But they’re promising it’ll get better, really it will! Speaking to CVG, senior producer Kevin Unangst explained how the company faltered with its Games for Windows Live concept by trying to shoehorn a very console-like experience on to PC’s – and how it’s going to get better.
“The service started with the right intent, which was to bring Achievements, friends, multiplayer gaming and matchmaking in a really great way to PC,” he said.
“I think because it was designed originally as a partner to the console service more than the PC service, we had a rocky start.We also didn’t back it up with the most important thing, which is doing fantastic games to take advantage of the service. A network by itself isn’t valuable – there needs to be great games to take advantage.”
He asserts that the service will get better though, because Microsoft’s been listening to developer feedback and implementing the necessary changes.
“I look at it as like what Halo did for Xbox Live, where you had Bungie and Microsoft going back and saying ‘to make a great multiplayer game here’s some things I need in the service, here’s my audience’.”The Age of Empire team has got a lot of great input and the same can be said for Lionhead, who said ‘we’re going to build Fable 3 on the PC’ and know what they want out of the service.â€
“I think the underpinnings are great, I think it’s going to continue to get better,” he continued. “We launched a new Marketplace which was great, we’re selling Live and non-Live enabled games. We’re also seeing developers get back to development. Epic did a great job of promoting Live with Bulletstorm. They’re pleased with the platform and the service is going to continue to get better over time.”
Personally, I’m not sure it’s worth trying to salvage this particular sinking ship. PC gamer opinion on GFWL is pretty strong – and overwhelmingly negative. If Pc gamers wanted a console experience, wouldn’t they just play on consoles? Besides, there’s this other platform for games on PC’s called Steam, and I hear it’s pretty popular.
Source : CVG
Last Updated: March 9, 2011
