Can It Compete?

While playing Halo 2 Vista, I have been using Games for Windows Live. Although it has the ability to connect to Xbox Live, earn achievements, and play with friends, it lacks many of the essential services that Xbox Live now offers. For example, it does not support Parties, or Party Chat for that matter. You also cannot download games from Xbox Live, a popular feature that was added last year. In addition, you can't use any of the new Xbox Live dashboard features, such as netflix or last.fm. Plus, you are using your Xbox Live account, which is a payed for subscription. When all of this adds up, Games for Windows Live is missing a ton of stuff. Because of this, they are losing money to their competitor, Steam. Steam is one time payment on games, you can install them as many times as you want (that means no product keys). Playing online is free, almost all DLC is free, and you can use Skype while playing (the equivalent of Party Chat). As you can see, Games for Windows Live has to step up its game (no pun intended) for it to stay in the game (pun intended).

~Dave