It was announced earlier today, how f*cking sweet is this?
It might finally stand a chance against Steam and other services.

Source - Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/microsoft-makes-games-for-windows-live-free-for-all/)

If only Xbox Live would follow.. :sad:

Hardly. Steam will not be dislodged from it's place.

I am finally willing to play some Gears of War online now. I want those achievements.

If only Xbox Live would follow.. :sad:
I hope so :D

well i never payed for this because A) never had a GFWL game and B) would use my live account for the UAW demo but always froze so i wouldnt of had to pay anyway.

Look at the comments :D "Why isn't xbox live free? This is teh suxorz etc. http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/07/22/live-now-free-for-games-for-windows.aspx?PageIndex=1

One of the main advantages of live being a subscription service is that it keeps a lot of idiots off the service (a lot, sadly not enough). We don't want every 13 year old kid with a 360 ruining your game.

Honestly this is more like it should be. If they still wanted to charge for (where it's supported) cross platforming, I would understand that, but it's about time they realized once people get something for free, making them pay for it is stupid.

Making Xbox users pay for it is stupid since now PC users can do what we have to pay for in the same games we play.

It was announced earlier today, how f*cking sweet is this?
It might finally stand a chance against Steam and other services.

Source - Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/microsoft-makes-games-for-windows-live-free-for-all/)


Just tested it.
It's 100% true.

That's one great step in the right direction,
finally MicroSoft is starting to talk some sense!

Making Xbox users pay for it is stupid since now PC users can do what we have to pay for in the same games we play.
Its a different thing altogether. For example, PC users dont get dedictaed download pipes for massive demos and such.

Look at the comments :D "Why isn't xbox live free? This is teh suxorz etc. http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/07/22/live-now-free-for-games-for-windows.aspx?PageIndex=1

One of the main advantages of live being a subscription service is that it keeps a lot of idiots off the service (a lot, sadly not enough). We don't want every 13 year old kid with a 360 ruining your game.

I LOL'd hard at that article on major nelsons site, pretty much every comment is 'when will live be free'.
MS make to much money from Live, don't expect it to become free for a good few century's..
The main reason they turned GFW Live free is because almost no PC gamer was willing to pay for it due to they can get better experiences through other services (Steam & Xfire) for free.

Now I am willing to buy some of these games, But to catch up to Steam is a long and hard process (and won't happen most likely)

But to catch up to Steam is a long and hard process (and won't happen most likely)

I don't think it can happen, just not for a few years yet.
As the news that GFW Live is now free a lot more developers may consider using the service as there giving it out for free I think, and as its Microsoft they could easily push the service out. Also if they create some form of application like steam to use with GFWL they could push it out there easily with all the GFW games.

Especially as the new Dawn of war game that will sell a few million easily.

They've said an app is comming, now news as to when. Personally, like I said in the other thread, I much prefer GFWL to Steam and Xfire for just how easy and swish it all is. Its elegant and works better than the other two. I hope that they give the tools for free to all GFW branded software to get it in as many games as possible but I'm not sure how that would work since they are very protective of the achievment system.

well i never payed for this because A) never had a GFWL game and B) would use my live account for the UAW demo but always froze so i wouldnt of had to pay anyway.

The Universe at War Demo didn't support GFWL in its demo... did it? Because when I tried it I didn't see a way to use my gamertag on it, unless I missed something. I don't know why but I want to try Gears of War on GFWL, it should work really well with that new laptop I'm getting in September.

Look at the comments :D "Why isn't xbox live free? This is teh suxorz etc. http://majornelson.com/archive/2008/07/22/live-now-free-for-games-for-windows.aspx?PageIndex=1

One of the main advantages of live being a subscription service is that it keeps a lot of idiots off the service (a lot, sadly not enough). We don't want every 13 year old kid with a 360 ruining your game.

If it were free I dont think I would mind that much. Mute ftw!

Its a different thing altogether. For example, PC users dont get dedictaed download pipes for massive demos and such.

We also have to pay for more in terms of other parts. Xbox users dont need to upgrade their console every couple years, or deal with viruses. What else, Xbox live doesent have a competitor on the same system so as long as Microsoft can make money, they will

So anyone know of a demo that will let you test out the interface and stuff?

So anyone know of a demo that will let you test out the interface and stuff?

As far as I know the only way you can test out the GFWL stuff is by purchasing a GFWL game (Halo 2, shadowrun, gears of war etc.)
As there isn't any software yet.

There was a demo for Shadowrun run that must have had it. Unless it was just bots but that would make a terrible demo.

There was a demo for Shadowrun run that must have had it. Unless it was just bots but that would make a terrible demo.

Their was no demo for Shadowrun, unless their was also a PC beta.

There was a demo for Shadowrun run that must have had it. Unless it was just bots but that would make a terrible demo.

Never heard of a demo of it... and frankly, I would think that the ONE game MS would want to not release a demo of.

Never heard of a demo of it... and frankly, I would think that the ONE game MS would want to not release a demo of.

Why? Its a good game to be honest, just the original price point was kind of lame, they should have had a multiplayer demo for Halo 2, or even Gears!

Why? Its a good game to be honest, just the original price point was kind of lame, they should have had a multiplayer demo for Halo 2, or even Gears!

Disagreeing on all counts.

1) Shadowrun: Vista only when gamers dont want Vista yet, with a price tag WAY too much for what the game was means it would have been pointless.

2) Halo 2: Vista only when gamers dont want Vista yet, on a game that had been around since the original Xbox, and at a full ($50) price. No demo could have sold this game.

3) Gears of War: The game came out buggy (according to some reports. I had no issues aside from a warning about my CPU drivers), and once again, was ANOTHER old game selling for $50. A demo might have sold a few more copies, but not many.