Changing fortunes for PC gaming..??

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

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With the recent successes with Double fine and their new graphic adventure game where Tim Schafer has raised over 2millon dollars from the public using kickstarter and now Remedy doing something that’s normally associated with the PC gaming fraternity as bringing sloppy ports to the platform, and this is bring a console game to the PC and make it better and profitable does this mean a change in times and fortunes for PC gaming?

Have double fine stuck their fingers up at publishers and gone back to roots?

Have Remedy given Microsoft Game Studios something to think about?

We also had the recent success of independent source mod title ‘Dear Esther’ and I do now wonder what we have in store for the coming year for us dedicated PC gamers.

It can be said that Remedy only did what they promised to do some five years ago, and they felt obliged, if they got the go ahead, to ensure Alan Wake was nothing less then a well crafted PC game. Likewise for Double fine, they only turned to the public as their last AAA title was a console only game…

Maybe reading too much into some of this, however it does appear PC gaming is gathering some momentum in terms of success that isn’t anything other then the public getting something they want for their preferred platform.

So, it all looks to be going well. Can it now get even better?
 
Consoles are finally starting to lag big time in terms of gfx behind PC, so the immediate future before new gen consoles are launched, should be bright.
 
Borsch said:
Compared to itself during late 90s-early 2000s, it was/is in trouble. Far fewer PC exclusives nowadays:(
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there are far fewer exclusives in general for various reasons. multiplatform games dominate these days. Pc gaming is in much better shape at the moment with steam, eyefinity, 3d etc. nostalgia is a bitch though.
 
I do long for the days of FPSers (and obvious other games) being PC exclusives. There was something "different" about the feel they have compared to when they're developed to run on both.
 
What's wrong with multiplatform gaming exactly?
Interoperability is very cool. Dungeon Defenders has done it right so far, all the clients (bar X360 I believe, due to Xbox Live licensing issues, nothing technical) can play together. Your Android phone, your PC, your PS3, all in harmony on one server.

Another bonus is reducing risk for developers. They can make one game and sell it on several platforms to recoup their costs. Exclusivity has, and always will be, a studio's choice, rather than a technical problem.

PCs will always have the best graphics and sound, and thus the best gaming experience.
 
Borsch said:
Compared to itself during late 90s-early 2000s, it was/is in trouble. Far fewer PC exclusives nowadays:(
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Why does having few exclusives make it in trouble? Cross platform games that are done correctly are just as good. As a developer I'd want my game to be available on as many platforms as possible.

It's never been in trouble, but it is going to change. With things like Steam helping companies and individuals to self publish and cut out the middle men, publishers are going to need a shakeup and to rethink some of their practices if they want to stay in the PC market at all.
 
Because exclusives make full use of PC's advantages in graphics, control complexity (dot have to design each game with a joypad in mind). Console ports... as they say - you cant polish a turd.
 
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Mr Krugga said:
Making exclusives on PC is rarely profitable so there's not much point in doing that if you can release on all platforms.

PC gaming has never been in better condition though.
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making an exclusive game for any platform is always profitable but making it a multiplatform is much more profitable. that's all. stop beeing a drama queen. i've never heard of a good pc exclusive not turning profit.
 
Yes, for developers point of view multiplatform does make sense, especially with rife piracy on PC... But from users perspective, we PC gamers are being levelled to lowest common denominator - 5 year old consoles have gfx engines written for them and we only get a few more high rez textures in our ports from consoles.
 
Borsch said:
Yes, for developers point of view multiplatform does make sense, especially with rife piracy on PC... But from users perspective, we PC gamers are being levelled to lowest common denominator - 5 year old consoles have gfx engines written for them and we only get a few more high rez textures in our ports from consoles.
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thats why we game at super high resolutions, multi-monitor setups, 3D and super smooth framerates. if every game was as demanding as crysis was back in the day these things would simply be out of reach.
 
Yamahahahahaha said:
What's wrong with multiplatform gaming exactly?
Interoperability is very cool. Dungeon Defenders has done it right so far, all the clients (bar X360 I believe, due to Xbox Live licensing issues, nothing technical) can play together. Your Android phone, your PC, your PS3, all in harmony on one server.

Another bonus is reducing risk for developers. They can make one game and sell it on several platforms to recoup their costs. Exclusivity has, and always will be, a studio's choice, rather than a technical problem.

PCs will always have the best graphics and sound, and thus the best gaming experience.
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nothing is "wrong" with it - it's just quite often things are sacrificed to do so. skyrim's UI is an obvious example of console-iteous.

I'm not hating on consoles though, just a statement I feel is fact. :p
 
The thing is, PC does have exclusive titles… You most certainly won’t be playing on a console –

Amnesia dark descent
Dear Esther
Witcher 2 (although this is just about to appear on the 360)
Shogun or any of the total war series
Diablo
Star Wars the old Republic
Red Orchestra 2
Company of Hero’s
Starcraft 2
DOTA 2
C.A.R.S
iRacing

And you most certainly won’t be patching or modding on a console -

Skyrim
F1 2011
Shift 2
Half Life 2

And not one new cross platform game on PC will you be able to enable v sync, play at 1080 x 1920 or higher, apply your own levels of AA. FXAA or even MSAA so in terms of what a PC offers with exclusives and configurability – no the PC was never in trouble..

I think my point is that publishers and even game studios might start to see the PC is still a very viable platform if given the correct treatment or targeted correctly when you look at the recent successes.

As for gfx etc… I think its got to a stage now that its more important to actually get the games rather then them being showcases. Crysis was a spectacular looking game, however even today it can, and does take a good rig to make it sing is it was intended to look.

Crysis 2 came along, throttled back from Crysis level or requirements, thus ran on many systems and still offered a decent looking fps yet didn’t’ need thousands of pounds of high end kit. I know which game I’d rather buy if I didn’t’ want to upgrade my rigs. Yet it was regarded as a sloppy console port. I can honestly say, the need for consistent upgrading had to stop and it has, and its refreshing to know I can buy a game such as Mass Effect 3, and know that because I could run Mass Effect 2 at 1080 60fps, I’ll be looking at similar performance for Mass Effect 3. Result to the publisher, developer is more sales.

I do wonder how many didn’t buy Crysis at launch simply due to the crippling demands the game made on current spec hardware at the time.

PC gaming looks to be hitting a sweet spot, its got the Gfx without needing hugely OTT tech, it now has the games coming and its looking good..
 
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Anyone wishing for the "old days" of the 90s and early 2000s to come back should get a reality check - the world has changed, the market has changed, and the developers/publishing landscape has changed.

We need to look forward and remember that the PC has ALWAYS forged the future of gaming, and is so far ahead of the consoles that it is in an altogether different era of gaming i.e. the amazing Indie releases in the last few years.
 
The thing is, no matter how much FXAA and MSAA you apply to Alan Wake, it will not turn it's graphics into what it would have been was the game made exclusively for PC.

My biggest problem with consoles though is their historic tendency to make arcade games out of everything. Level design, mission design, controls design- hardly ever approach the complexity of Theif:dark project, RainbowSix (up to Raven Shield), Stalker, Ghost Recon (prior to GRAW)... We just nearly stopped seeing such games appear nowadays:(
 
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