Windows:The greatest gaming platform in history: (Window 8 Discussion)

[HeXploiT]

Yes yes we all say that we hate windows and we all use some form of Unux(Linux) to prove it.
Realistically though I've had Windows on my rigs all these years for two reasons;
1. It's easy to hack and I can make it do whatever I want it to do due to its poor security.
2. It's the best gaming platform in the world if only because this is the primary platform for most game developers in the world.

In comes Windows 8.
I have watched and participated in the birth of every version of Microsoft OS's beginning with Dos 5, 6. win 3.1, win 95, 95b, 98, 98b, Me, NT, XP, Vista & finally windows 7.
Each and every time people screamed that the new OS sucked and that it was going to die a painful death. Well...for the first time I am extremely concerned that the new version of Windows OS will be an extreme detriment specifically to the PC gaming community as it will finally accomplish what Microsoft has been attempting to accomplish for all these years.
That is removing power & flexibility from the user.
They've tried it in the past. If I remember correctly removing autoexec.bat was one example in "ME" but the user ultimately won. This time around however there are some major changes to the OS that all the crying in the world won't fix with Windows 8.

I would really like to hear from people that have been using Windows 8.
Are my concerns unjustified? Is there hope for PC gaming with the coming of Windows 8?

Moved to PC Gaming on OP's request
-ViRGE

 

[HeXploiT]

Dangit I should have put this in PC gaming as it really concerns gaming more than windows 8. Any chance I can get a MOD to move it?

Anyway back to the topic...

 

[HeXploiT]

RaELLY? 130 VIEWS and nobody has any concerns? I guess my concerns are unfounded and windows will continue to dominate the games world.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

I heard they removed the start button and any code that would let people bring it back.

WTF?

 

[CPA]

I'm not a Windows expert by any measure, but when I heard that Win8 was designed with the tablet in mind, I knew I would be sticking with Win7 for a long time.

 

[Nebor]

I'm sure a l33t hacker like yourself will figure it out.

 

[mmntech]

I'm not a Windows expert by any measure, but when I heard that Win8 was designed with the tablet in mind, I knew I would be sticking with Win7 for a long time.

This. Metro from what I've seen is best suited for a touch interface. They're trying too hard to copy Apple's succes by making their flagship OS more "mobile" and touch friendly. Apple has been taking OS X in this direction for awhile now. I'm not a huge fan of it as I've always worried it will become like iOS. Locked down and limited. OS X is a very powerful operating system if you're comfortable with Unix. Windows too is powerful.

In terms of gaming, the biggest threat would be the "consolization" of the PC. Making it into something similar to an Xbox. Locked down, and limited. I don't think this will happen with 8 but I can see it coming down the pipeline.

 

[Nintendesert]

Who gives a ***? We're PC gamers not hackers. As long as Windows 8 is less resource intensive than Windows 7 and plays all our games without issues we're going to be happy with it. It got really old trying to resolve IRQ conflicts and messing with DOS to play games. Beyond that ease of use for Windows in PC gaming I don't know what the hackability of Windows has to do with PC gaming or the PC gaming subforum.

 

[KentState]

The biggest issue is not Windows 8, but the death of OpenGL and no third party equivalent of DirectX. Those wheels were set in motion a long time ago and now we are 99% locked into the MS platform. Unfortunately, it takes someone the size of MS to force hardware manufacturers to follow common APIs and to standardize the industry. I doubt an open source solution could muster as much adherence.

 

[Jodell88]

The biggest issue is not Windows 8, but the death of OpenGL and no third party equivalent of DirectX. Those wheels were set in motion a long time ago and now we are 99% locked into the MS platform. Unfortunately, it takes someone the size of MS to force hardware manufacturers to follow common APIs and to standardize the industry. I doubt an open source solution could muster as much adherence.

lolwut?

OpenGL is not dead, and never has been. Most game engines have OpenGL renderers but they just aren't used. RAGE was the last major game to use OpenGL AFAIK.

 

[Nintendesert]

lolwut?

OpenGL is not dead, and never has been. Most game engines have OpenGL renderers but they just aren't used. RAGE was the last major game to use OpenGL AFAIK.

You're right, it's not dead. It's just antiquated compared to DX.

 

[0___________0]

I don't see it affecting PC gaming, regardless of all the stupid decisions I think they've made, because none of those stupid changes are going to affect my games. Metro is a dumb idea, but it doesn't affect the PC as a gaming platform.

RaELLY? 130 VIEWS and nobody has any concerns? I guess my concerns are unfounded and windows will continue to dominate the games world.

I'm guessing a lot of those views come mostly from search engines and some lurkers.

 

[imaheadcase]

win 8 is nothing but win 7 with themes.

Nothing worth upgrading for, compare it to win 7 features and win 8 nothing stands out as "must upgrade". In fact more things say "don't upgrade".

Not starting out well if that goes on.

Like others said, win 8 is geared towards mobile market, PC seems to be a afterthought.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Once the new Microsoft Surface is released, I'm buying one ASAP. But I don't anticipate replacing my desktop OS with W8 unless the Metro ui works flawlessly with mouse/kb. Which I highly doubt, but we'll see.

 

[-Slacker-]

If they add dx 11.1 to win7 I'm not even going to consider win 8, unless they make it like 20 bucks, which won't happen...

 

[Mem]

I'm more interested in Windows 9 ,waiting to see which direction that will go,however Windows 8 is a very bold and you could argue wrong move by Microsoft which will upset a lot of desktop PC owners,end of the day I will watch and see how it does etc .....I'm very happy with Win7 and will say its my favourite OS Windows wise so far.


I do use Windows 8 on one of my older PCs for experimentation /learning etc....will I install RTM version down the road?..... well probably but does not mean I like every part of Win8.
Microsoft have made a bold move and it could backfire on them,time will tell.


As a gamer I will go with the best gaming OS,if it turns out to be Win8 then so be it.

 

[BrightCandle]

It doesn't look like Windows 8 will be bad for gaming, it just wont improve gaming either. We have had common problems for all games to do with settings for a very long time, partly solved in the drivers and partly solved in the games and yet really everyone is working around the poor OS support for performance related settings. Gamers will still be able to launch the games and presumably it'll come with the latest and greatest DX just like usual so its all going to be normal.

I think Windows 8 is a problem for work more than it is for home as the improvements are mostly towards tablets and there is a small reduction in speed and capability for workstation users. Nothing I have seen so far makes me want to get it for my desktop but I probably will upgrade at some point.

 

[DeadFred]

I dont know anyone who uses windows 8, however I do know a few who tried and tossed it.

Windows 7 is doing all I need it to do so I have no reason to give MS more of my hard earned money.

 

[Jaskalas]

If you're going to use a tablet... get Windows 8. I salute the brave pioneers who intend to game on such low end hardware and clunky UI.

 

[Slew Foot]

Just another step toward the casualization and consolization of the gaming market.

 

[wuliheron]

The idea that MS is abandoning PC gaming or attempting to consolize the PC is absurd. They have the lead in PC gaming because they invested a lot of money into gaming when nobody else would. Now that Apple is quickly expanding their gaming capacity MS would be fools to give up their lead. I consider windows 8 to be nothing more then MS getting its feet wet in the tablet market and attempting to compete with Apple's dominance of the hardware supply chain.

Apple has been kicking everyone's butt with their dominance of the supply chain and ability to simultaneously develop software for the hardware they build. It doesn't matter if someone else has equally good or better technology if they can't beat Apple to market first with their products. Hence MS is suddenly moving into the tablet hardware market in a big way when traditionally they would be reassuring their partners they won't step on their hardware markets. Windows 8 is obviously their rush job to create a completely different os for the tablet and they'll sort out the problems later.

 

[gothamhunter]

I heard they removed the start button and any code that would let people bring it back.

WTF?

You heard wrong. It's basically a tablet front with Win7 backend; if you open an Office document it goes into a Win7-like interface.

 

[JamesV]

History tends to repeat itself, so I'd venture the opinion that Win 8 will fail pretty bad from a gamer standpoint.

98 - ME
XP - Vista
7 - 8

I think I'll stick to the left side.

 

[jtyler79asia]

uh, no..

 

[Nintendesert]

History tends to repeat itself, so I'd venture the opinion that Win 8 will fail pretty bad from a gamer standpoint.

98 - ME
XP - Vista
7 - 8

I think I'll stick to the left side.

What if you rearrange it into a circle and only try to stick to the middle side?