Game over for Games for Windows Live - Shutting down finally.

[ALPHA17]

Yes, I consider PSN to be a sub par service than XBL but that is not the point. You sound like Steam is the ultimate digital service right now and is perfect. No one derided it anywhere. Improvements are very much possible. Both on Steam and XBL ( and psn)

 

AnK, here, you have proof. Make what you want of it.

 

Also, when did I say STEAM is perfect, already told you points that I dislike about STEAM and here is another one,

• lack of multiple parallel downloads.

About point of derision,

Steam has basic lapses like it doesn't download games when a game is being played by default. Features like "Play as you download" are never heard of and probably they will copy it off from Xb1 and Ps4.

 

Look I am a little sore try to drive this point home but once more unto the breach. STEAM cannot dictate what quality of net do you have? It certainly cannot press certain levels of service to let you register on the service or upbraid ISP's. So make do with manual control, it might not be the best and most comfortable way of negotiating the issue but it works.

1. PSN was free but now it won't be. A premium service is made better by paying. Free is not always the best. No reason to go back to free subscription on consoles. Won't happen

 

STEAM shoots down your thought line. But then again VALVe is not public so they get by with a lot of things that will raise eyebrows if giants try them.

2. Modding is very much possible. Both on current gen consoles and next gen. But it's entirely a developer decision. Nothing MS and Sony can do abt that.

 

Point, why cannot MicroSoft / SONY start something that mirrors STEAMWorks to make your life easier, all MOD's and extra community generated content in front of you. Damn vote for what you want 'in' and what you want OUT.

3. No idea what greenlight is.

 

How Indie titles can come on sale in STEAM. Get a good bit of word of mouth to better sales.

4. Sales are regularly held on both PSN and XBL. Have been for a looong time. PS + gives shitload of free games and XBL has started giving 2 free games every month for gold members.

 

The games are accessible only for a short period (month) and might soon require you to pay to enjoy this service. Not interested, especially when you are the ones who raise issue of downloading.

 

STEAM has free weekends, basically you can download whole game and play it for the weekend, like it, pay a discounted rate (hovers between ~75% -->90%) feel fuzzy and own the game. You don't need subscription fees, word of mouth for the game and Sales go up, everyone happy.

 

Why do you want to pay subscription for such features is beyond my comprehension.

5. Irrelevant to consoles.

 

Thankfully STEAM is not so narrow minded in its approach.

I don't know what are we discussing here.
Only point I wanted to make was that its good to have players, it gives users options and brings competition.
Monopoly of one player isn't good. MS having pioneered a lot of stuff in online dept, should have been a good competitor to Steam, had they supported the GFWL bit better.

 

 

XBox LIVE is not going to serve PS customers and neither is the inverse going to happen. Consoles want you to live in their cooped up world.

 

PC has a plethora of digital retail networks which you can be part of,

• STEAM -- The Big Daddy of everything online for PC's. Almost every game on retail these days will require you to have a valid STEAM account.
• ORIGIN -- EA's proprietary network, I simply don't use it because I don't play EA titles for personal reasons. They are the biggest competitor to STEAM, you can purchase UBISOFT titles from ORIGIN.
• UPlay! -- UBISOFT's failed foray into online DRM and digital distribution. Difficult to work around, buggy and increasingly under hAXx. UBISOFT and EA recently entered a partnership in which both companies can sell each others catalogue on either's service.
• GoG.com -- A niche player, that offers DRM free purchase of older games and a few newer Eastern European titles. Latest offering, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs.
• Humble Bundle -- Pay your price (as low as $1) and get a bundle of games + OST, pay above the Humble price and get bonus games + extra content + OST
• GreenmanGaming -- Well known online retail chain selling STEAM keys at strong discounts pre-release (up-to ~35% off)
• Amazon -- Sells keys for every service (STEAM, UPlay!, ORIGIN) and runs its own discounts and bundles.

I am not against competition in the PC space but currently as a complete package STEAM trumps everything.

[ALPHA17]

 

PSN wasn't there on PS2...just basic online functionality
Same was the case on Original Xbox

Fine. No issue.

PSN charges Rs 3k flat a year & gives you access to 2 games every month,these are yours to keep as long as you are subscribed
You just have to add it in your Dload list within the given month
Few games which are available round the year are also there

 

Okay.

All in all they are giving you 1 game for Rs 100 & 30 such games around the year
& not just dated & ancient or crap games
Games like ME3 ,Hitman,Sleeping Dogs & what not...it's crazy stuff
It easily gives steam a big run for their money...

 

Ummm... instead of paying subscription, why don't you just purchase a game from STEAM 75% off, play whenever you want.

 

And no old crap, games like Hitman, Sleeping Dogs, DISHONORED, Far Cry 3, BioShock INFINITE almost all indie title catalogue and several PC exclusives.

 

P.S. -- Pre-purchasing via retail in India, is still a cheaper proposition. Added bonus you get the discs, so net is not really needed to get everything up and running.

XBL in 2005 was certainly a game changer in digital marketplace
Both Steam & PSN followed it

 

STEAM does not lag behind XBox LIVE, they don't even compete in the same space.

But the funny side is because they kept online gameplay inside the paywall,they have made gazillions of $'s
& now have a much more investment power compared to PSN or Steam(which offered free online play)

Now they will make overhauls bigger then you can imagine
The power of smart match making & cloud will change the way ppl play multiplayer

 

Power of the cloud (in India),

 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Again comparing to STEAM with which XBox has no link.

 

If STEAM wants it can strip mine PC gamers but it does not, discretion is the better part of business. They probably make more than XBox LIVE thanks to the hats being traded.

Now Sony has no option but to follow them & start charging for online play,they desperately need to compete

Btw don't be shocked if tmrw you here a flying news that steam is about to start a monthly rental system for special features & offerings,maybe soon you'll see steam matchmaking listed in one of those services

 

I already told you if STEAM wanted to make a subscription based model it would have done it long ago but it does not need to hide behind a pay wall. Heck it makes enough money in the hat business that they can give it back to the MOD community --> Operation Payback extended.

 

You don't be shocked if next generation consoles charge you $70 per-title.

[ALPHA17]

You are comparing full game trials of steam with full games given to you by PSN
Anyway no point carrying this on

 

Yeah! Because those trials allow you to carry over everything into the full-game once you purchase it. And no need to fidget with subscription.

& about waveking saying it's subpar
He is flowing in as the same boat as you......smthing called love

 

I would certainly be in love with STEAM than with ORIGIN or UPlay! Ideally GoG is what I prefer the most.

XBL right now doesn't even offer day1 digital games & is offering 2 free dated & old games to win some lost fansbase back
While PSN not only offers day1 digital but also the option to pre-order & pre-load
Plus the online functionality has no real difference in terms of match making or gameplay(at least for us Indians,can't say what ppl in west are experiencing)

 

Don't know, don't care.

 

STEAM offers us everything, day one. Or earlier to pre-load.

 

Match making is dependent on the game in STEAM and not affected by region it is fine that way, STEAM is not responsible for how ARMA plays out or CoH 2. They have dedicated servers for CS:GO and DoTA 2 as far as I know.

[Shadoken]

Lol this topic needs a lock. No point comparing services across and Open ended platform (PC) and a Closed platform (Consoles). Both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

 

 

I disagree. You can make it worse

 

You weren't kidding bro.

[ALPHA17]

^^ When a company can hand out money that players pay to the MOD-community you know they are definitely making enough profit to get by comfortably.

 

When a company that runs only of selling other products and almost all its own games are F2P which gives the players items which they can sell to generate more money. Yeah! They are doing fine, maybe not MicroSoft level fine but they are not going around for Kickstarters.

 

Not to mention that VALVe is a private entity that means it does not need to disclose its revenue collection.

[Big Boss]

All I can see here is PC gamers and Console gamers arguing with each other about superiority of the platform. Give it a rest guys, both sides have their pros and cons.

 

 

So keep calm and enjoy the death of abomination called as GFWL. f**k GFWL AND f**k WHOEVER SUPPORTED IT. f**k THEM ALL.

 

/kthxbai

[Heaven Angel]

 

But you can't compare that to what M$ has made over the last 8 years

 

No discounts

No free Games

No Extra insentive based system

No free avatar material(costs more then what steam guys pay for a game)

No investment in virtual free space like PSN

No free apps(not even YouTube lol yes lol)

No dedicated Servers for third party games

No promotions or free give-aways (until recently)

& all these features for a fee of $50 a year....multiply with at least 50m ppl a year for last 5 years(still it will be an underestimate figure)

 

They are magicians really

 

Why people are paying $50 / yearly then? What is the use?

 

 

EDIT:

 

 

With Gold membership, you have access to all the features of free membership plus the following:

 

Interactive online game play

Steaming video content from Netflix

Streaming TV and movies from Hulu Plus (see the sidebar on this page)

Streaming live sports events using ESPN on Xbox Live

Social networking with Facebook and Twitter

Streaming radio from Last.fm

Streaming music selections from Zune (additional Zune Pass subscription required)

 

So you have to pay for online gaming? Even for 3rd party shooters/RPG/indie games or just for Microsoft published games?

 

 

What a ripoff.

[Heaven Angel]

 

Valve offer summer sale or whatever sale or 90% sale but they still have to pay the developers who made that game right?!

Right?

 

VALVE gets 30% of every thing sold on Steam. VALVE doesn't pay anything to anyone.

 

Even for hats/community items/cards, etc, VALVE gets 15% cut.

 

You have no idea how much money is that.

[KnackChap]

Topic locked. Thread has veered way of-course.

 

And alpha 17 you clearly have a hard time understanding what others are saying ( play as you download) and keep blabbering about something different altogether. Happened in the apple thread when you were arguing about gps and stuff too.