the only game I've played that relies on GfWL is Batman: Arkham Asylum, and that's primarily for the achievements and high score listings.  Those parts aren't a big loss, but hopefully they'll patch things properly so that the game itself doesn't have any issues running.

IIRC, if you don't connect to it then saving is disabled.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Aardwolf on August 21, 2013, 01:42:11 pm
Section 8. Account creation and login and stuff was such a PITA.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: NGTM-1R on August 21, 2013, 02:34:58 pm
Section 8. Account creation and login and stuff was such a PITA.

The only thing Section 8 really had going for it was an awesome aesthetic.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Spoon on August 21, 2013, 02:45:58 pm
But what about mah dark souls
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Dragon on August 22, 2013, 06:27:44 am
I think the only game I've played that relies on GfWL is Batman: Arkham Asylum, and that's primarily for the achievements and high score listings.  Those parts aren't a big loss, but hopefully they'll patch things properly so that the game itself doesn't have any issues running.

IIRC, if you don't connect to it then saving is disabled.
If so, I hope you've got a titanium bladder and a lot of skill and patience. :)
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: An4ximandros on August 22, 2013, 06:49:55 am
Section 8. Account creation and login and stuff was such a PITA.
The studio who made it is already dead. They will join each other in the afterlife.

And as for Dark Souls... I guess it will be a permanent Game Over.
(http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/550/127/662.gif)
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: Droid803 on August 23, 2013, 01:07:29 am
No more PvP/Co-op in Dark Souls, it seems.
The rest of the game would still work fine...just like playing it in offline mode, I guess.

But as stated, good riddance.

I have never forgiven you nor SEGA for the failure of UaW:EA. Burn in hell GFWL.

My thoughts exactly.
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: SypheDMar on August 24, 2013, 10:05:34 am
Explain what SEGA did, please. I really don't know besides that one line on Wiki about them making this game A GfWL, or is that it?
Title: Re: GfWL will die?
Post by: JCDNWarrior on August 24, 2013, 11:03:00 am
I've always played GTA4 through GFWL, with Steam and Social Club, I wonder if that will disallow me from playing online with friends or if I have to find some workaround.

Reminds me of the good old days of the Microsoft Zone with Age of Empires 1 and 2..