Rumor: Microsoft to relaunch PC gaming with Windows 8

[lothar]

Yeah just look at Steam. There's so many awesome games I can't even find time to play them all. In RPG's alone there's...

Skyrim Elder Scrolls 5
Diablo 3
Mass Effect 3
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Dragon Age 2
The Witcher 2

...all within the next 12 months or so. And that's just the big budget ones. Thats just as many potentially awesome games than the so called Golden Age of rpgs in the late 90s.

What's your wager?

 

[Fenixgoon]

Alright... "Multi-Platform"...

So, lets see, "The Witcher 2" is the only game there that is locked for PC. Rumors of D3 on consoles are already out, and the rest of those games already have a set console version....

i haven't heard any D3 console rumors. blizzard so far has been strictly PC (with a few console games here and there). no idea how you'd play a game like diablo on a console anyway *shudder*

Then why do you have a problem with games being on consoles as well as PC? Why is that "sad"?

it's sad because the console will end up getting the focus. this vary from minor things, to more important things like a good UI (oblivion, UT3 UIs were terrible for PC) all the way to having horrible optimization.

one offender i know of is Capcom games. their primary market is the console. so the ports that do make it (lost planet, SF4, etc.) end up being very consolized. as one minor example, rather than read controls from a config file, the instructions will still say "press A/B/start" etc. i still enjoyed lost planet very much, but i nonetheless found it annoying that when tool tips were displayed, they used 360 controls.

 

[Throckmorton]

So what? So it sucks because of that? I don't understand your logic. If it is produced for multiple platforms the game automatically sucks??

They can produce Mass Effect 3 on ten platforms for all I care, as long as the game is fun.

Well I think it's worth noting that Dragon Age has a pretty inefficient engine. These cross platform games all seem to require quad cores and monster video cards, despite running on really modest console hardware... hmmmm

 

[Mem]

No one would go to Linux just because OpenGL would become the gaming standard, because if it did it would only replace Direct3D. DirectX is a all-in-one integration package that supplies more than video. Controllers, audio, video (2d&3d), etc. Developers love DirectX because they can spend more time making content and less time worrying about how to make everything work together.

Also, MS provides DX support free of charge to developers...no licensing fees and a wide footprint means no brainer at choosing a platform to support. Another strike against linux is its strength. Developers have enough problems developing for one platform with all of its various hardware options...imagine having to deal with all the various distributions out there, with varied package systems, varied kernal compilations.

MS provides standardization as well as a large install base....linux might be growing, but until it starts showing up on average Joe's machine it will never be more than fleeting potential.

I know DX is just more then video,I was speaking from gamers point of view,a lot of gamers would jump to Linux if OpenGL became the standard and Linux had the games support like Microsoft has,its the only reason I use Windows ie for gaming.

Linux has come a long way and you can get quite a few games running via WINE,end of the day Linux has progressed a lot over the years.

Microsoft will keep DX for their own operating systems and to be honest I can understand why,you protect your own interests,as to various packages for Linux it would not be hard to use something like Ubuntu for example as the gaming standard for Linux via OpenGL for games developers.

As to PC gaming its far from dead and is probably the longest serving gaming platform out there when you look at what has come and gone over the years.

 

[you2]

I rather game on linux than windows and I've begun to play older games on linux. For me linux offers a lot of advantage esp when it comes to figuring out what went wrong.

 

[LumbergTech]

I rather game on linux than windows and I've begun to play older games on linux. For me linux offers a lot of advantage esp when it comes to figuring out what went wrong.

generally it isnt hard to find out what went wrong on windows...if you've been a gamer for a while its second nature

 

[Mem]

I think the problem with Win8 is Win7 and not PC gaming,Win7 is such a good OS that its not going to be easy for Microsoft to get people to move over to Win8.

I think they are trying to reinvent PC gaming because of Win8 and not because of PC gaming in general.

I'm not saying Win8 is going to be bad far from it ,just that getting people to move over to another new OS so soon is not an easy task,can Microsoft do something special with Win8 gaming wise to get people to move over?..we shall see.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I know DX is just more then video,I was speaking from gamers point of view,a lot of gamers would jump to Linux if OpenGL became the standard and Linux had the games support like Microsoft has,its the only reason I use Windows ie for gaming.

You're talking about an extremely small, niche population of players. Development companies would not spend the money coding games for Linux platforms and even more importantly, having to support them afterwards. It would be an unwise business decision given the lack of ROI.

I'm a gamer (as are many people I know), and none of us would move to Linux if OpenGL became the standard rather then DX.

 

[Borealis7]

Microsoft to relaunch PC gaming with Windows 8

is W8 going to come with an Xbox360 Emulator? cause i dont see any other way...

 

[nyker96]

I think what PC gaming need is some exclusive titles like MS did with Gears of War series for 360. Just spend some cash make a title that's exclusive PC and has some really awesome contents and graphics that'll make console player's heart ache and mission accomplished.

 

[Anteaus]

I think what PC gaming need is some exclusive titles like MS did with Gears of War series for 360. Just spend some cash make a title that's exclusive PC and has some really awesome contents and graphics that'll make console player's heart ache and mission accomplished.

Things really got bad when MS shut down Ensemble and Aces, but I wouldn't worry about it in the long term. MS went thru a rough patch with Vista sucking and the recession, but things are looking up. MS has already announced that the Aces team has been reinstated and a new flight simulator is in development (though the original studio is gone forever) and also admitted to plans for future PC games. I wouldn't be surprised if we here some news about AOE4 in the following year. As happens toward the end of every console cycle, PC gaming will surge.

Companies like Steam are also proving to be very successful at moving units which would otherwise collect dust in stores. This can potentially give a new incentive for producing product, since its market viability is much more potent through digital distribution.

 

[sactoking]

I've owned copies of Windows '95, '98, XP, Vista, and 7. If Windows 8 is really the "cloud OS" they claim it will be I won't touch it with a 150' stick, regardless of whatever claims it makes to "revive" PC gaming.

Of course, even if Win8 ushers in the Renaissance of PC games, I'd be willing to bet that 95% of them are FPS's, which I wouldn't want to play anyway.

 

[biostud]

Maybe they will force games for windows live down our throat..... or was that windows 7?

Hasn't Microsoft tried to relaunch gaming with both Vista and W7?

 

[exdeath]

Ugh. I just played Dead Space for the PC and it's so obvious it was made to be a damn console game. The interface and controls are terrible. Having to use arrow keys to navigate inventory in a FPS, seriously?!

 

[JEDIYoda]

If games were still coded with OpenGL in mind it would open up the door for native Linux and Mac binaries, increasing the potential customer base for games by around 6% (based on market share).

rwhich in effect is insignificant...

 

[Maximilian]

Ugh. I just played Dead Space for the PC and it's so obvious it was made to be a damn console game. The interface and controls are terrible. Having to use arrow keys to navigate inventory in a FPS, seriously?!

Hook the 360 controller up to the PC, plays much better then :thumbsup:

 

[SonicIce]

tell them to bring back this:

 

[Fenixgoon]

Maybe they will force games for windows live down our throat..... or was that windows 7?

Hasn't Microsoft tried to relaunch gaming with both Vista and W7?

honestly, i don't know why people bitch about GFWL so much. it's really not all that bad. it hasn't reached steam levels of maturity, but i don't have any issues with it.

i remember the early steam days. god i hated it so much. and now i like it.

 

[Rebel44]

honestly, i don't know why people bitch about GFWL so much. it's really not all that bad. it hasn't reached steam levels of maturity, but i don't have any issues with it.

i remember the early steam days. god i hated it so much. and now i like it.

So why am I getting errors saying that I am either offline or in unsupported country? (btw. neither is true and GFWL is allowed in firewall).

 

[DefDC]

Hook the 360 controller up to the PC, plays much better then :thumbsup:

Gamepad on a FPS, on a PC?

SACRILIGE!

 

[PingSpike]

Maybe they will force games for windows live down our throat..... or was that windows 7?

Hasn't Microsoft tried to relaunch gaming with both Vista and W7?

Microsoft doesn't give a shit about PC Gaming, thank god. If they did they might actually do even more damage than they already have. Developers and consumers alike got burned when they hitched their wagon to Direct3D back in the day. MS will hem and haw about it every time they have a new OS to sell, but their actions speak clearly to their real thoughts on the matter. When PC Gaming and the 360 compete, MS will do everything in its power to make sure the PC loses. Where they can't make the 360 better, they will seek to make the PC artificially worse.

Let's be realistic, wholesale movement to OpenGL would potentially be a boon for Linux but the market for that isn't really that large. However, there is a great reason to switch to OpenGL even if you don't care about linux...you don't have to worry about Microsoft breaking compatibility between different windows operating systems for marketing reasons constantly and screwing you into developing multiple renderers. The very reason everyone started just using direct3D for all their games is the same reason reason they should use OpenGL now. DirectX10 features work on Windows XP with OpenGL, no OS upgrade required...only one renderer.

 

[crownjules]

Hook the 360 controller up to the PC, plays much better then :thumbsup:

Yeah but the whole point is that the keyboard + mouse control scheme is fucked. It says a lot that a console controller is suggested to resolve KB+M control problems. But that's on the developers who half-assed their control coding, not Microsoft.

 

[jonks]

Gamepad on a FPS, on a PC?

SACRILIGE!

An FPS, yes. But Dead Space is a TPS, so hook that sucker up.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Hook the 360 controller up to the PC, plays much better then :thumbsup:

Just shut off Vsync (I think that's the fix) and it plays well. No need to be gimped using a controller especially considering a big part of the game is precisely cutting off limbs.

 

[emilyek]

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.