Xbox Live coming to Windows 8

Goodbye Games for Windows Live? Hello XBox Live for Windows? So Microsoft thinks, that if you buy a game in a retail store, we have to pay for subscription now to play online? You are JUST ASKING for PIRACY by doing that. GG Microsoft, you won't see a dime from me. :P You would think they would learn these mistakes from World of Warcraft? You buy the game, but you still have to pay for online otherwise the game is useless to you as a bag of bricks. Thank god for hackers, modders, and free-lance developers.

I will never infect my computer with Windows 8, not until they remove that Metro crap and give it a real start menu again. And even then I doubt I'd bother, Windows 7 is great and I see no reason to switch to that...thing called Windows 8.

@Vampiro_HuntT3R: RPG's? lol, man you're reaching. The only advantage, which is very slight, is the PC gamers ability to point and click more accurately within the desired pixel grouping. (landing at intended target) Other than that, I guarantee you any other advantage the PC ever had over the console player is lost. I've been gaming competively on the PC since the original Warcraft and Half-life Days...so I know the difference.

I wouldn't be suprised if someone shoved a nuke up Microsoft's @$$ in response to this.

@Gravity_Slave PC has also been at the advantage against the Consoles. Not for all the game genres, but some of it. Like certain RPGs and FPS and Strategies. Never can any console win against PC in these genres.

This sounds great. Everything I do on Xbox 360 available on PC, sounds to good to be true. Hopefully MS won't mess things up.

playing x-box live is the best thing ever cause you can play against other people and have fun doing it.

if i can do everything i do on my 360 on a PC, that would be pretty awesome

So with Windows 8 we pc users can expect a 360-like experience? So we have to wait 3 extra weeks for patches to get approved after the developers have finished it? Or all extra content now becomes DLC that MUST be charged for by the developer? And can we expect 5 different versions of every game to be released, with exclusive content only available if you preorder with a one retailer, or another? And we pay £40 per annum to play our games online? No thanks. (And do away with the Brady Bunch GUI, its as minging as Steve Balmers armpits).

@Quadraskill If it keeps me from dealing with all the Sony outages, I'll gladly pay $5/month.

This feature looks like nothing more than a trojan horse for Microsoft to get subscription-based online play into PC gaming, and it's not going to work even if they try to force it being packaged with their new OS.

@Scarab83 It is a ripoff for a service that is and always has been provided free on every other gaming platform. Would you like it if someone charged you $5 for holding a door open for you? It's only $5! What's the big deal?

@B-boy Yeah.. $5/month sure is a ripoff.. DERRRRRRP.

Good. Like in Shadowrun, it gives us console gamers another chance to show PC gamers that they're really not any better than us. Mouse and Keyboard wasn't superior (to the controller) after all when the statistics came out...

xbox live is rip off 60.00 dollars a year WTF!

Lol Windows 8, I honestly can't see too many people using it, although I will admit it's an interesting concept it was pretty much a total failure when it was shown on Windows smartphones, so what makes Microsoft think it'll work as a full fledged operating system?

@Toysoldier34 Don't get me wrong, I'm all for console consolidation. I think this whole "console war" crap is a stupid distraction. I just don't like what I've seen of Win8 so far. It is nice that you can set it to a more traditional GUI though.

@Richardthe3rd I am not looking forward to much of what they have shown for Win8. I have high hopes and I want to be able to buy it, but they just haven't convinced me yet. I have heard that there will be the ability to use a regular Windows interface like Win7 uses. So that if you don't want the new touch influenced giant buttons we can still use the old faithful.

@KrazzyDJ The service is called Live. They already have Windows Live and Xbox Live. It is the same account the name only changes based on what you are using to access it. I have achievements from both PC only and 360 only on the same Live account.

@NoblesseOblige3 They aren't copying anything from Apple. The look comes from their Windows phones that they have had for a while to make more connectivity between the two.

Just don't force it down my throat. I hate that some of the Windows Live games require it and don't let me log in with Steam also. If they allowed play between all of Live whether on 360, PC, or new xbox I would be happy. Otherwise not that interested for now.

also this is just anther way for M$ to get more money from you and that is the only reason why they charge for xbl you can buy games and download demos without paying for xbl but to use the other online feature will have to pay

all this is is an overprice pos both the os and kinect and I don't upgrade my os that much hell I'm still using xp the next that I will upgrade it is when it comes with a brand new pc or need to upgrade it and since I build my own pcs looks like the only time that will is when I need to

I know people can be harsh when it comes to new tech / updates, but man WTF is up with Windows 8? I'm an Apple user but also like Windows 7 OS. They don't need to try to look like an Apple tablet knock off for their DESKTOP systems.

3 words : DO NOT WANT!

GFWL 2.0....I smell rotting flesh already. Nice try, Microsoft.

Woooooooooooooooohooooooooooo!!!!! /sarcasm

so that mean windows 8 is not comming to my pc :D(steam dont steal my money and give almost the same service )

So will we have 360 games on PC?

hopefully this means all xbox game achievements will be available on pc.

I'm really trying not to judge a book by it's cover, but the screens I've seen of Win8's GUI look absolutely god-awful. Win7 is great. This looks bad. Microsoft needs to stop dumbing down it's OS for the Apple crowd.

I thought there was a reason the service was called "XBOX" Live !!!

@Buck_Swaggler Little early? Windows Vista was released in 2006 and Windows 7 was just an improvement of Windows Vista.

@Mistwaver1985 Well on Steam, you actually only have to authenticate your PC once, some games won't work without internet but some do. Tried it when I was on my netbook while on a long trip. So you're partially right and partially wrong. One game that worked for me offline was the indie game: Osmos. Regardless, that feature alone ain't worth paying 50 dollars a year of subscription fees on the XBL in MY opinion. The reason it doesn't work in all of the games on Steam is not a fault of VALVe's but rather the third party always-online developed games. Also, a bit offtopic but have you considered this: if someone somehow gets a hold of your password on XBL, you'd quite easily lose the games bought on that platform? On Steam you've got Steam Guard which basically disallows an IP not in the whitelist of your account's. To get on it you need to know one's login id, password, the email verified with the account and the email's password. Even if you theoretically managed to do all that the rightful owner would still get it back via Steam Support if s/he had any of the CD keys tied to the accout left (retail) and/or by saying the last 4 digits of the creditcard used on the account as that's the only part visible to VALVe when making a purchase on the Steam Store. I do see where you're coming from but I can't say I know what it's like having the internet cut off every now and then because Steam works even on a Mobile-slow connection and the connection hardly dies here where I live. I guess the bottomline of my post is that I can't justify XBL's subscription fee if compared to Steam's free service, which I find better. While I do believe there are many of those who'll agree with you in offline gaming, I know that many people including myself will continue to buy games on a more account secure and cheaper to buy games from service, which is Steam. You know what I mean if you see their offers during the Christmas and Summer. There's also today's deals as well as weekend deals. P.S. Boy it took awhile to write this on the iPod.

@HugeDarkness No thanks, Steam is garbage. Tried it once, it sucks, and never tried it again. Yay for making people leave a resource-hogging client open and be connected to the internet in order to play games they've ALREADY purchased, whether they're online games or not! And it IS a relevant complaint because my internet goes out a lot in the summer and fall when there are a lot of thunderstorms and sometimes can stay out for a couple days at a time, which would be a couple days I CAN'T play my games. At least with XLA I would STILL be able to play the XLA games I've purchased and installed even if my internet is out. And if you think XLA is the only thing Windows 8 has to offer in terns of gaming or "just PC usage at all" then you know nothing about the OS and the technology behind it. @fred092 I guess you're going to do your gaming on Playstation Network then, huh? lulz... Playstation Network, every time I think of the Playstation Network I just start to giggle on the inside... because it is undoubtedly the best online service gaming has to offer! Or so they say...

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Trust me people, after messing around with the win8 developer preview, I can definitely state that the XLA is for now THE ONLY thing win8 has to offer in terms of gaming (or just PC) usage at all. AKA, stick to steam + win7.

There are some Xbox Arcade games that I would love to be able to play on my computer considering that I don't have a 360 anymore.

Windows and PC gaming are just starting to make a come back, from Windows XP befor it got better with service pack 3, but it was to late, it made console gaming take off bigger than ever. There going to risk killing it again! Not good. Just when I was thinking of building a new gamer. Maybe I'll think twice!

I would have appreciated if they'd focussed their efforts on integrating this so-called "Windows 8" with Windows Phone 7 to really fill out the mobile/tablet area. Instead we have Windows Phone 7 hanging out like an orphan while Windows8 straddles PC's and tablets. Or does Microsoft think people want their PC apps on their tablets as well and vice-versa? It's just not possible for an app to make judicious use of touch and mouse/keyboard controls at the same time. Some things that can be done with the mouse are just not possible with touch, and in some cases, the opposite is also true. Making an app that works with both is going to involve compromises instead. I didn't seriously think they were pushing Windows 8 as the "next" desktop Windows after 7. No wonder Ballmer called it their "riskiest" product yet. Good thing 7 is solid. I'm sticking with it for the time being. Windows 8 tablet though? If properly optimized, sure, bring it on. :)