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

[wuliheron]

You keep using that word, but you don't seem to know what it means.

They shut down Aces studio. That's a fact. Can you say fact? A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fact Any of this getting through?

They shut down Ensemble Studios, which also made PC games. That is also a fact.

They shut down FASA Studio, which made PC games.

They shut down Digital Anvil which made PC exclusives.

Microsoft converted Lionhead Studios from making PC games to making Xbox games.

To produce games for Xbox, Microsoft will force developers to delay or cancel their PC version. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...nvinced-microsoft-to-let-it-make-alan-wake-pc

Microsoft left the PC Gaming Alliance. That is another fact. Here, check for yourself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Gaming_Alliance

So what? EA and other publishers have done the same kind of crap, but continue to publish PC games. All it means is like any huge corporation they can be ruthless in pursuit of the all mighty dollar.

MS is a monopoly and as such their whole focus is on controlling the markets rather than destroying them. For 15 years Apple gave them no real competition in PC gaming allowing them to manipulate the market at will. If a PC game developer looked likely to hurt their xBox profits, why not just buy them out or pressure them to delay releasing PC versions.

However, in recent years Apple has stepped up to the plate and begun making their machines PC gaming friendly. If MS wants to maintain their control over the market and their ability to manipulate prices at will they will have to keep competing with Apple for PC gamers. That's the beauty of competition and the reason we regulate monopolies like MS so they can't completely crush the competition and destroy entire markets.

 

[BladeVenom]

So what? EA and other publishers have done the same kind of crap, but continue to publish PC games.

Sure EA has destroyed lots of studios, but they are also hated for. Yet they still produce lots of PC games. Over a dozen last year.

The year before the Xbox came out, 2000, MS Gaming Studios published 14 PC games. Last year 2011, they published 2.

 

[wuliheron]

Sure EA has destroyed lots of studios, but they are also hated for. Yet they still produce lots of PC games. Over a dozen last year.

The year before the Xbox came out, 2000, MS Gaming Studios published 14 PC games. Last year 2011, they published 2.

According to the National Science Foundation one in five Americans still believes the sun revolves around the earth. That's a huge market of colossally ignorant people ready to be exploited by MS. People so ignorant they are not even aware they can use a different browser than explorer, but might want to play the occasional game on the PC. So MS provides them with the occasional game if for no other reason then to prevent them from figuring out they don't have to rely on MS for all their gaming needs.

 

[gladiatorua]

So what? EA and other publishers have done the same kind of crap, but continue to publish PC games. All it means is like any huge corporation they can be ruthless in pursuit of the all mighty dollar.

Sure EA has destroyed lots of studios, but they are also hated for. Yet they still produce lots of PC games. Over a dozen last year.

EA doesn't care what platform their customer uses. They close their studios because of financial reasons. Misguided, maybe. But legitimate enough. EA doesn't care about consoles beyond them being a market.

Microsoft's reasons are quite different. They are not interested in PC as a gaming platform. Death of their studios that developed for PC is a minor "crime". It has little impact on the industry. Delaying the releases of PC version from other publishers is an obvious sign. Again, Microsoft does NOT get a cut from a game sold on Windows platform beyond the money they got for the Windows copy which are insignificant compared to the cut of EVERY game sold on Xbox. If the user buys PC version instead of Xbox version Microsoft looses money.

 

[wuliheron]

EA doesn't care what platform their customer uses. They close their studios because of financial reasons. Misguided, maybe. But legitimate enough. EA doesn't care about consoles beyond them being a market.

Microsoft's reasons are quite different. They are not interested in PC as a gaming platform. Death of their studios that developed for PC is a minor "crime". It has little impact on the industry. Delaying the releases of PC version from other publishers is an obvious sign. Again, Microsoft does NOT get a cut from a game sold on Windows platform beyond the money they got for the Windows copy which are insignificant compared to the cut of EVERY game sold on Xbox. If the user buys PC version instead of Xbox version Microsoft looses money.

EA closes studios for whatever reasons they want including preventing new games from competing with their previous investments or whatever. As for MS, again, they can manipulate the market to their advantage all they want, but if they lose their technical lead in PC gaming they surrender that ability to manipulate the market to their competitors.

 

[gladiatorua]

As for MS, again, they can manipulate the market to their advantage all they want, but if they lose their technical lead in PC gaming they surrender that ability to manipulate the market to their competitors.

Surrender? They pay studios to delay or stop releases of PC versions of games for Xbox.
Do you remember the aftermath of browser wars at the beginning of 00s? Microsoft became monopolist and crippled web technologies for years.

 

[wuliheron]

Surrender? They pay studios to delay or stop releases of PC versions of games for Xbox.
Do you remember the aftermath of browser wars at the beginning of 00s? Microsoft became monopolist and crippled web technologies for years.

They ARE a monopoly and to expect them to act like they are something else is absurd. However, that doesn't mean they are stupid enough to believe they can eliminate all the competition or destroy PC gaming. Like I said, Apple is providing competition in that department and is not some wimpy company MS can stomp on.

 

[irishScott]

Sure EA has destroyed lots of studios, but they are also hated for. Yet they still produce lots of PC games. Over a dozen last year.

The year before the Xbox came out, 2000, MS Gaming Studios published 14 PC games. Last year 2011, they published 2.

And this is indicative that Microsoft is complacent with PC gaming, not that they're on some 5th column mission of destroying it.

If Microsoft ceases to support PC gaming, someone else (probably Apple) will take over. That's capitalism. PC gaming, while not the largest market anymore, is still an almost 20 billion dollar industry. Any company that abandons that kind of revenue when they largely already have control of it is idiotic.

 

[Siberian]

I would like to upgrade Vista to 8. For $40, it seems like a deal. I just need to decide to either wait for a patch and full review or to just jump in on day 1.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Windows 8 is adding some improvements over windows 7 which will likely be a requirement for future games: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5630/indepth-with-the-windows-8-consumer-preview/14

and when he means future he means games 5 years from now

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Saying Microsoft is the greatest gaming platform of all time is like saying the Pinto is the greatest luxury car ever made.

Just saying.

 

[Barfo]

Saying Microsoft is the greatest gaming platform of all time is like saying the Pinto is the greatest luxury car ever made.

Just saying.

If the Pinto and one of those soviet cars made of cardboard where the only available cars then your analogy would be correct.

 

[ControlD]

They ARE a monopoly and to expect them to act like they are something else is absurd. However, that doesn't mean they are stupid enough to believe they can eliminate all the competition or destroy PC gaming. Like I said, Apple is providing competition in that department and is not some wimpy company MS can stomp on.

How can you in one sentence claim MS is a monopoly and another state Apple is providing competition? A monopoly has no competition.

 

[Dkcode]

Saying Microsoft is the greatest gaming platform of all time is like saying the Pinto is the greatest luxury car ever made.

Just saying.

The primary PC games platform for the past 15 years has been Windows, there has been no real alternative. At least with cars you have a choice.

 

[wuliheron]

How can you in one sentence claim MS is a monopoly and another state Apple is providing competition? A monopoly has no competition.

Technically they are an oligopoly, but for all practical purposes a regulated monopoly. A kid setting up a lemonade stand does not count as competition for the grocery store. The threat to MS is that if they stomp on the competition too hard the government will intervene.

Speculation has it this is what delayed the release of Intel's latest ivy bridge chip. They've been stomping on AMD so hard for years that they now they had to delay releasing the chip or risk the government intervening by providing AMD with fabrication facilities to better compete with them. By definition it's not competition when you have to depend on the government doing you special favors just to stay alive.