Out of nowhere Capcom has released an update for the Steam [[link]] version of Resident Evil 5, released in 2009, the main function of which is to strip-out the zombified corpse of Games for Windows Live. The latter was an ill-fated online service that linked PCs into Microsoft's Live services—launched in 2007 and discontinued in 2014—which mainly served to annoy users with its lack of functionality and compatibility problems. Indeed, a theme in the aftermath of its closure was games one-by-one updating to remove the service.

Well Capcom took their sweet time (this is the first Resi 5 update since 2017) but it's clear why this was on the to-do list: the presence of GfWL meant an in-built feature of the game had to be disabled. Resident Evil 5 launched as a GfWL title, with split-screen co-op included, but when ported to Steam the GfWL layer caused problems with player data and meant that the option was disabled (though there were workarounds with mods). 

It's always been a little odd, because co-op was baked-in to Resi 5 and the key differentiator with what had gone before. The fundamentals are carried-over from the peerless Resident Evil 4 (and doesn't the remake of that look hot) but Resi 5's schtick was two playable protagonists and a campaign that could be played the whole way through with a buddy.

The game sometimes gets a bad rap, mainly because it's not as good as its classic predecessor, but in co-op it's [[link]] a great time and the game goes so OTT at the end you can't [[link]] help but laugh. This is the one where Chris literally punches back boulders, and you kill the final boss by shooting him with a rocket as he's burning in a volcano.

The patch notes mention "other minor bug fixes", though no indication of what they are. So a small surprise, but a welcome one. My anticipation for the upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake is white-hot and, if you're the same, maybe a little runthrough of this in co-op will help ease the wait.