Probably true. But why was Vice City delayed just as long then?[/quote]
Because Rockstar inked a deal with Sony to keep Vice City off the PC for 6 months to a year. There WAS a deal on VC. I don’t, however, believe there was one for vanilla GTA3. I could be wrong though.
"It’s closer to Final Fantasy than it is to Morrowind. "
Actually it’s closer to Baldur’s Gate then it is to Final Fantasy or Morrowind.
That’s what I thought. I take it this “inked deal” involved money? Aahh! Now we have to be edgy and call them $ony.
Take a statement like that with a whole salt lick.
If true, M$ = Assholes. But I’m just a consumer, so who’s gonna listen to me?
Then why the delay?
I think exclusives on consoles are not a bad thing. It should help maximize each game’s use of its platform. If games simultaneously released on all platformed, the chances of non-optimized versions shoveled in to make the simultaneous launch date would, in theory at least, be higher IMO.
Certainly from a business perspective it does not benefit the companies making the games or the boxes to have every game available on every platform. That’s a recipe for weeding out one of the three consoles pretty fast I’d suspect.
From a consumer point of view, it depends on your platform of choice I suppose. Had KOTOR released on both Xbox and PC, would I have purchased the PC versions instead of the Xbox version? Dunno; 'tis mighty fun on the big TV. But now, having played through the Xbox version and watching my wife do the same, we’ll probably buy the PC version too–double sales for BioWare.
Ditto with a lot of games that make it to the PC. I’ll play 'em on the console and then, if I like them and feel they’d be improved or worth playing again on the PC, I’ll consider getting them on the PC. PC Halo is a case in point maybe.
I can’t get mad at the delay on KOTOR (having an Xbox may disqualify me though :)) really. It’s their business how they run their business, and in the long run I benefit from a financially healthy BioWare and a robust Microsoft game presence I think.
Actually, it’s not their business how they run their business. They are watched closely and rightly so.
Then why the delay?[/quote]
Contrary to popular opinion porting from Xbox to PC isn’t a switch during compile. For one thing the UI has to be changed for mouse and keyboard control. Also, we now have to accommodate for different video and sound cards, etc.
I assume you mean Microsoft and not BioWare. We are not a public company.
Yes, Microsoft. Bioware is just fine.
Then why the delay?[/quote]
Maybe… because it takes time to port a title from console to PC???
Seriously, you guys see conspiracies behind the most elementary things. A port is NOT an insignificant task, especially if you want to do it right. A two month delay is a rounding error in the life of a project, not the sign of a great M$ plot.
The Xbox is nothing but a locked down PC. How damn difficult is a port from Xbox to PC, really? Sounds like FUD to me.
You don’t have about 5,000,000 different video cards, sound cards, CD-ROM drives, DVD-ROM drives, hard drives, motherboards and monitors to account for when you’re making an X-Box game.
That, by the way, is part of the huge appeal of consoles as a consumer. I buy a console game, I’m guaranteed to have the same experience as my friend who has the same game, barring a tragic hardware screw-up. Whereas on a PC, I can play GTA3 on an outdated system and have a blast, whereas my friend who splurged on much newer equipment suffers from crazy framerate jerkiness and sluggish controls and frequent crashes. Meanwhile, he’s rocking out to Age Of Wonders:Shadow Magic with no effort, while I have to shut off all the features on my graphics card in order to get the game to start (granted, it’s not as if AoW:SM takes advantage of them, but it’s really annoying having to constantly tweak my graphics settings).
Also, this is probably a huge part of the appeal for developers too. Developers don’t have to worry about whether Gamer #1 will have a vastly different hardware config from Gamer #2. They just write the game and they’re done with it. It’d be so much easier to develop a game for a console than a PC.
Spoken with unabashed ignorance! I love it.
Making games is easy too you know. Just throw some art and some code together, shake the box for six months, and out comes a million seller.
Microsoft may well be “watched closely” for irregularities, anti-competitive actions, etc. but it’s still their business how they run their company in terms of products, pricing, etc. They might have to answer for those decisions to stockholders or even the government but until then, yeah, it’s thier business.
Delaying PC KOTOR isn’t something the Justice Department is going to be looking into, I rather think.
Makin’ games ain’t like dusting crops, boy!
Seriously, you have no idea what you’re talking about, really.
Then you’d be very, very wrong.
I would add racing titles to the list of games that play better on a console, likewise I would never want to play RISE of NATIONS or HOMEWORLD on a console.
When I look at titles now I like the fact that I have the option to choose different platforms.
I sure hell wouldnt want to play TRIBES on a console.
Has anyone tried the PS2 version? My entire keyboard is mapped for TRIBES, I just dont see how you could play it with a joystick.
have a nice day
I stand by my statement in my ignorance. Of course, I don’t give a damn about no steenking console. I just want mah PC game, bwah.