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Splash Damage Emphasizing Console Games, But Still Making PC Games at Heart
by Blake Ellison, Nov 12, 2008 3:40pm PSTSplash Damage founder Paul Wedgwood finds a discrepancy between the depth of PC and console games, and he finds it rather appalling.
"This is not to dismiss what people have achieved in the past, but Halo 3 multiplayer is really Quake 3 from 1999. Even Call of Duty 4 is just Counter-Strike on the PC from 2001," said the long-time PC fan to Edge.
"That's not because the [console] audience is dumb," Wedgwood clarified. "What a ridiculous thing to say, that because someone has a console controller in their hand, they're somehow less intelligent than a PC player," he added.
Splash Damage, like its long-time partner id Software, is transitioning to focusing primarily console games for its next project. But Wedgwood dismissed notions that his company is making the jump due to piracy like id.
For its next project, the studio is partnering with Fallout 3 developer Bethesda instead of id. "Despite Morrowind and Oblivion being, frankly, PC-style RPGs--incredibly deep, incredibly complex--they still made a really successful translation to console," Wedgwood remarked.
The Splash Damage founder hopes that the partnership will enable the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC, also PS3, 360) developer to channel Bethesda's console knowledge--not for commercial reasons, but to add to the depth of console games.
"Irrespective of whether the PC is a commercially viable platform, what we have on the PC are some incredibly deep and compelling games, or elements of gameplay, that just deserve to be on console," Wedgwood concluded.
Comments
Lesson stated? Blame the audience for being too dumb. Blame console audience for not liking hardcore games.
Lesson that should have been learned? Your hardcore game was never popular, it was just free. The most popular PC games are Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Quake 3 Arena. Okay okay, and Battlefield 2, that's still up there on GameSpy and that's pretty hardcore.
You are chastising the console audience for liking games that are based on popular PC games. Wrong move.
I say this with utmost respect, because I like Quake Wars (and BattleField), and hope both Splash Damage and DICE continue to make more games like that. But I also know how to read an audience.
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i don't want this guy making console games he might make them look bad
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Matchmaking, voice chat, vehicles, terrain, customizable games.
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I agree with this, but first they need to fix the controls. The gamepad has lead to dumbed down AIs, the reemergence of aim assist -- I thought this was dead with the keyboard aiming days, and overly simplified guis, just to name a few of many peeves.
If MS would just offer true mouse support, while insisting developers support it, and if developers would recognize the fact the PS3 already supports a mouse, this could truly open up the door for real PC gaming, not the cliff not version found on consoles. But then again, this would make games harder and more time consuming, which would probably conflict with the casual nature of many console gamers.
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I wouldn't say that you're "dumb" for playing on any platform but I can safely say that console gamers are raised and trained to expect ease-of-use and simplicity. Thus the games for consoles tend to lack the same depth I find in PC gaming. Each has its strengths and there are valid reasons why each succeeds in its fashion and fails. The tricky part is that "depth" is a broad term. When I speak about depth and console games, someone invariably jumps in with a comment similar to this "but what about Game X, that took hours and hours to play." The thing is depth doesn't have to refer to length of play-time or side-quests or whatever, it can relate to amount of control the player has in the game as well as the complexity of the game's component parts and interactions. In that regard, I frequently find console games lacking...and not for a lack of wanting to like them, I own a 360 after all and have enjoyed at least a couple of games quite a bit on it.
Less intelligent? Not necessarily, but you can still sell a lot of copies of crap on consoles, and a monsterload of sequels to last year's MTV action game. Might be hard to get out of that confort zone when you're talking about oh so many millions of dollars.
PC has always been deeper and more hardcore. I'd have no problems with the console culture if we'd still be getting games like Thief, Deus Ex, Baldur's Gate 2 and Dungeon Keeper on the PC.
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I find it hard to believe, that with Splash Damage's history, they would abandon the PC altogether as the result of one failed title.
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to the PC will have more in depth gameplay that takes advantage of the keyboard/mouse interface. I
really hope this paves way for new game mechanics in consoles. Like he said, popular games in the
consoles are rehashed PC strong suites. Time to innovate.