I am Jack’s raging disappointment.
Those faithful Interscription readers know one of my favorite talking points about Xbox Live is the platform-defining connectivity it provides to its users. When hearing about the Games For Windows Live initiative, I was brimming with excitement over the ubiquitous connectivity that would now be afforded me in the PC gaming world. Imagine having a persistent friends list that you can interact with both inside and outside a game, with options for video and audio chat (perhaps even the wonderful Xbox Live parties functionality!). Sadly, the new Games For Windows Live standalone client does none of this.
Don’t get me wrong, what is there is nice, but it is just a barren wasteland compared to the rich environment of the New Xbox Experience (or, to be frank, even the old Dashboard). Instead of having the above-mentioned friends list or features, we are treated to a fairly slick (although somewhat empty) GFW Marketplace. Yes, your gamertag (linked, of course, to your Windows Live ID) is in the top righthand corner of the app, along with your gamerscore. And no, you can’t interact with it in any way. (To be honest, if you took this away, you might not even know this had any ties to the Xbox Live platform whatsoever).
What’s frustrating here is that you can log into xbox.com and send simple text messages back and forth to users currently online. Why not AT LEAST fold this into a slightly more interactive portion of the GFW Live 2.0 app? I can understand (no, not really) if you are going to roll out the chat functions over time, but can’t we get something that shows how “Live” the system is?
Further disappointment was unearthed when I attempted to download the only demo on the Marketplace: Viva Pinata. I was completely crushed to find that, after waiting for the download to complete, I was jolted to an all-too-familiar Installshield wizard that then proceeded to install the demo just the same as if I’d have downloaded it from a website.
At this point, I’m struggling with what the point IS in launching a standalone Games For Windows – Live app without any of the features that might make it compelling. Congratulations for getting it out, but let’s get to work on things that will make people download it, guys.
Loading ...