Yeah samehere, I got my current laptop through work for my job, so I never planned on actually using it for gaming.  Eventually I'll buy a totally new PC as my current 8 year old one has already been maxed out upgrade-wise (can't do much more with a P4 3Ghz processor and motherboard circa late 2003).

But with my current laptop I really have no need for an all new desktop, as I do all of my gaming on 360 and probably the Wii U and 720 when they release.  Not enough PC-only games that I'm interested in at the moment to drop a bunch of dough on a modern rig... rather save it for a new console or two.

I hate PC gaming too for the very same reason. All the hassle. I have wasted so many years and hours on technical difficulties with PC games.

i find that the two are moving toward each other. i have drm issues on console  this gen that have not had before. xbla downloads dlc that wont play unless your online. gave saves that cannot be moved (im looking at you viva pinnate) or saves that if you put in the cloud you cannot pull back down. all bullshit that i did not have to dill with last time.  

over on the PC side installs can be a pain in the ass and always on drm  punishes those who buy and not those who steal. bullshit about compatibility issues due to abatrary cpu divisions by intel and and and, driver support issues. how many logins for a game, steam then another then another .. hiding game saves, 

both have + and  -. on the console i have what should* be worry free play for at least 5 years, and worry free multiplayer … and no installs (i know that last point is gone now but it was great)

on the pc mods and customization to the extreme best case is something like minecraft, but now we see a lot of games be drowned by the publishers in a bid to secure and make more money such as diablo 3 and stagecraft II

 (*since sony produced some ps2s that cannot play all ps2 games there have been flashes of incompatibility on the ps3 and xbox360)

more or less ... but I think it was still higher than d3

something is wrong with your PC, it's no different than RRoD or YLoD, be thankful it still runs at least, you need to fix it, get it fixed, or get a new one that works reasonably well. Sorry it's not working out for you with D3, on the other hand, Torchlight II might be an option in the future since that game kicks a lot of ass.

Not sure if you have tried these two methods:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5152405455

To solve this error on my windows 7 64-bit install I performed the following steps:
Click StartRUN "msconfig"Under the General tab, click Diagnostic StartupClick OKRestart the PCUpon restart, delete the folder in "C:ProgramData" named "Battle.net"Right click on the launcher and select "Run as administrator"Note: You can add the step to remove security and anti virus but it did not matter in my case.

You should not recieve any errors this go around.  For myself, I had uninstalled every uneeded program including AVG.  I had also disabled windows firewall.  Finally I first tried to run the install with only stopping non microsoft services, however, that failed and resulted in the dreaded agent.exe crash.  The fact that it worked when I went to diagnostic indicates that there is a service (possibly specific to w7 64bit) that is interfering with installs and updates.

I'll be re-enabling them until I find out which one it was... Until then, good luck and happy slaying!

OR
just go in the folder and click on the agent updater. then itll update and work again. I posted this fix like 2 days ago
C:ProgramDataBattle.netAgent
Remember that program data is a hidden folder. Inside Agent there are a couple more folders that say Agent. i clicked on the .954 agent folder and used that updater. There is another updater in the other folder.
Im unsure on the difference. All i know is it fixed it

Hope you can get up and running at home if you have not yet.

Here is some more info on the agent you cantry if you have not. Something about a secondary login that has to be enabled in windows. they updated it 5 days ago

http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/BLZPTS00007

Failed to Run a Required Program (Agent)



Keywords:
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 required program,
 required,
 failed,
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 failed to run agent…




Failed to run a required program (Agent).

 
This error indicates that the Blizzard support program known as Agent was unable to properly run. As the error message indicates, try waiting one minute, then reattempt. If that fails, restart your computer and start the game again.
If a restart does not resolve the issue, try these steps:

Verify that the Secondary Logon Service is Enabled
The Secondary Logon service must be enabled for Diablo III to install and run.  Depending on your version of Windows, you should be able to navigate to this service with one of the following methods:

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services
Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Services

If the service is currently disabled, please change it to Automatic.  Be advised that some security programs (such as AVG) can disable this service.  If the service becomes disabled again after you've switched it to automatic, you will need to configure your security program to stop disabling the service.

Check Windows Internet Settings
Diablo III is highly dependent on Windows internet settings.  If these settings are misconfigured, Agent will be unable to connect and update the game client.

Check for Offline Mode in Internet Explorer

 

Open Internet Explorer
Press Alt + F
Uncheck Work Offline


Disable Proxy Settings and Dial-up Connections

 

Press Windows Key + R
Type inetcpl.cpl into the run window
Press OK
Click on the Connections tab
Ensure Never dial a connection is selected
Press the LAN settings button
Uncheck Use a proxy server for your LAN
If Use a proxy server for your LAN is already unchecked, try to toggle Automatically detect settings.  If it is checked, uncheck it.  If it is not checked, check it.
Press OK

If this fails, we recommend uninstalling your current copy of the game and downloading a new copy of the Diablo III installer from the Battle.net Game Downloads page.
If the above solutions do not help, submit a ticket and include the full text of any error messages you are receiving and when they occur. Attach your system files to the ticket with a detailed description of the problem you are experiencing, when it happens, and the steps you have tried so far to resolve the issue.

You can call it a personal problem with my own PC or whatever, all I know is I've had a hell of time getting it installed and everyone I know in real life has had a hell of a time getting it installed. It is an exaggeration saying every PC game installs like shit, but it's probably not that hard to say every non-Steam PC game is a pain to install and get running well.

It's never fun updating drivers, adding launch parameters, binding keys, finding the correct patch, stopping other programs that interfere with installation, hunting for random fixes, etc. I never have to do any of that with a console and most Steam games, they just work. I pop in my game, automatically download a patch, and go. Part of getting a game to run shouldn't be going on a mystery hunt to find everything that could cause an issue.

As for what I'm running at home, it's a Windows 7 PC but beyond that I forget what's actually in it. I know it has an Intel i7 in it and 8 gigs of ram, but I forget what video card I have (it's a good one though). My laptop is considerably less impressive so I can understand if it can't run the game (though I think it should), whatever, but my PC can run it easily. I know it doesn't have any virus' or malware and except for Diablo III, it runs pretty perfectly. I got a physical copy from a buddy today, lets see if that works!

Also, two more things-- 1) crap, I was going to play today and it's down for maintenance. Yup, I do love my PC gaming where I deal with crap DRM that doesn't let me play single player games.

2) If there are no problems with the installer and it really is just me, why are they releasing a patch to fix network problems for the installer and patcher?

wait for Torchlight 2, then you will be truly happy, D3 is not even made by the people who made D2 or D1 anyways =P.

better yet, why hate pc gaming? you should hate blizzard and D3 =P

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I hope you are able to get it running.