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Games For Windows Live gets games on demand

Published on 16th December 2009 by Joe Martin

Microsoft has rolled out a games marketplace for Games For Windows Live, with some nice offers.

Microsoft has provided a major update for it's Games For Windows Live system, adding a new Games On Demand marketplace that lets users download whole games for a fee.

The new marketplace requires an update to use and only carries GFWL-branded titles, which can be paid with either by credit card or with Microsoft points.

As part of an introductory offer Microsoft is offering 50 percent off of Shadowrun and a free copy of Tinker, which had previously been released with Windows Vista Ultimate. Not exactly the best offers in the world, but it's something.

There are some notable quirks to the marketplace at the moment too, with Kane & Lynch: Dead Men only available for purchase with MS Points and some previously announced titles like World of Goo missing. Check below for a list of what is on offer and how much it costs.

Fallout 3 - $49.99 / £34.99
Resident Evil 5 - $49.99 / £29.99
DiRT 2 - $39.99 / £34.99
Street Fighter IV - $39.99 / £24.99
Red Faction: Guerrilla - $39.99 / unavailable in UK
Battlestations: Pacific - $34.99 / £24.99
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - 1600 Microsoft Points ($20 / £13.60)
Viva Pinata - $9.99 / £7.49 (50% off)
FUEL - $39.99 / £34.99
Shadowrun - $9.99 / £7.49 (50% off)
Section 8 - $49.99 / £29.99
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights - $19.99 / £14.99
Tinker - Free

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

20 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

Baz 16th December 2009, 13:08

13 games vs how many on Steam? With uncompetitive pricing too.

Boat. Missed.

B1GBUD 16th December 2009, 13:11

^^ This

l3v1ck 16th December 2009, 13:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baz
Boat. Missed.

+1
Horse bolted etc. :D

Passarinhuu 16th December 2009, 13:23

Just shutdown the service please.... just useless crap

fodder 16th December 2009, 13:25

Does this actually work yet? Last time I tried it was to get DLC for Fallout3, tried to get it working for about 3 hours and gave up.

tripwired 16th December 2009, 13:39

<puts grumpy hat on> Reasons why this won't be successful:

1) Steam
2) Games are expensive
3) Steam.

AngusW 16th December 2009, 13:41

fallout 3 for 34.99? WTF!

bob 16th December 2009, 13:49

Yeah nothing there that's cheaper than steam. Can't see them doing well unless they occasionally do some awesome (steam-style) offers.

Jack_Pepsi 16th December 2009, 13:55

Shadowrun sucks!

xaser04 16th December 2009, 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngusW
fallout 3 for 34.99? WTF!

I was just about to post the same thing.

I have seen the same game for £15 in my local independant game shop. (Its even cheaper than that in the overpriced Game stores).

Blademrk 16th December 2009, 15:16

paid a fiver for shhadowrun in Tesco. It's all a bit meh.

sear 16th December 2009, 15:38

Holy ****, this is probably the most unappealing, boring, totally forgettable launch in history. There are few games, they're overpriced, and since it's Microsoft you know there aren't going to be many sales. I tried downloading a demo as well, and when I went to uninstall it... yeah, turns out that the program won't do it for you. If you say "delete content" it just removes the installer file, and you need to run the uninstaller yourself. This thing is sloppy and amateurish to the core.

Veles 16th December 2009, 18:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by sear
Holy ****, this is probably the most unappealing, boring, totally forgettable launch in history. There are few games, they're overpriced, and since it's Microsoft you know there aren't going to be many sales. I tried downloading a demo as well, and when I went to uninstall it... yeah, turns out that the program won't do it for you. If you say "delete content" it just removes the installer file, and you need to run the uninstaller yourself. This thing is sloppy and amateurish to the core.

No different than GOO

Vimesey 16th December 2009, 18:19

Sorry but i think people are really unfair to GFW, sure its got loads of problems, but so did steam when it started out and was equally hated.

Steam also has some rediculous prices on non steam games, some of the MS game studio games aren't bad, Viva Pinata is £7.50, struggle to beat that price by much.

Sometimes its best to hold your tongue and give something a chance to learn its fauts, how many games did steam have day 1?

AshT 16th December 2009, 18:56

DiRT 2 - $39.99 / £34.99

Expedia currency converter says $39.99 = £24.58 ...

Go figure that one.

In fact I nearly went and converted all of those game prices ... forget it, it's all a complete rip-off to the UK and I dread to think what the Euro version will be like.

SMIFFYDUDE 16th December 2009, 19:08

*rubs eyes*

How Much!

I've seen cheaper in an old fasioned, bricks and mortar, video game shop.

rollo 16th December 2009, 19:34

its not really cheap problem 1

very few games people want to buy

its not really cheap problem 2 lol

£35 for fallout3? yikes. My local gamestore has it on sale for £10 lol

I also converted and was quiet shocked by price diffrence between usa and uk

Saivert 17th December 2009, 01:23

also with only GFWL participating games it's not gonna be a success.

GFWL missed the boat, and now this.

xaser04 17th December 2009, 08:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vimesey
Sorry but i think people are really unfair to GFW, sure its got loads of problems, but so did steam when it started out and was equally hated.

Steam also has some rediculous prices on non steam games, some of the MS game studio games aren't bad, Viva Pinata is £7.50, struggle to beat that price by much.

Sometimes its best to hold your tongue and give something a chance to learn its fauts, how many games did steam have day 1?

Whilst I agree to an extent, the team behind the GFWL platform should have been more than aware of the problems that Steam suffered on day 1 and adapted their service accordingly.

As a launch it is generally a good thing to come out guns blazing (low prices, high profile games etc) to get people interested. Unfortunately it looks like the team forgot to bring bullets to the party.

darkorb 17th December 2009, 10:36

Reminds me of the EA Downloader. Now they have their games on Steam as well...