So I am trying to legally play Viva Pinata on PC which is causing me some trouble as it is no longer sold on Gaming For Windows Live. I could buy a hardcopy but since I no longer have a disc drive I could not install it.
I have read that if you owned a copy of Viva Pinata on GFWL before they took it off the store you can still download it and play it.
So my question is, if I buy a hardcopy, can I register the serial number to GFWL, then download it and play it?
Cheers, Sam
No, unfortunately you can't. The old Microsoft Games for Windows Marketplace, where you could've bought Viva Pinata as a download, is a separate service from Games for Windows Live. The key included with the retail boxed copies of Viva Pinata only works to activate the game with GFWL, it doesn't add the game to your Marketplace account. It's not like Steam where the store, downloads, and online services/DRM are all part of the same product. A Viva Pinata GFWL key only lets you save your game (part of the copy protection) and get achievements.
If you buy the retail box copy of the PC version of Viva Pinata you'll need to get a DVD-ROM drive for your computer, as you'll need one to both install the game and to play it, as the game also uses disc-based copy protection. A possible alternative would to get an Xbox 360 and then buy a copy of the game for that platform. I believe you can still buy the game as download for the 360.
