This Week in the Business: ‘Xbox 360 Isn’t So Good Anymore Compared to PCs.’

What's happened in the business of video games this past week ...

QUOTE | "Xbox 360 isn't so good anymore compared to PCs."—Matt Firor, head of Zenimax Online Studios, talking about why we haven't seen successful console MMOs on 360 as part of an in-depth Elder Scrolls Online interview.

QUOTE | "There's a brutality, there's a violence, but it's not gratuitous."—Bruce Straley, game director for Naughty Dog, talking about raising the storytelling bar in the their upcoming title The Last of Us.

QUOTE | "I don't care how indie you are—once you've taken a million bucks from consumers, professionalism isn't optional."—Rob Fahey, veteran game journalist, talking about how Polytron refuses to patch Fez on XBLA.

QUOTE | "A great social game is Shakespearean."—Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, talking about how he thinks great social games should offer more than one type of experience for players.

QUOTE | "Is the jump to Unreal Engine 4 graphics really enough to change the retail slump?"—James Brightman, US Editor of GamesIndustry International, talking along with other journalists about whether the current console generation has gone on too long.

STAT | 200 million—Number of registered players for Runescape, the free-to-play MMORPG; players have collected over 28 trillion gold coins so far.

QUOTE | "If you don't keep experimenting you are dead."—Riccardo Zacconi, CEO of King.com, talking about the need to keep innovating with game designs.

QUOTE | "The industry itself is undefeatable."—Seamus Blackley, co-creator of the Xbox, talking about how the gaming industry is the greatest industry out there.

STAT | 1.1 million—Number of Xbox 360 consoles sold in the quarter that ended in June, making it #1 in the US; sales were down from 1.7 million consoles in the same quarter last year.

QUOTE | "I think we're in a period right now where it is unclear what a publisher is or does."—Mitch Lasky, venture capitalist and former EA VP, talking about how digital distribution and social networks have weakened publishers.

STAT | 3 million—Number of copies of Minecraft for XBLA sold, according to Notch; the game has sold more than 10 million copies across platforms.

QUOTE | "A $99 Ouya looks like unbeatable value, but up against a $149 Xbox 360?"—Richard Leadbetter, Eurogamer tech expert, talking about the possibilities for Tegra 3-powered Android console.

STAT | 70%—Percentage of the DC Universe Online audience that plays the game on the PlayStation 3, according to SOE boss John Smedley.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-17-the-elder-scrolls-online-reinventing-a-franchise-in-an-online-world

http://kotaku.com/5927951/this-week-in-the-business-xbox-360-isnt-so-good-anymore-compared-to-pcs

Sad. And I'm not talking about the "article" (Can we even call it that?)

In before "You don't say" meme.

Anyway, totally different things and markets right now.

Yeah, seems slow news day for Kotaku. Anyway here is the question and answer from the interview:

Q: Why do you think it is that we don't see successful MMOs on consoles? It's been the realm of PC for a long time now, but console players want to play, right? Is it the game balancing, the mechanics or the hardware? Why have we not seen it?

Matt Firor: It's the classic desk vs. couch argument, but it is blurring over time. The current-gen and previous-gen MMOs were all about using the keyboard and mouse, and sure, everyone used things like Ventrilo and other voice chat services, but that only works in a small group. A lot of that has been thanks to design problems that people haven't focused on a lot, such as typing and controlling at the same time.

The 360, when announced was a pretty ridiculously cool device, but it is not so good anymore compared to PCs and even when it was announced PCs were still better than it. The technology was a little limiting for the size and scope of the world you could have. It mostly comes down to PCs being wide open. Online game development is all about doing whatever you want, pushing limitations, and it's just easier to do on an open platform. Someday, it may all change.

I think the reason for the lack of MMOs on 360 has more to do with issues with Xbox Live than with hardware limitations.

Games like WoW and LoL look so bad that even Xbox 1 and Ps2 could run those games so its not about hardware, its more about Console Gamers dont giving a sh** about MMos on Consoles since every Pc in the world can run WoW and Lol, sometimes i play Lol and my pc is not that good. Maybe Next Gen Microsoft will do some kind Of MMO for Xbox 8 so people who like can enjoy those games.

Xbox 360 is obviously outdated but even with a 7 Year old hardware some teams like Epic, Turn 10, Crytek and 343 can put on the market games with better graphics than 95% of games available on Pc.

In Facts i can only name 3/4 games on Pc that look better than Uncharted 3 or Forza 4 or Halo 4.

Crysis Series
Witcher 2
Battlefield 3

And thats it, multi games sure look better on Pc but even on Pc when compared to Uc3 or Gears 3 they look not even close to those graphical powerhouses.

Pc Gaming is good, in fact i love Steam and Mouse and Keyboard for MMOs are still the king but Console Gaming for me has alot of more Feautures i love :

- Playing on my Couch with a big badass FULL HD screen.
- Still having amazing looking games like Forza 4, GT5, Killzone 3 or Uncharted 3.
- Xbox Live wich for me means everything, The reason i own a Xbox, amazing people, amazing friends, amazing online communitie, amazing clan wars ...
- Controller, i said Mouse and Keyboard are better for MMOs but for me even FPS i rather play with the Xbox Controller and Fighting and Football Games i love the Dualshock.
- Consoles Designs - i love the design of Consoles.
- My friends are on XBL, Pc isnt as popular as it was before anymore over here and even WW.
- Better Exclusives - Games like God of War, Uncharted, Gears of War, Halo or Forza MotorSport make me buy Consoles and not want to leave them since studios wont stop making these.
- Not as many Cheaters, i wont deny that their are cheaters on Consoles... But on Pc is ridiculous, almosy 90% of people who Plays CS or those games cheat, its stupid and lame and thats why i quit Pc Gaming.

And this are the main.

i am not a big fan of mouse and keyboard but i would never play a mmo, rts or point&click adventures on console if i could play it on pc. the only reason i bought a few rts on console is because some friends had it and i played it with them. if we only have a few mmo on console they are maybe successful but if they would have as much competition on console as they have on pc they would have a much harder "life"

and yes, pc is much better than consoles atm. and hdmi did a lot to bring people like me to play on pc using their tv like they always loved.

MMO's don't exist on the XBOX 360 because Microsoft won't allow them.....basically.

There are some on the PS3, however.

I hear that GUILD WARS 2 is coming next on the PS3.

are you from 2009?

the xbox from the beginning was designed as a console that was basically a stand alone gaming PC, that would offer low spec PC gaming at an affordable price.

so the 360 has actually been laggin behind his big brother the PC how a couple of years now.

people rarely mention how resilient in time the pc gaming hardware has become