The Capital Wasteland is finally free of its longest-lasting scourge: in a surprise update to Fallout 3, Bethesda has removed all traces of Microsoft’s now-defunct Games For Windows Live online service. This is good news, because it should resolve most issues for players running operating systems newer than Windows 7 – which we reckon is probably most of you.
Fallout 3 is the entry that moved the RPG game series into 3D, after several isometric 2D entries (four in total, if you count Fallout Tactics and the console exclusive Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel). It also marked the beginning of Bethesda’s stewardship of the franchise, and gave players a first-person look at the ruins of Washington D.C. in its expansive Capital Wasteland.
The trouble was, it used Microsoft’s Games For Windows Live service, which was meant to allow PC players to connect to Xbox Live to earn achievements and gamerscore, which was a thing that mattered a lot in 2008. It didn’t work all that well, and Microsoft shuttered the service in 2014. But the client remained in Fallout 3, and wound up making Fallout 3 unplayable for many players who returned to the game years later, using newer versions of Windows.