If you picked up Gears of War for PC yesterday, then you’re in for a treat because the port is pretty excellent. All things aside, it wouldn’t be a normal game launch without some technical issues.
The folks behind the Gamerscore Blog outlined a potential problem while applying an automatic update to Games for Windows – LIVE, which may cause the game to be unresponsive. If you don’t install the update, you’ll be prompted to get it everytime you start Gears and you can’t play the game at all.
The first solution is a pretty standard solution – you apply the update and restart the game. For simplicity sake, here’s the nine-step walkthrough:
1. Start "Gears of War" for Windows (from Start Menu)
2. Once the game starts, press the "Home" key to open the Game for Windows — LIVE Guide
3. Sign-in using an existing Xbox LIVE account, or create a new Games for Windows — LIVE account (this will redirect you to a browser window, if you choose to create an account)
4. Once signed into LIVE, the user will be prompted to update the Games for Windows — LIVE version on their machine. Select the "Yes, Update Now" option
5. Wait for the opening cinematic with the Epic Logo and the Microsoft Games Studio splash screen to play
6. Once on the main Title Screen, press "Enter" to go to the Main Menu
7. On the Main Menu, quit out of the game
8. Once you quit out of the game, the Games for Windows — LIVE System Update will kick off. Wait for that install to complete.
9. Once that is complete, start the game again. You will have to re-login to Games for Windows – LIVE again
But if that workaround doesn’t work, you can apply the update manually. When I installed Gears on my PC to review a week and a half ago, I didn’t really notice anything wrong with the automatic update. It took a little longer than I expected, but other than that, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
But as they say, your mileage may vary.
