Allright, I'll be honest, the title is just to lure people in, but I think there's something very wrong with gaming on Windows machines. Let me explain:
I recently picked up GTA IV from Steam (I'm about 6 years behind when it comes to gaming) and I love the fact that I'm earning achievements and it's tracking my progress via Games for Windows LIVE. I can view my achievements on my phone in the same place where I can see the achievements from games I play on my phone. I want to try to get all achievements and I started getting excited for GTA V, only to realize: it (almost certainly) won't have Games for Windows LIVE support. It will be available on Steam and I'll have to do with Steam achievements. My awesome GTA IV achievements will be on my Xbox account and my awesome GTA V achievements will be on my Steam account. This frustrates me greatly. Gaming on Windows devices (desktop, tablet and phone) should not be segmented by different services. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that if I play a game on Windows, it will use the same service to track my progress as when I play a game on Windows Phone. How and why did Microsoft lose the chance to be the main player in the PC gaming market? Almost every PC gamer runs Windows!
TL;DR: I think it's only logical that gaming on Windows desktop, Windows tablets, Windows Phone and Xbox should be run by the same service. Now it's segmented because Microsoft allowed Valve to take over PC gaming with Steam. They should fix this.
Just to be clear: I don't hate Steam, I love it, but I think it's a shame Microsoft let GFWL die and allowed the PC gaming market to be taken over by Valve. Agree? Disagree? What should they do about it? Can they ever take the PC back from Steam?
I recently picked up GTA IV from Steam (I'm about 6 years behind when it comes to gaming) and I love the fact that I'm earning achievements and it's tracking my progress via Games for Windows LIVE. I can view my achievements on my phone in the same place where I can see the achievements from games I play on my phone. I want to try to get all achievements and I started getting excited for GTA V, only to realize: it (almost certainly) won't have Games for Windows LIVE support. It will be available on Steam and I'll have to do with Steam achievements. My awesome GTA IV achievements will be on my Xbox account and my awesome GTA V achievements will be on my Steam account. This frustrates me greatly. Gaming on Windows devices (desktop, tablet and phone) should not be segmented by different services. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that if I play a game on Windows, it will use the same service to track my progress as when I play a game on Windows Phone. How and why did Microsoft lose the chance to be the main player in the PC gaming market? Almost every PC gamer runs Windows!
TL;DR: I think it's only logical that gaming on Windows desktop, Windows tablets, Windows Phone and Xbox should be run by the same service. Now it's segmented because Microsoft allowed Valve to take over PC gaming with Steam. They should fix this.
Just to be clear: I don't hate Steam, I love it, but I think it's a shame Microsoft let GFWL die and allowed the PC gaming market to be taken over by Valve. Agree? Disagree? What should they do about it? Can they ever take the PC back from Steam?