Rumor: Microsoft to relaunch PC gaming with Windows 8

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Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
PC gaming is almost all console ports. If it's not dead already it doesn't have much time left.

M$ wants to try to get a taste of the Steam and casual gaming/onboard graphics-capable pie, just for the hell of it.

Just like XboX, which also was launched just for the hell of it, because M$ has so much money they felt like they should do something with it.

And M$ saving PC gaming is pretty funny, seeing as how they've been trying to kill it with staggered release dates and XboX exclusives for years now.

Nice to see you have a positive outlook for 2011 :rolleyes:

Its not all console ports, its just a quite a few good games are console ports and these ones dont benefit from KB+M imo, mainly because they werent designed for it. Fallout 3/new vegas and dead space are fine with my controller, i wouldnt ever use it in say bad company 2 or any RTS though.
 

PingSpike

Lifer
Feb 25, 2004
21,747
579
126
What's funny about GFWL, which amounts to a classic Microsoft too little too late dog shit copy is that Valve actually tried to farm out Steam to Microsoft (among other companies_ and it was turned down. Not saying it would have taken off in the same way if Microsoft ran it, but since Valve is a small company with less experience and money than Microsoft it would have been a cheap play to try it on Microsoft's part. Granted this was back when Microsoft was busy using cash piles to redirect every PC developer in existence onto the first xbox so it probably conflicted with their core goals or something.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,859
4,976
126
You guys are missing the boat here.
"PC Gaming" could easily mean casual gamers... games that available via a Windows App store.

THIS is the market MS is going to go after. There are a BILLION more casual gamers out there that are used to app-store type games and purchases. "Port" something like that over to their main PC at home or work? KAAAAAAAAAAAA-CHING.
 

wirednuts

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2007
7,121
4
0
windows 8 is mostly cloud based though i thought. so does this mean were getting cloud gaming like onlive? but its not real games its like colums and minesweeper online and stuff.

but if they do mean real games, then i think what theyre really saying is "windows 8 is going to have some serious hardcore DRM for games".
 

kamikazekyle

Senior member
Feb 23, 2007
538
0
0
Like Homer said, casual games (Farmville), mass market games (WoW), and blockbusters (Halo) are where the money flows. If Microsoft is actually going to *develop* first/third party games, then I can see them going for one of the above -- pushing games by going for the casual/lowest common denominator. They could also "relaunch" PC gaming by making 360 developers port more titles off the 360. Finally, their "relaunch" could simply be integrating GFWL and the GFWL marketplace directly into Windows 8, and call it a day.

I'm personally hoping that they're going to develop games (first/third party) that are going to fully utilize PC's uniqueness in hardware and scalability that are platform exclusive, as well as to develop new IPs. I have a gut feeling that their relaunch will be nothing more than extending existing IPs with marginal upgrades, pushing a few extra 360 to PC ports, and a more tight integration into the OS than current for GFWL.
 

Darklife

Member
Mar 11, 2008
196
0
0
Too little too late. Microsoft has had its head up its ass for way too long to reverse everything with some yet to be announced features in their OS. Honestly what can they add to Windows that would drastically improve the gaming experience? A games folder that doesn't work for crap unless you download some silly third party add on and do all the work yourself? Or maybe a useless performance index that shows whether the games you've ALREADY bought can run on your system?

If they really had some grand plan for PC Gaming they wouldn't release some half-assed Xbox live port and pretend that it's some kind of revolution in digital content delivery. It's telling that even the games they use as examples for their new found commitment to PC gaming such as Fable 3, Flight or Age of Empires Online are either delayed console ports, games that were always had a marginal following and a casual remake of a dead series.

Hey look we ported Fable 3 for you half a year (or dare I say more) later! Now buy it from Games for Windows Marketplace with our pathetic point purchase system! Oh and buy an official 360pad while you're at it! Better yet hook up your PC to your living room TV, install Kinect on it and to finish it off, stick a bloody Xbox logo on the front!
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,859
4,976
126
Or maybe MS will just bring native support to the PC for the Kinect. This seems like a likely step. Look at all the kick ass things people have done with the Kinect on the PC already. MS knows they have a winner on their hands with Kinect, bringing it to the PC only increases its power.
 

EvilComputer92

Golden Member
Aug 25, 2004
1,316
0
0
What's funny about GFWL, which amounts to a classic Microsoft too little too late dog shit copy is that Valve actually tried to farm out Steam to Microsoft (among other companies_ and it was turned down. Not saying it would have taken off in the same way if Microsoft ran it, but since Valve is a small company with less experience and money than Microsoft it would have been a cheap play to try it on Microsoft's part. Granted this was back when Microsoft was busy using cash piles to redirect every PC developer in existence onto the first xbox so it probably conflicted with their core goals or something.

This is classic MS here. Most people who have Steam probably don't know that it came very close to falling into MS's hands as Valve wanted to make a load of cash off it by selling it off.

Of course, once the product took off, MS wanted a piece of the digital distribution pie and instituted it's own absolute crap GFWL which will always be known as the worst imitation of Steam around.

The age of the PC exclusive is finished. In fact, the age of the exclusive in general is finished. I can count the number of major exclusives(not counting indie titles) on each system on one hand.

This is terrible for PC gaming in general because we all get games that are designed to run on hardware from 2005(360 and PS3 hardware). The games that push the limits of hardware through actual technical merit, rather than just being simply unoptimized bloatware that runs bad on the most powerful PCs.
For example, take the Battlefield franchise. The hardware is around for massive scale 256 player battles that would be a perfect evolution of the series. Instead, we get a game that supports less players than it's predecessor (BF Bad Company 2 and BF2)
 
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Darklife

Member
Mar 11, 2008
196
0
0
Or maybe MS will just bring native support to the PC for the Kinect. This seems like a likely step. Look at all the kick ass things people have done with the Kinect on the PC already. MS knows they have a winner on their hands with Kinect, bringing it to the PC only increases its power.

I thought my brilliant rant was clear enough. You can't change the PC into a distinct and meaningful gaming platform if your sole idea is to turn it into a console. There are three of those around, nobody needs a fourth one.
 

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
16,665
21
81
Sounds familiar. Like exsvtly what they said before Vista's launch.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
I wonder what they are going to relaunch Win9 and 10 with?...the mind boggles.
 
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
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126
tell them to bring back this:
msngamingzone.png


Yes, MSN gaming zone. This is the service that I was trying to remember. Was really sad when they disbanded this. Went back to play some games online and the service was gone and there were not alternate servers, so could not play the game at all.
 

TheUnk

Golden Member
Jun 24, 2005
1,810
0
71
Nice to see you have a positive outlook for 2011 :rolleyes:

Its not all console ports, its just a quite a few good games are console ports and these ones dont benefit from KB+M imo, mainly because they werent designed for it. Fallout 3/new vegas and dead space are fine with my controller, i wouldnt ever use it in say bad company 2 or any RTS though.

Fallout and Dead Space may be fine with a controller, but they feel way better with a mouse.

Are you also one of those people who believe that because a shooter is 3rd person it's also better played with a controller?
 
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
642
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I just got my latest copy of PC Gamer magazine in the mail. Out of the top ten anticipated games for 2011, 3 of them are actually PC exclusives: Dawn of War II: Retribution, Red Orchestra 2, and Diablo 3. And The Old Republic, as an MMO, I doubt if it will be on the consoles ether, although I hate MMOs in general.
So maybe there is some life left in the PC platform, but if there is, it is through no help of Microsoft.

Here is another idea for microsoft (and the game developers) if they really want to encourage PC gaming. Allow co-op or competitive head to head play on the same computer. This is available on the xbox, so for sure the PC is more than powerful enough. I am trying to stay loyal to PC gaming, but it is very discouraging to buy a game like Black Ops and have terrible performance (stuttering) on my PC and not be able to play co-op with my friend, while you could do this on the x-box with no problem. I know some hard core pc gamers will say that 2 people playing on the same screen is not the optimal experience, but if it is acceptable on the consoles, it would be nice to have the option to do it on the computer. Especially with so many games, even RTS games, coming out with co-op play, it seems really weak to have to buy 2 copies of the game and have 2 gaming computers if 2 people in the same house want to play co-op.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
Fallout and Dead Space may be fine with a controller, but they feel way better with a mouse.

Are you also one of those people who believe that because a shooter is 3rd person it's also better played with a controller?

No, i believe they are better played with a controller because when using KB+M its paintfully obvious the games werent designed with that control scheme in mind, KB+M support is half baked and tacked on, being 3rd person has nothing to do with it.
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
3
81
No, i believe they are better played with a controller because when using KB+M its paintfully obvious the games werent designed with that control scheme in mind, KB+M support is half baked and tacked on, being 3rd person has nothing to do with it.

Deadspace is only bad with a mouse because it's buggy. Once you fix it, it's far superior with a mouse than a controler.
 

Mono44

Junior Member
Jun 4, 2010
16
0
0
Wasn't Windows Vista supposed to revitalize PC gaming way back in 2006? The Games for Windows campaign didn't pan out so well. DirectX 10 was never exactly well utilized either. Arguably services like Steam have done the most to reenergize the platform.

PC gaming is a niche market. It has been probably for the last 20 years and will be so for some time. It has a high entry cost. I think the publishers have corrected their mistakes for the most part. It doesn't need saving at this point. The platform has recovered.

DX10/11 never took off because they limited it to vista and onward, at least 33+ percent of the market TODAY still runs XP. Microsoft are a bunch of retards, seriously. Monkeys run the show at MS these days.
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
3
81
DX10/11 never took off because they limited it to vista and onward, at least 33+ percent of the market TODAY still runs XP. Microsoft are a bunch of retards, seriously. Monkeys run the show at MS these days.

By relaunch PC gaming they probably mean dx11.5/12 or whatever will require windows 8 so that everyone will "have" to upgrade again.
 

Mono44

Junior Member
Jun 4, 2010
16
0
0
Firstly, out of that list of six games, only 3 were cross-platform.

Secondly, people really need to get out of the stupid habit of calling cross-platform games "ports". "Port" has a specific meaning, and a game which is developed for multiple platforms isn't a port.

Thirdly, so what if they're cross-platform? I'm more interested in how good a game is than how many other platforms it's on. Anyone who can't find great modern games to play isn't a real gamer at all.

Cross platform is a euphamism for port, there are a tonne of badly ported games that still have references to the Xbox controller and the settings of many "multiplatform games" on the PC is non-existent, the game control settings were broken in Darksiders.

The real issue is releasing unfinished games or "Sloppy seconds" for the PC and not doing a good job optimizing the game.
 

nyker96

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
5,630
2
81
Firstly, out of that list of six games, only 3 were cross-platform.

Secondly, people really need to get out of the stupid habit of calling cross-platform games "ports". "Port" has a specific meaning, and a game which is developed for multiple platforms isn't a port.

Thirdly, so what if they're cross-platform? I'm more interested in how good a game is than how many other platforms it's on. Anyone who can't find great modern games to play isn't a real gamer at all.

although this might be true, but there are _some_ games that should be called a 'port', like this new game I bought on steam called Darksiders. I mean I can't control the character very well with mouse+kb at all. It's menu also has that console feel to it, like using kb,mouse just isn't natural. Those games I'd say are intended to be played and designed from ground up for consoles, releasing a pc version only to get some more cash. I'd call them 'console ports'.
 

Pr0d1gy

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2005
7,774
0
76
Relaunch PC gaming coming out of Microsoft's mouth makes me think they're going to try and start charging for Live on PC again....wouldn't surprise me at all honestly.