New Games for Windows Live released

By Robert Purchese Published 6 August, 2009

Adds convenient in-game Marketplace.

Microsoft has rolled out a brand-new version of Games for Windows - Live.

The in-game Marketplace heads the bill, and allows you to both buy and install extra content without exiting games.

Live accounts, therefore, can also be managed in-game; Microsoft Points can be bought, card details tweaked, Gamertags changed and codes redeemed. How very convenient.

Microsoft has taken the opportunity to add some anti-piracy measures to Games for Windows - Live, too.

The first of these is server-side authentication, which links Gamertags to game licences, so a PC game can be installed anywhere the Gamertag goes. This doesn't affect offline play, apparently.

The other measure is zero-day piracy protection, which has Games for Windows - Live preventing games being played before actual release.

You can download Games for Windows - Live version 3 from the official website now.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Pastici #1 3 years ago

    To me that doesn't sound bad but I don't use it, so I expect some people to list some errors. You always get them ;). Bit like Steam isn't it?

  • matrim83 #2 3 years ago

    I like GFWL. Esp the acheivements. Only downside is you cant get them while you are offline (unlike the Xbox), wish there was some way to fix that. :/

  • Bearintraining #3 3 years ago

    you CAN get achievements when you're offline since the april update of the gfwl client, btw

  • Vice.Destroyer #4 3 years ago

    zero-day piracy protection? Oh god, will we see this filter down to XBL? Will this become the final nail in the coffin of grey imports?

  • matrim83 #5 3 years ago

    @ Bearintraining

    Are you sure? I think I played Halo 2 a month or so back and it didnt work on that.

  • Darren #6 3 years ago

    I can't say I'm too keen on Games for Windows LIVE personally, mainly because support is so thin on the PC that it's almost a pointless inclusion. Had it been adopted as the standard for all games then it might have had more worth. At most about six games per year are LIVE enabled, most tend to carry the Games for Windows logo, which isn't the same thing (they don't have LIVE support).

    The one thing that bothers me about Games for Windows LIVE enabled games though is user mods. Take Fallout 3 for example, it's a GfWL title but it supports user mods too which enhance and expand the game far beyond the developers original intentions, but could using them lead to an account being banned? It wouldn't bother me so much if I wasn't using the same one I have for my Xbox 360. Does anyone know?

  • Darren #7 3 years ago

    "The first of these is server-side authentication, which links Gamertags to game licences, so a PC game can be installed anywhere the Gamertag goes. This doesn't affect offline play, apparently."

    Not sure exactly what this means... does it mean you can play the game without the disc being in the drive?

  • Vice.Destroyer #8 3 years ago

    @Darren: The answer to your question is a categoric no. GFWL and XBL are too completely separate entities in that sense. You would only get banned if you were somehow to modify an Xbox game and/or modify your Xbox. What you do on your PC and with PC games is up to you. Thankfully, they can differentiate between an Xbox version and a PC version of the same game.

  • PearOfAnguish #9 3 years ago

    Take Fallout 3 for example, it's a GfWL title but it supports user mods too which enhance and expand the game far beyond the developers original intentions, but could using them lead to an account being banned?

    I'm using mods while logged into Live and I've not had any problems yet. The only thing that affects it is the Fallout Script Extender and mods that require it, since that modifies memory. If you launch Fallout using FOSE it disables Live, but it doesn't ban you.

  • bad09 #10 3 years ago

    Soon I'll have a machine able to play the lasted games as I'm building a new beast PC in a week or so (PC gaming is drawing me back). Can I use my 360 gamertag with GFW or do I need to set up a new one?

  • Darren #11 3 years ago

    @bad09 - As I said in my earlier post, I've been using my Xbox 360 Gamertag as my PC GfWL one for some time with no problems other than missing game icons for the PC titles when I view the Games Played list on my 360.

  • bad09 #12 3 years ago

    Oh yeah just noticed that on the end! Cheers Darren that's handy.

    / Orders glasses

  • Gaol #13 3 years ago

    The out of game client has no community features, it's just a slow marketplace browser that doesn't even have an integrated way to buy MS points. There's also hardly any titles supported. It's taken them years to even get to this point.

    For the sake of PC gaming, MS need to bite the bullet and either buy or support Steam - the PC platform needs a unified route for the community and most are already using it.

  • Hunam #14 3 years ago

    I think they need to make it more like Media Centre really, for the out of game client that is. So you can have an 360 style dash and launch your games from it like that. Chances of that happening are slim to none though.

  • StooMonster #15 3 years ago

    I think of GfWL as the anti-Steam.

    Steam started as a way to patch games with updates and eventually grew into a pay service for new titles, GfWL started as a way to sell you DLC and provides rudimentary marketing materials (demos and videos); although both have achievements, with GfWL integrating with Xbox Live achievements.

    This update appears to be focused around enhancing Marketplace, and giving one more options to spend money on DLC.

  • StooMonster #16 3 years ago

    I also laugh at the advertising bar at the bottom of GfWL and how they have yet to find anyone to advertise there ... so it just says "msn" all the time.

    If you can't sell the advertising space, can you please just crop this off the bottom of the window?

  • Nithron #17 3 years ago

    I was actually planning on buying the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3 on PC(Try saying that six times fast...) but, after trying fruitlessly to get it from in-game, i then found that Microsoft's own website for Live had a broken download link to their own client.

    At that point I just gave up. Sure I could have gotten it somehow, but if they can't even manage to keep their download links working, how can I trust 'em to keep the DRM servers going?

  • PearOfAnguish #18 3 years ago

    Sure I could have gotten it somehow, but if they can't even manage to keep their download links working, how can I trust 'em to keep the DRM servers going?

    The silly thing is you can yarr it from bittorrent and not worry about DRM or any other shit. The DLC packs work just like normal mods and GfWL can't tell the difference. Something is wrong when it's less hassle to download these things for free.

  • kangarootoo #19 3 years ago

    "If you can't sell the advertising space, can you please just crop this off the bottom of the window?"

    I recommend masking tape :)

  • brokenkey #20 3 years ago

    GfWL is the worst gaming experience I've had in 30 years of gaming. Having GTAIV telling me I have to have a GfWL profile and be logged in in order to JUST SAVE THE GAME!!! And even that turned out to be lies!

  • Darrengamer #21 3 years ago

    I agree with Darren. As long as this runs at 1080x72-pge over 12 to the power of 5 and has little screen tear, this'll be great!

  • AphoticCosmos #22 3 years ago

    GFWL could use some improvement, but overall I don't think it's too shabby. It would be great if it had more stuff on it, though, and if more games with GFW at the top actually, you know, had achievements and such.

  • Bazfrag #23 3 years ago

    It is still clunky. Fix game joining. It takes one mouse click on steam but inviting on gfwl takes several.

  • hiddenranbir #24 3 years ago

    The marketplace is a joke. It's got like, what....6 items?

  • warthog2k #25 3 years ago

    I would like voice chat with people on the Xbox please Microsoft (not holding my breath though)

    Doesn't this feature already exist? I'm certain I've done this with 360 owning mates!