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Microsoft XBox (Games) Games

Games for Windows Marketplace Merging With Xbox.com 45

Posted by Soulskill from the uniting-against-the-steam-juggernaut dept.
Microsoft announced today that on July 11th, their Games for Windows marketplace will be merging with its console equivalent. According to a spokesman, "All of the same content from GamesForWindows.com will be available on Xbox.com so members of communities across Xbox 360 and Games for Windows can purchase and get details on their favorite games, all in one place. All account information will remain the same and community members can still take advantage of their Xbox Live profile in their Windows games and stay connected to friends who are playing on the PC."
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Games for Windows Marketplace Merging With Xbox.com More

Games for Windows Marketplace Merging With Xbox.com

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  • Wow. I have learned something today.

  • Xbox 360 vs PC (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cgeys ( 2240696 ) on Friday July 01, 2011 @05:47PM (#36638278)
    The Xbox 360 marketplace works great. But the Windows version is really not that good. They should just forget about the Games for Windows name, pick something good and make it Steam-like with the social interactions, communications, groups, easy purchasing and fast in-game overlay (seriously, the GfW in-game overlay is really shitty).

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Dan667 ( 564390 )
      they should just use Steam and drop consoles.

      • [Microsoft] should just use Steam and drop consoles.

        Two and a half years ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked about three screens in a home [pcworld.com]: PC, TV, and smartphone. True, modern TVs can display PC video, but there isn't yet enough of a home theater PC user base for Microsoft to drop consoles. I can cite several comments from CronoCloud and others stating that most people have no desire to buy another PC to hook up to the TV.

        • well MS does make the software base for U-verse and other systems that use the same tech.

          Directv media share lets you play some content from your pc on your TV.

          As for cable. Cable card has been mostly a bust with the cable co's doing a poor job and they push you to use there box and even if you get a cable the lack of VOD and then need for SDV tuners add on's for SDV systems.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xest ( 935314 )

      None of that makes sense, because GFW allows all that, and the overlay is certainly no worse than the Steam one at least although I agree, both could be much better.

      The whole point of GFW was to bring XBox friends list, voice/text chat, achievements and so forth to Windows so I don't really get your point about social interactions, communications and so forth? That was one of the main reasons it was built. Are you sure you've actually ever even used it?

  • Marketing names (Score:4)

    by MrEricSir ( 398214 ) on Friday July 01, 2011 @05:56PM (#36638342) Homepage

    Microsoft: Games for Windows Marketplace
    Apple: Game Center

    Microsoft: Windows Live Hotmail
    Google: Gmail

    Microsoft: Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011
    Apple: iPhoto

    What's going on here? When did Microsoft stop using simple names like "Paint" and "Write" and come up with ridiculously long marketing names that have more syllables than I have fingers?

    • When did Microsoft stop using simple names like "Paint" and "Write" and come up with ridiculously long marketing names that have more syllables than I have fingers?

      Part of it might have something to do with Microsoft's competitors registering trademarks on arguably descriptive names such as "Game Center" and "App Store".

    • Re:Marketing names (Score:4, Insightful)

      by robmv ( 855035 ) on Friday July 01, 2011 @06:13PM (#36638446)

      The obsession to add Windows to every product name, and that obsession is killing the few good products they make because people associate them with Windows and the problems they have suffered using it

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by stms ( 1132653 )
      I think it was around the time of the Microsoft iPod [youtube.com].
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Are you familiar with Ritalin? Ask your doctor about it ASAP, please.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Uhhh...I take it you haven't seen this video it may be a parody but sadly anyone who has held MSFT packaging in their hands knows it is sadly funny because it is true. I swear their marketing guys must be paid by the bullet point or something.

        That video was produced by Microsoft's packaging design team, actually. It's a parody yes, but the reason it works so well is because it literally is what they go through doing the box designs.

        That's the reason why the design in the end was very Microsoft-ish - because

    • That brings some painful memories. When Office 2003 installed, it labelled all shortcuts like "Microsoft Office Word 2003" (before - and, in fact, after - it was just "Microsoft Word ####"). Which was longer than fits in an icon label on XP desktop, and so it trimmed them all with "...".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ihmhi ( 1206036 )

      Mic-ro-soft: Win-dows Live Hot-mail

      How's you lose the two fingers? Blogging accident?

  • I got a notice to upgrade my Skype to add Games for Windows there as well. Anyone else get that notice? So the demise of Skype begins....

    • No you didn't. Skype games is something completely different and nothing to do with Microsoft. But don't let that ruin your hating.

  • wont use it as long as "games for windows" requires me to log in for a single player game, and then freezes my computer the instant my internet connection has a long ping

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xest ( 935314 )

      That's not GfW, that's some game building DRM around it.

      It's also unfortunately not a GfW games problem, more and more DRM does this type of thing.

      The real problem here is bad DRM (or, well, DRM in general).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Osgeld ( 1900440 )

        yea its DRM tied to Games for Windows, that wants to track every single pixel and bullet fired to hand you out retard acheivements

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Xest ( 935314 )

          No, it's not. Trust me, I've developed with this API, the GfW DRM does not do that, that's external DRM implemented by the company who made the game.

          Achievements are triggered by simple API calls that do not require anything like that kind of invasiveness.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Osgeld ( 1900440 )

            SO your telling me if I fire up a games for windows without my network connected it will not tell me I need to sign in to be able to save my single player game? false

            or if your in that game and I yank network the very first thing that happens after the game freezes that games for windows will not pop up asking me to sign back in before continuing?

            again false, I own 4 GFW and they all do this, and it was very fucking annoying when we were out in the country with radio based internet so I stopped buying the s

  • Dear Game for Windows LIVE, (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Please die in a fire.

  • You've been warned.

  • How is this news?

    The Xbox and GFW marketplaces have technically been the same anyway (the entire services have been), Microsoft simply let the GFW service run after the xbox service instead of letting it develop on its own which caused a lot of the initial problems (and still does for some). GFW also doesn't have dedicated support, the Xbox crew does that all.

    I guess they just wanted to make it official, at least as far as the marketplaces are concerned, that the PC service is just a peripheral 'thing' of t

  • I had no idea Gamesforwindows.com was even a place...

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by xhrit ( 915936 )
      That's nothing. I *am* a huge gamer and I had no idea Gamesforwindows.com was even a place.

  • Gaming is the only clear advantage that Windows still holds over OS X and Linux. That's why it's so surprising that MS has been trying so hard to kill its own PC gaming lead. What do they really expect to happen after that? I still love Windows gaming and I love XBOX, but for all other uses I will go for my Mac or Linux computers. How do I mean MS is trying to kill gaming on Windows? Easy. MS doesn't even release it's own games on Windows anymore! No recent Halo games on PC. What? No Gear of War 2 on PC. Wh

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Yes, because if there's any crowd that has a reputation of being adverse to spending obscene amounts of money on the latest and greatest everything for their PCs it's PC gamers...

        XP was old when Vista came out. XP is archaic now. Move on. Fight other battles.

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