I always talk about the political news of the day, and I’m literally getting bored of it, because it’s obvious that neither party cares about anything, and with the Republicans blocking everything the spineless Democrats to do, it’s like nothing will ever get done. Which is sad and stupid, but what am I going to do about it?
So I thought, “Let’s talk about video games,” because I’ve noticed a crazy trend, and I went to many, many, many people – both in the industry and gamers – to discuss it. The problem is this subject always boils down into the debate over whether the console game or the PC is a better gaming platform, and I hate that debate like I hate every other debate that ends in flame wars.
So let me say my piece and get out.
It appears that Ubisoft put out a very bad console-to-PC port of the From Dust game. Which then put all of Ubisoft’s PC releases in limbo. Including the pivotal Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. When questioned, the reasoning can be interpretted something like this:
“We hate making games for the PC, and would prefer to make games for the XBox/Playstation. We have a plethora of reasons – it’s easier, there’s less piracy, it’s easier, we get more money, it’s easier, etc. – but the reality is that most of our games are now going to be console ports to the PC. If we even decide to support the PC release. So fuck you PC gamers.”
Which would be not-news if my buddy Collin over at Blizzard hadn’t mentioned something similar like a month ago:
“While World of Warcraft on the PC is literally like owning our own mint that prints money, Blizzard has been looking for ways to get into the console market and ditch the PC one. Mostly because 1) it’s easier when the console machines have one set of hardware specifics so you’re not worried about making it work for 3 OS’s, 10 different graphics cards and ninety different internet settings; 2) console games make money faster; and 3) games like Diablo are perfect for console controllers. Nevermind our RTS games would suck for consoles – upper management is like, ‘They did it with Command and Conquer, so let’s make it work for all our future RTS titles like StarCraft and Warcraft. Throw our new MMO and Diablo on there, too.’ I’d complain about how bad an idea like that is, but upper management is dead set on doing it on the XBox first, PC second. Which means the PC versions are all going to suffer in the long run. Uuurgggh!”
And then there’s my friend from Eidos:
“If you couldn’t tell, we ported most of the functions from XBox/PS3 Deus Ex: Revolution versions to the PC version. Including some of the bad decisions and clunky cutscenes. This was because Square Enix was literally humping our boss’s leg, saying that the console market (i.e. the PS3) was the future of all video gaming. And since Square Enix is successful and (finger quotes) knows what they are doing when it comes to video games (end finger quotes), upper management is listening to them and not to the real programmers who say that the PC market is gaining new steam and is way more flexible than the XBox Three Shitty or the HackedStation 3.”
Here’s a summary of what a majority of my gaming pals had to say about this – “I prefer playing games on the XBox 360, because that’s where 80% of my friends play multiplayer games, and I don’t have to upgrade my PC rig with a $1000 of new stuff to play a game that I want to play. Think I’m exaggerating? I wanted to play Witcher 2/Crysis 2/insert graphic intense game here at moderate performance, and the box I built for $600 10 months ago chugs. Fucking CHUGS with choppy areas when I play.”
And that’s sad. But here’s a really big thing example of what happens when the team working on the PC version is more concerned about the console release. They release the wrong version to the PC gaming world. Oops!
Frustrating as that may be, I can see the benefits of owning both consoles and a PC, and gaming on both. Unfortunately, the industry is swinging farther into the console is best territory, and that’s going to suck. Especially if I get an XBox port of Skyrim for the PC version of the game.
Good news: We PC gamers will always have Minecraft. Always.
Minecraft. -shudder!- If that’s good news, I don’t want to hear the bad news.
How shitty of a machine did they build for $600, if they need another thousand to get decent performance?
Sorry, that should be “budget” or summat, not “shitty.”
I think they meant to throw away their old $600 machine and buy a new $1000 one.
The reality is that graphics cards are sometimes the most expensive thing to update on your machine. You build your machine around your motherboard, and you select your motherboard often times to accept the graphics card you want to use. So when you have to change your graphics card to something better, sometimes your motherboard won’t work with a newer graphics card. At least with some of these dudes, that’s how they operate.
Which is poor planning, yes. I wouldn’t do that in a million years. I’d build my machine around being upgradable for years.
I would stand on the PC Platform myself, because of the modding and indie studios out there. You get very limited tools to work with on the console side of things. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are some sdk for console users but overall it’s limited compared to what one can do with a actual PC enabled sdk for the fans by the company.
Look at UDK and Crysis 3 engine and Source, not to mention several other SDK for RTS and FPS based games. By doing this the companies still get fan support for the gaming consumers. I bought my kids a Wii just so they could play some the games they’d like to play, like the wii sports, Just Dance and a few other girly games I’ll just say they liked.
One my kids asked me “Dad, if they did this to -level- it would be a bit more challenging or at least a add a powerup so you didn’t have to die almost instantly if you missed the jump or landed the wrong way.” All I could do is look at her and tell her, sorry that’s the way the developers made that level.
As far as PC builds go, I’ve always been a strong supporter of doing a buildup from a barebone purchase and then being very selective with the purchasing and making sure I limit myself to a budget od a set amount and challenge myself to keeping to said budget. So far every game I have works like glass on my machine. I’ll always go that extra step and at times even call the GPU vendor to see if said card will work with Mainboard X as well as the O/S that will be installed. So as you said and as I did, I built a machine that will still have at least 5 more good yrs of the already 3 yrs it’s already had going for it before having to upgrade at some degree.
And I agree with you, Leon, about the entire PC argument that it is the better platform. It’s just that younger people are going to support the console platform for a long time, unless we start selling TV’s with fully upgradable PCs installed in them. And they could play Halo 7 or Gears of War 6 or whatever the new multiplayer fad was for the console platform.
OH, I know that feeling being someone with 3 kids they’re already buggng me for the new Wii-U and I’m not caving in they can get jobs and earn the $ to buy themselves if they want it that bad. I’m not made of money that’s for sure. and this Evo 2 wifi cloud console? I mean really….. another fad that will come and go and leave people with a nasty taste in their mouths.
I’m trying to get my oldest to lean more into the pc side of gaming (even though she has a GC, DS, ps2 and laptop) I’m even trying to teach about emulation so she could play her “Anime” imports. (Yes, I take responibility in creating that monster.) Cloud technology is ok, but it is still in such an infancy stage it’s going to be a tad different with the cloud O/S Windows and the Google O/S. What do you think about gaming and cloud technology ?