DiRT Showdown for PC will have Steamworks or Games for Windows Live

[zidane]

I am willing to buy DiRT Showdown in coming week as I found its trailer and the concept interesting. I am a PC gamer and thus I will be playing this game in multiplayer mode on my PC. Now that topic of multiplayer gaming on PC has come up there are two good services available. One is the Steamworks and other is the Games for Windows – Live.

I have played multiplayer games on both the networks in past and had good experience. But I wanted to ask the gamers who have already played DiRT Showdown that which of the mentioned networks will be good for this game. Can somebody provide me with information?

[Sib Bachchan]

I prefer using Steamworks over Games for Windows – Live. As compared to Games for Windows – Live, Steamworks provides their services to more regions. Steamworks is available for access from almost all the countries in the world, while Games for Windows – Live is only available for 30 countries. This if you are playing DiRT Showdown via Steamworks, then you will get more competitors to play along with. If you buy the game through Steam, then it will itself patch to connect on the Steamworks server. But in Windows – Live, it will only give you the game.

To connect it to the Games for Windows – Live server, you will need to download a different patch for every game the first time you connect it to play online. Also Steamworks provides cloud-saving. This is useful when any problem occurs in your gaming device and you need to start the game all over again. You can retrieve the game saves which are saved on the cloud server and begin playing from where you left previously.

Steamworks also patches the errors and the bugs in the game remotely when connected to their servers. Also the protection against the hackers, piracy invaders and cheaters is best provided by Steamworks.