Microsoft snub PC Gaming

[mindcycle]

Oh, great, I'm glad to hear you were around to play older games like Nethack, Moria, X-Com, MOO, Tie Fighter, Planescape Torment, Fallout, Warcraft, The Dig (etc. etc.) when they were released, and that you feel current releases are their equal or betters in complexity, length, depth, powerful storylines, enthralling gameplay, mouse/keyboard input support, and continued support in the form of free patches and downloads.

Wait a sec... you can't possibly believe that, because it would prove that you're absolutely insane and show that you don't belong in any serious discussion on PC gaming.

Oh wait, that IS actually the case, and you DON'T know what you're talking about. Whew, glad we got that cleared up.

lol.. I like how gayner is so sure of himself but he can't provide any evidence to back up his POV other than a weak list of mostly console ports and reiterating over and over how he thinks PC gaming is great and anyone who disagrees is a crybaby (great argument lol).

I still enjoy PC gaming and there are a few games that have been released recently where I feel my money has been well spent. Overall though, it's quite different then when I really started getting into it (back in early 90's). X-COM (for sure), Red Alert, Wing Commander, Fallout series, Doom, Quake, etc.. etc.. You know.. during the time where PC games were made specifically for PC gamers.

Today we still get some decent games, don't get me wrong, but most of them are made first and foremost to be played on consoles. Everything from the menu layouts, the game mechanics, the POV, and even the gameplay itself is catered toward consoles. I mean, some of these games could definitely benefit from the ability to have more than 10 key commands available since we have a whole keyboard to work with (10 being the maximum amount you can have on any of the current gen controllers unless you count start and select keys). It would be nice if PC ports would give us some of the above mentioned features and not just updated graphics and the ability of use a keyboard and mouse. They give us those two things and then want us to believe the game was "optimized" for the PC.. give me a break.

 

[BladeVenom]

Blaming the xbox makes no sense because if that were the case Microsoft would have retasked Ensemble to develop for it instead of getting rid of a prime developer. I think it was purely about consolidation.

They retasked them to make Halo Wars, but of course MS knows that consoles suck for RTS games; they closed down the studio before Halo Wars was even released. So they knew Halo Wars wasn't going to be as popular as Age of Empires. The only reason I think they had them make Halo Wars was so that the people from Ensemble wouldn't leave and form their own PC gaming studio. So they gave them Halo Wars to distract them till they could move them around the company. It was an anti-PC gaming move all the way around.

Microsoft chose to shed overhead and retask the money toward other projects, which would help them keep the stock holders happy in case they got hit too hard (they are a business after all).

If they cared about their stockholders, they wouldn't have gotten in the console business, or they would have at least left it by now. They've lost over $7 billion in the console market. How many stockholders are happy about that? How many financial analysts think it was a good move?

 

[MStele]

They retasked them to make Halo Wars, but of course MS knows that consoles suck for RTS games; they closed down the studio before Halo Wars was even released. So they knew Halo Wars wasn't going to be as popular as Age of Empires. The only reason I think they had them make Halo Wars was so that the people from Ensemble wouldn't leave and form their own PC gaming studio. So they gave them Halo Wars to distract them till they could move them around the company. It was an anti-PC gaming move all the way around.


If they cared about their stockholders, they wouldn't have gotten in the console business, or they would have at least left it by now. They've lost over $7 billion in the console market. How many stockholders are happy about that? How many financial analysts think it was a good move?

I'll buy your arguement that Microsoft hasn't been pro PC in recent years, but I think its a stretch to say they are anti-pc gaming. They gain nothing buy making pc gaming go away, and they have everything to lose. As I said in a previous post, gaming is one of the main advantages that Windows has over competing operating systems. If MS removes the gaming incentive, they will lose a large segment of home user licensing. I think over the next 12-18 months you will see tons of PC game support. Nvidia/Ati are coming out with some truly amazing hardware and Windows 7 is actually good (even if it is built on vista "gasp").

"If they cared about their stockholders, they wouldn't have gotten in the console business, or they would have at least left it by now. They've lost over $7 billion in the console market. How many stockholders are happy about that? How many financial analysts think it was a good move?"

Hindsight is 20/20. That judgment can only be issued after knowing what Microsoft went through to get where they are now. They had some obstacles but the gamble is paying off now. They made billions on the Halo franchise alone, and as they learn from their mistakes they are going ot do better. They didn't have the benefit of over a decade of experience like Sony, and they still managed to field a competitive machine. I think what comes next will truly judge whether MS did well or screwed the pooch. If your willing to pass judgement now, then nothing I say will possible erase the Microsoft hate, but I think its too early to say. Neither Sony nor Microsoft have been on top of their game for the last few years.

 

[VooDooAddict]

I'm sick of the "sky is falling" attitude people have toward PC gaming lately.

LATELY?

I've heard people talking doom and gloom about the PC platform since the original XBOX was announced.

Funny thing though - People are still buying and playing PC games.

What's changed?

- More and more PC games are now purchased via Online distribution, Steam, Direct2Drive, and Impulse. PC games have less shelf space at physical stores.
- PC Gamers don't get as many exclusives or exclusive features.

Are PC games going away anytime soon?[b/] Not at all. They are still profitable. And with small and independent studios putting out more and more "casual" games across XBox Live, PSN, and Steam I don't see it stopping anytime soon.

Are things going to keep changing? Most assuredly. PC gaming and really video games in general are a pretty fluid market. It makes adjustments and incorporates new trends pretty rapidly.

PCs are a very big potential market as long as porting big budget games to all major platforms is cheaper then developing original content.

Are things going to get "worse" for PC Gamers? It looks like we are going to start loosing many of the features that used to distinguish PC games from console games. Free Custom Maps, Mods, and Dedicated servers will likely be the largest and most missed. Publishers are going to try and kill dedicated servers to control content and the product's online life cycle.

About the "worst" thing that could happen is that in the end console and PCs games will be indistinguishable besides Mouse/KB input and enhanced graphics.

 

[mindcycle]

About the "worst" thing that could happen is that in the end console and PCs games will be indistinguishable besides Mouse/KB input and enhanced graphics.

In that case the worst is already upon us.

 

[Liet]

You're both wrong, the worst would be just enhanced graphics. Some major games (Dead Space, Ghostbusters to name two I have) are simply running keyboard/mouse input through analog game controller emulation software, so any advantage or enjoyment you get out of using a mouse/kb is gone.

So even worse than the worst is already upon us...

As mentioned earlier though, I think PC gaming is still strong and healthy - however the main devs and publishers have left us, and we're going to continue to see strong releases from minor, independent devs that continue the PC gaming tradition of content-suited-for-the-PC and good support. The more big publishers cater to consolers who think 7-hour games are acceptable, the more indy games we'll be buying that are both longer, more intelligent, more complex, and more technically able to use PC hardware.

 

[Modelworks]

I know we don't have the million dollar budgets and the huge publishers PR budget but don't count out the indie developers. One thing that the pc has to its advantage is that anyone can make games for it, not just someone who spends a couple hundred thousand for development kits. Don't forget where pc gaming started. It wasn't corporations that created it and it will not be corporations that sustains it. They are all about profit , not the gaming itself. Good riddance to the big publishers and all their fans, it is about time pc gaming got back to its roots.


For people that think people making games at home or part time is dead, think again. Even epic is supporting us well. They just released a new version of the UDK with a bunch of small time programmer features that were requested. Other game engines like Unity are now free to try and only $200 to buy. That is where pc gaming is going.


http://unity3d.com/

 

[mindcycle]

I know we don't have the million dollar budgets and the huge publishers PR budget but don't count out the indie developers. One thing that the pc has to its advantage is that anyone can make games for it, not just someone who spends a couple hundred thousand for development kits. Don't forget where pc gaming started. It wasn't corporations that created it and it will not be corporations that sustains it. They are all about profit , not the gaming itself. Good riddance to the big publishers and all their fans, it is about time pc gaming got back to its roots.


For people that think people making games at home or part time is dead, think again. Even epic is supporting us well. They just released a new version of the UDK with a bunch of small time programmer features that were requested. Other game engines like Unity are now free to try and only $200 to buy. That is where pc gaming is going.

http://unity3d.com/

I agree and I hope that good indie devs start getting the recognition they truly deserve.

 

[Liet]

They have from me, in the form of cash from El Walleto en mi Pocketo. Hell, I'm eager to get home so I can play some more of The Void tonight.

Edit: It seems to me that replayability is an issue with many indie games. How many times am I really going to want to replay World of Goo, Peggle, or Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood? Certainly not as many times as I was willing to play Tie Fighter... Just seems like many of the indie games are built around (often brilliant) concepts and novelty without much addictive gameplay.