Nvidia content relations VP Roy Taylor said that PC gaming has moved beyond reasonable justification for pirating PC games.

The executive suggested that it was unfair to steal content from the same developers who are struggling to keep the PC gaming market alive in a market dominated by surging console sales.

"I think that we've arrived at a point now where I don't know how anyone could ever possibly justify pirating a game," Taylor told Eurogamer. "I just don't know how anyone could consider that a cool thing to do - it's not. It sucks."

"One of the things that I find frustrating is that PC gamers tend to be very passionate, and they love the people that make great PC games. If you ask any PC gamer what they think of John Carmack, they'll say he's a hero. What do they think of... Read more

North American internet provider Comcast is evaluating a monthly bandwidth cap and charging users that exceed the limit, according to dslreports.com.

At present, the company is considering an download cap of 250GB a month, with a $15 charge for every 10GB that exceed the limit. The plan is similar to that of several international internet providers, which set a bandwidth cap and slow a user's connection once that limit is reached.

While Comcast claims the 250GB limit is said to only affect 0.1% of users, it would set a precedent that could allow internet providers to begin to establish lower bandwidth caps and restrict uploads as well. That might have an effect on gamers, especially as the industry shifts further towards digital distribution.

Valve's Steam service allows users to download full games measuring several gigabytes in size. An HD movie downloaded from Microsoft's... Read more

Crysis and Far Cry creator Crytek has revealed its intent to focus more on consoles and move away from creating PC-exclusive titles due to the "huge piracy" problems of the platform.

"We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore," Crytek president Cevat Yerli told PC Play. "Similar games [to Crysis] on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we won't have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future."

The studio had previously revealed it was working on at least one console title and a non-FPS game along with the still-underway efforts to bring its CryENGINE 2 technology to consoles.

The Crytek president noted that piracy had significantly hurt the retail... Read more

The president of Japanese developer Feelplus has suggested that the migration of PC developers to consoles might be the reason behind Western dominance of next-gen consoles.

Feelplus president Ray Nakazato said that the Japanese market is producing less higher-end, technically advanced games than its counterparts because it lacks the lengthy history with PC development that Western developers have.

"We need to look at the overseas market more seriously," Nakazato told Gamasutra. "I think one big factor is that in Western gaming market there is a long history of PC games. A long and big market with the PC games, so I think there are a lot of great developers and creators who kept making PC games."

The advent of engines built from the ground up for cross-platform development, as well as piracy and sales concerns, have moved several traditionally PC-focused developers towards the console business in recent years.

"I think [for] this generation of consoles, finally those people started showing up in the console game arena," Nakazato added. "That's one big reason that Japan also seems to be a little behind in that arena."

EA Sports president Peter Moore confirmed today that Madden NFL 09 will not be released on the PC, citing challenges in bringing sports titles to the platform.

The PC was conspicuously absent in the announcement of Madden 09, which is being brought to virtually every other platform on the market. Writing on his official blog, Moore said that the company was aware that the decision to not develop the latest Madden for the PC would not be a popular one.

"The PC presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii," Moore wrote. "We are committed to shipping a limited number of our games on the PC this year, but we've also had to cut a few of our games from the platform."

"We do have ideas for how to revitalize the PC for sports games and the types of games that are best suited to the platform," he added. "And we'll continue to explore those."

Madden NFL 09 is due for release on August 12. A collector's edition, which includes NFL Head Coach 09, will also be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on the same day.

Update: A moderator on Creative's official forums said that the company will allow Daniel_K to pursue development of custom Vista drivers, provided that none of Creative's intellectual properties are distributed.

"It was decided we would bring back the Audigy Support Pack thread and allow [Daniel_K] to continue in that endeavor," the moderator wrote. "As long as no intellectual property of Creative is distributed, we will have no problem with it."

Original Story: Once again making a controversial public stand, sound card manufacturer Creative Labs has demanded that custom driver developer Daniel_K stop creating software to enable previously unsupported technology with Creative hardware in Windows Vista.

"By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods," corporate communications VP Phil O'Shaughnessy wrote on the company's official forums.

The user-created drivers improve the stability of Creative hardware within Windows Vista and enable several features for its Sound Blaster Audigy cards, such as DVD-Audio and an equalizer, that were supported in Windows XP... Read more

PC sound card maker Creative Labs said today that rival hardware manufacturer Asus is misleading its customers by claiming that new drivers for Asus sound cards support EAX, a set of environmental enhancements for sound in games.

Responding to an announcement by Asus that newly released drivers for its Xonar line of sound cards support EAX, Creative communications VP Phil O'Shaughnessy said that the drivers effectively trick games into outputting EAX-capable sound.

"There are a small number of PC game titles that specifically query the audio device on the system to see if EAX 5 is available before they will attempt to render more than 64 3D simultaneous audio voices," O'Shaughnessy said.

"The new Asus drivers are falsely reporting EAX 5 capabilities in order to get these games to output 3D audio on Asus sound cards. Asus customers are not getting a genuine EAX Advanced HD experience with this driver update," he added.

High-definition sound and environmental effects have become an increasingly important feature for PC gamers, with complaints prompting Creative to release a software fix to remedy the lack of EAX effects in legacy titles on Windows Vista.

Windows Vista users who apply the just-released Service Pack 1 patch should receive a general increase in gaming performance, according to several benchmarking websites.

Technology site ExtremeTech is showing up to a 46 frame-per-second increase in Crysis low-quality performance after applying the patch, with similarly large 20 FPS gains recorded in World in Conflict.

The advantage of Service Pack 1 was of a smaller magnitude under high quality settings, with only modest 2-5 FPS boosts recorded on average. The performance increase has also shown to be inconsistent across varying games--some benefiting little by the patch--as well as when comparing systems with Nvidia and ATI video cards.

Many gamers have been reluctant to upgrade from Microsoft's Windows XP to Windows Vista due to the latter's widely-known disadvantage in gaming performance. However, comparisons between XP and Vista performance are now neck-and-neck, with Vista actually winning out in a few instances, according to Neowin.

While today's patch seems to generally benefit users running under reasonable settings and hardware, those with beefy quad-SLI video cards may actually see a performance decrease, as bit-tech.net documents.

Service Pack 1 also adds support for DirectX 10.1, which offers shader model 4.1 support and greater control over anti-aliasing options for those users with supported video cards.

The pack can be auto-downloaded through Windows Update, or found on Microsoft's site in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

Clarifying comments made earlier this week, PC manufacturer Acer has stated that it will not be releasing a dedicated gaming console.

"Acer is not going to release any game console but the idea is to develop a high-end PC (so not a console) targeted at the serious gamer," a company representative explained to videogaming247.

"That was a major misunderstanding as [Acer senior VP James T Wong] was wrongly interpreted," the rep noted.

At the time, Wong's comments were taken as a sign that Acer was considering an open, non-proprietary game system. Unlike current consoles, such a device would theoretically allow users to create and execution their own programs without prior approval or authorization from the manufacturer.

In an interview today with Shacknews, Lionhead chief Peter Molyneux labeled the PC gaming industry as being in a state of reform, while saying that innovation is being pushed aside in favor of safe projects due to mounting production costs.

"I think the PC is just reinventing itself," said Molyneux. "It's being owned more and more by casual gamers, who are playing games from a variety of sites. They are really under the radar at the moment, but there's.. an awful lot of people playing Flash games."

The industry veteran and rabid Connect Four player is currently overseeing production of Fable 2--the Xbox 360 sequel to Lionhead's fantasy RPG--as well as a secretive project rumored to center around advanced AI simulation, codenamed Dimitri.

"What there isn't is the spectacular triple-A titles coming out on the PC with the same frequency," he added. "Which I think is sad, because there's no other gaming platform which is quite so comfortable to take on a plane and play. You've got handhelds, but they haven't got the same tour de force-type games."

Molyneux also noted that while the console market is seeing the most growth in terms of innovation, it has become harder to innovate across the board due... Read more

PC hardware manufacturer Acer is considering the development of an open, non-proprietary game system, BetaNews reports.

Acer senior VP James T. Wong said that his company has a game machine in mind that would be built upon "open standards" at a press event last week.

"If you look at most of the other game machines that are out there right now--Nintendo's, the Xbox [360]--they are 'closed' and proprietary systems," Wong said.

Unlike the current roster of consoles, an "open" platform would not require corporate oversight or management, allowing anybody to run just about anything on the hardware.

The company, which recently acquired fellow PC manufacturer Gateway, hopes to incorporate open standards into all its products envisioned for future development, including the possibility of a console or console-like game system.

Prompted by the closure of Titan Quest developer Iron Lore last week, THQ creative director Michael Fitch ranted on the state of PC gaming and rampant piracy in a post on the Quarter to Three forums

"The research I've seen pegs the piracy rate at between 70-85% on PC in the US, 90%+ in Europe, off the charts in Asia," Fitch wrote. "I didn't believe it at first. It seemed way too high. Then I saw that Bioshock was selling 5 to 1 on console vs. PC. And Call of Duty 4 was selling 10 to 1."

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward recently expressed similar dismay at the high levels of piracy for the PC version of its popular first-person shooter.

Fitch explained that piracy doesn't just harm sales—Titan Quest took a big hit in word of mouth when pirated copies of the game crashed after various failed security checks, prompting a negative response by those who had illegally acquired ... Read more

Epic Games founder Mark Rein and designer Cliff Bleszinski voiced their support of the recently founded PC Gaming Alliance, suggesting that the consortium would help unite and revitalize the platform.

"Right now, if you have a laptop with integrated graphics and try to play our game, it doesn't play...So you just lose your interest in that. We don't want that," Rein told MTV Multiplayer. "We want all these people buying laptops and reasonably priced PCs, to at least be able to be exposed to gaming. They can go out later and upgrade to something better, but let’s at least give them a baseline experience."

Added Bleszinski, "I think everybody coming together in that kind of way will essentially kind of help re-glue things back together and kind of help fix the market."

Officially formed at last week's Game Developers Conference, the PCGA hopes to serve as a forum for developers to collaborate on the marketing, production, and analyzation of the PC market. The body will act as an advisory board, with a... Read more

A post on the Iron Lore Entertainment website announces that the Titan Quest developer is shutting down, having been unable to secure financing for its next project.

"We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped us in the last seven years--our team who moved mountains to create such great games, our publisher THQ who has been a great partner through three product development cycles, and most of all our customers and fans," reads the statement.

"We owe all of the success we've had to you, and our greatest satisfaction has come from creating games that have given enjoyment to the community."

Publishers or developers interested in hiring Iron Lore talent are asked to contact pchieffo@ironlore.com; the same email address can also be used for inquiries on technology licensing.

In addition to Titan Quest and the Immortal Throne expansion pack, Iron Lore recently developed the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War expansion pack Soulstorm.

Gas Powered Games founder and Supreme Commander developer Chris Taylor said that the PC gaming industry needs to embrace new business models which sidestep piracy concerns to survive.

"PC gaming isn't dead. PC gaming—the old model— probably is," Taylor told GamesIndustry at GDC. "Secure PC gaming is the future—it's going to thrive and we've all got to get on that,"

Taylor suggested that server-based and online-authenticated gaming proves to be the most successful business model in an industry fraught with piracy. The developer envisioned an industry in which data would be accessed from a central server rather than directly from the user's PC.

"It's all got to be secure, we can't afford to make this stuff and give it away for free," Taylor said. "It inconveniences a little but now they know why. And then we can get the economics back in line and maybe we can actually start ... Read more

Echoing comments made last week by Epic designer Cliff Belszinski, Lionhead chief Peter Molyneux expressed frustration today at what he feels is an increasingly vapid PC gaming market.

"The Sims and World of Warcraft [are] sucking all the air out of the PC market. It's just incredible," said Molyneux to GamesIndustry.biz. "I think it's a huge tragedy. The weird thing is everyone's got a PC, they're just not buying software for it."

Gears of War creator Bleszinski had similar comments to make last week on the topic, categorizing the PC market as being in "disarray."

"That's driving the PC right now is Sims-type games and [World of Warcraft] and a lot of stuff that's in a web-based interface," said Bleszinski. "You just click on it and play it. That's the direction PC is evolving into."

Molyneux elaborated on the web-based sector of the market, complaining... Read more

A consortium of corporate giants ranging from Microsoft to Intel joined hands in an effort to advance the PC gaming platform today, officially announcing the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The stated goal of the PCGA is to serve as a forum for developers to collaborate on the marketing, production, and analyzation of the PC market. The body will act as an advisory board, with the focus on providing a single "voice" for the PC gaming industry.

"PCGA members believe that we are stronger and more effective together than any member company is alone, and that our shared vision and group effort will improve PC gaming worldwide," said Intel's Randy Stude. "Industry forums have proven to foster competition and innovation among member companies and grow markets while improving user experiences."

The full list of PCGA members is composed of Acer/Gateway, Activision, AMD, Dell/Alienware, Epic Games, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia. and Razer.

"There's no one source that says 'hey this is where the PC market is going'," said Stude according to Develop. "Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are always calling their market share--we're going to call our market through this group."

"What we intend to do is look at what's out there and tell developers what consumers have and understand what audiences exist," added Microsoft Games for Windows chief Kevin Unagast. "The role of the PCGA is providing guidance to developers when they are making a game, explain how they can achieve consistency."

Long-time PC developer Epic Games is now moving the PC to the backseat in favor of console development, Unreal designer and Gears of War (PC, X360) creator Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski (picutured left) has stated.

"For me, the PC is kind of the secondary part of what we’re doing," Bleszinski told MTV Multiplayer. "[PC is] important for us, but right now making AAA games on consoles is where we're at.

"I think people would rather make a game that sells 4.5 million copies than a million and Gears [of War] is at 4.5 million right now on the 360," he stated.

At last year's Game Developers Conference, Epic president Michael Capps attributed the company's increasing number of console projects to PC piracy. "PC gaming is really falling apart," Capps noted. "It killed us to make Unreal Tournament 3 cross-platform, but Epic had to do it."

Bleszinski offered similar commentary in his recent statements, blaming the increasingly casual-driven PC market for the console-focused attitude.

"I think the PC is just in disarray," he explained. "That's driving the PC right now is Sims-type games and [World of Warcraft] and a lot of stuff that’s in a web-based interface. You just click on it and play it. That’s the direction PC is evolving into."

Several marquee companies are teaming up to keep the PC gaming platform alive, according to the Mercury News.

Dubbed the PC Gaming Alliance, the group is made up of several companies with an interest in sustaining PC gaming, including Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia and AMD. The alliance aims to keep PCs competitive with consoles in drawing game developers to the platform.

The consortium hopes to expand the efforts of Microsoft's Games for Windows program, which sought to standardize the platform and improve consumer experience. The PC Gaming Alliance is expected to be formally announced in advance of next week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

An NPD analyst says that the $60 million drop in PC software retail revenue from 2006 to 2007 reflects the industry's movement towards digital distribution, GameDaily reports.

Analyst Anita Fraisure notes that the data, which currently does not account for digital downloads or subscriptions, is no cause for concern.

"As we've seen from a number of our studies, the PC continues to be a top platform in terms of total game playing time," said Fraisure. "I don't think this slight decline in retail sales is anything more than a reflection of a shifting of distribution channels."

The latest numbers reveal that PC sales accounted for only 14% of total revenue for game software sales in 2007. But without a comprehensive perspective of online activity, Fraisure says, the implications of the gap remain unclear.

"Video games software sales, and even just the console portion of that figure have been greater than PC retail sales every year that we've tracked. Yes, the (console and portable) video games retail sales have really exploded, but again, until we can get a measurement of dollars spent online, we won't have the true picture."