I agree with that, but it’s not like Microsoft has left the PCGA because they found other and better ways to strengthen PC gaming. Rather, they dropped the last fig leaf to pretend they cared at all. For the company that makes the OS for 90+% of gaming PCs, that’s rather noteworthy I think.
And it’s not like the PCGA and MS were only accidentally related. MS was a founding member, the biggest and richest member, and by virtue of Windows the most important member. If the PCGA failed to do anything relevant that’s clearly Microsoft’s own responsibility, to a large degree.
I’m not following your logic. From what I can tell the PCGA did nothing. Are you saying the PCGA did nothing because Microsoft had no intention of doing anything productive? What stopped all the other members from doing anything?
18 might be enough if they were placed where I could actually use them. Those designs look awful - I strongly suspect I’d be clicking the wrong button all the time while trying to left click.
Razer has a 17 button mouse, and it’s not a prototype. I’m still not sure about the button placement, though. I know I tried to use one of those Logitech mice with a side-wheel for a time, and I never found reaching for the wheel with my thumb comfortable. I guess I hold my mouse farther back than the engineers did.
So AMD, Nvidia, Sony, and Dell are powerless? Let’s leave aside whatever you think MS could’a/would’a/should’a brought to the table. Are you saying these guys just couldn’t do anything on their own?
I play computer games exponentially more than any other platform and I buy new ones all the time and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the PC Gaming Alliance. In fact, I had to double check that I got the name right. What exactly has the PC Gaming Alliance ever accomplished, that Microsoft & nVidia’s lack of participation would make a difference?
Nothing besides what they did anyway in their own businesses, no. Exactly what do you think they could accomplish without or against the company that controls Windows and DirectX?
The PC Gaming Alliance was/is a pure PR move, from start to finish. It matters not one bit whether MS is a part or not, because the organization itself provides no function except positive publicity for the companies involved.
That’s not what is was founded for. The intention was to popularize PC gaming, hence the name. I’m pretty sure none of the involved companies needed or planned on getting extra PR for themselves – they are all pretty well known already.
Again, the organization exists solely to foster positive publicity for these companies among PC gamers. 100% PR, whether stated publicly or not. It doesn’t actually do anything. Well known companies seek positive publicity quite often. It isn’t only for the obscure.
I think part of the problem, is that these people don’t really any strategy to make PC gaming awesome…
Five gaming stations were on display and available for anyone to play, including:
· DIRT 2 – Powered by ATI Eyefinity technology on three HD displays;
· Dark Void – Playing on the Alienware M15x laptop;
· Street Fighter IV – Controlled by new Mad Catz Street Fighter IV Fight Sticks TE 2nd Edition
· Resident Evil 5 – Demonstrated in 3D utilizing NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision technology;
· World of Goo - Touch enabled via Windows 7 for a new and exciting experience.
How does this add up with your criticism of Microsoft’s leaving the group?
If anyone is doing anything to really popularize PC gaming it would be Steam. Is Valve part of this organization? No!? Why, they must want to kill PC gaming!
OTOH, check out Kickstarter - a thing I just read about at RPS. Kickstarta way to bring microfunding to all sorts of projects. They include games, but their projects encompass any good idea in all sorts of categories.
The page for each project explains what it is and what the money is going toward. Then it lets viewers kick in any amount, starting with a buck. People who pledge more than that get sponsorship rewards, again all spelled out on the page, at $10, $50, etc. increments.
I can’t post links yet (and I swear I will get those fifty posts today if it kills me) but check out kickstarter dot com or just the story on Knights: Spiral Island at RPS. There’s a list at kickstarter where you can see all the games they’ve helped raise funding for so far.
I’m betting that Kickstarter has done more for gaming just in their handful of projects than the PC Gaming Alliance has managed.
I am with BroadwayJoe. They did some PR saying “we support pc gaming!”. But that’s it, they didn’t make anything else apart from making nice statements. Actually, some of the companies involved (say, Epic & Microsoft) developed, produced and distributed videogames without bothering to release a pc version. So yeah, better look at what someone does, instead of what someone speaks of.
I’m not criticising Microsoft’s leaving the group but their never doing anything while they were in it. This just confirms how little they care about PC gaming, beyond a cheap PR gesture. Valve was smart enough to realise that from the start, I suppose.
