[Kobrar44]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/425316/games-for-windows-live-to-close-in-july-2014/

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?

[Nuke]

this is why its bad to make games dependent on online services.

burn in hell gfwl

[Oddgrim]

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.

[An4ximandros]

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

[Nakura]

No great loss here. Kind of scary though, imagine what would happen if Steam dies ~10+ years from now.

[The E]

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.

[BloodEagle]

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.

[Fury]

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.

[Nuke]

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.

[Dragon]

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.

[Kobrar44]

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.

[Dragon]

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.

[MP-Ryan]

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.

[Mongoose]

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.

[BloodEagle]

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.

[Aardwolf]

Section 8. Account creation and login and stuff was such a PITA.

[NGTM-1R]

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.

[Spoon]

But what about mah dark souls

[Dragon]

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.

[An4ximandros]

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.