4:48 PM on 07.23.2008
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Yesterday, at the Gamefest 2008 event, Microsoft announced that paying for Gold accounts would no longer be necessary to access all the multiplayer features in PC games under their Games for Windows brand. Viva la multijugador libre!
These features included such things as voice chat, usage fo the TrueSkill matchmaking system, the ability to play against 360 owners, and access to multiplayer achievements. Maybe not the most exciting list of features -- voice chat, for instance, can be easily accessed through other programs on the PC -- but I’ll happily take them. After being so used to free online multiplayer in PC games (excluding MMOs, of course) I can totally understand why people wouldn’t want to start paying for something that they used to get for nothing, which is probably why Microsoft felt the need to make it free (read: no one was buying).
I would not take this news as a sign that the ‘Soft might be considering free multiplayer on the 360, however. Console owners have shown that they’ll happily (begrudgingly?) pay for a well-maintained online service, as evidenced by Live getting a new paying member every five seconds.
Microsoft also announced that PC gamers will be getting their own version of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Again, this news may not be that exciting since game demos, movies, and full games can easily be found at multiple locations across the Internet, but it could prove to be a convenient all-in-one spot to find stuff.
So what do you think about these new changes? Are you glad to be getting more stuff for free, or are you jealous that other people are getting the same online experience that you do without having to pay a monthly fee? [Thanks, Joe] |
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21 comments + 95764 views
I disagree with "well-maintained". To be fair though, it has been slightly more reliable recently.
In before the avalanche of comments.
I personally think its way too late for this, If they did this before steam came out, then GFW would be king instead of steam.
PC users win yet again.
I'm not against it as I own PC as my main system with Xbox360 as my secondary system and PS3 as.... ermmmm... urrrrr... A bluray movie player (when the local video shop has a new movie on bluray in that I aint seen before... which is rare still).
Anywhoo, the xbox360 and PC monetory divide widens even more.
Why yes, Heretic, we do, but due to studying for finals (summer classes suck btw) I couldn't get to it yesterday.
Who cares about this when you have things like ventrilo, steam or VPNs. At least MS is taking a step in the right direction.
I'm just glad I can now play Live games with my 360-less friends.
I can't see how having these features integrated would not be a good thing. As for being jealous? I am not so much, really there isn't anything stopping me from going out and getting a PC that will be able to play games well for the next half a year or so and then maybe be able to play next year games...there's just a lot of reasons I'd rather stick with consoles and $5 a month for these features on my console isn't enough to make me shed a tear.
I don't mind paying $4.17 a month for not having to upgrade my PC, not deal with PC problems, and being able to just relax on my couch with a controller in my hands and not be hunched over my computer desk.
PC gaming and friends list type things on the PC have always been free, it was stupid of them to attempt to charge for it in the first place really.
I think the tiny amount that Xbox Live owners are asked to pay, is a rather insignificant thing. You're not going to find every single 360 game on the PC and chances are if you do find what you're looking for, unless you're playing a FPS or RTS game, you're going to want a controller for the game anyway.
I dunno, I just prefer to be on my couch I guess, laid out and comfortable. To me that's worth the $4.17 a month.
IF GFWLive takes off and gets millions of users- something will have to change- IE- Xbox Live will have to lower price or become free.
You cant charge half of your users for the service while the other half get it for free. It won't work.
Well this makes sense. Many Xboxers were first introduced to online play as being something that should be payed for (which I don't understand when there are hardly ever dedicated servers - can't play Gears of War with only 8 people without lag, and there are ads on the dashboard), while PC users have always expected online play (non-mmos) to be free (and better).
I've seen this several mentions of this announcement, but it never indicates what, if anything, will be done for customers who have already paid for the service. I am not a subscriber, but I would hate to have paid for it a month ago just to find out everyone else will be getting it for free.
@Heretic
Does it matter if they do read the blogs or not?
meh, its crap.
A sensible move, MS. It was always dumb to ask PC gamers to start paying.
The extras for GFWL will help PC gamers actually see what 360 gamers enjoy so much about Live. This is also a good move to encourage the PC market a bit too.
@C4
My guess would be that nothing will be done. You keep the Gold account until it expires (and you cancel it to prevent an auto-renewal). However, if you paid for it with a credit card within the last 60 days you could cancel it for a full refund.
@Heretic
This is for you.
@Im OK
Seconded link, just in case.
All of those features are useless. TrueSkill and matchmaking are useless in the PC realm of 50 man dedicated game servers, and that's the one and only thing GFW Live has that other services don't except wait! Battle.net has matchmaking and player ranks for their games.
Yeah.
Try harder, MS.
A third time, for truth.
Also, it's about time. MS should never have tried to charge in the first place. Hopefully they're working towards making XBL free. Maybe. Please?
My PC, Xbox360, PS3 all go through my 52" HDTV.
So I am lucky I do not hunch over a Monitor... TBH who the fuck buys monitors these days when HDTV costs about the same and are double the size?
Also I need to keep my PC up to date for work so no problemo there either as it does not cost me any extra than normal.
So yes, someone like me using a PC sees us PC users as winners again. Although I do not agree with it and think my xbox360 should have the same treatment.
At the end of the day though it makes no difference as I will just use the PC for free PORTAL maps and windows LIVE etc on my HDTV instead of the xbox360 (BTW I am still trying to work out what this PS3 does apart from playing movies).
So MS won't charge PC owners because everyone else offers online for free, yet they charge console owners even though everyone else offers it for free...mmmm...
xe-cute: You can get a high quality 22" monitor for $250. Where can you get a big screen HDTV for that low a price at 44"?
M$ needs to port Live to the PS3.
Is it still vista only? If so, fail.
Is a step in the right direction, Microsoft would have the power to put a lot of games in their own digital distribution platform and compete with STEAM. But they should start by making more games for windows and dont turn to vista only because most of pc gamers are running xp.
Only a dumbass would continue to pay to play games online.
Wait, Windows Live is Vista only? Epic fail if true.
Windows Live is for XP (SP2) and Vista.
Does this mean I can finally play Gears online? I'd love to see numbers on people that bought gold accounts that don't own an xbox. I bet it's pretty funny.
its free cus it sucks lol
Ya you can only sell shit to people who don't know any better. Which leaves only one group out all the gaming systems still paying for online service. At least they got Avatars out of it right?
I'm not sure why they ever expected PC gamers to pay for it. A step in the right direction though.
It was foolish to think gamers would have been willing to pay for Live on the Windows platform. What works on a console is not necessarily going to work on XP.
Kind of late. But hopefully this might prompt more devs to consider making Crossplay games. Y'knmow, cause now PC gamers would actually pick them up.
I'm quite glad that we have the option to play with 360 users. There've been many occasions where my friends challenge me to a game but they're stuck on 360 and I'm on pc. So I'm happy about this. It's a step in the right direction for sure. =)
Someday I'd like to see ps3, 360, pc all together online. Might be a dream but...yeah.
Fuck. I wanted this to apply to the 360, too.
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