Live For Windows Coming in May 104
Several outlets are carrying the news that Live for Windows is coming in May to a PC near you. The announcement carried confirmation of a similar pricetag for Xbox Live, as well as details on some new titles. Halo 2 will be releasing right around the launch of the service (slated to go up May 8th), and Shadowrun will follow quickly sometime in June. Gamasutra has an interview with Xbox Live general manager JJ Richards on the subject, and 1up offers a bit of commentary with the news. Though when asked about it last week Microsoft reps seemed extremely confident, it still remains to be seen whether PC gamers will pay for what they've always gotten for free.
Aww :( (Score:4, Funny)
I got all excited. Maybe it was some kind of contest...
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
The whole point of Live is that you pay a monthly fee to use it.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Of course there's little reason to buy it because most games that can use a gamepad on the PC are designed for digital control and the 360 controller is awful for that. Of course a gamepad only makes sense over a keyboard if the game has lots of buttons. Most 2d PC games seem to use only 2-3 buttons, the keyboard is best for that because it's more prec
Croos-platform matchmaking? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Croos-platform matchmaking? (Score:4, Funny)
Your idealism is showing.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know which FF XI you tried, but I never use the Xbox 360 gamepad. The only time I power-up the gamepad is to be able to sign on Xbox Live since the console is too stupid to accept a press of the keyboard key [A] if it doesn't see a gamepad. But once the gamepad
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
EA is interested in this as well (Score:2)
I know that EA is at least considering the idea. I subscribe to several, on-line surveys. Last year I got one that was specific to EA asking me a bunch of questions regarding my feelings about connectivity between consoles and PCs -- what kinds of games would I play in such an environment, how often would I play, the oblig
Re: (Score:1)
Until a mouse of some form becomes standard on Consoles, this will always remain the case, and as such the console players get frustrated and may cancel accounts or some other annoyance to the companies...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The Dreamcast had a standard keyboard and mouse, and Quake 3 supported it fully, so I'm not sure what you're getting at here.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
$50! (Score:1)
So $50 a year to invite my friends to a game I'm playing, receive e-peen achievements, and play an FPS game against someone holding a controller? Sounds like a great deal...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Except on the Wii. With the wiimote and nunchuck, it feels more natural than a keyboard and mouse.
Re: (Score:2)
UT and other mouse-and-keyboard-oriented games are designed differently because of the interface they support. If a game was meant to support both, then neither should be at any real disadvantage. Halo games I reckon would act
Re: (Score:2)
On that note, I find the mouse/keyboard combo very uncomfortable but nonetheless better for games that requires large directional changes and 360 degree response (like Quake 3), but I much prefer a gamepad for precision shooting (ghost recon, rainbow 6 types of games). If I precise shoot for a while with a mouse, my whole arm cramps up, similar to what happens if I'm doing pixel-editing/tweaking in photoshop for
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
PB (Score:3, Interesting)
The really hilarious thing is cross platform play (Score:5, Insightful)
However, Windows Live is Windows Vista only, so you can't play against people using Windows XP. Well done, what an impressive cross platform system!
I know 10 or so people who I've occasionally played online with on Windows using XP/2k, and don't know a single Live subscriber. I don't have much incentive to get Windows Live, do I? YMMV, of course.
Re: (Score:1)
This may be due to the fact that you play on Windows, and that Live, as in TFA, not being released until May. YMMV, of course.
Re: (Score:2)
Cheating is why I use Consoles On-Line (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Cheating is why I use Consoles On-Line (Score:4, Interesting)
The fact that the game doesn't penalize them for this is a failure of the game, not just the gamer. Why do people keep paying for this shit?
Re: (Score:2)
People are assholes... you can try to work around it, but the problem is that the universe keeps coming up with a better asshole.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
It's pretty hard to create a software solution to "people are jerks" though. I prefer games giving the benefit of the doubt, but it's a huge pain for honest players sometimes.
Re: (Score:2)
But the problem is that the system is fair only to the disconnected player. What about the undisconnected player? Even if you agree that there should be no punishment for dropping near the end of a game, a concept with which I don't necessarily
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Noone wants to risk getting a VAC ban, a CD-key ban, or a statwipe nowadays for a couple of extra frags, believe me.
pay full price + $50 a year to fully play m$ games (Score:2, Insightful)
M$ better not do the same thing to a MMORPG game I don't thing that people will want to pay for vista + $60 for the game + $15 a month + $50 a year + pay for points to get some in game content.
So, if we get ripped off with Vista then (Score:1)
Nuh uh.
Too much fluff, not enough there.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Personally, I think it would be cool to be able to have 1 identity on an Console and PC but I have no desire to spend $100+ to have 2 seperate identities.
Re:So, if we get ripped off with Vista then (Score:4, Insightful)
I thought it was called "Steam" (Score:2)
And I thought Valve launched it two years ago.
Excuse for Vista (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Excuse for Vista (Score:5, Insightful)
What?
Apple locks their OS to their hardware. That is the antithesis of ensuring compatibility.
I'm not trying to defend Microsoft's actions regarding Vista. Vista is crap and forcing people to go to Vista is crappier. But to hold up Apple as a paragon of compatibility is simply wrong.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
You're being disingenuous with your objection. The GP poster was talking about backwards compatibility with respect to the OS, not with hardware. The point stands that it is still possible to this day to run software written in 1984 for Mac OS 6.x on a 68k processor. That's two processor architectures and a complete OS rewrite. I'd call that pretty good backwards compatibility. The only times an application requires a certain version of the OS is when it is actually using a feature that wasn't present in a
That isn't backwords compatibility... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
See, this is why I don't ever post on Slashdot any more. My intent was to post a relatively off topic rebutta
Re: (Score:2)
That was just re-iterating what backwords compatibility was in reference to the conversation. People are mixing incompatibility with backworks compatibility when they complain that software written for vista won't work on XP, yet they would certainly understand why say a PS2 disk won't work in a PS1...
Why I posted effectively boils down I'm waiting for something to f
Re: (Score:2)
Apple locks their OS to their hardware. That is the antithesis of ensuring compatibility.
What?
Tying the OS to the hardware has nothing to do with backward compatibility. Apple's current software runs on G4 macs, G5 macs, and Intel Macs. I know of know Apple software that has a line of code that says:
if OS < 10.4 then MessageBox("You must have OS 10.4 or higher, even though there are no features of OS 10.4 that this application needs")
which is exactly what Microsoft is doing with Vista.
Re: (Score:2)
What about Xcode? Newer versions of Xcode don't just support features of newer versions of OSX, they provide compiler upgrades and bugfixes. Yet you can't run the latest Xcode on 10.3. The same is true of just about every piece of software that Apple gives away; the latest versions only run on the lates
Re: (Score:1)
That still has nothing to do with hardware compatibility, which is a completely different topic.
Re: (Score:2)
Prove it, then. How do you know it doesn't need APIs that are only available in Vista?
Apple goes out of their way to ensure compatibility.
I don't think I'd go that far. Try to run MacOS on non-apple hardware or take your iTunes-purchased music elsewhere.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
http://gwenole.beauchesne.info/en/projects/sheepsh aver [beauchesne.info]
http://sheepshaver.cebix.net/ [cebix.net]
Re: (Score:2)
Apple's inability to support a 3rd-party product on a new operating system is totally different from Microsoft releasing a first-party product and crippling it to not work on XP.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Is that why Office 2007, PowerShell, Orcas, .NET 3.0, etc all work on XP?
The double-standards around here are tiring. Apple could've release Spotlight for OSX 10.3. There's "no technical reason" preventing that. Yet they didn't, and Spotlight was heralded as *the* reason to pay to upgrade to 10.4. Yet I heard no talk of Apple "forcing" upgrad
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Is that why Office 2007, PowerShell, Orcas, .NET 3.0, etc all work on XP?
Because those are examples of applications that either came out before Vista, or appliccations that were not crippled. Which is why they have nothing to do with my point.
My point is that now that Vista has come-out, Microsoft is intentionally crippling things so that they don't work on XP. This is not a double-standard. Name one example of Apple selling a product where they made it artificially not work on a previous version of the system to force people to upgrade. Splotlight is not an example of that
Re: (Score:1)
Which in itself is ridiculous. DirectX 10 relies on a variety of new features in Vistas new driver model, such as GPU context switching.
It would be a massive pain in the arse to backport it to XP. I'm not saying its technically impossible - but it's definitely not an economic decision. Its on par with making everything else in Vista free...
Vista has some new things under the hood that won't be backported. They're the upgrade
Re: (Score:2)
In fact, if it involves video games, there's no "forcing" involved. People choose to play video games. It's not like you need Vista to (say) order life-saving medicines or something.
I'd really like to think.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Xbox Live has features you don't get for free now (Score:4, Informative)
A single username across the entire system, meaning you can be sure the "HappyGodzilla" you play in Halo 3 is the same "HappyGodzilla" you got teamed up with in Shadowrun. This also greatly assists with getting rid of griefers and jerks.
I'm not necessarily saying it's worth $50, but to say that Xbox Live offers nothing is disingenuous if not outright wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
I can see how it's nice to have voice chat, but having seen what passes for chat in most games, I think I'll pass. I get sick and tired of using Ignore, quite frankly.
Don't see why I should have to pay extra for that.
Re:Xbox Live has features you don't get for free n (Score:2, Insightful)
Would be more like:
For instance, voice across the entire system (not just in-game chat) without having to worry whether the person is using TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, Skype or Live.
Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly like on their console. They may be offering something slightly better but with such a price and already developed and estabilished alternative s
Re:Xbox Live has features you don't get for free n (Score:2)
Nope, but for $50 we can worry about if they are using TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, Skype or Live.
Exactly, would you worry about that if it is free? (Score:1)
And who cares if the username is consistent across games? The only way it matters is if you're trying to keep your friends together and in that case you'll know their "new" username anyway.
While Live is novel for consoles (feature previously only heard of in PC games), WE ALREADY HAVE IT ON THE PC. The fact of the matter is that the ONLY t
Re:Xbox Live has features you don't get for free n (Score:2)
That's actually a feature in my book.... Well not the "worrying" part. I don't worry about it.
I just don't talk to anybody through voice chat unless we're logged into the same private server. I don't want to talk to any random squeaker who doesn't know what 'noob' means, but uses the term ever 20 seconds because they're fairly sure it's derogatory.
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
I'm just saying. I will not be spending $50 to get what I already get for free. BTW, some games (Battlefield2, etc) have very good voice chat built i
Re: (Score:1, Redundant)
Keboard & Mouse vs. Joyblob (Score:2)
affect on linux clients? (Score:1)
So if a game is available for both Windows and Linux and the Windows version support Windows Live would linux and windows folks still be able to play together? I don't mean Windows Live support for Linux but will they just be able to play on the same servers together?
On another note, I wish different consoles could play together when the same game is released for them.
The only thing I see this as useful for... (Score:2)
If Halo2 PC is compatible with the Xbox/Xbox360 version, you're going to see a lot of very pissed off Xbox/360 players getting pounded into the ground by a 15 year old with a mouse.
Is it going to delete all my email? (Score:1)