So I was on Steam and saw they were offering "Age of Empires Online" as a play-for-free option. Hmm, cool, I thought. I'd seen the reviews and screenshots of this game and it frankly looked like a downgrade in both playability and graphics compared to the previous title in the series "Age of Empires III", but if it's free, eh, why not...
Games for Windows Live is why not!
Oh, I've struggled with them before and its convoluted, bug-riddled, unintuitive and outright fucked up initiation process for any new game connected with them is beyond frustrating. It's one of the main reasons I avoid buying boxed DVD-ROM games (aside from the fact it's hard to find PC games at retailers anymore) since so many have you register through this system.
SIDE NOTE: As I'm typing this in Blogger Dashboard I'm reminded of another frustrating application fail: the spell check on this! So far, it says that "screenshots" "playability" and "unintuitive" are spelled wrong. Um, no they're not, Blogger!
The game downloads, which took nearly an hour since I'm at work and using wi-fi. Then another 45 minutes after trying to start it from the Steam client as it downloads patches. So after almost 2 hours I should be ready to play, right?
Wrong!
After the initial splash screen, there's a long wait (maybe 3 minutes?) as I stare at a graphically cartoonish load screen. (The graphics are designed in a cartoonish style, seems to be a new fad for games. Cop out is what I say!)
Ugh! Blogger says "cartoonish" is spelled wrong too.
Finally a screen appears with a "Play" button.
Click.
Sliding down from the top comes that fucking Games for Windows Live sign on window.
But after I sign in, it asks for the Product Key.
For a free game?
Usually, if a third party title is going to ask for a product key, Steam will furnish it when you download. It wasn't offered for this game.
Searching the help forums of Steam, Age of Empires Online and Microsoft doesn't help much. It's like the monkeys are running the zoo.
After 2 hours of trying to find a resolution to simply inserting a license key and failing, I'm gonna call it a night.
The game didn't look that great anyway.
I think this guy from one of the forums says it best (barring the typos) when expressing his feelings about Games for Windows Live:
This is an excellent way to showcase the wonderful world of Games for Windows. Not being able to play a free game is a nice touch. I also can't get the marketplace to load and the launcher is no help at all for finding a solution. You've taught me a valuable lesson here... I wont buy games that require Live to work and now I wont be playing the free stuff either for the same reason. Bravo... you're really reaching an untapped market of animosity.
Games for Windows Live is why not!
Oh, I've struggled with them before and its convoluted, bug-riddled, unintuitive and outright fucked up initiation process for any new game connected with them is beyond frustrating. It's one of the main reasons I avoid buying boxed DVD-ROM games (aside from the fact it's hard to find PC games at retailers anymore) since so many have you register through this system.
SIDE NOTE: As I'm typing this in Blogger Dashboard I'm reminded of another frustrating application fail: the spell check on this! So far, it says that "screenshots" "playability" and "unintuitive" are spelled wrong. Um, no they're not, Blogger!
The game downloads, which took nearly an hour since I'm at work and using wi-fi. Then another 45 minutes after trying to start it from the Steam client as it downloads patches. So after almost 2 hours I should be ready to play, right?
Wrong!
After the initial splash screen, there's a long wait (maybe 3 minutes?) as I stare at a graphically cartoonish load screen. (The graphics are designed in a cartoonish style, seems to be a new fad for games. Cop out is what I say!)
Ugh! Blogger says "cartoonish" is spelled wrong too.
Finally a screen appears with a "Play" button.
Click.
Sliding down from the top comes that fucking Games for Windows Live sign on window.
But after I sign in, it asks for the Product Key.
For a free game?
Usually, if a third party title is going to ask for a product key, Steam will furnish it when you download. It wasn't offered for this game.
Searching the help forums of Steam, Age of Empires Online and Microsoft doesn't help much. It's like the monkeys are running the zoo.
After 2 hours of trying to find a resolution to simply inserting a license key and failing, I'm gonna call it a night.
The game didn't look that great anyway.
I think this guy from one of the forums says it best (barring the typos) when expressing his feelings about Games for Windows Live:
This is an excellent way to showcase the wonderful world of Games for Windows. Not being able to play a free game is a nice touch. I also can't get the marketplace to load and the launcher is no help at all for finding a solution. You've taught me a valuable lesson here... I wont buy games that require Live to work and now I wont be playing the free stuff either for the same reason. Bravo... you're really reaching an untapped market of animosity.