Atari to auction off game assets in July
Civilization 5: Brave New World trailer delves into new ideologies
What the community thinks of Xbox One
Rumor: Microsoft's NFL deal cost $400 million over 5 years
SimCity 4.0 update offers 'launch park,' new region
id and Epic: Multiplatform because of piracy
by Chris Faylor, Mar 10, 2007 9:17am PSTAcross two separate lectures at this week's Game Developers Conference, id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead and Epic Games president Michael Capps both admitted that piracy of PC games caused their companies to pursue developing beyond the PC platform. "Piracy has pushed id as being multiplatform," stated Hollenshead, whose company contracted Z-Axis to handle the PlayStation 3 version and Nerve Software the Xbox 360 edition of Splash Damage's forthcoming Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC). Comments made by Epic's Capps carried a similar tone. "PC gaming is really falling apart," he revealed. "It killed us to make Unreal Tournament 3 cross-platform, but Epic had to do it," adding "the market that would buy a $600 video card knows how Bittorrent works." Epic is currently developing Unreal Tournament 3 for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in-house. Meanwhile, Firaxis designer and programmer Soren Johnson remained confident in PC development. He suggested that "game design on the PC is going to bend toward persistence," noting Blizzard's World of Warcraft is "successful because you can't pirate WoW. You cannot pirate an MMO. Period."
Comments
And lets not forget, with PC games, you can prevent the Warez from playing online. And with games like BF2-2142, Online play is where it's at.
Doug Lombardi on the PC as a platform.
I've bought and paid for every PC game I have.
Am I alone?
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
Drop the CD/DVD protection, distribute games via bittorrent (ie, take advantage of this distribution system) for FREE. Then all users to play a small DEMO companent of this game (maybe a quick single-player level), then if they like it (ie, the game is actually good), get them to logon and pay for a user key over the 'net! This would save HEAPS of money with distribution (ie, users themselves will do most of the work) AND useless DRM protection royalties! IMHO, this is a win-win for everyone!
Basically, enourage people to "pirate" games, but include a mechanisim to require payment for actual use!
I don't know about you guys but the Me First and the Gimme Gimme developer crowd hasn't done anything worth writing home about since what Quake 2? Quake 3 maybe? Let the FPS glut move on over to creating shitty WWII games on consoles.
I for one look forward to the next generation of developers who take advantage of the openness of the PC platform. Maybe they won't have a $10 million budget to create life like boob physics on DMX's blinged out girl friend. But you know, I've never bought a game for boob physics.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
Making a legitimate consumer jump through all sorts of hoops just to play a game (especially when these countermeasures are easily cracked days after release) feels like being called a criminal, and interviews like this only add to it. They should be so lucky that they can "have their cake and eat it too" (i.e.: have their game ported cross-platform so they can tap into the lucrative console game market). I'm ok with game key strings to be authenticated with a central game server, and CD checks (though I like them less because it involves either finding the CD, or wasting desk space for a cache of commonly used CDs), but STOP CALLING US CRIMINALS.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 15 replies.
Primarily coming from PC gamers who are furious that games are / will be shifting more and more to consoles, with a PC port.
This notion of a quality game on a console being an "average" game on a PC is ludicrous. PCs don't exist on some higher plane. Games that are great on one platform are usually great on another platform. A good game, is a good game, is a good game.
Get off your high horse, take off your monocle and top hat, remove your pocketwatch, and check what time it is. PCs will always exist and will always have good titles, but more will be appearing on consoles, period.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 14 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
It's just a fact of life beyond what the 5% hardcore online will argue against.
Gears of War would not have sold 3m units on a PC in 3 months. Virtually impossible.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 106 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 10 replies.
In reply.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 9 replies.
Stores are dedicating less and less space to pc games because they do not sell as well and make the stores very little money.
It is easier to resell a used console game than it is a pc game where the cdkey may already be in use. Remember a few years back when the pc section of gamestop/ebgames was as big as the console section. Well thanks to used games they can resell the same console game over and over and try to make as much money on it as they can.
Where is the article that says the stores make very little on new games and the huge profit is in used games because they can buy them back for cheap and sell them near retail value?
Is that not the case? Try finding most pc games at what someone would consider a 'video game store'. The selections are very limit in most cases these days. But of course you can buy almost ANY console game new or used from the current and last gen.
Did anyone mention this yet?
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
PC gaming sales grew last year according to the NPD. Thats a great turn of events considering the battle pc gaming has been struggling with in the retail spaces. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164433.html PC Gamer magazine also had a nice writeup on this topic. The NPD can't track mmorpg monthly fees or online game sales so PC gaming did very well last year.
I think the developers are cop outs and are looking at the larger $$ of the consoles. Make a great game and people will buy it.
Apparently Soren has not been to China, where in internet cafe's they run bootleg EQ servers. Hell, forget going to china, I'm sure a live / google / whatever search for custom Lineage II and WoW servers would turn up something.
Sorry Soren, not even the MMO's are safe from being pillaged and pirated.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 8 replies.
Get with the fucking program and learn from the MMO industry. Savable characters (usable in multiplayer), unlocking content, random drops (how about earning guns from bossies), coop play (let us shoot a bossy together), battlegrounds (rated multiplay) and other stuff make for great member services. Which enable you to charge 10 bucks a month AND make game unplayable for anyone that didn't register/buy the game.
If you keep baking the same old same old on discs, with only a stupid key to protect it, you become part of the problem instead of the solution.
In short: welcome to the internet, dildos. Try and use it for more than just client-server deathmatch variables.
Bah.
PC Gaming will be reborn an enthuasiast platform - just like when gaming first began, full of new ideas, and people that wanted to make something for mainly the love of it or experimentation, rather than pump out sequel after sequel like sweatshop workers. Hopefully more devs will realize some sort of online integration is the key as well, if you want all your sales.
Mount&Blade is made by two people, and is far more engrossing than any of the high budget retail releases I've played the past few years.
Self-published stuff like M&B, Darwinia Online, Savage 2 are the next step in the future of PC gaming. With any luck, people's perspective will change (realize what the PC is good for, focus on gameplay, longevity, depth, innovation, and not superficial aspects) , and publishers will stop trying to cater to everyone like McDonald's, and we'll see more of these types of games (innovative, well-designed, low budget) again within the next several years and not a decade away.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.
I personally want id and Epic to give up on developing games for PCs. Hear me out though... I want them to continue developing game ENGINES for every platform, and from the sound of it that's not impossible. Now, here's the really clever part... they get all their sales and money from the console sales, then offer dirt cheap licensing to independent start ups making little games for the PC. Basically the kind of guys that are like id and Epic were in their early days. Do like the Tribes team did with their engine, push it to independents for a nice cheap price, and see what comes out of it.
The grand daddies of the industry are welcome to move on. Their technical expertise is wonderful to have, and I would ask them to keep providing it in the form of affordable engines that make PC development easier for independent developers. But their game concepts are old and stale, and having a couple old players move out of the PC games arena competing for our money would free up more cash for somebody new to come along.
I've been saying it for 3 years now and I'll say it again: PC Games on the big budget is headed for death. Big budget games in general are headed for death. The next rebirth after the inevitable crash will start from small, independent PC developers, and any engine/tech development companies investing in them right now will reap the benefits later.
I don't think PC gaming will die fellas, but you're going to have to accept, unless the cost of developing games comes down soon it's moving into the backseat now - period.
Back in the old days, despite there being less PC's out there - they still made cash because the cost of developing games was about tree fiddy not 9.5 million.
Also I have absoloutely no doubt that a small percentage of you PC gamers are also in the fanatical "I <3 PC gaming, consoles are gay lol!" crowd - which is unforunate.
A lot of us console gamers are ex pc gamers too, we previously probably thought the same thing about consoles, I know I did.
The fact is I was wrong, consoles aren't some dumb kiddy box with crappy depthless games - I will admit that the really really hardcore strategy games and rpgs are rare but otherwise - console games can be great - both graphics, gameplay and the main drive for me - storyline, they can be deep on console.
I personally just can't afford to drop 500$ US a year to keep up with PC gaming (and that's a very conservative figure, based on me spending a heap of time researching what to buy, what to sell and when) - it's just too much work.
Give it a shot y'all - there's at least 20x 9/10 games on the PS2 for practically anyone - there's at least 5 or 10 9/10 games on the Xbox - both of them are dirt cheap too.
Embrace the invetable.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 15 replies.
It's not.
Doom 3, Quake 4 has been released cross-platform, same goes for the UT series, it was previously cut down for the consoles though.
Who cares? Playing on consoles only diminishes the experience.
Even with Quake Wars: the maximum number of players is lower by a third for the console versions.
Also, for people who are saying that they'd ditch PCs if Kb/M controls would be available for consoles: it is just stupid. Better controls are just one aspect of PC gaming-but there are many many more. I'll switch over to consoles only when there'll be an upgradable, open console. And even then, the proprietary nature of those still will repulse me.
Oh, and also: to you, dear pirates, screw you!
This isn't some new frontier of pirates hurting sales, this is a resurrection of the 1980s video game crash, where so many companies jumped to make a me-too dollar that consumers grew high critical of games and bought a lot less. We've been seeing it for a few years now, starting with the consolidations (Bandai-Namco, SegaSammy, EA eating up development teams and going after Ubi) and now it's reaching the market.
Look at the Wii. It's doing so well, even though for the life of me I can't see the remote as a versatile control scheme. For years the whining was that Nintendo made very few games and they were often delayed, but goddamnit when something finally did get released was it ever good. After barely showing up to the party last round Nintendo is doing better this round. I wonder why? Because people who owned the others with all the games saw what a percentage of them were shit?
Look at Blizzard before they found the MMO money printing-press. Their games were as piratable as id and Epic's (requires a valid CD key check to play online) and they were doing well. It's because their games were good, not because of flashy E3 presentations and big TV campaigns. I remember their E3 showings were typically pretty weak on new information and they've only got into widestream advertising with these WoW commercials.
If you want to make money, develop a reputation for being good. What piracy really means is you cannot use a marketing company to substitute for quality anymore.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 19 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 15 replies.
I can't afford a $640 video card ... I can't affrod a $2000 computer ... I can't afford to upgrade every year
But you can afford a $400 - $500 or more console, a $2000 50" LCD TV and $1000 surround sound system. Of course you don't have to buy these things besides the console but you know your gaming experience is not up there unless you have the whole package. Will you buy it? Sooner or later I think you will same as I did.
When it comes to computers this is how I do it. I bought the best price/performance pc on the market in 2004. The only outstanding thing was video card which was what was best on the market. I used that successfully 'till 2 months ago. Yeah I couldn't play FEAR on maximum settings but I played it. I bought another computer 3 days ago using the same approach and I think it will last me 3+ years easy.
Do you get the same use out of that fancy entertainment setup in your living room or the fancy computer? I don't know, you decide.
Piracy is easier on the PC ... blah blah
It is easier. It comes to individuals also. If you're that type of person you'll mod your console. It might be a bit harder but you'll do it. There are probably less pirated games on consoles than pcs, I don't know. All I know is there are shit loads of priated games out there on all platforms. You'd be crazy to think only small proportion of console games are pirated.
Also, haven't we seen stats here to show that game sales have increased in all sectors? I don't know when and where but I'm sure we had something saying they've all increased.
Overall I think it's less to do with piracy and everything to do with game development costs and profits (I'm aware profits are connected with piracy).
Games are expensive to make, you've got to spread out to all platforms to make your money. Developing for consoles is easier since there's less to bother with. Here is your reason why pc gaming is losing ground to consoles.
Am I a bitter, old and blind pc gamer clinging to straws? You decide. I don't hate consoles, I end up having all of them anyway. Some games are for consoles some games are for pc. Please don't make me play pc games on consoles is all I ask for.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 6 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 6 replies.
I will always love PC gaming more than console gaming - I'm just that type of guy.
You know what would be awesome, though?
If consoles started allowing mouse + keyboard as a control scheme.
That way, I can enjoy the control scheme that I like on a console, and if they do decide to port to PC (for moddability, which I love, love, love), it won't have controller design decisions that were refined for consoles forced onto the PC.
My two biggest fears of PC gaming being superceded by console games is the death of the mod scene, and the loss of my favoured control scheme.
Preserve those, and for christ-sakes, I'll be ALL OVER those consoles, and can abandon my PC.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.
Since my rig probably can't run it, all this means to me is the destruction of UT2004's player base.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
What I see as unfortunate is that with closed platforms, any people wanting to make games for a device will be at the mercy of the hardware manufacturers to be able to do such stuff.
What will happen to custom player content of the future? Creator's Club is one step towards that, but I'm not seeing why I should be paying Microsoft for something they might end up selling.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
1 buy a console
2 buy a game
3 turn console on and put game in console
thats streamlined for gaming
want to play a PC game? ??? steps
1 buy a PC (you have to know which one)
...
10 buy a game, figure out if minimum requirements are met by your pc
...
452 figure out how to install the game
...
847 play the game, it crashes, find the latest patch
848 realize you need the intarweb to get the patch
849 subscribe to the intarwebs
...
1256 find the patch, install it
...
...
PC gaming is just too complex for people with no knowledge about computers and sadly that a growing part of the market
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 11 replies.
Read reviews. Check out player reviews. If I have to point out where to find these things, then you are not the Uber Gamer you think you are.
I can't pay for $50-60 games. Then don't.
There's plenty of excellent games around in the $10, $20 or $30 and under category.
Because I can't return a game, I FEEL I have the right to try a game for free. If I like it then I'll buy it. B.S.
First of all, you have no rights in this regard. There are usually demos available. I've heart this rationalization too often. Rarely do I see someone actually purchasing a game as a result.
Corrupt Publishers are getting most of the money. I won't support them. Then don't.
That argument doesn't justify piracy.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 9 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.
Anandtech Hot Deals Forum - http://forums.anandtech.com/categories.aspx?catid=40&entercat=y
HardOCP Hot Deals Forum - http://www.hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?s=b5934159e056a42a3b0cfb7edaf474f2&f=28
DVD Talk Bargains Forum (Weekly Sunday Ads Ahead of time) - http://forum.dvdtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1
CheapassGamer.com - http://www.cheapassgamer.com/
TechDeals.net - http://www.techdeals.net/
GoGamer.com - http://www.gogamer.com/
BTW: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is still $29 at Fry's. Circuit City will be selling it for $37.99 on release week.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
I'm a PC gamer, and I always will be. I see some comments in here saying, "It costs $1000 a year to keep your PC maintained blah blah blah". Uh, not really. My PC is almost 2 years old, and it still runs everything just fine. I don't need to put the settings on Ultra Max High to get enjoyment out of my games. If you're so worried about the price, maybe try looking for deals on Newegg? It's really not that hard to put together a decent gaming rig. I'd rather pay $300-400 for a good video card than $1800+ for a good HDTV so my console games don't look horrible.. Now THAT shit is expensive.
However, a few weeks ago, I bought a 360. I felt so...dirty, but I had to see what all the fuss was about. I think XBOX Live is absolutely flawless and some of the games are a shitload of fun. I don't regret my purchase at all and I no longer have the opinion of "Consoles are for idiots and children". I'm glad I listened to my friends and decided to have an open mind for once.
If you can afford it, I say own both. Games like Crackdown and GTA just work better on consoles (in my opinion), just like FPS's work better on the PC.
Death to PC gaming!
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 15 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.
Comments made by Epic's Capps carried a similar tone. "PC gaming is really falling apart," he revealed. "It killed us to make Unreal Tournament 3 cross-platform, but Epic had to do it,"
----
WTF is Capps talking about? Epic is a games & TECHNOLOGY company. They make a tremendous amount from licensing Unreal Engine 3. They want to expand into consoles because they're going to make a shit load more money for it, and GoW was a fantastic 'demo' to do it with. Their wallets are "killing" them to do it.
UT3 showcases the PS3 potential with the engine, and GoW does it with the 360. They missed out on a huge licensing opportunity with the PS2 and Xbox, and they won't let that happen again. More power to them.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
The point? Complaining about $50 to $60 games as if this is something unheard of or new just makes you look ignorant.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 7 replies.
If game sales do continue to drop, maybe we'll also see graphics card prices drop as well. $600 for a video card to play a video game is retarded.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 7 replies.
You must be logged in to post.