Games for Windows – Live

Games for Windows – Live
Developer	Microsoft
Type	Content delivery; Digital rights management (DRM); Cross-platform play; Social networking;
Launch date	Games for Windows – Live:; May 29, 2007; Games on Demand:; December 15, 2009
Current version	3.5.89.0
Last updated	May 5, 2011
Platform(s)	PC
Operating system(s)	Microsoft Windows
Status	Active
Website	http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-US/Live/Pages/AboutLive.aspx

Games for Windows – Live (trademarked as Games for Windows – LIVE^[3]) is an online gaming service for Games for Windows-branded PC titles. It enables Windows PCs to connect to the Live service, which will eventually include other devices including Windows Mobile and Zune. Users, each with a unique Gamertag, the Microsoft username service for gaming that began with the Xbox Live, are able to play online, keep track of their friends' status, send and receive messages, gain and keep track of Achievements and associated Gamerscore, voice chat across platforms, and much more. Some games allow for cross-platform play, such as Shadowrun, putting Windows players against Xbox 360 players.

The service is open to 3rd-party developers, but they must be able to meet certain Technical Certification Requirements (TCRs), which include (but are not limited to): game ratings, total number of Gamerscore points, content, game profiles, and Live connectivity. Games for Windows – Live games must also meet standard Games for Windows (games that do not have Live support) TCRs. The same developer support infrastructure is available as with the Xbox 360. Assistance to developers is provided through the Microsoft XNA Developer Connection.^[4]

History

File:Old-logo.jpg

The old banner displayed on Games for Windows – Live software

The first Games for Windows – Live-enabled title was Shadowrun, which launched simultaneously on Windows Vista and Xbox 360 on May 29, 2007,^[1]^[5] and was also the first LIVE title to offer cross-platform play between Windows Vista and Xbox 360 on the Live service.

Another game that was released is Halo 2 for Windows Vista, which was launched to the public on May 31, 2007.^[1] The game supports all the standard Live features (such as achievements, voice chat, messages, etc.), but does not offer cross-platform play with Xbox 360 players.

Sega, Eidos, and THQ have signed on to include Games for Windows – Live in their upcoming games. Epic Games also included this service in their game engine Unreal Engine 3.^[6] Universe at War: Earth Assault from Sega and Lost Planet: Colonies Edition from Capcom include cross-platform play between Xbox 360 and Windows over Live.

On July 22, 2008 Microsoft's Chris Satchell, CTO of the company's Entertainment devices division, announced that Games For Windows – Live would be free to developers. Previously, select publishers and developers used the system and had to pay for it. Also, all Games For Windows – Live features were now free for gamers, such as matchmaking and cross-platform play. Satchell added that the move was a "way to improve Windows gaming".^[7]

As well as free multiplayer, Microsoft reduced the technical requirements for those developers looking to utilize Live such as removing playlist servers, and allowing studios to use the Microsoft matchmaking servers instead. The new Marketplace was made available for Games for Windows – Live on December 5, 2008. Microsoft also released the newly designed User Interface, on November 12, 2008.^[8]

File:Gfwlive-new.jpg

The new Games for Windows – LIVE logo stripe

On January 7, 2010 it was announced at CES that the upcoming Xbox Game Room would be made available on both the Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live services.^[9] However, games purchased with 240 Microsoft Points will only be playable on one of the platforms; either Xbox 360 or PC. A dual-platform license will cost 400 Microsoft Points.^[10] As the Game Room will be available to Gold and Silver Xbox members, the service will be free to use on Games for Windows Live. Arcade games will feature achievements and online leaderboards.^[11]

Microsoft revealed on May 21, 2010 that Fable III would be released on Windows as well as the Xbox 360, and would feature Games for Windows – Live. The downloadable version will be a Games on Demand exclusive.^[12]

On August 17, 2010 Microsoft unveiled two new games at Gamescom 2010 that will use Games for Windows – LIVE, Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight. Age of Empires will be free-to-play through LIVE.^[13]

On September 24, 2010 Microsoft Game Studios’ general manager Dave Luehmann said in an interview the studio's renewed focus will start with three big titles—Fable III, Age of Empires Online and Microsoft Flight—which will use Games for Windows – LIVE. Luehmann reassured PC gamers that more big titles were on the way, however the studio plans to test new ideas.

Games for Windows – Live features

Achievements earned during gameplay.
Gamerscores amounting the total of a user's achievement points.
Rep voted by other users preferring or avoiding the user. Rep defaults to five stars over time after the user has been preferred by at least one other user.
Friends list displaying the user's chosen friends of up to 100.
Recent players list displaying the last 50 players the user has met.
Complaint system allowing users to file reports of other users that have broken Live Terms of Use.
Games for Windows Marketplace offering downloadable content for games, music and movies.
Private chat via Voice and text.
Multiplayer gameplay via Games for Windows – Live.
Matchmaking depending on the user's cumulative gamerscore, rep, location, language and gamer zone.
Family settings controlling younger users' exposure to other users.
Game Room virtual arcade space offering a library of classic retro games.
Cross-platform gameplay
Games on Demand

User information

Gamertag

A Gamertag is the universal name for a player's username on Microsoft's Games for Windows – Live, as well as, the Xbox Live, Zune and XNA Creators Club. A Gamertag used online must be unique and can be up to 15 characters in length, including numbers, letters, and spaces.

A player's Gamertag account status can be checked using a variety of online tools, which is useful especially when looking for a new gamertag, or confirming that a Gamertag exists. Using a valid Gamertag, any player can be located and messaged from within Live. There are also several websites which allow users of Gamertags to upload photos and information about themselves.

Gamerscore

The Gamerscore (G) is an achievements system that measures the number of achievement points accumulated by a user with a LIVE profile. These Achievement points are awarded for the completion of game-specific challenges, such as beating a level or amassing a specified number of wins against other players in online matches.

All regular disc-based games must have 1,000 Gamerscore points in the base game; the title can ship with fewer than 1,000 points, but anything added later must be free. Game developers also have the option of adding up to 250 points via downloadable content every three months after the first year of release (for a total of 1,750 points).

On May 26, 2007, Halo 2 was the first Games for Windows – Live title to feature Achievements, which counted towards a player's Gamerscore.

Gamercard

The Gamercard is an information panel used to summarize a users Live profile. The pieces of information on a Gamercard include: the user's Gamertag (in front a silver or gold bar), reputation, Gamerscore, Gamer Zone and recently played games.

TrueSkill

TrueSkill^[14] is a ranking and matchmaking system premiering in the Live services. Developed at Microsoft Research Cambridge (United Kingdom), the TrueSkill ranking system is now used in many titles for Games for Windows – Live. It uses a mathematical model of uncertainty to address weaknesses in existing ranking systems such as Elo. For example, a new player joining million-player leagues can be ranked correctly in fewer than 20 games. It can predict the probability of each game outcome, which enhances competitive matchmaking, making it possible to assemble skill-balanced teams from a group of players with different abilities.

When matchmaking, the system attempts to match individuals based on their estimated skill level. If two individuals are competing head-to-head and have the same estimated skill level with low estimate uncertainty, they should each have roughly a 50% chance of winning a match. In this way, the system attempts to make every match as competitive as possible.

In order to prevent abuse of the system, the majority of ranked games have relatively limited options for matchmaking. By design, players cannot easily play with their friends in ranked games. However, these countermeasures have failed due to techniques such as alternate account(s) and system flaws where each system has its own individual trueskill rating. To provide less competitive games, the system supports unranked Player Matches, which allow individuals of any skill level to be paired (often including "guests" on an account). Such matches do not contribute to the TrueSkill rating.

User interface

The user interface or "Guide" was changed from earlier versions (Made to match the Xbox 360's original appearance) to a new appearance. The guide includes messaging (text and voice), friends list, recent players, private chat, and personal settings.

The current version of the in-game Live client is version 3.02.0217.00, released on December 15, 2009. It is available for Windows XP (Service Pack 2 and above), Windows Vista, and Windows 7 operating systems. Version 3.0 added extended information about progress and some bugfixes. The client also auto-updates when users are logged-on to a Live-aware game.

Marketplace

The marketplace client was officially released on December 4, 2009. It initially launched with demos and trailers of games available on the Live service.^[15] Full titles were later added in the form of Games on Demand.

With version 3.0 of the Games for Windows – Live service, a in-game marketplace was included; in addition to new account management tools, such as the ability to change a Gamertag for 800 Microsoft Points.^[16] The in-game marketplace enables users to purchase DLC without exiting, as it installs the content directly from within the game.^[17]

Games on Demand

On December 15, 2009, Microsoft launched Games on Demand, a digital distribution service offering titles such as Resident Evil 5 and Battlestations: Pacific. Also available are arcade games such as a free version of Microsoft Tinker, a former exclusive to Windows Vista Ultimate, as well as World of Goo and Osmos.^[2]^[18]^[19]^[20]

Some titles bought on Games on Demand include Server Side Authentication. This is a Games for Windows – Live 3.0 feature that automatically ties the game to your Windows Live ID and the Gamertag associated to it. These games have no activation limits and can be re-installed multiple times. The majority of the other titles on the service use a SecuROM DRM that lets the user activate the game up to five times each month on any hardware.^[21]

On June 8, 2010 some games which were previously not Games for Windows titles were added for download. Microsoft claims that new titles will be added every week and there will be over 100 games by the end of 2010.^[22]

On October 22, 2010, Microsoft announced a revamp of Games On Demand under the new branding Games for Windows Marketplace.^[23]^[24] However, this was met with low expectations from reviewers, considering the history of Games for Windows Live on PC.^[19]^[23]^[25]

Availability

As of November 10, 2010^[26] Games for Windows – Live is available in 35 countries/territories.^[26]^[27] Users in other countries can access Live without problems by creating a Gamertag using an address from a supported country, although no technical support is available outside of the supported countries.