I just think there aren't any companies releasing GOOD games for pc anymore. Crysis and Far Cry 2 are both good at showcasing their engines, but suck at being actual games.
There are good games out there, but they aren't released by the huge mega-publishers because they're not willing to take risks... the big mega-publishers want maximum money for minimum effort... that results in sloppy coding, tight deadlines and buggy, poor gameplay that due to wanting to milk as much money as possible out of the IP means it's simultaneously developed on as many platforms as possible - usually to the lowest common denominator's level, as well.
Microsoft have been quietly shafting PC gamers for a while now - look at the abortive mess that is Games for Windows Live. It's worse than XBox Live was when it launched... and they don't appear to have any motivation to fix it, as their console doesn't live or die by it like the XBox (360) did (does) with XBL. Then look at the PC Gaming Alliance - half of their press releases are from ex-PC developers who now develop on consoles who spend all of their time whining about how badly their crappy rushed PC game ports have sold. Well, I'm sorry but it's common sense: a game they've spent most of it's development time saying how amazing it would be and how well it would use multicore processors and fast graphics cards and... well, generally high end rigs... will come out on the PC if Microsoft think it might make them a buck or two. Which it probably won't, if they spend time porting it properly, as everyone who wants it badly will have already bought it on the 360.
So then Microsoft can hold it up as another example of why developing PC games isn't worth it. Throw in some developer interview complaining about piracy rates, too.
I'm not surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.
Epic Games did the same thing: if Gears of War had been released on the PC at exactly the same time as on the 360, and without GfWL, I'm sure it would have sold better. Thing is, a lot of people bought it on the 360 because they want it and bought the line about it not coming out on the PC. Ever. They had no reason to believe that Epic were fibbing on that bit, did they? So the 360 version sold really well, and the PC version was pirated to hell and back because it was really late, it was buggy as hell, and it was laden with crap that people didn't want to be tied to - Games for Windows Live.
...
I'll still expect to see console games sales higher than PC games sales even if they were released at the same time, and the PC version didn't have stupid hoops to jump through just to play... after all consoles are easier to use and a lot more idiot-proof than PCs. But I don't think that PC games would do as bad if the PC version was released at the same time as the console version,
globally... it's pointless to stagger releases by territory now as that encourages piracy! Those who want something badly enough will get it however they can, and frequently if they've got the choice between waiting two weeks for a game, or pirating it right that minute... they'll go with the latter.
Login
FAQ
Search
Members
