Unfortunately, nothing can be done about it right now. Developers have to do what their bosses tell them to do whether they like it or not. If a company has millions invested into directx reusable code they are not going to switch to opengl without some sort of benefit in the form of more profit.
The current state of PC gaming is truley abysmal. We have easily been retarded by about 10 years because MS want to capitalize on software royalties which is hard to do on the PC. They want the XB to succeed because they can easily control that platform whereas any advances in the PC will more than likely eventually be free for everyone on other OS's. They are a business after all so I dont think their stance is surprising. Sony is 100x worse with their draconian tactics to control formats.
That said, there is only 1 way PC gaming will take off again and its actually very simple and will probably happen soon due to the pressure being felt in the PC world. Intel, AMD, Nvidia, HP, Dell and every game developer, PC maker, & hardware maker on earth needs to sit down in a room and create a friggin gaming standard using common PC hardware! Basically, what we need is all these companies agree that a certain EXISTING video card, along with a specific mobo, CPU, & memory will become the defacto setup for a brand new open source console.
They will need to pool their money and hire a Linux developer to create an OS specifically for the hardware and make sure it behaves like a console not a PC in terms of speed & ease of use. Make installation on hard drive optional (game runs from media like consoles). Once complete, give the OS to PC makers and let them help you market the product.
Create backward compatibility for your popular old games so that they work on the system to instantly give yourself a huge starting library of games to tone down the costs of making new games until the system becomes a little widespread.
Lastly, every 2 years, revise the standard to new hardware to spur more sales for everyone.
Thats it. Its actually just an open source console based on PC hardware.
This would make money for almost everyone in the PC hardware arena. Nvidia and AMD will start selling masses of video cards again. HP, Dell and other PC manufacturers will cheer as they enter into a market that they never dreamed to be a part of on top of their normal PC sales. Some lucky developer will become very rich making and maintaining the new OS. Game developers will not have the technical problems that are plaguing their games on the PC and they dont have to pay royalties or rely on anyone but themselves for sales saving tons of money. Devs will not have to make cross platformers since this console wille eventually trump all the others over time (being perpetual in nature). The "rugulatory group" itself can also sell ad space and other stuff for revenue.
For the consumer, you get a low/mid cost console with tons of games almost instantly as soon as you buy one. No more technical problems with hardware or software! Cheaper games. You will never have to worry about backward compatibility because the hardware is standardized and builds upon itself like most PC hardware. Being a PC, any techie will be able to fix it easily. No more draconian policies from MS, Sony or Nintendo limiting your enjoyment although some sort of protection will be understandable. Perhaps an internet requirement or a new type of media that is hard to copy or cirumvent (perhaps a custom USB stick).
Yea I know... im dreaming but I think the PC companies are being pushed into this if PC sales do not recover.
