R.I.P MS

I am 'ambivalent' about GFWL as I don't subscribe to the usual internet mob mentality. I'm not overly a fan of it, but if I'm perfectly honest, I never had any problems with it, and it used to handle offline functionality far better than Steam has ever done (at least until Microsoft thought it wise to emulate Steam's account binding functionality with it).

It's actually no worse and no better than Steam, but shhhh...you're not one of the cool kids unless you openly bash GFWL.

Why did Fallout 3 need GfWL? It doesn't has a multiplayer component...

It used it for handling the DLC and for achievements.

GFWL meant I could buy Super Street Fighter 4 at retail and not require any internet access to play it.

Ultra Street Fighter IV now uses Steam.

You're damn right I miss GFWL.

Ah, ok. Well it seems that it doesn't has it anymore so yay :).

Well guys, what can I say, I won't miss it (if ever they decide to shut it down completely) but I've also never had any technical issues with it, everything has worked fine for me, maybe I'm lucky or I don't know. I know that many people got a lot of issues with it and I respect that, but seriously I repeat, I've never has any issues with it since the launch of the service (I think the first game I've played with GFWL it's Gears of Wars, followed by Halo 2 then the others such as Fallout 3, GTA IV, Batman: AA etc. etc.).

The retail version of Super Street Fighter 4 required an internet connection to activate it, even wih GFWL.

Vanilla SF4, on the other hand, didn't.
As far as I'm aware, the Steam version is having it removed, but the retail version is staying as is.

Not that I'd personally give a fuck, because Fallout 3 doesn't use GFWL's DRM solution, and it's easy enough to disable anyway for those that don't like it.

The fans kicked up a stink about it and they soon released a free downloadable patch that negated any internet requirements. I know, I've installed it twice (including GFWL itself) with the internet thoroughly disabled.

Interesting. I recall the stink that was kicked-up about the always-on DRM, and I kept my patch from GFWL, but I thought that the game still needed one-time activation even with the patch.

Nope, I can confirm this after testing it on three separate PCs, the game data will install just fine with the internet disabled, after that you can apply the 2012 update patch and you're good to go.

I can't say I'm happy about this. Sure GFWL was not a good service, and it had a lot of technical issues (like kicking you out of the game to update the GFWL, THEN kicking you out of the game AGAIN to update the game)
Imagine my frustration when I found out that Dow 2 Retribution required BOTH Steam and GFWL.......

But taking such a service off is going to be bad for the games, because it will take away not only the bad components but also the good ones (and some of them are really needed to enjoy certain games)

And as far as I know no one has released a patch to make the games run without GFWL. (If you know of something tell me)
So the games will be rendered useless, if you cant login to GFWL to play them......


Is this patch only for Super Street Fighter 4? Can you apply it to other games?

I've seen advertizing for gfwl on my copies (German and English) of Fallout 3 but never looked it up.
Was it some kind of Uplay which you didn't have to activate for some of the catalogue just like Steam was for the retail copy of Dark Messiah of Might & Magic? Something nobody looked at if he wasn't forced to?

What? I can buy Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, install it, patch it and play it without any online crap? O.O
It was one of the games where my financial voting against DRM did hurt me the most, somewhere after Fallout - New Vegas and Mafia 2.

The patch is specifically for SSF4 Arcade Edition.

Yes! Believe me, it was a game I seriously wanted and made damn sure I could bypass any activation crap before I put down any money on it. Though I can only truly confirm this for the retail version, I don't know if there's anything dodgy about digital copies.

Agreed. I gave in to the temptation of a good discount for Red Faction: Guerrilla on Steam in a weak moment, without remembering it was tied to GfWL and I haven't touched it since I found out. I'm already registered at more than enough 3rd party accounts. Now I wish GfWL was dead already so that there was a little more pressure on Nordic Games to offer alternatives.

Also, while it's not something to rejoice about, it could certainly prove useful if more gamers realize how problematic it is if games are tied to an online DRM system that won't be around forever. (Says the guy who bought RF: Guerrilla on Steam. :P)