Games for Windows Marketplace moving to Xbox.com!

I guess this transition is alright. Personally, I thought GFWM was fine where it was. I just hope they have a tab saying PC games and not include it in the overall games list. That would be annoying having to scan through the xbox games to find a single PC title.

If this lets us get more sales/deals and a wider selection then I guess this is fine.

If it lets me get my DLC even if i am under 18, that would be incredible. Just if it works the same way as the Xbox.

Is there an official date when this will happen? I think this is great cause it seemed like the Windows Marketplace was not updated as frequently. But I agree with the others, there needs to be an easy and clear way to separate the platforms.

Terrible idea sorry but these forums & xbox.com are really slow to browse here in the UK does anyone @ MS/GFWL actually test the speed from outside US????

Will there be a portal site, or is GFW forever shadowed by the Xbox brand? I think consolidation was needed for a while, but I don't think covering the brand is in any way going to get people interested in it.

I hope this means more games will be cross-platform in the future.

This might make a bit more sense if there were more Games For Windows that allowed for cross-platform Live multiplayer with Xbox 360 players or if more games besides just Game Room could be played across both platforms sharing data.

I didin´t find anithig for windows in this site :(

"Games for Windows® is moving to Xbox.com in July. Get the latest Games for Windows–LIVE exclusives, best-selling PC titles, great casual games, and incredible deals. Our new design on Xbox.com will let you easily find your favorite games, and our updated newsletter design is a sneak preview of things to come. "

 

Allright! That's good.

But another important question is still unanswered: there is a lot of Xbox game on the Xbox board which is not available in their marketplace (Rogue Warrior, Wolfenstein, Bionicle Heroes just for example) Will be there any game information about the other 'Games For Windows' branded titles, which are not available on the GFW-M (Metro2033; Fallout NewVegas; Wolfenstein; Alone in the Dark and more) ?

Would be good...

This is definitely needed.

Games for Windows could use a bit more exposure along with some consolidation.

This is... shocking, to be honest. On the one hand, this is a much needed step in the right direction. It strengthens the LIVE brand, will prevent questions pertaining to whether GfWL and XboxL are the same service, maybe that means MS will finally start treating all of its LIVE branches equally and that there'll be more cross-platform content coming, it means less confusion and so on.

On the other hand, this merger will only make the brand "Games for Windows" less exposed. Just look at this forum, omnipresent green and xbox name everywhere. Is that such a big problem? Maybe not, if the Marketplace will be clearly visible here on the site.

By the way, what will happen to the Marketplace application now? Will it undergo major changes, too? Or will it simply direct buyers to the Marketplace website? What about making the content available for all LIVE supported countries, when can we expect that to happen?

Xbox Live is said to be integrated with Windows 8, and the Xbox Live service is already integrated into Windows Phone 7. A Windows Phone 7 game & app marketplace website is coming out soon and it looks like it is going to be on xbox.com. It would make sense to see all of the services consolidated into one Xbox Live brand. I really don't think it would make sense for Microsoft to continue pushing the Games for Windows Live brand. Everyone knows what Xbox Live is, but most people have never heard of Games for Windows.

www.slashgear.com/xbox-live-will-be-built-into-windows-8-10158735

this means xbox live is gonna be free soon?

no it means that M$ will be charging games for windows like they charge for xbox live.  they are money sucking leeches.

I really hope that we PC users are now in able to buy and use some gamerpictures at our gamercard. I really hope this boosts the GFWL, the marketplace etc etc.

I downloaded the free gamerpictures pack from Duke Nukem Forever but they don't work. I can't choose them in the avatar. And if I go to the avatar creator and go to marketplace I only can change shirt, hats etc etc. But no gamerpictures. 

Thanks to friend I got my self an Assassins Creed gamerpicture. 

I can't edit my old post. I really hope that xbox users can play against PC users, that would be great. And I really hope Microsoft now does something against cheaters. DiRT2, DiRT3, F1 2010 have some nasty cheaters in the leaderboards from time trail. Always the same players. Codemasters can't do anything about it, because everything goes via GFWL and Microsoft  needs to handle it.

TopsideRelic:

no it means that M$ will be charging games for windows like they charge for xbox live.  they are money sucking leeches.

 

 Wrong. They do not charge for games for windows, nor have they given any indication they are going to.

Buying a game once to play across multiple platforms would be wonderful, but aside from Valve's very decent gesture with Portal 2 on PS3 / PC / Mac, I very much doubt this is ever going to happen on a regular basis. Sadly.

Why should I want to visit Xbox.com as a PC gamer? So I can see adverts for all the games that aren't available for my PC because MS has decided they can make more money out of franchises like Gears of War and Halo if they just release the first one or two titles on PC, then cut the series dead in order to give their console a few genuine exclusives to brag about?

I actually see this more as an indication of Microsoft pretty much giving up on PC gaming altogether. And I'm not even that surprised by it because there are others that do a far superior job on the PC platform i.e. Steam, D2D, GOG, Gamersgate, Impulse, Greenman Gaming, EA Store,  etc.

There's huge amounts of competition on the PC for digital titles, hence why MS is struggling with GFWL.

Tyrell Android:

I, like many other PC gamers absolutely hate GFWL. It's a crap service, intrusive and extremely annoying.

Care to elaborate why?

 

In fact, MS should ditch the service altogether for the PC market as it's clearly not working.

That is absolute nonsense. Can the service and its interface use some improvement? Absolutely, and moving to integrate the core Xbox Live services into the OS is a good start. Just because it hasn't reached its potential is absolutely no reason to quit.

Tyrell Android:

Buying a game once to play across multiple platforms would be wonderful, but aside from Valve's very decent gesture with Portal 2 on PS3 / PC / Mac, I very much doubt this is ever going to happen on a regular basis. Sadly.

Valve does that with all of their games on Steam, but only on Steam. It's nothing more than controlling the product and the service it is distributed on. You don't see other developers doing that because they lose revenue. Valve can get away with it with their own games because they charge other developers for using their service and share sales revenue of other developer's titles.

Why should I want to visit Xbox.com as a PC gamer?

Perhaps if you are a gamer who isn't tied to just the PC?

So I can see adverts for all the games that aren't available for my PC because MS has decided they can make more money out of franchises like Gears of War and Halo if they just release the first one or two titles on PC, then cut the series dead in order to give their console a few genuine exclusives to brag about?

To be fair, MS really has no excuse for not putting the franchises they own on PC. Halo Wars for instance is an obvious title that would have easily found a home on the PC. Gears of War is owned by Epic, thus it's their decision which platforms they release on. They can and should support both the PC and the console as other developers do. They seem to be moving to change that with Age of Empires Online, Microsoft Flight, and releasing Fable 3 for PC, etc. It's a start but at least they are showing some faint signs of life.

I actually see this more as an indication of Microsoft pretty much giving up on PC gaming altogether. And I'm not even that surprised by it because there are others that do a far superior job on the PC platform i.e. Steam, D2D, GOG, Gamersgate, Impulse, Greenman Gaming, EA Store,  etc.

There's huge amounts of competition on the PC for digital titles, hence why MS is struggling with GFWL.

Yet they integrating Live into Windows. I'd give it time and let it play out before throwing in the towel.

Use your head and read between the lines! The fact that MS merged GFWL with XBL denotes the fact GFWL never hand much of an audience on the PC. Therefore, by integrating the two MS clearly knows they'll have a bigger audience if such a service is on the 360 too. GFWL is dead on the PC. No one buys directly from the GFWL marketplace, hence why MS merged it with Xbox.com.

As said in my previous post, there are others that do a far superior job on the PC platform i.e. Steam, D2D, GOG, Gamersgate, Impulse, Greenman Gaming, EA Store,  etc. There's huge amounts of competition on the PC for digital titles, hence why MS is struggling with GFWL.

 

Tyrell Android:

The fact that MS merged GFWL with XBL denotes the fact GFWL never hand much of an audience on the PC.

or it simply makes sense from a business and service management perspective. Sure GFW never had the amount of support that XBL has had and the brand suffered as a result. Xbox Live has been a massive success and is a highly recognized brand, thus it makes sense to extend it to other platforms.

 

Therefore, by integrating the two MS clearly knows they'll have a bigger audience if such a service is on the 360 too.

and that's a problem because?

 

GFWL is dead on the PC. No one buys directly from the GFWL marketplace, hence why MS merged it with Xbox.com.

Now I'm curious. Can you offer any evidence that nobody buys anything from the GFW marketplace?

 

As said in my previous post, there are others that do a far superior job on the PC platform i.e. Steam, D2D, GOG, Gamersgate, Impulse, Greenman Gaming, EA Store,  etc. There's huge amounts of competition on the PC for digital titles, hence why MS is struggling with GFWL.

Which is by no means a reason to simply quit. MS certainly have the resources to improve and better the service on the PC. So why shouldn't they try?

Bittersweet IMO

What a retarded idea

OK its in xbox.com  now what? We all know it needs some work. I LOVE achievements on PC but its unreliable (OMG installing bulletstorm required me to uninstall GFWL for crying out loud!).

Look at steam. do that but in windows and with steams reliability. problem solved.

See how steam lets you buy some games and they work on Mac and PC. Do that but with windows (if it passes the hardware test) and xbox.

Sooooo...

 

Does this mean that the marketplace app is gonna be defunct on the PC?

 

OR

 

Does this mean we will finally see a out of game client/marketplace app that will finally allow the same functionality as the Xbox Dashboard?

 

ALSO, will we finally be able to reply to messages without having to start a game to do so?

And they wonder why so many of us swear by Steam.

i hope that do it not just for money

but really for  supporting pc and loving their users of windows in first place and gamers

add native support of xbox games at least easy and direct port port for games and like that let game developers make more games on pc especially over xboxlive with many online gamers and dlc and smoothed experience

and i hope so that they support us with franchise games like forza 1 per year enough like steam do

and with easy port and no charge and live protection they will let games like red dead redemption tekken devil mcry come to pc mean 3 rd party games even they dont make gears of wars or ....

to pc if they really care about PC wait and see ^^

When I want a PC game the first place I go is a non-PC website. actually I go straight to Xbox.com to see all my PC games. its so intuitive! just kidding. this is a bad idea. I would rather see a "Live" webside that also included everything Xboxlive and windows life.

xbox.com handles the xbox systems and games, but anything like marketplaces under 1 banner for windows phone, xbox, pc, etc.

dumb idea MS.

so i could play my xbox games on my laptop?

I'm curious to see how this transition will work.

I actually like GFWL. Sure, it needs improvements in key areas like supporting party chat with Xbox Live users being able to check messages from friends without having to start up a game, but overall it works (roughly 80% of the time) for me.

 

I'm all for consolidation if it means more reliable services and Microsoft has been making a big @@@ effort trying to win people back. It's definitely working. People resist at first (just because Microsoft is apparently the big bad in the PC world), but people eventually come around.

 

Seriously, Microsoft Office and Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7? Genius. Bing being integrated into all Microsoft websites, Xbox 360, and WP7s? Awesome. The Metro UI used on Xbox 360, WP7, and soon Windows 8? Fantastic. Hell, even the Xbox 360 has been getting Silverlight added to it little by little. Easier porting of games and apps between PC, 360, and WP7 is alright by me.

 

So everyone just needs to relax and give GFWL a chance blossom on Xbox.com. If nothing big happens within 6 months, THEN you can start freaking out.

Making a big effort to win people back.... who are they trying to win back exactly?

In another 6 months, as far as PC gaming is concerned nothing will have happened.  What exactly has Microsoft added/improved over the years?  As far as I am concerned GFWL does nothing for me, I can easily do without achievements and the possibility of it corrupting my save files.  Hopefully the developers who chose to integrate will be fewer and fewer, it's unfortunate that Bioshock Infinity and the new Batman will be using it though.

The integration of live with Windows 8 is nothing more than a drive for the casual market.  I can't find the video now but it shows the direction they want to take with "gaming" and it's nothing but casual (phone & PC) and social networking guff.  Yay for more cutesy avatars and pastel colours.

uuuuugh.

So is THIS what was meant by a "push into PC Gaming" again? Amalgamating what makes us unique and rolling it all into a casual market crap-ball to spoon feed it to us while plugging the xbox?

Not knocking the xbox, but the majority of PC gamers are a) educated about technology and don't want a 7 year old console b) don't care for one reason or another about consoles (cause they have a PC), and c) have no interest in a casual market (which is where you're aiming).

Unless you guys at MS REALLY push for a unique site incorporating both brands I think this is a HUGE mis-step.

What are they going to do about the Games for Windows branding then? Will all retail PC Live games now just have a label saying "Xbox Live enabled" or something? Will non-Live games drop the GFW branding?

I agree with PWXBOX360, btw these forums dont seem to work at all on Google Chrome anyone else having that issue?

I'm not sure on this rebranding at all, IMO I think Microsoft should have had the Windows and Xbox teams totally seperate from the start then share the better ideas. This feeds into the issue that GFWL is just an Xbox LIVE clone made to give Xbox players some PC playtime with achievements and gamerscore. It may make sense for the future to some buisness exec who knows all the details on where Microsofts services are heading, but to a large chunk of the PC Gaming community its a slap in the face.

Will this also mean that the "Games for Windows" brand will also be scrapped and change to "Xbox for PC"? And will GFWL change to "Xbox PC live"? I'm not getting it so far is this a total killing off of the GFWL/GFW/GFWM brands which are rather controversial? Wouldnt changing the brands to just "LIVE" been a better idea? I dont know...... :-/ . But I think Microsoft should be attempting to emphasis the different services to their strengths rather than mixing them closer together, which could prove to be incompatible like the early days of GFWL.

Either way this is just another issue that Microsoft is proving themselves distant and out of touch from a large swath of the PC community. Check PC Gamer and the other news sites that have broken the news. People seem quite resitant to the Xbox brand being on the PC.

currently gfwl is not being rebranded. when windows 8 rolls out my thought is they will be rebranding gfwl to xbox. its a known brand amongst MANY consumers. very few know what gfwl is. xbox will also most likely be replacing the zune (music and movies) brand. the consolidation is great. gives the whole platform more exposure. more exposure and more customers means more games (maybe even exclusives). it means gfwl will be treated as an equal part of a 3 pronged platform. I can't say they will be equal BUT I would imagine you are going to see Xbox baked into the core of Windows 8 much more thouroughly than gfwl ever was.