Microsoft Says PC Games Are Doomed!

Atrocities · #1 October 21st, 2005, 02:41 AM

I really do not see the appeal of consule games other than they are great at parties and if you have kids. PC games are a lot more in depth and IMHO provide for better game play all the way around.

Try playing AOE, Civ IV, or SEV on a consule and see how far it gets you.

NullAshton · #2 October 21st, 2005, 08:59 AM

'Please insert an XBox game, audio CD, or DVD.'

dogscoff · #3 October 21st, 2005, 10:53 AM

PC games won't ever go away. How do you think the ppl that code for the consoles learn their craft? By coding games on non-console platforms, notably the PC. You can't learn the art of game design/ coding without practise, and you can't practise coding on a phongin' playstation because you can't *code* for the playstation unless you happen to work for a games company with all the tools to port the code over, but you can't work for a games company until you've learned the art of game design/ coding...

So they start by coding simple little games (pacman, tetris) as excercises on their PCs when they're spotty teenagers, and then gradually work their way up and up through various freeware and shareware projects until they have all the complex knowledge needed to get a job coding a hit 3D FPS for the Xbox. For example, take a look at the evolution of Malfador.

This assures that the home computer market will always have a mid-level game scene, at the very least.

And nethack ain't going nowhere, neither. It's been around for twenty years, it will still be there when the gamecube is just another dusty exhibit in some museum.

The divot at M$ who made that stupid statement knows this too, they are just trying to scare up some sales for the Xbox.

Xrati · #4 October 21st, 2005, 11:20 AM

I agree with dogscoff, it's just a marketing ploy by M$. Just because Microsoft doesn't have any games that people want to play, they are now seeing a drop in ALL games!

It's been a long time since I've purchased any games for my computer because there's very little out there that appeals to me. I like to sit at my computer and play strategy games not shoot up the world on Internet play. I was just in a store the other day looking for some new software and NOTHING caught my interest. While it wasn't a software store and had a limited stock (I assume that the shelves were stocked with software that is selling) I still found nothing interesting. The only games that caught my attention was the "Band of Brothers" and only enough to catch my eye. I didn't even read the box or read reviews on it. Maybe it's time the software companies started putting out the kind of programs that people want to play and not the ones that they want out there.

How long has it been since anyone out there bought a game and didn't have to download a patch to run the game. I read in PC Games years ago about the software industries failure to put out functional games and that, that would lead to poor sales as customers aren't about to spend $50USD on a game that doesn't work. One of the most famous of those was MOO3! There are threads on this site about that game and it's problems. PLEASE I don't want to start another thread about MOO3 and it's problems, it's just used as one of the better known issues of software companies putting out faulty programs to meet time or financial quotas and screwing the customers over to rush out the product. There are many more games that fit into this catagory!

NullAshton · #5 October 21st, 2005, 11:56 AM

Dogscoff, actually it's very easy to code for the console, about as easy as coding for the computer. They use an emulator to test the code first, then they put it on a CD or something to try it on the real thing once they're almost done. Saves on having to transport it over all the time.

I think what we need to worry about, is people prefering free games over games you have to pay for.

dogscoff · #6 October 21st, 2005, 12:37 PM

Quote:

NullAshton said:
Dogscoff, actually it's very easy to code for the console, about as easy as coding for the computer. They use an emulator to test the code first, then they put it on a CD or something to try it on the real thing once they're almost done. Saves on having to transport it over all the time.

Yes, but who are "they"?
The software and/or hardware tools to transfer the code from a PC to, say, an Xbox are not widely (or legally, probably) available to the public. You have to be an authorised developer. And to be an authorised developer, you need to have the l33t coding s|<1llZ. And to get the skills you have to have experience of coding, and where do you get the experience?

Quote:

I think what we need to worry about, is people prefering free games over games you have to pay for.

Well, they just have to make paid games better than free games then don't they?

The truth is, most paid games are built on the backs of freeware/shareware games anyway. The graphics might be shinier and the cutscenes funkier, but at heart Halo is just Doom, Final Fantasy is just Rogue and Everquest is just one of those old MUDs you saw the geek hardcore playing in the labs at uni. Occasionally you get true innovation in the commercial market (think Populous or lemmings) but for the most part they are just rehashing the same tired old crap again and again, wrapping it up in ever glitzier layers of graphics to convince us that it's actually something new.

Fyron · #7 October 21st, 2005, 12:42 PM

SE4 is just SE3 wrapped up in shinier, glitzier graphics. So is SE5. Let's all play SE3 again! (Note that SE3 and SE2 are fundamentally different games, and both have about the same level of graphics.)

NullAshton · #8 October 21st, 2005, 01:00 PM

Actually, the emulators for consoles are free. Of course, there's not many developer tools out there...

Rasorow · #9 October 21st, 2005, 03:17 PM

I think you are missing something.... Its October... There is always scarcity and scare and PC games are always "DOOMED TO DIE" July through Sept/Oct. Then SUDDENLY as if by MAGIC the store shelves fill with games Nov/Dec. As some "MOST HIGHLY ANTICIPATED GAME OF THE YEAR" that no one heard of 2 months ago is released. To reviews stating that the "With the release of xxxxx the PC gaming business serves notice that it is far from dead......"

So I dont really believe them... and quite honestly... I know of several games that are coming in the next year or so that I will be getting.... Oblivion, Sword of Stars, SE V, as well as several others both on the Shrapnel site and retail that I will buy when/if they come out.

Rasorow

(Remembers to check on Dominion III)