Be Excellent To Each Other

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013- ... -july-2014

Not sure what happens to the games that require it when the service is turned off. Hopefully you'll be able to continue playing them offline. This sort of thing is why I would never have touched an XBO in its original form.

Could never get the fucker to work properly anyway, so good riddance.

The promise of cheevos from your typewriter is gone.

Yeah, that was the only reason I installed it.

Glad to say I 'cured' myself of that addiction. Although trophies and Steam achievements seem to be my methadone now.

I think I'm slowly weaning myself off chasing achievements now.

I've got Red Dead Redemption, Arkham City and the like on the go, and it's so much more fun to just let me be swept along by the journey.

Of course, in-game collecting is all good, and if it's the sort of thing you can '100%' then I'm still going to try

Ignoring achievements this year has really helped me enjoying gaming. I just do not care for them anymore. It also seems to be a 360 thing also I have never checked the trophies on the PS3.

That's because trophies are a mess on the PS3.

I didn't think I'd ever get caught up in the cheevo hunt but the fact I played the Mortal Kombat Kollection for a few hours the other night proves otherwise.

They were very much an afterthought, yes. I expect them to be much more tightly implemented on the PS4. They're much more integrated on the Vita.

Pretty much this; breaking stuff down into the three different categories just renders the numbers meaningless. Having a single score like the Achievements system was a much better idea and I can only assume Sony didn't copy it lock stock in case MS pointed a legal finger at them for it. Presumably now we're stuck with it because it'll need to carry over to the PS4.

For my part I'm not particularly compulsive about achievements/trophies and often finish games and move onto the next one with very low % completion. What I will do though is, when I've finished a game in terms of the plot or whatever, I'll look up the achievements I didn't get to see if I could mop any of them up either by replaying levels or whatever. Sometimes it doesn't add much but there are times when it's given me a couple of extra fun sessions chasing for stuff without worrying about progress having finished the actual game. Depends how well designed the achievement are of course and how well integrated into the game they are; certainly I'll never spend hours replaying stuff to chase a single achievement but if there's a few I can relatively quickly I'm happy to and it makes me feel like I've got a bit more value from the game.

One thing I've noticed a few times is that going for an achievement showcases some effective technique or fun thing to do that I wish I'd realised when playing through the game properly (which I can't remember any example of now of course). The 'problem' with that is, unless you go and actually review the list before you start playing, you're not going to notice; so it's not really an effective teaching technique which these type of achievements almost look they've partially been intended to be. I do wonder if there's a case to be made for almost categorising the achievements. Having the overall ones as we have right now but then maybe having sort of context specific ones. So, if you get to a particular point in the game a new achievement actually unlocks to be gained and you get notified of it so you know it's there and you can now go for it? Thinking about it now MS did talk about changes to the achievements system with the ability to introduce new ones but I can't remember the details so it's possible I'm just retreading all that.

That's interesting, I never realised they were any different on the Vita. How does the implementation differ?

You still have the same levelling up and four categories, but it's all integrated into the OS much better. Whenever you load up the homescreen for a game, you can swipe down and see what your friends have achieved on the game recently (trophies, leaderboards, etc).

Also, if you sign up at truetrophies.com you'll get a proper score. Trophies do have a set amount of score per type, Sony just don't advertise it. I'm on 3,390, for example: http://www.truetrophies.com/SilentElk.htm

Not so useful for me as I hate people and have no friends.



I think I signed up for True Achievement but I never used it; if it's not integrated directly into the console it seems I'm not bothered enough to look at it. It's weird because all the pieces are technically there for Trophies but I've just never found myself caring as much as I did about Achievements. It might be partly because I had a 360 for ages before the PS3 and the vast majority of this generation's games were played on the 360 so it's just mentally where I consider my 'log' of games to sit I suppose.

I'm the same. I played almost exclusively on the 360 from 2007 until 2012. Just got fed up of the clunky interface and the intrusive ads. The Xbone furore was the final nail in the coffin for me.

You twonk. Add me.

Honestly the only reason I've never added anyone from here is because I'm not interested in online gaming. The only thing I've ever played online this gen was Uncharted 2 which I tried the deathmatch and co-op stuff of for an evening once just because it was free on the PS3. It was entertaining enough for a few hours but I've never felt any desire to go back to it or try any other game as I'm simply not that interested. Portal 2 I might've wanted to pair up with someone for but in the end it proved to be a good way to get Mrs B involved so even that was fine. I admit to feeling a pull of interest when I saw that video for The Division, but I know in reality I just wouldn't play it because the idea of arranging what little gaming time I seem to have these days around getting other people together is just too much of a pain in the arse.

You might not be interested in playing online but a healthy friends list adds things like leaderboards and high score tables. You can have fun competing without having to worry about all of that socialising.

For example, I can still race Jonarob and Myoptika in Trials HD years after they set their times.

No idea who they are though

Eh, high score type games don't really appeal to me either and looking through all the games I've played on the 360 none of them could really be considered high score type games. I tend to find such games repetitive; I'm all about the narrative me!

Some bellend who had a problem with sleeping at the merest sniff of alcohol and some bellend who had problems with his piss boiling when angry (although I'm not sure if this was internal boiling or whether he went and pissed in a kettle to relieve anger)

Last I heard they went to Papa Roach the musical together and got hitched.

It's all about your Steam Level now. Gotta collect all dem cards and badges.

And I've just realised Mr Dave has found out about the Papa Roach thing. I thought that was between myp and I.

I got a foil thingy from portal 2. I sold it for 50p. Am I doing it right?

Yeah! I suppose... I've been trading loads but then spending the money I earn on the cards I need. I've completed loads of sets now.

Bioshock 2 and the Arkham games are getting patched to remove GFWL from them.

I gather that the Arkham games are switching over to Steamworks for DRM, so I *think* that means that your old GFWL serial will now activate on Steam (for people who have the games from anywhere but Steam).

Not all games that use GFWL require it for installation, but many games do require an online activation before you are allowed to play (or some let you play, but not save, until you've activated).

It's possible/likely that some games will be lost in time forever. Dunno what will happen to Red Faction Guerrilla, for example, since it is now owned by Nordic Games, and the original developers are owned by Deep Silver now.

Many of these will likely be cracked, but the games might no longer be officially available to anyone who bought them. Of course, companies like Rockstar and Ubisoft have repurposed cracks they found on the internet to bypass DRM in their old games when they wanted to release them digitally, maybe a similar thing will happen here.

Never mind people who bought the game via GFWL what happens to games which use it to connect online , do they just not get online modes any more ?

I have two games that I know use it :

Dark Souls
Street Fighter IV

Both of which have online components


Re Steam stuff - I've just been selling the stuff i get for drops typically for 10p or so , for those that have crafted badges do you actually get anything useful or is it just backgrounds ?

Unless the developers patch it to use something else, I think the answer to this is yes.

When you craft a badge you get a number of drops. You usually get a background for your profile, some Steam Dimlies, more cards and discount codes for games on Steam. I have loads of discount codes, for example "90% off Some Shite Game", "75% off Gary's Mod" etc. So it's arguably worth it if the discount codes it throws out are for games you want.

You can't buy games from Games For Windows Live, it's not a storefront. It's a set of services (DRM, Multiplayer, Leaderboards, Achievements) that are including in a bunch of games no matter where you bought them from.

These services will no longer be available at all. That means no multiplayer for games that use GFWL for their multiplayer, and no installation for those that use it for their DRM.



Dark Souls doesn't use GFWL for anything but multiplayer, so it will carry on working offline fine, but you'll have no access to online. Although I hear there has been progress made by modders developing working multiplayer that doesn't require GFWL (although without GFWL, there's nothing stopping people from hacking/cheating).

I suspect From Software will leave it as is. It was a very bare bones port in the first place, and Dark Souls 2 will be out by then (and is using Steamworks, and PC is the lead platform this time around).

For Street Fighter IV, I don't know if it used GFWL for anything but multiplayer, but similarly I doubt Capcom will do anything to fix it. The new version of SF4 which has dropped GFWL in favour of Steamworks will be out by then, maybe Capcom will give a discount to anyone who owns one of the previous versions.

Although it used to be that those coupons stacked on top of any discount Steam was currently running. No longer the case, so they're a bit of a waste of time, as the Steam discount is usually bigger.

I thought it used to be, although the selection was paltry. Or did I just invent that in my head?

You could buy stuff from there, but I don't know if it just linked into xbox.com or if it were separate.

That was "The Games For Windows Live Marketplace" a storefront which featured GFWL games (but not exclusively GFWL games, and not all GFWL games), which then got rebranded "Games For Windows", and then rebanded "Xbox Games For Windows", and is also getting shut down later on this year.

Two separate, linked, services, that don't entirely rely on each other to function.

A bit like Steam and Steamworks then. Except they're synonymous, like GfWL and the GfWL Marketplace.

Essentially, you're nitpicking.

I have Dawn of War and DoW2 which use it

Only if your definition of nitpicking is explaining the difference between two things that have meaningful technical differences.

They are two very distinctly different services, as I explained. This is why they are able to shut down their store long before shutting the GFWL service.

If this is confusing for you, blame Microsoft, not me.

Have you played them much recently? They're not really my thing, but I gather that the multiplayer for them is near dead since the release of the DOW2: Retribution expansion, which dropped GFWL in favour of Steamworks for Multiplayer.

No, I'm going to hold you, random internet guy, solely responsible for the stupid decisions of a major multinational company you have no actual ties to just because you were the one that described some of their branding decisions to me.

Ok, next time you say you're playing a game on Steam, I'll correct it to Steamworks!

If you want to incorrectly use words interchangeably that's up to you. I pretty clearly explained why there are two distinct services (because MS's confusing branding often confuses people), because I thought it might help people work out which of their games they might lose, and when. I'll not bother next time.

You are a stroppy mare sometimes.

Oh yeah, I quite like that. If someone has played it recently their avatar pops up at the bottom of the screen too.

I don't mind trophies either: If you've got loads of brown ones and nowt else you're rubbish; if you've got any platinum ones you're a nob...simples!

Seems fair!

It's a foolproof system.

I've got one max, but it doesn't have a plat, so I'm safe!

Me too, Flower is the only game I've ever maxed on any platform. Most of it's as easy as you'd predict from a game called Flower but one of the secret paths would've been impossible to find without looking it up and the Pure trophy was a real bitch to get.

I love Flower. I got the Journey/Flow/Flower retail pack and it was the best £17 I've spent in a while.

There's very little in life that's as relaxing as the early levels of Flower; I even got my sister and niece playing it at one point and they were practically fighting over the control pad. Journey is an amazing piece of work which I also loved but I think I probably spent more time with, and got more enjoyment out of, Flower overall.

Related ramblings:

• There's an explore-em-up I picked up on the PC recently called Proteus which comes closest to evoking the pure zen relaxation of the earlier levels of Flower. I haven't played it all through yet and there's absolutely nowhere near as much going on as there is in Flower so it's not as good a 'game' but if you let yourself relax into it it can be a similar experience. Worth checking out if you get the chance.
• Just the other day I was poking around at Thatgamecompany stuff online and came across mention of Cloud which was sort of their first game before they formalised into Thatgamecompany. I grabbed the installer for a slightly older build of the game from Cnet because the links on the official site for the latest point release don't seem to work but I haven't fired it up yet.

Proteus is coming out on PS3/Vita soon. I will check it out then.

Mr Dave has a platinum trophy, so it seems so.

I have two. Ratchet and clank crack in time, which is great.

And Noby Noby Boy. Which isn't.

Oh, and maybe Journey, which is better than excellent.

And maybe also Demons Souls, I can't remember if I got the last one or not. Which is Demons Souls.

Lies!

Noby Noby Boy doesn't have a platinum trophy; only the 'full' games do.