GTA IV On PC Goes Exclusive With 'Games For Windows Live'

Erik J writes "Microsoft has announced that the PC version of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV will exclusively use Games for Windows Live for its multiplayer mode when it hits shelves November 18th. Rockstar founder Sam Houser explained the decision: 'As we work toward the release of the PC version, Games for Windows Live affords us the opportunity to seamlessly translate the multiplayer console experience for PC gamers, the service is a natural fit for the platform and we strongly believe it will help in building a strong online community around GTA IV PC.'" Wired is running a story suggesting that this release could save the rather unpopular Microsoft PC gaming platform.

Comments

Motherfuckers.

[nog_lorp]

Wired is running a story suggesting that this release could save the rather unpopular Microsoft PC gaming platform.

Motherfuckers.

Re:Motherfuckers.

[Bragador]

I agree with parent. This just forces games to be even more locked on a platform than before.

This is not about saving or helping the pc market. It's about selling windows.

Re:Motherfuckers.

[Scott Kevill]

This is not about saving or helping the pc market. It's about selling windows.

And poorly.

GFWL was originally Vista-only. The multiplayer support also used to have a yearly fee (aside from the gimped Silver plan), while disallowing developers to have any game features they considered competitive to GFWL's (eg. voice communication and achievements).

So they release a multiplayer-only game ported from a console version (Shadowrun) using GFWL Vista-only, pay-to-play multiplayer. Surprise, surprise, it doesn't sell.

They've back-pedalled somewhat now, making GFWL free and supporting XP, but they seriously shot themselves in the foot, and will have a long way to go before they reverse the damage done to the GFWL name in the minds of gamers.

It really says:

[Anonymous Coward]

"Games for Windows Live affords us the opportunity to seamlessly translate the multiplayer console experience for PC gamers" (Microsoft paid us like, a lot of money to do this, if you want to play it without errors get a console.)

Re:Popular, unpopular

[pushing-robot]

That's the point. It's not Games for Windows Live that sells GTA, it's GTA that sells Games for Windows Live.

On the plus side, I'm glad I didn't wait for GTA IV to be released before buying the rest of the series on Steam.

GFW - good GFW LIVE - bad

[wc_paladin]

I don't really have a big problem with the Games for Windows label. It helped developers get their acts together for 64-bit windows versions, and games now all save in the same area, so saves are separated among users. What I don't really like, however, is GFW LIVE. It seems really dumbed down from other PC gaming services. Whoever thought that PC gamers would pay a subscription fee for it is also insane. I think they dropped the subscriptions recently, but it still has the stigma of being Xbox LIVE, for Windows.

Wait, what?

[ivan256]

Rockstar founder Sam Houser explained the decision: 'They paid us. Cash. A big green pile of the stuff. We had our own code for it, but nobody was paying us to use it. They said we have to spew some bullshit about how great it is without making it sound like it's about the money. Whatever. I can do that.'

There. Fixed that for him.

Re:Won't see 'Games for Mac' anytime soon

[Macthorpe]

Never mind the fact XGL and OpenGL are just as viable, if not more so, than the oh so resource-efficient MS implementations.

I sense sarcasm where there shouldn't be any. Do some research on OpenGL, specifically how it manages resources compared to DirectX, and you'll see why so many developers pick the latter. I'll also quote John Carmack:

"Actually, DX9 is really quite a good API level. Even with the D3D side of things, where I know I have a long history of people thinking I'm antagonistic against it. Microsoft has done a very, very good job of sensibly evolving it at each step - they're not worried about breaking backwards compatibility - and it's a pretty clean API. I especially like the work I'm doing on the 360, and it's probably the best graphics API as far as a sensibly designed thing that I've worked with."

Path of least resistance

[Scott Kevill]

GTA IV already used XBox Live on the 360. Given that the PC port was most likely from the 360 codebase, it would have taken more effort to not use GFWL than to use it. Of course the PR spin won't mention this.

Re:BSOD

[vacuum_tuber]

No, BSoD is a free, bundled feature of Windows.