'Consoles Are A Problem' and 'A Step Backwards,' Says Oddworld Creator

Consoles are the best thing to happen to gaming, you can play with your friends, you cant pirate software, you can move them around easily, they dont get bugged up and get a virus, its hard to cheat... Pc gaming in my eyes is lame

arguing pc vs console is like trying to argue politics with someone: you arent going to convince the other person to see it your way regardless of what you say because they've already made up their mind and believe they are right just as strongly as you do.

Hows development more expensive.. having to target a PC with so many possible problems seems more expensive to me.

On the other hand, I love first person shooters but I can't play with a controller. For some reason, most FPS games dont support a keyboard and mouse combo.. and when they do, like in Unreal 3, it's still unplayable since the framerate is so low (< 30). My PC is not brand new so it chugs when playing some FPS games online..which means I have no viable platform to play good FPS games on.

What also pisses me off is that this "HD era" is not really HD since a lot of games upscale (especially on the PS3) and do not render at a solid 30 fps and definitely not at 60 fps. On top of this are hardware failures on consoles such as RROD or inability to read discs. The whole state of gaming in terms of hardware platforms is pretty saddening to me now.

You can feel sympathetic towards Lorne's stance until you realize what makes console development more expensive.

Complying with TCR's such as "Do not crash," "Maintain a consistent frame rate," "Load within X seconds," and "Use these standard buttons for these standard things" may seem like a pain in the ass, but they are a necessary part of development unless you ascribe to the "patch it until it's right" mentality.

Development kits for developers can be expensive, but compared to a budget for a AAA title, they're line noise. Test kits are in the $1k-$1500 range as well.

One of the reasons why Microsoft and Sony pushed to raise the SRP for normal titles from $50 to $60 was so that the platform costs wouldn't cut into the developer/publisher bucket. Those publisher cuts pay for additional testing, developer support and more.

Another upshot of these added expenses is that you save significantly in config testing. A single PC config pass on the standard 100 configs costs more than a single development kit. Being able to code directly to your target platform instead of having to code fallback after fallback saves money.

Lorne may be a visionary, but he'd be a lot better if he would take his blinders off. Removing his head from his ass would help as well.

Aragorn? Is that you you?

Can't pirate console games....that's classic

I said it yesterday. The PS3/360 are to "PC like" and the cost for those consoles are to much for mainstream. Considering the 360 is still $300 (hard drive version) after almost 3 years is outrageous. I can't imagine how they are going to pull off the next generation and I absolutely hate paying $60 for a game that's why I much prefer PC gaming, that and I get "into the game" when playing on my PC. Not so much when consoling. The huge majority of the time I can score a new game for as low as $30 within a short time of release. Maybe there is some truth to random article that consoles are the ones actually dying....well not Nintendo. :)

I'd say that current consoles are some of the best things to ever happen to gaming as a platform. I think sales numbers bear that out.

By buying a $5 "game", he means selling you the framework to the game that you'll have to spend $30-40 on in convenient $5 increments to get a similar gameplay of a $50-60 game, right? So instead of feeling like you have to spend a lot once for a game, it'll just be like getting raped slowly over several months.

There are some good console games and overall consoles are more network oriented now. But I still have issue with the trend of games that are more watered down versus their PC variant. Secondly he is right about user content and customization. That is where the PC games shine. Also, there are just some games that would play better with a good old keyboard and mouse. I just wish more console FPS games supported joystick OR keyboard and mouse.

I'm pretty tired of all the speculation regarding the PC industry, one week someone says PC is the future, the next week someone says PC is an anchor for forward movement in the industry. No one has the answers, and everyone should stop pretending like they know where the industry is moving.

The real problem is that Lorne has been out of headlines for a long time.

A prime example of this is Civilization Revolution. I have no idea why they dumbed the game down so much. I guess they feel the average console player wouldn't be able to pick up the complexities of Civilization, but the game play suffers tremendously because of it. Even my friend, who's never played a Civ game before, wrote it off as too simple and not enough customization after a couple games.

They could of just brought Civ 4 with all the expansions to that pretty engine and had an amazing game.

R.I.P. consoles :-(

Cut down in their prime.

"Curiously, Lanning makes no mention of the cheap downloadable games that are available to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii owners. While full-fledged console titles are usually priced between $40 and $60, downloadable releases are typically priced between $5 and $15, with more content often available post-release."

I think that comment is greatly missing the point.

"PC is a dead platform"
"No, consoles are the real problem"
ZzzzZzz

What a jerk off.

Lorne Lanning......pfft.


Mister anti-globilization and anti-big business works for MS and then bails to India to take advantage of the slave wages after firing a bunch of long term staff to reign in costs.

He makes a point about supporting smaller games though. I've picked up every addon for Poker Smash that they've released because I love the game so much.

*is random game designer who had a hand in one or two decent games but is essentially no longer on the map*

*says outrageous thing*

Well what is stopping this guy from making smaller PC or Xbox Live Arcade or PSN games?

Probably just the fact that (look at the Oddworld character on the front of the article) it is not exactly the stuff that gets people excited. I think an FPS civil war game sim may generate more interest than his ideas. And what happened to the Oddworld team anyway, where are those guys now?

This sounds more like "there's a problem with consoles" not "consoles are a problem".