twesterm said:
vlad321 said:
twesterm said:
One of the biggest things hurting PC games is there's nothing that enforces quality. While Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo may have closed systems, that closed system lets them enforce a measure of quality. The process is different for all three, but there are basic requirements that say the game must work and be above a certain bar. PC has nothing like that.
Because of that, more time is spent on the console versions of a game and the PC is just kind of there. If something gets fixed in the process, cool, if not, oh well. More attention is *always* put on the console versions if there is one because the big three can say no, you can't release this game but you can release whatever you want on the PC.
Now it's obviously in the developers best interest to release as good of a product as possible, but when it comes down to the wire and you have a minor bug that keeps your game from getting certified on a console and a major bug that makes the PC version crash, the console bug will be fixed and the PC one will be put further down the list. Always.
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Except that that's the whole point. The PC is an open platform. Someone controlling your platform automatically puts hardware one notch done from open platforms. Then again go ask Apple how they are doing great with their iOS. Oh wait, Android is selling more now? I am SHOCK I tell you, SHOCKED.
Another thing about open platforms, moddability. Even if you find some broken logic to discount the countless hours modding communities add to a game, some of the biggest names in gaming come from mods, hell ont he front page you can go find out Valve came about from modding. Can't have any of that on a closed system.
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You can't deny with that control comes advantages. Every 360 runs just like every other 360. The developer knows exactly what the target platform is and they can optimize specifically for that. Sure, the graphics card on my 360 may be five years old, but that doesn't mean the games look bad by any means. Also, like I said in my previous posts, the console enforce certain standards.
With the PC, there's an infinite variety of setups and it's unreasonable to ask developers to provide for even most setups. There are just too many options. It's hard on the developer and it's confusing for the general consumer. On top of that, there are no standards. It does make it easier for indie devs which is great, but it also means the PC version will almost always take a back seat to the console versions. Finally, consoles have a completely invisible to the user DRM while most every PC game has some sort of cumbersome DRM (some worse than others, some not-so-bad).
And I totally agree that modding is a great thing, the games industry wouldn't be near where it is now without it. That said, it isn't the thing that will keep PC gaming going and I believe you are the one that told me you refuse to pay for a broken or bad game so why do you think it's better or worthwhile for the community to fix a broken/bad game?
What's better to you? Better quality game or better graphics?
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I find it interesting that costs of games ROSE this generatoin, where you claim it's easier and cheaper to create games because of uniformity, than before when they were mostly focused on the PC. I mean shit, half of Activision's profits come from WoW, and they really have to struggle to make it into the black. So theoretically yes, you are correct, realistically though the industry is in a worse position now than it has ever been before this standardized hardware. Keep in mind that libraries for PCs are also far more standardized now than they were in the mid 90s, with card makers also putting a lot of effort in optimizing their cards for games that come out.
I feel like you misunderstood which mods I was refering to. There is no reason for the community to fix a broken or bad game. In fact the best mods out there just extend a great game. DOTA is obviously a big one, and WC3 wasn't a bad game at all. CS to half-life, countless mods to the UTs, the mods for Diablo II that added so much more content. But youa re right there are a bunch of mods that fixed games up as well, it's because of mods that Oblivion went from a bad game to a somewhat playable game. The point is, none of those are possible on the
As to your final question, you know my opinion very well on that as well. To me the quality of games, mostly because they serve the least common denominator now ( and I'm not talking Wii Sports and those, I'm talking FPSs, RPGs, and other games people think are "hardcore" which are laughably casual this gen) than before 2005. Meanwhile that same least common denominator also seems to be latched onto good graphics and how much they mean. As before, you are theoretically correct, however realistically ever since the standardization of hardware this gen came about, quality has exponentially falle, and graphics have become more meaningful to the masses.
tl;dr: Yes everything you say should be the way you say. However, realistically, ever since 2005 and this new gen that has standardized and brought so much control to everything came about, quality of games are down, giving a shit about graphics is up, and developers are having a harder and harder time covering costs.
Edit: SOmething that is very laughable about that video. He said something along the lines of "We no longer need the traditional PC because..." and proceeded to list out 5-6 different devices. I hate to break it to this guy, but hardware converges, it doesn't converge. I don't have fuckign space for a tablet, a phone, an mp3 player, and whatever else he mentioned in there. I used ot have a powerful laptop, then i exchganed it for a PC which I'm pretty sure is The Beast from Revelations, and a small notebook for $250. I will not lie to you, that was the absolutely best swithc I ever did. I have written entire database backbones on that little pocket calculator, something no device besides a computer can do. At the same time when I need brute horsepower, I have my desktop tower.
Edit2: Also yes, shows movies etc. can be watched on the small thing as well. On top of email, etc. etc. etc.
