KOTR PC delayed due to M$?

[Alan_Dunkin]

@TheWombat

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.

I’m gonna write my congressman.

— Alan

[Qenan]

When they come out with a console that plays PC-style games and has a good control interface (i.e., a keyboard and a mouse or something as good) I’ll be all over it. Until then I’ll just limp along with the PC…

[bago]

It’s always refreshing to see ignorance trotted out on display like that…

Not that it eliminates the ignorance, but it makes me feel like what I’m reading isn’t a complete waste of my time.

[Kool_Moe_Dee]

Let me just join the dogpile here and confirm that porting a game from the Xbox to the PC is still a very significant amount of work. Some possible changes:

[ol]
[li]interface adjustments (mouse, keyboard, etc.)
[/li][li]supporting older/newer video/sound cards
[/li][li]resolution switching
[/li][li]multiplayer support (if, say, the console version doesn’t have it, or even if it does, switching to use Gamespy + your own networking layer as opposed to console network APIs)
[/li][li]mod support, even if nobody ever makes a mod for your game
[/li][li]compatibility problems
[/li][li]additional/different optimizations for low-end machines
[/li][/ol]

Also keep in mind that you’ll need another full QA cycle on the game, plus different packaging, manuals, CD/DVD layout, an installer, a brand new demo, more localized versions, copy protection, and perhaps a patch after all is said and done. It’s definitely not a trivial amount of work.

Another thing that bothered me about this thread was the insinuation that somehow KOTOR will be shittier because it will be released later on the PC than originally anticipated. Give me a break, it’s a great game – and it will be just as great whenever it finally comes out on the PC. Just chill and play the game when it comes out.

[Warlord_of_Mars]

Some folks might be forgetting that perhaps KOTOR was built from the ground up with the mentality of “XBox first, worry about PC later”.

Thus the delay. I don’t know why people have to shout “conspiracy!” or beat the dead horse of attaching a dollar symbol to Microsoft thinking that they would sacrifice quality for more money. (If that’s the case, why not sell some cheap ass console instead of losing all that money, hmm?)

[Midnight_Son]

While riding the short bus this morning it struck me how EMOTIONAL many of you are when it comes to your leetle console. Ok, ok, it takes work to port from xbox to PC! Jeez!

[Jazar]

@Warlord_of_Mars

Some folks might be forgetting that perhaps KOTOR was built from the ground up with the mentality of “XBox first, worry about PC later”.

I was always under the impression from interviews and the like that they were both being worked on at the same time. Perhaps I was misled, but that is what was implied.

[DaveC]

@Jazar

[quote=Warlord of Mars]Some folks might be forgetting that perhaps KOTOR was built from the ground up with the mentality of “XBox first, worry about PC later”.

I was always under the impression from interviews and the like that they were both being worked on at the same time. Perhaps I was misled, but that is what was implied.[/quote]

There was some concurrent development, but it only makes sense that the Xbox version got more time up front since it was the first to be released.

Midnight Son - The same applies when porting any console game to PC. That’s why it’s BS when people say all the the Xbox is, is a “locked down” PC. The OS, memory, file access, DirectX, etc are all different enough from the PC to make it a fair amount of work to port.