Blizzard Stands By PC Gaming Despite "Unique Challenges"

[Vitor Goncalves]

Does Blizzard even make any console games? None I can think of. Also, even me, a console gamer who has a chip on shoulder against PC elitists, I am more than sure PC gaming will not die. Consoles are just becoming more like PCs. If PC "dies", it will be simply because gaming has gotten to a point where a console and PC are near identical.

Actually ironically at that point its the consoles who had died, because at that point Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft just turned into another Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba or even Apple. And dont forget all the other uses of a PC that consoles can't or are not commonly used for yet.

 

[Delusibeta]

Though admittedly they're one of the few developers who haven't ditched the mod-ability of their PC games, unlike Bioware

BioWare haven't ditched the ability to modify their games.

Ehh... AFAIK the Mass Effects never received formal modding tools and it's unclear if the Dragon Age Origins modding tools will become compatable with Dragon Age 2 (like between Left 4 Dead 1 & 2) or if a new toolset will be released with DA2 or if no tools will be available that work with Dragon Age 2. If the last option turns out to be true, then it would be safe to say that Bioware's turned its back on modding.

 

[UnravThreads]

Ehh... AFAIK the Mass Effects never received formal modding tools

Many, if not most, Unreal Engine 3 games don't have modding tools. Don Moar even [http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/103/index/3210721/1#3214634] posted a few times in a topic on BSN explaining, as best as he likely could, why ME2 didn't have a toolset. If you scroll down further, he explained even better.

and it's unclear if the Dragon Age Origins modding tools will become compatable with Dragon Age 2 (like between Left 4 Dead 1 & 2) or if a new toolset will be released with DA2 or if no tools will be available that work with Dragon Age 2. If the last option turns out to be true, then it would be safe to say that Bioware's turned its back on modding.

That's more of an assumption than anything. They've stated that they're going to look into it and that it'll be a post-release, well, release.

 

[Bobzer77]

If PC gaming died then sales of things like graphics cards and fast processors would drop by probably 50% at least. The PC gaming industry is what caused the growth of the computer from less then 1Ghz to quad+ computers of over 3Ghz per core. If PC gaming died then computers would not keep advancing in technology at the current rate. There's a little step by step program at work.
1. Intel, AMD, ATI, and Nvidia see a new cutting edge game come out a notice that many computers struggle to play it.
2. top of the line hardware is made to enable the game to run at good framerates with no lag.
3. over time the companies improve on that hardware so the stuff they originally made for the game becomes much cheaper
4. over the course of a year or two a fairly large portion of people can afford the new hardware even as even new models are made.
5. Everyone enjoys the new technology until the next game comes along and raises the bar ever higher.

Which is why P.C games are miles away from console games at the moment, we have as much power as we need to run anything. Console gamers are stuck with whatever tech was released 5 years ago.

 

[Eruanno]

Yay, Blizzard!

I wouldn't be the least bit sad if you tried making a StarCraft: Ghost again, though... not at all.

 

[GoGo_Boy]

The fuss about SC: Ghost is funny. It got quite a hype even though it never made it. And we haven't seen anything but a cinematic for it. I mean there's a reason it didn't make the cut so I guess they weren't satisfied with the gameplay or so at all.

Edit:
That said I gotta search that trailer again xD

 

[Dudemeister]

Not that I don't doubt that Blizzard has certainly made a lot of money from people on computers, but call me when they "save" PC gaming with more than Real Time Strategy games and World of Warcraft.

Well what do you expect them to do that can't be done on a console?
They never claimed to be the saviour of PC gaming.

 

[Inzomniack]

Not that I don't doubt that Blizzard has certainly made a lot of money from people on computers, but call me when they "save" PC gaming with more than Real Time Strategy games and World of Warcraft.

I think the "11 million active subscriptions" for WoW alone (not including anything non-WoW related ala Sc2) gives them a very good case for "saving" the PC market, don't you?

 

[ESCAPIST DELETE THIS ACCOUNT]

Sorry but blizzard did not save PC gaming and there only standing by it for the money, gaming companies dont care about pleasing fans apart from maybe Valve

 

[ESCAPIST DELETE THIS ACCOUNT]

One of the biggest attraction for the PC is one game; Rome: Total war

The total war series is why i became a PC gamer and havent bought a console.

 

[Sebenko]

Smaller developers are the real reason PC gaming is still alive. The only big game that's going to get more than a flicker of interest from me in the near future is HL2 Ep3.

Oh, near. Right.

Does Blizzard even make any console games? None I can think of. Also, even me, a console gamer who has a chip on shoulder against PC elitists, I am more than sure PC gaming will not die. Consoles are just becoming more like PCs. If PC "dies", it will be simply because gaming has gotten to a point where a console and PC are near identical.

StarCraft: Ghost was a (GameCube, Xbox, and PS2) console game. there are others also further back in the companys history (Blackthorne, Rock n' Roll Racing, The Lost Vikings, Justice League Task Force)

they have actually mentioned in passing in the past that they have highly skilled multi platform console developers within their current development teams now. it one of the reasons many Blizzard watchers suspect their unannounced MMO may have a console variant.

I seem to remember the first Diablo was on PS1.

 

[uppitycracker]

Does Blizzard even make any console games? None I can think of. Also, even me, a console gamer who has a chip on shoulder against PC elitists, I am more than sure PC gaming will not die. Consoles are just becoming more like PCs. If PC "dies", it will be simply because gaming has gotten to a point where a console and PC are near identical.

its nice to see a console gamer with a head on his shoulders.




If anything, I think it's clear that PC gaming is the future. It might evolve a tad, but with all the talk of a no-console future, how do you think the consoles themselves are going to evolve? Basically into PC's. It's already happening. Look at the PS3. Where the playstation consoles used to be simple gaming consoles, and nothing more, the PS3 is integrating a ton of PC features along with it. From where I'm sitting, I think it's clear the direction these things are going, and to assume that PC gaming is something that is on it's way out is an absurd train of thought.

 

[uppitycracker]

I seem to remember the first Diablo was on PS1.

yup, first diablo was on the original playstation, as was the original starcraft on the N64. were either one even close in comparison to their PC counterparts? Nope lol. But at least they tried! The irony, of a developer losing money on a console version and banking on the PC versions... ironic by todays standards, anyway.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Bioware are no longer primarily a PC developer. They say that they are "following their customers" to consoles.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Though admittedly they're one of the few developers who haven't ditched the mod-ability of their PC games, unlike Bioware

BioWare haven't ditched the ability to modify their games.

Maybe not yet [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102645-Rumor-PC-Features-Cut-From-Dragon-Age-2], but they're definitely heading in that direction. I like how he's quoted as saying "for budgetary reasons" as-though Bioware is anything near going out of business. The other quote about "going the way of the audience" screams of them swaying further and further from doing anything for the PC besides providing ports of any future titles.

Though I do agree with the rest of your post. In fact, I stated in another topic just yesterday that same thing about hardware developers going out of business if PC Gaming were to die off. Though where your post seems to point the finger at gaming developers for not giving us the games to support PC Gaming properly, I was pointing my finger at the hardware developers for making the process of building a PC far more complicated than it needs to be. Sure, I get it. You get it. That guy over there seems to get it. The average consumer though? They are absolutely befuddled by even the simplest of things with a PC, let-alone having the know-how to buy a good computer (and even less-so buying the parts and building it yourself).

I can definitely agree that developers aren't helping by under-saturating the market, but at the same time they can only be blamed so much when really they're just following the money. Video game development is, after-all, disgustingly expensive these days. The hardware manufacturers though? What's their excuse for making things so needlessly complicated? I remember back in the day when video cards were a new deal. There were maybe 10 total video cards on the market. These days though there's hundreds of video cards all with their own subtle differences. It's no wonder so many gamers opt to just plug-and-play with a console, and from there it's no wonder that the game developers followed them.

 

[jezcentral]

Yay, Blizzard!

I wouldn't be the least bit sad if you tried making a StarCraft: Ghost again, though... not at all.

Considering the plot of Starcraft Ghost got integrated into Starcraft 2, that's just not going to happen.

P.S. To others, Bioware WILL be allowing modding of DA2, it just won't need one that is completely different from DAO's, so they will not be bringing out a NEW toolset (that's where the confusion that there won't be one came from).

 

[Eruanno]

Yay, Blizzard!

I wouldn't be the least bit sad if you tried making a StarCraft: Ghost again, though... not at all.

Considering the plot of Starcraft Ghost got integrated into Starcraft 2, that's just not going to happen.

Ah, true. But they could still create a Ghost-game about Nova, I mean it's not like she stops going on spec ops missions.

 

[aarontg]

If they continue to make games that work so well with my slightly less than top of the line computer than I'm down for world of starcraft, or warcraft 4.