Xbox 360 Easier to Use for Skyrim Demonstrations, Says Bethesda

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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Xbox 360 Easier to Use for Skyrim Demonstrations, Says Bethesda


The studio also wants the PC version's visuals to have as much impact as possible on the player.

Bethesda's Todd Howard has explained why the studio has decided to use the Xbox 360 version of the new Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim [http://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-Xbox-360/dp/B004HYK956/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1309349029&sr=1-1]. As it turns out, the answer is surprisingly simple: The Xbox 360 is just easier to use than any other platform, at least for demonstration purposes.

"I don't know if people realize," he said. "But as a game developer, the 360 is just much easier to show it on, from getting it started, to showing it, to controlling it, it's just much easier to demo on logistically." When asked why he didn't use the PC version - which he said looks even better than the console version - Howard said it was a matter of perception. Bethesda wanted people to see the console version at shows and then be impressed with the extra graphical quality on the PC, not see the PC version and then be disappointed with its console counterpart.

Considering how many people see/play games demos at trade shows, especially for a game as eagerly awaited as Skyrim, it's not surprise that the developer would want to make the experience as easy as possible, both for the people playing the game, and for itself. Apparently, that means using the Xbox 360, a fact that some people will probably read more into than they should.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim comes out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 11th.

Source: AusGamer [http://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/3076322] via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/309384/bethesda-explains-why-skyrims-shown-on-360-not-pc/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-News-RSS]


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Dr Jones

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Jun 23, 2010
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Did anyone get pissed that they showed it on 360? (well ofc...)
 

Catchy Slogan

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Jun 17, 2009
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That seems fair enough. Better to show the minimum and have people satisfied than show the very best and have people dissapointed.
 

ZombieGenesis

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Apr 15, 2009
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I hate the fact that argument kind of makes sense.
Why not make people pleasantly surprised with the PC rather than dissapointed with the console?
It'll reflect good on reviews too. Curses Bethesda.

... I'll take ten.
 

dyre

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Mar 30, 2011
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Catchy Slogan said:
That seems fair enough. Better to show the minimum and have people satisfied than show the very best and have people dissapointed.
Assuming the minimum is good, of course (which it is, since it's Bethseda)
 

Phase_9

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Oct 18, 2008
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Why does it matter? I play both PC and console, and I don't give a toss what platform they show it on as long as it's good. At the end of the day, that's all that should matter.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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Oh God! We all know what this means! They're gonna focus on the console version! It's gonna be dumbed down! It won't use DX14! I won't have to map more than 25 keys! I won't be able to level up my toenails!

The end times are upon us!
 

C95J

I plan to live forever.
Apr 10, 2010
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Wait, were people actually complaining that it was shown on the Xbox 360 instead of a PC?

If so, that's pretty stupid, and some people are just really fussy...
 

erbkaiser

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Jun 20, 2009
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Catchy Slogan said:
That seems fair enough. Better to show the minimum and have people satisfied than show the very best and have people dissapointed.
Exactly. If it looks good on an XBox, it should look good on any PC of the past 5+ years.

This makes a real lot of sense for Bethesda to do, just pop the demo disk in a console and you have everything up and running. There are always possible issues with PCs.
 

The Wykydtron

"Emotions are very important!"
Sep 23, 2010
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Were people really complaining about the fact that they showed it on console? It seems like a bit of a stupid thing to get hung up on

[sub]Never mind i don't want to hear the answer to that question[/sub]
 

teebeeohh

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Jun 17, 2009
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did bethesda just wrap their juicy red lips around the almighty MS-money-dick?

just kidding guys, i just couldn't let one page on a skyrim-related thread pass without some cave man jumping out of the bushes to pronounce the end of days.
 

Jonesy911

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Jul 6, 2009
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I hate having a ps3 and a 360, now I'm always scared the version of the game I'm getting will be the poorly optimized one
 

Roofstone

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May 13, 2010
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Oh bethesda, you clever bastards.. It is a pretty good move for when the game comes out actually..
 

ruben6f

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I love reading pc fanboys comments it just makes me so happy how they think that theyr are superior to non pc gamers, it's obvious that the pc version will look better so why complain?
 

Easton Dark

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Jan 2, 2011
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So taking that into consideration, does DICE enjoy taunting console gamers?

OT: Sounds reasonable. Seems like PS3 would be just as easy to use though :l
 

quantumcat

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May 6, 2011
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Easton Dark said:
So taking that into consideration, does DICE enjoy taunting console gamers?

OT: Sounds reasonable. Seems like PS3 would be just as easy to use though :l
PS3 is said to be a lot harder to develop for, due to having a specialized architecture with dedicated subprocessors. Conversely, an Xbox360 is a lot like a PC with generalized processors and much simpler to develop for.

OT: That's also why some companies started using PS3 as their lead platform. It's apparently a major pain to figure out how to redo everything from generic to specialized processors. But if you figure it out on the specialized processors first, it's easy to move it over to general ones.

In any case, I would speculate it's just easier to get a demo up and running on the 360. Now I don't know why it'd be easier to show or control on a 360 vs a PS3.
 

linwolf

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Jan 9, 2010
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Of course Bethesda is using the 360 version. No unofficial patch have made the PC version playable yet.
 

Easton Dark

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quantumcat said:
Easton Dark said:
So taking that into consideration, does DICE enjoy taunting console gamers?

OT: Sounds reasonable. Seems like PS3 would be just as easy to use though :l
In any case, I would speculate it's just easier to get a demo up and running on the 360. Now I don't know why it'd be easier to show or control on a 360 vs a PS3.
That's what I was getting at. Seems like it'd be equally easy to get a ps3 on the show floor. I just wished they'd have shown it on ps3 instead because... well... <<Badges<<.
 

Moriarty70

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Dec 24, 2008
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Zhukov said:
Oh God! We all know what this means! They're gonna focus on the console version! It's gonna be dumbed down! It won't use DX14! I won't have to map more than 25 keys! I won't be able to level up my toenails!

The end times are upon us!
I know, remeber back in the day when each toenail leveled on their own and was related to a star sign and only skills from under those signs could be used to level the nail?

... man I wish they didn't take out the cart from Daggerfall, and boats, and houses.