So what's the deal with GFWL?

[noiseredux]

I actually didn't know about the Games For Windows Live service until very recently. I tried searching for info here, but came up with only a little bit of discussion. Mostly, it sounds like you guys that have used it don't like it. But I couldn't really find why. So (please, without flamewarz) tell me about the service and how it works and what's good and bad about it?

I actually signed up for a free account because why not. But is it like XBL where you can't play with your friends online unless you pay for an account? Also is there any sort of cross-platform play with 360 users (probably not right)?

[Nemoide]

I don't think there's cross-platform play for the most part, but I know I have an XBL account and am friends with someone who has a GFW account, so I can see their profile and achievements or send messages.

I've never used it myself, so I'm not sure what its real purpose is.

[fastbilly1]

The main issue that most people have with it is that if you buy a game on Steam, say Bioshock 2, it requires you to use Games For Windows Live aswell. So when the game is loading through Steam, it throws up a GFWL login screen, if you dont login, you cant save. I hate it because even though I own several games that use it and have had an ok experience with it overall, last night I wanted to play Section 8 Prejudice (which I bought on sale at Christmas). But after it loaded up it asked for a login and said my password was invalid (even though it was saved on the computer). After thirty minutes of tinkering with it I gave up and played without saving. I had a similar problem when I first played Bioshock 2, but eventually got it figured out.

The system is not as user friendly as it could be, though it is not bad enough I dont buy games that require it.

[MrPopo]

The biggest problem is that it never took off, so no effort has been put in to improving the user experience. There are a few games that use it but they're few and far between.

[fastbilly1]

Oh, there is no cross platform play.

What could make GFWL great is if they interface the XBLA with it. Since XBLA titles are programmed in XNA, they can be ported to PC fairly quickly and easily.

[J T]

A lot of it boils down to Steamworks > GFWL.

It's annoying when you buy a game on Steam and are forced to still use GFWL. GFWL uses its own achievement system, updates, and DLC markets, but when I've bought the game through Steam, that just means I have redundant systems for all those things. I don't care about my GFWL profile; I'm only concerned about my Steam profile, but you are forced to have the additional GFWL profile.

I think the interface for GFWL is ugly, so every time it pops up, I am annoyed with it. It looks and feels like it was designed for an XBox360 and if you try to use the GFWL marketplace to buy PC games, it's a real challenge to even find them amidst all the Xbox360 stuff. For awhile, it was a rather unstable program too. I don't use it frequently enough to know if that is still the case though. But I've read of other people having game crashing bugs or interrupted updates that corrupted files.

[sabrage]

I seem to recall having some issues logging in to Microsoft's servers one time. Other than that, I just hate it because it's unnecessary and ugly.

[emwearz]

The only feature I like is achievements you earn on the 360 and GFWL both get added to your gamerscore. Steam's achievement system is the most bare bones system you could have, so it is the only thing GFWL does better.

Almost everything else about it is buggy, broken or done better on steam.

[Cronozilla]

It's got massive overhead, which is a very unwelcome feature when playing games on your computer (there's already a crap load of overhead from all the layers in the OS)

Steamworks tends to be much better.

Also, when it first came out ... it was the same price as Xbox Live. And many games make necessary features only accessible while logged into it (like saving) And these are all mandates from Microsoft. So, yes, lacking services with an obtuse interface that runs about as fast as molasses and at one point cost an arm and a leg and is also forced upon you to access even basic functionality of titles ... is something that tends to piss people off. Especially, when other services are out there are significantly better implemented and maintained and cost less to use.

In the Gears of War manual, there's a section talking about a workaround not having a Gold account, because at the time, it cost money, so you could play with friends.

It's a joke. An unsupported, poorly implemented, slow, piece of garbage, joke. But it's one you're forced to use.

[BoringSupreez]

Game companies need to give in and start using Steam instead of their own clunky aggravating services.