Why ports are good for PC gaming

[mindcycle]

http://www.gamerzines.com/pc/blogs/ports-are-good-for-pc.html

We look at the controversy of Modern Warfare 2 and put in our two cents. Surely a poor port is better than no game at all?

The controversy about Modern Warfare 2 just keeps rolling on and on, despite the game being out for two weeks now. Robert Bowling has confirmed that the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 outsold the original during it's first week, yet according to GamesIndustry.biz the PC version only accounts for 3% of sales.

Now the Infinity Ward haters may claim this as some sort of victory for consumer choice, but in reality it represents a wider problem, the marginalisation of our platform. Here's a quote from Robert Bowling:

"Yes, PC is the smallest percentage in terms of how much sold on each platform but that hardly means anything other than the PC is just the smallest market."

His comments don't mean that the PC market is in trouble, after all Infinity Ward prioritises console development and Mr Bowling even goes on to praise the PC version as a tremendous success in his post on IWForums. This figure doesn't take into account the amount of Steam copies sold, so we'll reserve judgement until then. However what really got to us was the amount of people willing to celebrate Modern Warfare 2's poor performance as some kind of victory for our platform, like Infinity Ward should be punished for bringing their title to us.

Publishers realise that the money they spend on PC development is usually much less likely to be recouped, due to piracy, lack of interest and the open condemnation of a poor port. Nothing infuriates us more than we boot up a game and it still shows, "Press Start to Play", but frankly we haven't seen anything as bad as that for a good while.

We should appreciate titles like Bionic Commando, Resident Evil 5 and Star Wars Force Unleashed appearing on our platform, even if they aren't properly optimised or in some cases entertaining, because at least the developers attempted to bring it to our user-base.

Wow.. The guy who wrote this article completely misses the point IMO. First of all, PC gamers don't typically support moves that limit the way they can play a game. MW2 is so restrictive on the PC end it's a shame. For a title that started out on the PC it's clear where IW's priorities now lie.

Second, he wants to argue that we should be thankful that we get unoptimized ports since at least we get them.. Really?

I signed up for that site just to post a comment about the ridiculousness of this article.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

To the contrary of what the article's author said, it could be argued that console ports end up reducing the amount of PC gamer money that could go towards the purchase of high quality PC games. In other words, we would be better off having no or very few console ports and a few more high quality PC games.

A single good FPS, RTS, or online RPG can be enjoyed for years. If only 10 PC titles were released each year but were excellent first rate games, we would be fine.

 

[VashHT]

To summarize this guys argument: You guys don't make them much money anyway, so be happy you're getting games at all.

Wow what wonderful insight, if I wanted to play console games I wouldn't build a gaming PC, this is what PC gamers are pissed off about. I wouldn't even have a 360 if it wasn't for the retarded fake exclusive policy that MS runs on its games.

 

[dcalt21]

I could care less about console games and if their ported...Hate that we can't all play on the same network.

 

[JoshGuru7]

In other words, we would be better off having no or very few console ports and a few more high quality PC games.

In a free society any transaction is a benefit to both parties. What your describing may fit the mercantilist view of a zero sum game with winners and losers, but consider instead each individual sale on its own merits. If I purchase The Force Unleashed for the PC platform, I am doing so because I expect to derive more utility from it then the $25 I am parting with in return. As a result, I am better off for having this opportunity even if I might have derived even more utility from a trade where I received a pc-specific version of The Force Unleashed.

In essence, this is really the cheap substitute argument all over again, and consumers as a whole largely benefit from cheap substitutes - directly so if they purchase one.

 

[Dkcode]

I disagree with the article strongly. I don't want ports, i would rather not have the game than have a port.

After all it is a console game being ported. If i wanted to play console games then i would own a console.

It makes no sense.

 

[BladeVenom]

If they didn't make a bad console port, then more money would have been spent on games done right.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Console ports don't have to suck, but for some strange reason console games in general have low gameplay quality standards. Sure, there are a ton of crappy PC games but the best of the best console games are just sub par (to me, anyway). F.E.A.R is a good example of this, where the first game on PC is superior in gamepaly to the console version that followed for reasons that could have easily been addressed but where not because gameplay quality standards where lowered.

The second biggest gimp for the console is the self imposed lack of input devices. It would not be hard to make a mini keyboard like the G13 suited to use on a couch and a air mouse. This is my biggest concern for Mechwarrior 5 (aka, MW: Reloaded), anyone who has played the PC MW games knows you can not fit all the buttons onto a standard console controller (shift is not a option that I know of). But games like Steel Battalion have released their own custom controller for the game, so all may not be lost. The lack of input devices also ruins all attempts to put a decent RTS onto a console.

Then there is the outdated hardware issue which can only be addressed with a new gen console (though we are approaching the level of technology where it won't matter, imho).

As for the OP, "be happy you're getting the table scraps" sums it up nicely. Supply and demand would have to disagree with this article. If all major game makers that make games for console suddenly stopped making games for PC, companies would spring up to fill the empty niche because there will be a market for PC games as long as there are PC's. Budgets might not be there for new cutting edge graphics engines, but (imho) graphics have already hit a level of "good enough", where a extra shine like in Crysis does not make for a better game.

 

[duragezic]

I agree. Most so called ports aren't even true ports; they were built for the PC as well as the consoles.

Why would people rather not have the option??

Funny about that, because I asked why people cared about mods so much in MW2 when MW1 hardly had any, and people said they wanted an option.

MW2 is fine overall BTW.

And MW1 was released with all of the shit that the "bots" go on and on about, and it didn't sell that well compared to consoles and was heavily pirated. But people want IW to do the same thing over again?

 

[Zenoth]

Console ports don't have to suck, but for some strange reason console games in general have low gameplay quality standards. Sure, there are a ton of crappy PC games but the best of the best console games are just sub par (to me, anyway). F.E.A.R is a good example of this, where the first game on PC is superior in gamepaly to the console version that followed for reasons that could have easily been addressed but where not because gameplay quality standards where lowered.

The second biggest gimp for the console is the self imposed lack of input devices. It would not be hard to make a mini keyboard like the G13 suited to use on a couch and a air mouse. This is my biggest concern for Mechwarrior 5 (aka, MW: Reloaded), anyone who has played the PC MW games knows you can not fit all the buttons onto a standard console controller (shift is not a option that I know of). But games like Steel Battalion have released their own custom controller for the game, so all may not be lost. The lack of input devices also ruins all attempts to put a decent RTS onto a console.

Then there is the outdated hardware issue which can only be addressed with a new gen console (though we are approaching the level of technology where it won't matter, imho).

As for the OP, "be happy you're getting the table scraps" sums it up nicely. Supply and demand would have to disagree with this article. If all major game makers that make games for console suddenly stopped making games for PC, companies would spring up to fill the empty niche because there will be a market for PC games as long as there are PC's. Budgets might not be there for new cutting edge graphics engines, but (imho) graphics have already hit a level of "good enough", where a extra shine like in Crysis does not make for a better game.

That's a vague statement. What games are you referring to? What platform? What generation? The "best of the best console games" being sub par... are you talking about the ones you've played or the ones you know sold more copies than any games on the PC ever managed to do even ten years ago?

I really like PC gaming, and I am a fervent supporter of it, but I have been growing up with console games, I wasn't playing DOOM at 9 years-old, I was playing Mario Brothers on the NES, and when Half-Life was selling like cakes on the PC not only I wasn't even aware of its very existence just two months prior to its release (thanks to a gaming magazine) but I was enjoying Ocarina of Time on my N64. But, of course, that was a long time ago, and for the gamers who never experienced those years of golden gaming they would never understand how those ugly ass games by today's standards could ever compete with magnificent jewels like Crysis (just in case, check sarcasm meters), I guess it's to each their own indeed, it must be directly dependent on what generation of games/platforms you've known and been growing up with.

I really don't get what is the hatred (it seems to be generalized hatred to me) of console gaming by "PC gamers" however, are "PC gamers" 10 years-olds who've never played a single console game in their entire life? It seems that they've been forgetting about where and when so called "gaming" in general even started for them. I for one like console gaming, less today then I did before however, of course, because today (by "today" I mean since the past five years or so) it seems like the quality of console games in general, with a few exceptions, and I do mean a very little number, has decreased, but even if today I only own a PC for gaming (well I do still own a SNES, a Genesis, a PSX and a Nintendo 64, but that doesn't really count since I don't play them regularly) I will never deny the fact that the "best of the best console games" I've played in my life gave me much more entertainment and pure fun than most PC-exclusive games I have played.

I would like to conclude my thoughts by saying this: It's the console ports that I often don't like, but console gaming in general is still very high in my esteem, mostly because it is thanks to console gaming that I have known gaming itself, and that more importantly I "became" a "PC gamer", a PC gamer who still plays console games anyway, not only because console ports are generally bad, but because "true" PC-exclusive games really have no lessons to give to the best of the best that console gaming can offer. If console ports where always "done right" no one would complain about "console gaming" at all, all of a sudden.

 

[ZzZGuy]

@Zenoth

Ok, should have mentioned the latest generations (xbox, 360, ps2, ps3, ect).

Go back much further and yes, the gap is a lot less between console and PC. And I stand by my statement from personal experiences with the info above added. And sale numbers mean jack **** if I play that game and find it is crap compared to a similar PC game that I like much better. Perhaps it's my preferences, but that is how it is for me. -edit- Yes, larger sale numbers mean companies will pump out more of it. It still does not mean the quality of the product is better, only that they can get away with lower standards on console and have access to a larger market at the same time.

-edit, again- I started playing on the NES and right on up to the 360 (skipping a odd system here and there, and playing on friends systems). Right around when Doom came out is when I started shifting away from consoles until the Xbox came out and I lost most interest in consoles (still regret buying a 360, and the 20 or so games in a attempt to "enjoy" it). Today, genres like western RPGs/Mecha, RTS, FPS, space sim on consoles, I find few games worth playing. Of those few worth playing, they are usually on PC as well.

 

[Bateluer]

Andy Griffiths is an idiot. Does actually believe that PC gamers should be happy with half assed table scraps, poorly optimized ports, and a litany of axed features?

As another AT poster said, though, if all publishers stopped making PC games, a new generation of developers will full the considerable void. There's little need for a developer to sign with a publisher these days. Sell direct to the consumer, cut out the middle man, and develop quality titles for whatever platform they wish.

 

[sourceninja]

To summarize this guys argument: You guys don't make them much money anyway, so be happy you're getting games at all.

Wow what wonderful insight, if I wanted to play console games I wouldn't build a gaming PC, this is what PC gamers are pissed off about. I wouldn't even have a 360 if it wasn't for the retarded fake exclusive policy that MS runs on its games.

Welcome to the same status as max and Linux users. I kid :- p

 

[OCGuy]

Wow, garbage.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

In a free society any transaction is a benefit to both parties. What your describing may fit the mercantilist view of a zero sum game with winners and losers, but consider instead each individual sale on its own merits. If I purchase The Force Unleashed for the PC platform, I am doing so because I expect to derive more utility from it then the $25 I am parting with in return. As a result, I am better off for having this opportunity even if I might have derived even more utility from a trade where I received a pc-specific version of The Force Unleashed.

In essence, this is really the cheap substitute argument all over again, and consumers as a whole largely benefit from cheap substitutes - directly so if they purchase one.

Uh, yeah, I'm sure everyone reading this understands the free trader principle and some of us have even read Atlas Shrugged, Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal, and perhaps even the Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology.

I think you missed the main issue, which is, would gamers be better off having no console ports and fewer games for the PC if that meant having more high quality PC games? Would people be better off if they didn't have the choice of spending that $25 on an inferior game and instead could spend it on a better game? Yes, both the $25 console port and the $25 high quality PC game have more value to the purchaser than the $25. The question is whether people would be better off if the console port didn't exist and if in its place were higher quality games of the same genre.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Zenoth, what you're missing is that PC gaming is all about online multiplayer freedom and custom content--you don't get that with consoles. PC games also tend to be a little deeper and have more long term replay value. Is anyone going to meet up in an IRC channel, pick teams for a 5v5 game of capture-the-flag, and then go play the match on a console? I don't think so. Is it even possible to build and program custom maps and mods on consoles?

I see the move towards console gaming as being a dumbing down of the FPS, RTS, and RPG genres and also as an end to custom content and unrestricted online multiplayer gaming. Formerly good PC titles have also been compromised, such as the Unreal Tournament series which was essentially gutted by consolization.

 

[Zenoth]

Zenoth, what you're missing is that PC gaming is all about online multiplayer freedom and custom content--you don't get that with consoles. PC games also tend to be a little deeper and have more long term replay value. Is anyone going to meet up in an IRC channel, pick teams for a 5v5 game of capture-the-flag, and then go play the pug match on a console? I don't think so.

I for one never met anyone on IRC to organize on-line matches with friends or strangers for my on-line PC games, I always simply relied on in-game server browsers and populated and non-passworded games with decent pings. And I am not "missing" the point about PC gaming, I know what PC gaming is and what part of console gaming is and has always been different, and I disagree that PC games "tend to be a little deeper", if you generalize on that I would like to get a list of the multiple games you're referring to.

There are good and bad games on both sides, and both sides have their advantages and disadvantages. I for one liked console gaming from the moment I could bring my console at a friend's and play my games with him as well as him showing me his games for his different console (or the same one), for me console gaming is about meeting with friends in person, in flesh, when I could call my friends or my cousin a day in advance or the very same day and arrange with him and/or his parent(s) to go sleep at his place for one or two days and play games and go play outside as well. We would call our own friends and we ended up being a group of four or five players switching places in different games and playing almost all day long.

That was console gaming for me, PC gaming on the other hand, despite all of its advantages will never be anything like that, it's not as simple as «hey, alright, I'll bring my tower, my big and heavy monitor, all the wires that goes with it, all the peripherals, the speakers, all the software, and play with my friend at his place with a LAN when his own computer won't be able to host anything and me having a clear advantage of getting 60+ FPS while he stutters at minimum settings while heating up the room with all that electronics in one place», it just couldn't be like that even if back then when I enjoyed console gaming I did have a PC capable of playing any games in the first place. I find PC gaming to be a very independent entertainment platform, I can certainly play "with friends", but I happen to not actually know those persons in real life, they are pure strangers on my Steam friends list or they are pure strangers on discussion forums with whom I happen to be in good relation with, then we meet, on-line, everyone behind their own monitor and that's it. Is that "bad"? No, but I preferred the console way of things way better.

For me console gaming was about two things, mostly, the first being the simplicity we console gamers had to gather up at one's place and just plug and play our games, and secondly it was almost about the fact that back then PC gaming, for me, was a vague possibility in a distant future since I was young, I was barely considering it even if games I had seen on demonstration stands at big stores showing stuff like Quake or DOOM II was making me salivating, but I was still at primary and then at high school and didn't have a job nor my own hard-earned money to "get" into PC gaming. But with all that said, today as I type this I find myself playing more console ports on PC than actual PC-exclusive games. And to be honest all the "best" PC games I've played so far are console ports, did I asked that those games had to be ports myself? No of course not, if they would have received a clear advantage of being developed "for the PC" I would have been happy, but I have to be content with the little I do enjoy on PC.

And the trend of gaming "quality", for my own tastes, has been the same on PC than it became on console, namely that the older games on both platforms are better in general than the vast majority of games we have today. A couple of years ago it seemed to be that PC-exclusive games were just as good if not better than console games, with games like the original Unreal Tournament or Quake or DOOM or Freespace and Diablo or Baldur's Gate, and I could go on and on. But which PC-exclusive game can you name of the recent years that you've been enjoying like nothing before and makes you very "proud" to be a PC gamer? Can you name a few? Can you name one? I mean recent game, I guess you can go back to about four or five years ago? And then from last year or this year, can you name one?

The point is that I can count on the fingers of both hands how many PC-exclusives I've really enjoyed, while I can't count the number of innovative, revolutionary and mind-blowing console games I've played in my life. But, of course, I've known console gaming for much longer than I've known PC gaming, but to be honest from my own circle of real life friends that do own a PC today absolutely none of them actually "grew up" with PC gaming only and could easily claim to have played more high-quality PC games than on consoles, simply because they too grew up with a NES and a Genesis instead of a 386 or a 486, they remember Mario Brothers' music instead of DOOM's. But still, with all that said I am not "hating" PC gaming for what it is. I have been part of its direct advantages myself by making mods for a few games when I had the knowledge to make basic, often boring stuff. It's a thing that PC gaming allows us to temper with game files and create our own levels, but who actually can devote themselves to do it, and more importantly how many do actually know how to do it?

I've made mods for Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3, some of which I have publicized. I made some very basic and pointless maps for the Source-based games with the Hammer editor, I've made a few basic landscapes with CryTek's editor for Crysis, but I have very limited knowledge in how to do such things, it ain't given to everyone, nor do every PC gamer actually have the will or the time to give to any non-playing activities and spend more time at making mods than actually playing their game (for me that was the case with Oblivion and it has been the case recently with Fallout 3). You really have to be passionate about your own project. The consoles may not have granted console gamers such possibilities of modifying their games, but to be honest... at least back when console games were usually good... you really didn't even think of it. Today when most PC gamers want to modify their game it's because they want to "fix" things they don't like about the vanilla state of the game (Bethesda games being the very best example there is), it certainly has to do with the millions of different game-play tastes out there, wanting to create the "given" game and sculpture it to their own image, but I really don't remember people wanting to change any levels or characters or items in Ocarina of Time or even DOOM... they just enjoyed it for what it was.

You know... I could go on and on about how good console gaming was for me. It ain't anymore, in general, but I still respect it for what it is, it must remain, what most not remain are the grossly concocted ports that tarnish the image of PC gaming. The consoles by themselves do no harm to PC gaming, what does are those old ignorant and pretentious business men and corporate non-sense controlling our beloved developers thinking about one thing and only one and going where the fishes bite and simplifying everything when it comes down to giving the product to us PC gamers.

If I had to chose for a console today I would get a Wii, since for me it remains the only console to actually be the closest thing there is to a so called console, the others I consider them to be poor man's PCs and nothing more, but despite all my love for console gaming I chose to stay with PC gaming because I try to support it the best I can and because I'm older, my friends have their own lives today and none of them own a console anymore and even if they did we wouldn't have the time to gather up a group like we did before and just have fun together, now it's to each their own and if I want to play with friends it ends up being with my PC without knowing the person(s) I play with. To some extent I envy the current "new" generation of gamers, those who've been growing up with PC gaming, perhaps, and will never be wishing that things, often, could be as they were before, but I bet you that when they get older they too one day will claim that their "good ol' days" were better when they have games like Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3... and if that sounds pathetic you better get used to it because the trends of gaming isn't going anywhere better than that at this point on both platforms.

 

[styrafoam]

PC gamers are lucky to have half hearted ports, something is better than nothing. OK, got it.

Seriously, if the quality of your effort is best summarized with the phrase "well at least i did something, you are lucky for that much." then hopefully all you are doing is flipping burgers. With any luck you will be able to find a job walking dogs after you get fired from IN & OUT.

 

[Lonyo]

Wow, this guy doesn't even check his facts.

In last week's UK chart, Modern Warfare 2 took the top place after sales in excess of 1.7 million. The PC version of the game also topped the PC specific chart, although it was revealed that its sales accounted for just three per cent of the overall total. This figure doesn't however take into account digital sales.

According to Gameindustry.biz, in the UK retail boxed versions for PC only accounted for 3% of sales. That's not the same as the PC version only accounting for 3% of sales. In fact, it's not even close to being the same thing.

When your starting point is grossly wrong, how can you even hope to draw a valid conclusion?

 

[WildW]

I appreciate some console ports. Played the demo of Need For Speed Shift. . . it's like a console racing game (which I like), but the graphics are way better on my PC, and I can still use a 360 controller. Best of all worlds.

If only we could approach this issue from the other way around. Start campaigning to fix console games - e.g. add mouse support, dedicated servers, etc, then we wouldn't have anything to complain about for the PC port

 

[BD231]

You guys are forgetting that console games abide by much different release standards/time frames, they're in the business for profit, not to pleaes your picky a**s!! They can't waste YEARS releasing new titles, that's a massive waste of money and the PC proves that. When you can release titles that people like to play and pay for in more exciting packages, why wouldnt you take advantage of that market?

For every one person complaining, you've got three people talking about how sick it was to blow eachothers heads off over the weekend in that cool new title they all just bought. Ports are great, they're easy to pirate.

 

[slayer202]

you guys are nuts. the article is saying that PC versions of just about all of these multi-platform games sell a very small of units compared to the ps3/xbox versions, meaning we should be thankful that the developers still make the PC version. Wouldn't you prefer the attempt rather than no game at all? You don't HAVE to buy it if its bad, but maybe its a good one. At least they made it so you can find out

 

[DangerAardvark]

"Press ENTER to play". Hmm where do I remember that phrase from... oh yeah, from playing Borderlands half an hour ago. Well, at least they had the decency to change "start" to "enter".

Anyway, screw ports. There are still a few companies who care about the PC, and they put out enough shit so that we don't have to felch the sloppy seconds out of console gamers' assholes.

 

[Lonyo]

"Press ENTER to play". Hmm where do I remember that phrase from... oh yeah, from playing Borderlands half an hour ago. Well, at least they had the decency to change "start" to "enter".

Anyway, screw ports. There are still a few companies who care about the PC, and they put out enough shit so that we don't have to felch the sloppy seconds out of console gamers' assholes.

I don't get the whole "Press start to play" thing anyway.
What place does it have on consoles, let alone PCs? Why do developers even bother to put that there? Why not just go straight to the menu in both console and PC versions?

 

[lupi]

#1: The best pc games blow the best console games out of the water

#2 If the ported games didn't historically suck so much ass they'd still have higher sales

#3 Most of the crappiness with ports is due to lack of effort spent on the title by the developer

#4 if console users were forced to experience similar drm and related punishments to play their games I'd be interested in seeing the effect on sales.

#5 A well seasoned spoonfull of shit is still going to taste remarkedly like shit.