BioWare Says the PC is "Made For Games"

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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BioWare Says the PC is "Made For Games"


BioWare [http://www.bioware.com] designer Daniel Erickson says the PC is "made for games" and that despite the never-ending predictions of its imminent demise, it's the "natural" platform for BioWare's RPGs.

If you're a PC gamer then odds are you've been told at least twice in the past that your platform of choice isn't just irrelevant, it's practically dead. Game developers don't like the PC, they've stopped supporting the PC and within the next, oh, 30 days or so the only thing you'll have left to play will be MMOGs, FarmVille [http://www.amazon.com/Zuma-Pc/dp/B000UQURWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277400448&sr=1-1]. To borrow a phrase from Kermit the Frog, it's not easy bein' PC.

But maybe it's not quite as bad as all that. Erickson, in fact, who worked on CVG [http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dvideogames&field-keywords=%22dragon+age%3A+origins%22&x=0&y=0]. "And yet, all of the biggest games that ever come out - that set the records - are nearly always PC games, and a lot of them are fantasy games."

"The biggest game in the world is a fantasy, PC, RPG MMO. We all know the drawbacks of PC. We all scream at our boxes and try to make stuff work," he continued. "But at the same time, the interface is made for games. The mouse/keyboard interface allows so much less restriction [than console]."

Grand Theft Auto IV [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com]. Regardless of how you split that hair, however, Erickson said the PC remains a very important part of the BioWare formula.

"There was not a question when we started Old Republic - or any of our games, for that matter - [what the lead format would be]," he said. "There's a reason the lead SKU for Dragon Age was [PC] as well. When we're developing an RPG, it's a natural place to be."


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Feb 13, 2008
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Obvious post is obvious



I never really understood it anyway.
The PC does RPGs/MMOs/FPSs better than the consoles.
The consoles do platforms, action-arcade, fighting.
PC is personalised, consoles are comfortable but constrained.

I could say something about living in peace with each other, but the last guy to do that was nailed to a tree 2 millenium ago.
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
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Glad to hear it since i just bought be a new super computer too \o/ go bioware <3
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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The PC is far, far, far, far, far away from dying.

As for fantasy, that's dying...Sadly. Thanks to this sci-fi shit. And this post apocalyptic shit, too. And steampunk, to a very small degree.

RPGs will never die. Japan has a never ending flow of RPGs. WRPGs are slow coming though. Not too many. But still more than enough.

Now...if only I could get Morrowind mods to work on my Steam copy of Morrowind...I modded Oblivion fine. But Morrowind just doesn't want to cooperate.
 

Enigmers

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Dec 14, 2008
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The_root_of_all_evil said:
Obvious post in obvious

I saw this news post and actually said "I wonder how long it's going to take for someone to post that picture."

Not long at all.
 

JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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Well, yeah, what would you expect from Bioware?
Their games I always associated with PC.
Except for Mass Effect, the first one.
But, yeah, concerning the MMORPG they're currently working on, the guy is absolutely right.
 

comadorcrack

The Master of Speilingz
Mar 19, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
Grand Theft Auto IV [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com]. Regardless of how you split that hair, however, Erickson said the PC remains a very important part of the BioWare formula.
What about Half Life 2?
A PC game with a successful Console version
Or perhaps the Sims?
Crysis?
Fallout?

But yeah no. PC games are just successful console ports
 

ollieoz17

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Dec 17, 2008
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I always like it when developers I'm fond of justify that fondness :)

Plus, it's always seemed to me that in a perfect world, every game come out on PC *and* consoles, so it's nice to see someone thinking in that direction.
 

felixader

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Feb 24, 2008
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While is simply have no idea if PC-Gaming is dying or not, and i do not really care, i have to say only one thing to this "Interview-/what-he-said-thingy".

They are making and MMO for the PC, also they are regularely releasing other gamns for the PC.

Independent from what they really think it is kinda obvious that it wouldn't benefit them if he would go and say "Baah, PC Gaming is SOOOO dead, i don't know why we even try to bring out more then MMO's on it!".

By the way, i mainly play games on Consoles, but when when i want to play really good Adventures like Machinarium or the Dreamfall ones, where do i go to? ^.^
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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felixader said:
By the way, i mainly play games on Consoles, but when when i want to play really good Adventures like Machinarium or the Dreamfall ones, where do i go to? ^.^
Wait...Dreamfall: The Longest Journey had horrid controls on PC. The original TLJ was grand, though. But Dreamfall...UGH, at the controls. I ended up buying it for the Xbox.
 

SonOfIkaros

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Oct 6, 2009
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Nope, can't say I think PC's gaming's on the way out either. I spend 75% of my gaming time playing on the PC, if not more.

There are so many reasons the PCs will always remain alive, from the sprawling Indie-games scene to the many hardcore strategy and RPG titles. Most competitive FPS's also do best on the PC. Then you've got Steam, MMOs, and the thousands upon thousands of classic PC games that will never go away. The PC is one hell of a gaming platform, and I'm glad to have one.
 

TriggerUnhappy

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Mar 4, 2009
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Actually if you wanted to get technical, consoles are made for games, what with them being gaming consoles. Really though, I could care less what platform people use to play games, though I've been looking into PC gaming as of recent...
 

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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Grand Theft Auto IV successful on PC?

AHAHHAHAHAHAH AHH AH HA HAH HAH AH HAH OHOHOHOHO OOOH GOOOOD MY SIDES!! THEY BE SPLITTING! If you consider an overpriced, badly optimized, impossible to run on dual cored machines without the newest line of graphic cards at more than 15-20 FPS after several months after the console versions is considered a "success"?

Akhem. I agree with him. One of the reasons I've been a Bioware games' fan since 2001.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Furburt said:
Onyx Oblivion said:
The PC is far, far, far, far, far away from dying.

Now...if only I could get Morrowind mods to work on my Steam copy of Morrowind...I modded Oblivion fine. But Morrowind just doesn't want to cooperate.
You have to redate your BSA files.
Never even thought of that...Thanks, Mr. Furburt Man Guy Thing!