To avoid issues like this in the future, it is best practice to download the GFWL client from MS's site and reinstall it after you install a game that uses GFWL - even if the game came with a redistributable client setup that runs with game's install. I've had this this problem in the past and ever since I started reinstalling GFWL after game install, I've never had issue again.

As far as port forwarding on your router:
- Your router should be UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) capable and if it's enabled in the router, GFWL should be able to tell your router automatically what ports it needs forwarded as long as the GFWL client is forwarded in your firewall.
- Make sure your router is using the latest firmware available for it.

PCF is owned by Epic, but "Cliffy" had nothing to do with the game. I guess you could say Mark Rein did, but still only as the owner of the company.

Once again, it had naught to do with the GFWL client. Here's a list of things that worked, and have ALWAYS worked:

GFWL standalone desktop client "Marketplace"
Games bought using GFWL standalone client, such as Dark Void
In-Game client in games bought via standalone client
Games installed via physical media, such as Batman Arkham Asylum or Red Faction Guerrilla
In-Game client in games installed via physical media

Here's a list of things that DID NOT work:
Zero Day Piracy Protection Tool

The solution involved flushing my primary User Account's DNS, and almost nothing to do with port forwarding.

Was the game ultimately worth all that work or did you go though it all only to think "geez, this is crap"

You what? GoW was one of the worst console ports in recent history. I had it installed for precisely 20 minutes before I uninstalled it again. What a waste of money. I'm sure it's an okay game on consoles, but on the PC? Forget it.

Why? I thought it was excellent. DX10 graphics options with AA, an added campaign chapter, mod tools, etc.. I wish all console ports were that good.

Define "work". All I did was call GFWL tech support, and when the low-tier guy couldn't help me, he said he'd escalate the issue to someone who "specialized in that game" or "application" or whatever, and set up a call back time. All I had to do was wait for the higher-tier guy to call, and he seemed to know what the problem was, and the issue was solved within ten minutes of him calling me.

Like I said, I'm really enjoying the "skill shot" system. If you look on my GFWL, XBL, and PSN profiles, you'll see that I am the (self-titled) "King of Trick Shot!". The name hails back to the early days of FPSs, when grenade launchers with "rebounding grenades" that bounced around corners were kind of a new thing, and I would play almost solely with that weapon because I enjoyed impressing my friends with trick shots. It only got better when the expansions for Quake II came out, with that Ion Ripper weapon. And now that there's a game that rewards me for skillfully chaining trick shots, I get to hone my playing in a whole new way.

I can definitely see where PCF picked up influences from Epic Games' past games (now that the former is part of the latter, the former has access to all of the latter's reference materials, I'll bet), but I can also see influences from past PCF games. For instance, the leash weapon reminds me of the Painkiller staff weapon's alternate fire (the alt fire was the one that launched the spear head, right?).

I think that the majority of people who complained about "poor graphics on highest settings" are people who are running ancient hardware. I've seen the system specs of some of these complainers, and they're running single-core AMD64 CPUs, Radeon HD 3000 series GPUs, 2GB RAM, etc. My specs are just under "top of the line", so I have no problem with visuals. The only thing I have a problem with is when all the textures take a half second to a whole second to go from "lowest" to "fully rendered" or whatever. It's like, when a texture isn't within "eyeshot", it "relaxes", and when I turn the camera around to view that texture again, it's like "oh crap! wake up guys! he's looking at us!". It's been like that with every Unreal Engine 3 game I've played.

Bottom line, I think Epic had less of a hand in the game's development than "conspiracy theorists" would have you believe, and if you liked PCF's previous offerings, like Painkiller, and in a way Gorky 17 (most of the guys who worked on it went on to form PCF), I'm pretty sure you'll like it. And the story isn't so bad either. It's kind of the inverse of the old cliche of "Good soldiers work for good general, but general turns to bad general, and good soldiers end up hunting down bad general". In this case it's "Good soldiers go rogue, while general who's always been bad continues to get away with doing bad things while being backed by the government, who thinks he's good".

I also have to say that I've enjoyed what I've played of Bulletstorm so far.

It sucks because of GFWL on PC for me.

Say what you will about Bulletstorm (because I haven't played it, and so don't really have an opinion on it gameplay-wise), but it's somewhat cool that it has an unlockable skins for one of the guns, which means that it... Has tits and is on fire!

Yeah, I don't know what he's talking about, it stood out as how a console port should be done. They had a year to polish it, of course:)

I think maybe you misunderstood the intent of my post. I'm just going to leave a list of things I do before I try and play a GFWL title with zero day protection:

1. Reinstall GFWL downloaded from MS site after game install.

2. Reboot computer.

3. Log into stand alone GFWL marketplace client, then log out to test connection ability.

4. Launch Game

Performing those steps after installing a game that uses GFWL will in most cases fix problems that may arise from GFWL or it's protection mechanisms. Specifically in your case, step 2 would have fixed your issue because the DNS resolver cache is reset after a reboot.

The reason I brought up port forwarding was because of post 15 of yours asking how to forward ports along with your "router advice" thread from last month detailing your recently acquired knowledge of the web interface of your router. I took those as signs of unfamiliarity with certain aspects of networking and was just trying to help out with some info.

Read http://techland.time.com/2010/10/14/origins-tanya-jessen-lead-producer-on-bulletstorm/4/ (page 4 of this interview). I played the XBox 360 demo and sensed way less of Unreal Tournament type gameplay than I was interested in seeing. I didn't feel like it was classical at all, a goof on Gears of War, sure.

I would love to at least try it on PC to see how the combo system works with a decent input device but I hear it's a steaming turd still.

I think it's fine to use terms that are crass and amusing. However, for myself, I don't want the douchebag, strangely effeminate lead character calling me, the player, "dick-tits". Also, all the crass dialog I heard failed to be amusing in any way.
Your advice is probably a good fix, but if the GfWL client on that came with the install didn't work that's pretty much bullshit. If there's DNS caching issues, it sounds like a known issue and should be handled seamlessly.

It really is, and it's lovely.

That's a shame, GFWL is annoying but not that big of a deal in the end, and the game could use the sale I am sure.