Windows live (GFWL)

[Platinum]

Seeing a lot of threads not just on here but other forums where people are moaning about it, saying there having many issues ect and I am curious to know what these problems are?
For me apart from problems connecting to the servers in the early days I have no issues now, fired up Bulletstorm for the first time when it came out and GFWL automatically logged me in whilst it doing the loading screen, by the time I was at the menu it was logged in.
This is pretty much as it happens with all my GFWL games so when I see so many people having issues with it I am baffled?
I wonder if people had issues when it came out as I did and just assume its still as bad?

[Jasp]

Use it to play DOW2 online, never had any issues myself.

[Phage]

I was a new client. So had to go through quite an onerous registration system.
It didn't llike my gmail address. Different locale to IP
The GFWL network was down when I first tried. Lot's of 404s
The support links all went to XBL which was as much use as the proverbial
Ended up having to go through a help desk, and it took him 20 minutes to get me on the system. Including a new email account and having to download a GFWL client from some obscure part of the XBL series of sites. I hate to think what would happen i9f I wanted to move to another machine or updated this one.
Now I'm on - it works

[Terbinator]

The only issue i had was AoE3 running out of serial keys, which even then wasn't directly GFWL.

As per OP I'm very surprised when people seem to have problems with it.

[jim]

The main issue I have with it is that it seems to log in and out unpredictably. And in some games, that can cause entire savegames to vanish into the either. If you play while logged out, then later log in I've had it completely wipe saves.

Additionally, I have absolutely no use for it. I have no idea what it's actually doing for me, other than getting in the way.

[Splash]

I was a tad hacked off when I bought (I think it was..) Batman AA on release day through Steam. It just seems crazy that in order to play a game ordered and delivered online I'd need to not only login to my Steam account (which is fine, and pretty seamless) but then also register a GFWL account and sign into that too. I had some pretty nasty issues where the GFWL client that was installed through the Steam install didn't want to play on my Vista x64 machine, so I had to uninstall that and then search out all the bits that the uninstaller hadn't removed and THEN find an up-to-date installer on the internet and install that. All this just to be able to play a game. I fully appreciate that studios need to be able to protect their game, but that really was taking the biscuit.

[Andy3536]

I had nothing but problems with it for ages meaning i couldn't play Dirt 2 online. Just wouldn't log in at all.

I don't like the way that GFWL seem to bypass steams updating system aswell, certainly for F1 2010 updates had to be done through GFWL rather than through steam. But it didn't tell you either.

I just think it's a completly unessesary addition, pointless. Especially as the only GFWL games i have are through steam anyway.

[jim]

Oh, and Burnout Paradise just won't update through GFWL. Maybe there's a way of doing it without GFWL, but can't be bothered to waste the time finding out.

[Terbinator]

Oh, and Burnout Paradise just won't update through GFWL. Maybe there's a way of doing it without GFWL, but can't be bothered to waste the time finding out.

Burnout is GFWL ?

[kalniel]

Burnout is GFWL ?

I was about to say the same thing. It's an EA download managed game, but it's never tried to do anything with GWFL as well as far as I know.

[jim]

Damn.

I'm being thick, that's my EA Downloader rant, which requires a completely separate thread. I always get them mixed up - spent ages a few weeks back looking on my EA Downloader account for Age of Empires and getting very irate

[Zadock]

GFWL is really really slow! When I fire up fallout 3 I spend a good 5min waiting for it to log in before I could load my saves. Not tried it on any other supported game yet because I don't have that many GWFL games, might just be FO3?

[Phage]

Now I'm on, it's fast login, so I think it must be a local/game problem.
However GFWL still was way harder than it should be.

[Doherz]

I don't particularly like it but have never experience any real problems with it. Having to login to GFWL after buying Arkham Asylum on steam was a major annoyance, thank god the game was actually worth it though.