GFWL hate

Argh! I don't normally vent about these kinds of things, but this is driving me crazy. Now, I know plenty of people have issues with Games for Windows Live. I have a few GFWL titles myself, but I've never really had a problem with it, at least until recently. You see, a couple of years ago I finally broke down and bought an Xbox 360 (Black Friday sale). Last year, I also finally broke down and bought a flat screen TV. Well, with the combination of the two, I've been watching a lot more Netflix and youtube on my TV. I like to have background noise when I'm on the computer, which is also in my living room. I'm kind of ADD like that.

ANYWAY, so there's the setup. The problem is that whenever I want to play a game on my PC that uses GFWL, it instantly boots me out of Xbox Live on my 360, so if I'm watching a Netflix movie or something, it kicks me out. I know it's a minor complaint, and it only affects my unique situation, really, but damn I can't stand it. I just wanna watch an old cartoon show and play a mindless action game at the same time. And honestly, it seems like an easy fix. I can understand not wanting the same service to be running on two devices - like if I gave a friend my Xbox Live password, he could use my Xbox Live service and have access to my games without having to pay for anything. However, that doesn't apply for the PC. I can't run Xbox games on my PC, and there's no paid Xbox Live subscription on my PC. Honestly, why not just have two different services, or have the service be able to tell the difference between a 360 and a PC? Or honestly, I shouldn't even need Xbox Live to use Netflix in the first place. I'm already paying to use Netflix - why should I have to pay for a service to access another service I'm already paying for?

But yeah, I just hate that because I'm watching a movie on my TV, I can't play certain games on my PC. Or, I forget a certain game uses GFWL, and I get kicked out of my movie halfway through. Does Microsoft just not get the concept that people have multiple devices in the same house? And why the heck is GFWL connected to my Xbox Live account?

It's worse when you end buying/playing games on Steam that also have this stupid layer of GFWL on top of it even on good games such as Red Faction: Guerrilla.

Mr. Chris said:

It's worse when you end buying/playing games on Steam that also have this stupid layer of GFWL on top of it even on good games such as Red Faction: Guerrilla.

Funny, that's honestly one of the first games that came to mind when I thought of this topic. I have that game, on Steam, and I keep forgetting that it's a GFWL game. I mean, it's the perfect mindless action game to accompany a mindless action movie or Saturday morning cartoon or whatever, and OMG it drives me nuts how many times I've launched it, forgetting that it is GFWL. And really, I have no problem with Steam, aside from making me forget which games are GFWL games. Steam has never prevented me from watching a movie on my TV (at least on its own) or whatever. Everyone complains about Steam, but honestly, I've never really had any problems, unlike GFWL.

That's why I stick to my VCR and Famiclone. Analog loophole, bitches!

I don't have any problems with it since it's offline mode actually works, and it was more forgiving of my slow internet connection and it doesn't force me to update.

The attachment to GFWL is one of many reasons why Age of Empires Online failed miserably at everything it set out to do. The support forums were always full of people who couldn't even try the game because of inexplicable glitches and outages in GFWL. I had to make multiple accounts just to get new product keys so I could keep playing a free game. Aside from that I haven't had to deal with GFWL at all. I'll believe in God for a minute just so I can thank him for that.

Maes said:

That's why I stick to my VCR and Famiclone. Analog loophole, bitches!

Awww yeeeaaaahhh, I thought I was the only one who owned a VCR. I have one right next to my computer.