Microsoft pledges to 'lead the way' in PC gaming

[Xcobra]

This. I've been playing FPS since Wolfenstein 3D. Somewhere around HL 1, I lost interest. They're all just rehashes of other games I've played a thousand times a decade ago. Just with prettier graphics.

Sounds like you would love the new Hello Kitty series with even prettier graphics.

 

[nitromullet]

I don't see why Microsoft would want PC gaming to die though. It's one of the main advantages of their OS.

This. One of the only reasons my main rig is a Windows PC is because I like gaming. I can do everything else I do on a Mac.

They're so busy adding stuff to the 360 that most gamers don't want and hopelessly trying to compete with Google, it's like they just don't recognize that gaming is a killer app for Windows. They always seem to be looking for markets they don't have while at the same time ignoring their current customer base.

IMO, if they really want to lead they way in PC gaming, they need to add physics to DirectX. Aside from the mouse and higher resolutions, NVIDIA PhysX (on the gpu) is one of the main differentiators between PC and console gaming, and by having this a proprietary API that only functions on NVIDIA cards it is stunting its growth. MS could intervene and make physics on the gpu a standard that was agnostic to hardware if they implemented it in DirectX.

edit: I guess Eyefinity and 3Dvision are differentiators as well, but it looks like NV and AMD can handle that themselves.

 

[PingSpike]

I don't see why Microsoft would want PC gaming to die though. It's one of the main advantages of their OS.

Yes, but you have to look at the company as a whole. One has to assume that the Microsoft focus is to grow the xbox division at any cost. Gaming on the PC is seen as a competitor to the xbox. Which is precisely why they don't release their exclusives in tandem on the PC. They release them much later, only after anyone that really wanted them will have already purchased the game on consoles. The console growth is their focus.

The only reason they're even bothering to offer lip service these days is they have some new OSes to sell. While everyone languished on XP they couldn't even be bothered to do any major updates to directX...since they were holding onto those as a selling feature for the next big thing.

Its true that one of the main reasons to use windows is games. Despite the Xbox's PC roots, Microsoft's actions indicate they resent that the PC can even play games these days.

At any rate, I think MS abandoning PC Gaming will be a good thing in the long run even if it did eat up a lot of good studios in recent history.

 

[BladeVenom]

I don't see why Microsoft would want PC gaming to die though. It's one of the main advantages of their OS.

Because they want people to buy their Xbox, in addition to Windows. They own the PC gaming market and are no longer worried about the competition. After all how many people are going to switch to Linux or Mac gaming? So they feel free to screw PC gamers are hard as they want.

Of course now that Valve, the real leader in PC gaming, is making their games for Macs, MS might be a little worried.

 

[sandorski]

I'd rather let Valve lead the way, personally. They're one of the few companies I feel that I can rely on to churn out a decent game every time.

Yup. MS already promised this once and Failed. Fool me once....

 

[LumbergTech]

my response to microsoft...please don't

dont like GFWL

 

[CPA]

Didn't they make this same pledge when they first rolled out Games for Windows?

 

[Howard]

Didn't they make this same pledge when they first rolled out Games for Windows?

space pinball owned

 

[Fenixgoon]

i believe MS has said something similar before. i'll believe it when i see it.

 

[blastingcap]

[/LIST]
Note that they're all First Person Shooters. I don't know about anyone else, but I want more from my games than shooting anything that moves.

Portal wasn't a shooter per se.

Alien Swarm wasn't a FPS.

 

[emilyek]

With XboX exclusives and staggered release dates MS has been working to kill PC gaming for years. This is just a tossed-off comment by some MS executive who has no idea what he is talking about and can't possibly mean what he says-- just like 'nobody plays FPS on the PC anymore; it's all about console titles like Halo', a comment designed to try and shape reality more than it reflects it. It's just PR bullshit.

Valve was King until the HL episodes. Then they became a cross-platform console whore like the rest, making technically and aesthetically dumbed-down design and 'innovative' marketing decisions for the XboX crowd, which is reflected in the quality of the their games, which will never rise to HL2-and-earlier levels again.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I'd prefer it if Microsoft just started being honest and admitted they dont care about PC gaming. Please let GFWL die - it was an abortion when it launched, and has never been properly supported nearly as well as Valve supports Steam.

They just need to stop lying and saying that they care about PC gaming - they care about selling Windows, and if that means they need to develop DirectX, they will do so. But revenues are obviously a lot better on console, with higher average selling prices for games, so thats where they focus their efforts. Nothing wrong with that and I'd prefer it if they were honest.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Valve was King until the HL episodes. Then they became a cross-platform console whore like the rest, making technically and aesthetically dumbed-down design and 'innovative' marketing decisions for the XboX crowd, which is reflected in the quality of the their games, which will never rise to HL2-and-earlier levels again.

While I agree Valve has fallen off the wagon in a big way, I disagree that it happened with the HL2 episodes. I think both of them so far have been great and I even have a tiny amount of residual excitement remaining for Ep3, but everything after Orange Box has been awful and they seem determined to make TF2 a horrible game.

 

[skace]

Dear Microsoft, GFWL is a piece of shit that never remembers a password no matter how many times I check the box. While I appreciate your native Xbox controller support, I hate the fact that you release about 1/1000th of all Live content to GFWL.

How about you lead by following and get behind Steam. Work with Valve to write native Live support built into Steam and maybe we'd have something useful from you.

Oh and nobody gives a shit about Halo.

 

[Smartazz]

I kind of hope that games start getting big on Mac so Microsoft will have more of an incentive to protect a platform that is pretty much monopolized. I was 100% console gamer during the 90's when PC was in its golden age and it would be nice to be a PC gamer amidst another golden age of gaming. I really do want to see the PC flourish as a gaming platform and I think that Microsoft either needs competition from Apple in this department or they need to crush Sony's gaming intentions. If they crushed Sony in console gaming, wouldn't there be less of a push to develop solely for the Xbox 360? It seems plausible that Microsoft is giving it all they got to defeat Sony's PS3, even if it means hurting the PC gaming industry.

 

[darkxshade]

I'd be ecstatic if they pledged to get out of the way

 

[Arglebargle]

I was looking at a couple of $5 type games recently. Then I saw they were GFWL, and that convinced me not to pick them up. Not worth the hassle. Microsoft's involvement is a definite drag.

 

[Smartazz]

I was looking at a couple of $5 type games recently. Then I saw they were GFWL, and that convinced me not to pick them up. Not worth the hassle. Microsoft's involvement is a definite drag.

I felt that way about GFWL until I started using it for a few games I got for $5 and I have to say that while it isn't ideal, it isn't that awful either.

 

[LtPage1]

I'd rather let Valve lead the way, personally. They're one of the few companies I feel that I can rely on to churn out a decent game every time.

Good news: they already are.

 

[Mike Gayner]

I think people just bitch about GFWL for the sake of bitching/MS-hating. I've never had any problem with GFWL and can't understand what all the crying is about.