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[Frumple]

I've acceded to steam, m'self. Everything else (that isn't nothing or specific game related ala MMOs, anyway) is a dealbreaker and means the game won't get my money, or even my playtime (if it's free).

My GFWL experiences were... bearable, but unpleasant. The games (usually) worked, but they worked a lot better after GFWL got squished. Round two just makes me hope MS doesn't manage to make proprietary anything I actually care about.

[itisnotlogical]

I consider Steam a small price to pay for not having a million physical disks, having to constantly switch disks out, losing CD keys over the years, and all the other nostalgic hassle of games on physical media. Modern retail games are essentially a Steam code in a box anyway.

[nenjin]

What blows my mind is the repackaging of .exes into their own files. That. Shit. Is. Bunk. I'm sick to death of gaming companies building their own little walled gardens but this takes the cake. Proprietary file formats? That we can modify games, to make them better, to fix problems developers couldn't, wouldn't or can't address, these are all strengths of the platform. Strengths which MS is basically trying to remove in favor of capturing a bigger slice of the pie. DX12 is bad but at least there's some payout for it. This? This has no payout what so ever.

Also GFWL was the clunkiest, slowest piece of shit I've ever had to use just to play a game.

[Zangi]

Meh, my take on the matter, never gonna buy a game that requires an ecosystem client other then steam at this point.  I havn't paid cash-monies for anything on ea's origens nor ubisoft's thing(do they have one? I don't remember) or gfwl. 

But I'm much more accepting of it on my already locked down consoles, so there is that. ... I guess mobile apps count too.

[BigD145]

Back to Windows- call me the paranoid 'wondows is spying' 'wondows is taking your control away' type, and ultimately that's my decision to make, but Microsoft's repeated, forced efforts to get people into Win10 and their habits of reinstalling updates for you when you've forcibly removed them have showed to me that they're not looking out for their customers. They're after the bottom line, and its own culture, and its own chokehold on the market. There's a lack of respect for the tinkers, thinkers, and gamers out there.

"No, I don't want your update that I didn't ask for, that solves no problem, that half bricks my touchscreen laptop. Thanks."

The number of times that has happened is more than 1 and way more than 1 too many.

[Sensei]

Oh yeah, Windows 10 has now started displaying full-screen ads on the lock screen if you have "fun facts, tips, tricks, and more" enabled, which it is by default. So, in addition to their "programs as an ongoing service" such as Office 365 and the upcoming Forza Apex, which are designed to make you pay more for things you would normally buy but in bits and pieces, Microsoft has started to monetize your use of Windows through ads! Yay.

[Glloyd]

Wow. Glad I never downloaded Windows 10 then. Windows 7 is fine enough for me.

[Shadowlord]

Oh yeah, Windows 10 has now started displaying full-screen ads on the lock screen if you have "fun facts, tips, tricks, and more" enabled, which it is by default. So, in addition to their "programs as an ongoing service" such as Office 365 and the upcoming Forza Apex, which are designed to make you pay more for things you would normally buy but in bits and pieces, Microsoft has started to monetize your use of Windows through ads! Yay.

I saw an article about that several days ago, but my lock screen remains completely ad-free, and neither "Windows Spotlight" nor "fun facts, tips, tricks, and more" are available on that screen for me, which makes me rather skeptical of the whole thing. Of course, I did go through the custom setup when I installed W10 Pro, and I disabled various things that I didn't want. (I also have updates set to deferred, which only delays non-security updates, so if they just pushed it and switched everyone to it in a recent update, that could explain it too, I suppose)

Spoiler: What I see (click to show/hide)

[Ludorum Rex]

It is only a select group of users that have this functionality enabled. Could be regional basis, or insider builds.

[Levi]

Oh yeah, Windows 10 has now started displaying full-screen ads on the lock screen if you have "fun facts, tips, tricks, and more" enabled, which it is by default. So, in addition to their "programs as an ongoing service" such as Office 365 and the upcoming Forza Apex, which are designed to make you pay more for things you would normally buy but in bits and pieces, Microsoft has started to monetize your use of Windows through ads! Yay.

Everything I've heard about Win 10 puts me off.      Its going to suck when I eventually have to get a new computer with it. 

[Sensei]

Oh yeah, Windows 10 has now started displaying full-screen ads on the lock screen

I saw an article about that several days ago, but my lock screen remains completely ad-free, and neither "Windows Spotlight" nor "fun facts, tips, tricks, and more" are available on that screen for me

It's currently only a feature for Windows Insiders, but will roll out for everybody soon unless Microsoft changes their minds. There's some screenshots in this article. This is not long after ads were shown in the Start menu and then pulled due to backlash. Remember: Microsoft is pushing boundaries and trying to see what they can get away with.

Spoiler: Image (click to show/hide)

Oh yeah, and mostly unrelated, I found this old Neogaf post on Microsoft's promises to PC gamers since 2005, posted in 2014 when Microsoft most recently promised to win back PC gamers. Remember: this Windows Store, and the exclusivity of games to that store, is the fruit of that promise.

Anyway, on to the news:

-DX12 is part of Microsoft's Sandboxed App Plan
DirectX12, toted as the graphics API to vastly reduce CPU load and enable better game performance on Windows 10, suffers from some issues that are similar to the sandboxed UWP games. This PC perspective article goes into great detail about some issues with DX12, as they're demonstrated in Ashes of the Singularity. DirectX12 games are encourage (or REQUIRED, if on the Windows Store) to put all graphics through the Windows Compositing Engine, which is basically responsible for the inability to use exclusive fullscreen. It also forces Vsync on AMD cards, causing some frame timing issues, although Nvidia seems to have some kind of workaround that allows their cards to run with Vsync off... sometimes. I don't know if this will prevent .exe games on DX12 from using hooks (Streaming software, Nvidia GeForce experience, etc) from working properly in the long run.

Microsoft has several reasons for this, most of which involve support for the various overlays and integrations that the company would like to integrate with Windows games. MS wants to have an Action bar, a recording bar, on-screen keyboard support for running games on tablets and 2-in-1s and more.

So, basically these issues exist in the name of a universal Windows overlay (not yet implemented) and tablet-oriented features.

[Bitoru]

Regardless of anything else. If Killer Instinct works and if it works well. Then I'm taking the bait.

[nenjin]

So basically, windows is positioning itself to be the "all container" for all the various supporting services gamers currently enjoy. So that Steam, Shadowplay, FRAPS, everything, plays by their rules first and foremost.

It's not unusual for a software behemoth to try and dictate terms to the entire market via software changes. But it's frustrating for sure. While there's nothing to be done about DX12....pressure from end-users will, I hope, force them to back off their strategy of, for example, making everything that runs on windows use their special file container.

This is why I didn't rush out and update to Windows 10. I figured when they were pushing it that hard, they had reasons supported but not entirely based on market share for doing so. And when you rush to embrace the newest piece of tech....you will only find out, after the fact, what it has cost you.

[Shadowlord]

No modding, no custom mouse bindings, no controller support outside of Xbox controllers; clearly this is going to shake up our lives as PC gamers. I also don’t think that you’ll be able to live stream out your games through XSplit and OBS either.

So they think they can run the Windows store like they do Xbox. The thing is, we don't actually have to buy or play anything they release on it.

[Sensei]

No modding, no custom mouse bindings, no controller support outside of Xbox controllers; clearly this is going to shake up our lives as PC gamers. I also don’t think that you’ll be able to live stream out your games through XSplit and OBS either.

So they think they can run the Windows store like they do Xbox. The thing is, we don't actually have to buy or play anything they release on it.

Pretty much. People will though, if they're not aware of the caveats. More to the point, Microsoft is going to be releasing big-name exclusive games as Windows Store exclusives. Quantum Break and Forza are big names. Who knows what's next- maybe the microtransaction-laden version of Halo 3 they tested in Russia? I'm kind of annoyed that Microsoft seems to insist on releasing gimped games on the PC. It's like they're trying to punish you for not buying an Xbox.