Games for Windows Live? Steam? or what have you?

[Deleted54170User]

How do you feel about being attached to another services' electronic umbilical cord while you play Fallout New Vegas?

 

Besides Games for Windows Live and Steam having the game on their line, so they seem to be a must, what other companies have electronic umbilical cords, that I do not know of, that you may know of for gaming on our PC's?

 

Is the game connection for trophies, virtual prizes, and virtual points giving you more reason to play connected to such linked businesses?

[Illiad86]

I've been using Steam since the early old days of 2004, I remember when it wasn't a digital store. I kind of miss it the way it was, but the PC shelf at stores has dwindled to nothing...plus no sales tax, gas, annoying people, traffic, etc. I kind of hate it that I have to be on Steam to play a single player game...but most games that I want aren't even sold at stores nowadays.

 

There's Impulse, it's like Steam...pretty much the same games are sold on there. You need it to play Sins of a Solar Empire. Does Gamespy even exist anymore? lol There were quite a few games that needed that back in the day.

 

I've never given a flying crap about achievements or all that other junk...I don't go out of my way to get them. I'm there to play the game, not kill 100 whatevers so my friends know what I did. Don't understand why they even started that, but everyone has their own opinion, I don't like it.

[JimboUK]

I like Steam and find it preferable to Securom and other malware that comes with most games. I'm not a fan of GFWL, the service is flaky and doesn't offer anywhere near what Steam does. I couldn't care less about achievements and the like, I play the game the way I want to, I'm not going to do things differently so I can get a virtual pat on the head.

[Deleted54170User]

I've been using Steam since the early old days of 2004, I remember when it wasn't a digital store. I kind of miss it the way it was, but the PC shelf at stores has dwindled to nothing...plus no sales tax, gas, annoying people, traffic, etc. I kind of hate it that I have to be on Steam to play a single player game...but most games that I want aren't even sold at stores nowadays.

 

There's Impulse, it's like Steam...pretty much the same games are sold on there. You need it to play Sins of a Solar Empire. Does Gamespy even exist anymore? lol There were quite a few games that needed that back in the day.

 

I've never given a flying crap about achievements or all that other junk...I don't go out of my way to get them. I'm there to play the game, not kill 100 whatevers so my friends know what I did. Don't understand why they even started that, but everyone has their own opinion, I don't like it.

 

I know the game store feeling you're talking about.

 

I stopped into GameStop and blasted by the PC wall as it only took up a five foot wide sectionin their 2000 square foot store. I walked along the isle as I had before and found myself staring at a game where the PC stuff used to be on display. I grabbed the used game. I was used to their switching things around. I wasn't prepared for this though. When the clerk pulled the packet up, for the used game, I saw that it was a little card disk thingy I had never seen before. :ermm: I learned that day that the PSP shelf took up the entire wall after the PC sections short span. I felt like I had gone senile.

 

Think I'll check out Sins of a Solar Empire now, Thx.:biggrin:

 

I like Steam and find it preferable to Securom and other malware that comes with most games. I'm not a fan of GFWL, the service is flaky and doesn't offer anywhere near what Steam does. I couldn't care less about achievements and the like, I play the game the way I want to, I'm not going to do things differently so I can get a virtual pat on the head.

 

I know the flaky feeling too. I had multiple crashes while playing connected, "LIVE". I reinstalled and played it without installing the GFWL plugin. No multiple crashes, Mods were plentiful, and I enjoyed the forum talking over solving routine problems with all of you when we had mod difficulties to share. DLC's from GFWL did not offer much in the way of help, sort of like the sympathetic Support e-Mail I got yesterday after I had forgotten about the problem with Fallout New Vegass' Monorail quest.

 

The usual tech response was from someone whose imagination did not pass the comprehension test in grade school asked, "What version of Microsoft are you running?"

 

The support person is trying to finger the problem of the monorail blowing up after the bomb on board was defused, and I repeated it several times before reporting that to their support team. I think Bethesda has left the building with Elvis. ;D

[Illiad86]

Haven't been to Gamestop in years....remember the last time I went there all they had was one little end shelf for PC games...and it had like 6 copies of WoW, Diablo II battle chest (way overpriced), and a bunch of crappy PC games that no one would buy. Even at Shopko, Target, Walmart, it's just a little shelf of games now.

 

Sins isn't too bad if you like RTS games, I never really got into those type of games. My boyfriend played it for a little while, it's pretty complicated. Multiplayer can be fun if you can find people :P Even single player is nice, the computer can be pretty mean :P One match can last hours though. I remember the boyfriend started up a game one night, I fell asleep and woke up to him and asked "Still the same match?", he's like "Yeah" haha.

 

Had the honor of using GFWL...wow what a pile of trash...figured MS would do a little better with that. Multiple CTDs...argh! Lol "support person", more like "automated robot message" like I got from Blizzard when I was complaining about the severe lag in Diablo II (which they still haven't solved after 6 years...). Atleast I get a real person with Steam support...I think :P

[Povuholo]

Steam is alright, especially when it has good deals. Keep an eye on the Steam store in December, they always have some crazy good christmas deals.

 

I prefer physical copies (even in the case of New Vegas) so I won't buy brand new games from Steam directly, but just the heavily discounted ones, or those difficult to find.

Edited November 21, 2010 by Povuholo

[antonkr]

Remember when Gfwl made it free thinking EVERYONE would switch over to them. Ye too bad Steam has been doing that for.... forever lol.

[Deleted54170User]

It pains me to say the STEAM is a PC's best friend at the moment but it seems my video card driver can't tolerate the occasional surges of activity while playing a game online or while STEAM is linked while I played Fallout New Vegas. That driver temporarily shuts down the game field window either hanging it in a still shot or crashing to the Vista Ultimate Pros Desktop. Frustrating me when, and I mean at the strangest times, when I am about to complete a quest or grab a great new find. That became to much of a coincidence in my mind.

 

I'll be toughing it out with the disliked GFWL makers, owners of the XBOX360, today. Got games will play, until their gone, I wont throw it away. Just don't expect to find me online at GFWL any time soon.