This was meant to be a Fallout 3 DLC review

Originally Posted by CardJoe
In other news: I need to update my pic. New glasses and hair since then!

New whiskers beard too.

Funny, I posted about my own annoyance with GFWL and ended up coming to similar conclusions. I also discovered that there are some awesome new mods since the release of the G.E.C.K. so I've been playing around with those (enhanced texture pack, weapon mod kits, etc). The DLC I'm actually looking forward to is the last one since it raises the level cap to 30 and continues the story.

Maybe best to switch to a console.

I loved pc gaming, more-so over consoles and having switched to consoles the last year I can remember now what made them so great.

You put the game in and it works. Non of this hassle and BS.

Windows Live is the problem, I knew this when I bought Gears of war for the PC and realised it was horrible via windows live.

Im surprised you didnt realise how bad Windows live was sooner!

Originally Posted by Viruk
Thanks Vimesey (you bitch), I never knew that, I also never cared.
It's a fact this is easier to pirate than to deal with Microsoft's idiotic programs.
It's also a fact, that if they improved their product quality, they probably would have never had such a wide degree of piracy.

Joe talking about how it's easier to pirate the expansion than it is to install it via legitimate means in the article doesn't mean it's something we condone here at bit-tech. It's an age-old argument that publishers and customers have had - "piracy is killing PC gaming" cries the publisher. "DRM is killing PC gaming" cries the customer. Invasive crap like Games for Windows Live is also killing PC gaming - and it's arguably worse than DRM in many respects.

I believe both the publisher and the customer are right to a degree and that's why we should be supporting games that don't implement horrible DRM or crapware schemes. It's exactly the reason why I bought Prince of Persia (and also the reason I returned GTA IV) and I was actually quite surprised by the game having not really played any of the previous games. I would have completed it by now had I got the time to play more than an hour or so of games a week.

The fact it's got no DRM makes the experience all the more compelling for me.

double-post, my apologies

I found this article about as unnecessary as GFWL. Most especially for your ending words.

Yes smaller teams can be great, and in the PC gaming world have shown to consistently make absolutely stellar content and games. I agree that small teams are good. Yet you can't make a huge generalization that all big things in a team entity are bad. You've completely assumed that all of Microsoft's resources were at hand in the creation of GFWL, give me a break. You ever been to Microsoft? It's not some sort of giant mythical entity all working together to create woe. You don't actually know how many folks are or have been apart of GFWL. I don't like GFWL on Fallout 3 at all. I knew from the start I was never going to pay for any DLC for Fallout 3 and wait for something on disc, or download content I can actually burn on to disc. I'm still a PC gamer who wants a box (well those slim DVD type cases are nice I am glad to see cardboard go away). Why don't we put some blame on Bethesda as well? For choosing to go along with GFWL.

You wrote the following:
"That’s why not all the recent lay-offs are always a bad thing"

As the son of a wonderful father who is being laid off by Microsoft. F**k you Joe.

Yeah cute of you to at least put the "not all" in the sentence. You fire people for poor performance, not lay them off. I've yet to meet or hear about someone being laid off who people are glad to see gone. Obviously though your terribly happy, because you can't get your mits on some measly and terribly weak DLC.

People are being laid off because of economic conditions by a company that it's employees would never, ever, fathom being laid off from. Though dire straits ahead, I'll still be reading bit-tech. I just hope I don't have to read that kind of crap again.

Ehhm... Steam is not updating any of my games since i reinstalled my XP. It recognized my login but says i have no games :-(
Nor can i install on multiple machines.

But at least i can save games on steam when not online ;-) Unlike GFWL

Originally Posted by Gunblade
Snip

Apologies if any offense was called, as that honestly wasn't my aim to imply that lay-offs are a good thing. It's obviously very hard to deal with for those involved. As with all things however the Macro and Microscopic views can be completely different.

Interesting read, although I do agree that it comes across with the feeling of nothing more than a rant. I love the writing, and always look for the puns and the jabs, but it does seem a little, I don't know, more suited for a blog than a BT column?

Many times when someone has an issue with a piece of software or game it gets written off as "PC software has to accommodate for all kinds of systems, so it's bound to have issues for some", or, "Some very small percentage of people have an issue with this yet its proclaimed as everyone now?".

I just question if someone posted the same thing in a thread in the gaming section if it would have the reception of a ranting gamer, or be deemed column worthy.

Interesting read nonetheless, and I do sympathize with those having GFWL problems.

NightrainSrt4: This appears in the bit blog but I feel it was probably too long winded for it and they made it into a column as well

Originally Posted by Mcmonopoly
ERhm.. WTF are you sayin', It's normal and acceptable to have a completely independent software shoe-horned into a perfectly working digital distribution system, so that a semi-interested M$ can maybe make a profit with it?!

It's as tough you're saying it's okay for anyone that buys a new car(or new game) to have to check the battery, fiddle the fuel line a couple of times, reflash the ECU, call tech support because the darn thing doesn't want to start?!?! WTF!!

Btw some people don't have any family and/or a life, and some people only have a day to live, so if we expect to have a sold product work correctly (and ono the first day) out of the box (or the checkout web page in this case), there shouldn't be any Arsehole coming up and saying " Give them a break", "Don't go on a witch hunt 'cause It's M$".. etc, because it's our rightful duty to do so, since in the end it's US that pay for the darn products..!!

End of vent.

If you read what I said, you'd know that wasn't my point at all. I'm not condoning half finished games and services. I'm just saying that this isn't news, isn't worth an article, and that this is just getting hyped up because it's from Microsoft. Steam wasn't perfect when it came out, any number of MMOs have been just as glitchy and crashy, and it's been a trend for about 5 years to release unfinished games. Every PC gamer has had to deal with this. Why don't we focus on the global trend?

Oh, and thanks for calling me an asshole. That just made your argument even cooler! People will like you now.

This article was just useless bleating. Now, Joe, go download the damn expansion and give us a review.

After GTA:IV install I hate GFWL, so I thought this rant was mint, assholes.

Firstly I'm no Microsoft hater.

So Windows 7 is around the corner and I bet Microsoft hype the PC as a games machine as they did 2 years ago with the Vista release.

Where is HALO 3 on the PC -- says it all. Maybe they will announce its arrival upon Windows 7 release?

Why should people pay full price for inferior spyware bloatware software when it's free of these on pirate versions.

DougEdey: Very interesting. Didn't realize they had a blog, though it seems it is something new. I didn't mean specifically a BT blog, just a blog in general. While the writing style had the professional zing we are used to, the content seemed more of something seen in a blog/rant than under a BT page. I don't mean rant as per the usual though, but I can't find another word. As it seems that side of things was added for a more creative/interesting piece, but just came off that way I suppose.

Just seemed that most of the article, while interesting, would have been something say Joe would have talked about after a hard, frustrating, day of work, and not something to hit front page BT. The tone in this column compared to the tone in others normally on the site is quite different, that's all.

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes
Funny, that, considering the greater realm of fanboyism has been telling me for over a year that it's impossible for Valve ever to go out of business. And that's a good thing, because at the moment, the second this happens, every game ever released on steam instantly becomes unplayable. If that happens, we can presumably expect to see an abrupt reversal of the hyperventilating, clutching, pathetically needy "steem ftw!" attitude that's been universal up to now, but of course by then it'll be far too late.

I know I'm wasting my breath here, but incidents like the one Joe describes are a warning. This whole online-only-distribution thing is an exceedingly bad idea for any one of dozens of reasons. The issues described in this article and one about Gears of War becoming unplayable will, I suspect, be looked back upon with chagrin when the ordure eventually collides with the rotary ventilation device.

Did you read the rest of that paragraph? He meant they aren't big as far as head counts go, also added they are very good at what they do, and being bigger has inherent problems. So how did you go about shoe-horning your opinion out of that sentence fragment? If unconditional love for makes one a fanboi, what does unconditional dislike for something make you?

My deep-seated and lasting dislike for the entire concept of mandatory online activation is entirely conditional - on an EULA clause stating that said provision will be revoked by software update when the activation servers go offline for whatever reason. Of course it's very difficult to hold a company to a pledge to do something when they go bust, but this is much more likely to become an issue simply when they get bored of supporting activation servers for older games.

I'm not so much worried about losing games I want to play (though I am), as I am worried about the creation of a black hole in computer gaming history. It's amusing and enlightening to investigate older games - right through from ZX Spectrum stuff via Amstrads and Ataris up to old PC games from the 90s. If things continue to go the way they're going, this will not be possible with current games - in fifteen years' time, it will simply be impossible to run, say, Bioshock. It'll have vanished as cleanly as if it were never written. As someone who has an Amiga 1200 patched up to the VGA input on his monitor, I think that's a minor tragedy.

The companies don't care, of course, but in spite of the obviousness of the problem, they're not even pretending to care, which is the usual corporate reaction to unwelcome news.

Originally Posted by Solidus
Maybe best to switch to a console.
I loved pc gaming, more-so over consoles and having switched to consoles the last year I can remember now what made them so great.
You put the game in and it works. Non of this hassle and BS.

Does anyone think that maybe this is the point? I'm no paranoid conspiracy freak but don't you think its odd that Xbox Live works great and GFWL is an unworkable pile of crap? I would have thought that the same team is working on both, but I'm willing to be corrected if someone has actual knowledge.

I'm no M$ H8r, but Microsoft isn't some innocent here (see below). It would be Microsoft business as usual if there was an agenda to FORCE gamers on to a locked-in platform and extort...sorry, extract the maximum amount of money from their customers.

It would require no paranoid fantasy to say that GFWL is borked deliberately, screwing over gamers and developers.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt

Phil do what I'm doing, stocking up the Sinclair spectrums, Atari & Commodores Dragon 32's in the attic. There they can rest in peace till Gauntlet's heros can come alive again and of course Cuthbert.

Microsoft charge 40 pounds for a game for god sake.

Originally Posted by CardJoe

Apologies if any offense was called, as that honestly wasn't my aim to imply that lay-offs are a good thing. It's obviously very hard to deal with for those involved. As with all things however the Macro and Microscopic views can be completely different.

I greatly appreciate you and all of the bit-tech folks always reading and replying to comments, which is why I usually ever bother to write up a comment. I completely concur about the macro/micro views and understand that your aim was not what I thought you implied.

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes
If things continue to go the way they're going, this will not be possible with current games - in fifteen years' time, it will simply be impossible to run, say, Bioshock. It'll have vanished as cleanly as if it were never written. As someone who has an Amiga 1200 patched up to the VGA input on his monitor, I think that's a minor tragedy.

The companies don't care, of course, but in spite of the obviousness of the problem, they're not even pretending to care, which is the usual corporate reaction to unwelcome news.

I would agree with you except for the fact that there isn't a game out that can't be hacked. All of those activations can be bipassed, as long as piracy exists DRM will never win (ironically).

GFWL is the reason I will never be able to play GoW pc.

I basically lost $50 on that one.

In other news..... DLC was really fun! :D

Why is there a picture of an ugly guy on the front page of bittech?

Originally Posted by billysielu
Why is there a picture of an ugly guy on the front page of bittech?

Bit-tech is an equal opportunities employer

Originally Posted by billysielu
Why is there a picture of an ugly guy on the front page of bittech?

The one of your mum attracted complaints, even I complained for heavens sake.