So playing games online on pcs is now free? Great!

Wait! It's allways been free and no pc gamer has ever cared about games for windows live. *yawn*

little_dragon

If Microsoft expect developers to port their games onto PC, and then make them available for free for the people who bought the 360 version, then Microsoft better be giving developers a lot bigger slice of the pie.

Porting can be a bitch, where's Space Giraffe for example?

----

Oh, and GFWLive will take off, when they bundle it with Windows 7, and you have to go through it to run Solitaire.

hahnchen

@UbeWoll:

I agree Oberon Media, Popcap and whoever else are all over the net.

Spreading the disease which is CASUAL GAMING!! Run for the hills.

Dappa

So like, wouldn't this just be MAME/Kaillera but more reliable?

And cost you?

MikoKeZ

don't do it, you'll lose sales very quickly! (people will start cracking the games no matter how strict the service is)

SupaPhly

@UbeWoll:

There are some sweet exclusives though,like castle crashers.

It WOULD make sense though to use a service like Steam but being microsoft, they'll create their own service.

MyLittlePwny

And GameTap. Holy saturation, Batman.

UbeWoll

Doesn't the internet already have popcap games?

UbeWoll

Oh goody, I can't wait until people start pirating updated versions of games from 20 years ago.

DigiMish

@SupaPhly: Your right. Just like with Steam, and Popcap, and Gametap, and D2D, or any of the othernservices out there making cash hand over fist. I don't know how those other companies make the millions and millions that they do because no Pc gamers actually buy software, right?

teamr

Unangst? That's a fantastic name!! It's like, the anti-emo from Microsoft...

NiceMissMayonnaise

@teamr: I see what you mean, but I didn't say EVERYONE would do it. Ok there might be still those people that will buy the games on PC, but a huge amount of people will still get it cracked instead of getting it on XBLA (a la Geometry Wars)

SupaPhly

Porting shouldn't be that hard, seeing as xbox and windows are very similar with their libraries ( both use directx for example).

Yas

Well, that would be one way to get some games like Soul Calibur and SFHD on PC if that's the case. I'd definitely buy more XBL games if they were PC capable.

arstal

How much were they charging for GFWLive before it went free? Was it as much as XBL? They were giving out Silver accounts for free, right?

Crawl to China

Just build an emulator for the pc, and run the games from inside the launcher. As long as the publisher was ok with it. You wouldn't even need to code for keyboard and mouse, just require the controller, though not the optimal solution ill admit. But its good enough for now.

whalenapp81

You can get Geometry Wars on Steam.

Strangelove

I would like that. I don't have a 360, but some of the games that have come out on XBLA have made me want to get one.

Eltigro

would be good to carry a game of puzzle quest from 360 to PC.

akilshohen

@hahnchen: True, about it being a bitch to do and the piracy thing. But companies need to grow a pair and except that things might get pirated on the tubes. I hope they follow threw with the idea though, more choices is always good.

whalenapp81

I'm using a Mac and though I could dualboot to Windows I'm not that interested in the games available for it, but I don't have a 360 so these XBLA games on Windows would definitely make me use it a lot. Can't wait.

Miharu

@whalenapp81: Emulating the 360 on the PC is going to be an absolute bitch if you want it to perform. And it's also going to mean that 360 games are going to get a lot more pirated.

hahnchen

@whalenapp81:You lose a lot of performance when you emulate something, it has to jump through a lot more hoops. You can't even get PS2 emulation on a PS3 any more, which would make a lot more sense than emulating a 360 on a PC.

Right now, if you want to pirate 360 games, you need a chipped console. If they managed to get a 360 emulator on the PC, it negates the entire point of the 360. Why not just release the game on Windows?

hahnchen

I would like that. It would be nice to be able to play Castle Crashers somehow.

Syril

i just refuse to install some background-running software from Microsoft or EA on my pc

i support valve with steam, all others just do not come on my pc

waza

Yea, I'd like to buy puzzle quest and rez AGAIN.

Talleh

At least GFW-Live is free now.

I paid to get a gold Live subscription for Shadowrun on Vista.

There are many things wrong with the above statement; a paradox within a paradox if you will.

PsycheE

mmm when is xbox live gonna be free?? thats what matters...we need for Sony to get hes popoo ready and release home free of charge already!

ADM86

Heres the thing MS. You're not going to get anywhere close to touching Steam if you don't have XBLA games available on PC, and more games besides. Right now, Steam utterly trashes the GFWL service, moreso even than XBL does to friend codes.

I would love GFWL to be a second Steam. But what are the chances?

Anaralia

I want more cross platform features for GFW L.

Solid_hedgehog

Yay for hypocrisy!

Games going to 360 from PC/PS3: "Yay more people will get to play them now!"

Games going from 360(XBLA) to PC: "OMG don't do it! Bad idea! You'll lose sales and get teh hacked!"

Cerathi

@akilshohen:

puzzle quest is already on pc and i think some others like zuma

d2cmp

Man, this would be awesome! Especially if you have purchased many of these games. I know we have a hard time spreading the game time around the 360s, and if the wife and kids could use the computers to play their arcade games, so much the better.

Lokicharms

steam, gametap, blah blah, and now MS??? jeez i dont know how much will we need

LoganForge

Wasn't Uno supposed to be on PC? Like a year ago?

PoisonJam

Maybe this is all build up to the release of some new announcement from the PC Gaming Alliance.

Gunloc

GFWL doesn't need to bring the arcade stuff, the PC already has that plus 500,000 more games, hello? Oh, and Gametap too, which is far better then XBLA

dozerking

Xbox live is a good system, i like being able to mute every 9 year old who tends to scream every profanity they hear on HBO. But i wonder how much gold sales would drop if they enabled online play with silver members. Its successful mainly because its mandatory. On the PC people just were not swallowing it. Because they had better online choices.

spectralpulse