Game Stash: Microsoft?s Missed Opportunity

[RhombusHatesYou]

Personally I've given up on Microsoft doing anything for PC gamers beyond the OS. Trying to milk a few extra dollars out of us by releasing some shitty port of an old console title because they've reach saturation point on sales in the console market isn't 'serving PC gaming', it's treating us like an old ex-girlfriend you go and fuck when you're not currently seeing anyone.


Not to mention that the old console ports MS itself trumpetted the loudest did very, very poorly in sales for the PC.

Epic ended up crying that piracy of the PC version of Gears of War was so bad that they wouldn't be releasing another Gears title for PC... Meanwhile totally ignoring the fact that the game had already saturated the 360 market so any gamers interested in it that had both platforms would almost certainly have it for the 360 (quite frankly, PC gamer interest in the title was quite low, especially after release and a lot of gamers crucified it)... Also, they ignored that the PC gaming community was still pissed at them for Unreal Tournament III.

Halo 2... well, you bundle a franchise that's about as popular as scabies with PC gamers with an new OS very few people had any interest in upgrading to and it's no wonder that Halo 2 did poorly, even after the DX9 patches (both unofficial and official) allowed it to be played on WinXP. Extra marks against it for claiming the game required the 3 year layover before PC tech was able to handle it... As a plan to encourage people to adopt Windows Vista they should have gone with the plan of making Vista not be a steaming pile of shit.

 

[LoganN]

I've posted this before, but I will again.

Not doing enough? I don't think you have any idea what you are talking about. DirectX alone is enough to blow that out of the window(s). Sure, they lag behind in the digital distribution field, but they have done more for PC gaming than Valve can ever hope to. The most iconic franchises ever created are because of Microsoft. Age of Empires, Flight Sim, Mechwarrior, ect. Don't forget the free development tools like XNA and Visual Basic. LIVE Anywhere is another step, and that isn't just for PC gaming. It is for social networking overall.

Microsoft is publishing at least four PC titles that we know about, and there very well could be more. Fable 3, Spartan, Flight Sim LIVE, and a Carnie port are all on the radar. For all we know, there is a ton more. Plus, it seems everyone forgot about the PC/360 game, Mechwarrior. That is another Microsoft franchise that was licensed out to Smith and Tinker, who's founder was the creator of the franchise.

tl;dr: Microsoft is doing plenty

 

[QCX]

I really think that is the wrong way to look at good old MS.

Let's face it, MS has made a truck load of money in the last 5 seconds, they made more then I earn in a year. So they don't really have to be bothered with it. They are making their money from Xbox Live and they know that their games for PC are basically a covering shit with shit situation. Sure maybe they should back it a bit more and not make so many promises.

But....

Look at what they are doing. They produce the most used OS in the world. Now that doesn't just mean the start menu, that means everything in the OS from DX to kernal scripts. And well bar their few messier releases of say vista and 98 (which if anyone is still complaining about, they can shove a large metal object where their daddy touched them last summer coz lets face it, your an idiot that just copy pasta'd his opinion directly from a bunch of wankers), they do a bloody good job.

So why fucking complain about them not producing games for the PC? Its not like they are good titles anyway.

I think some people take things a bit to serious. When MS say that windows gaming is the largest platform for gaming, they are not just talking about GFW, they mean every game released for PC....

 

[TheTurtleMan]

Consoles are a fad, computers will always be there and there have always been lulls in the action.

Not that I think computers are "better" than consoles, but PC's always seem to be the one's left standing after all of the impulsive buying is done.

I would disagree with you on that because saying that PCs outlive consoles is like saying SUVs outlive trucks. Yes, the specific console changes and improves from generation to generation but don't PCs do the same thing? The only difference is that you would upgrade things like video cards or hardware after a couple of years instead of consoles.

 

[LoganN]

The only reason directx exists is because openGL was making microsoft look worse.

The only reason directx replaced openGL is because microsoft paid devs to use it.

Microsoft used to ship OpenGL with its older operating systems. How does using it make them look bad?

DirectX replaced OpenGL because it is easier to use. A quick search comes up with absolutely no results of anyone being paid the use DirectX. They are both free, but one is much easier to program for.

 

[Rayansaki]

Well, Microsoft's main goal seems to keep the x360 competitive, and they just can't do it if they devote more attention to the PC and/or release their games in the two platforms. The reason for this is that a vast majority of console gamers have a PC as well, and if x360 games are also available on the PC, there is no reason to have the console instead of a PS3 or Wii for gamers that also have a PC, since Sony and Nintendo have their own extremely high profile exclusives.

Microsoft can either fight for the survival of the xbox brand or support PC gaming, and right now they are doing the first.

Also, with Steam and Activision-Blizzard doing the job of keeping PC gaming alive, Microsoft doesn't really need to support it as much.

 

[LoganN]

Microsoft used to ship OpenGL with its older operating systems. How does using it make them look bad?

DirectX replaced OpenGL because it is easier to use. A quick search comes up with absolutely no results of anyone being paid the use DirectX. They are both free, but one is much easier to program for.

"Signing this contract forbids you from talking about signing this contract."

So, basically, it was a baseless assumption that you have no evidence to back it up with.

Nice.

 

[MrHero17]

DirectX replaced OpenGL because it is easier to use. A quick search comes up with absolutely no results of anyone being paid the use DirectX. They are both free, but one is much easier to program for.

"Signing this contract forbids you from talking about signing this contract."[/quote]

Then please enlighten us all as to how you know about this secret little gem of information?

 

[migo]

I think you're missing the mark completely. Microsoft's support for Windows gaming is DirectX and XNA. They're providing tools for other devs to work with. They provide the base engine, that as .kkrieger showed allowed for a fully functioning (if a bit limited) FPS to come in at under 1MB. The next level is Epic, Valve and id who make game engines for other companies to customise. That's how it works, Microsoft continues updating DirectX, Epic keeps releasing updated versions of the Unreal Engine to take advantage of the new features in new versions of DirectX, and smaller devs take the Unreal Engine to make the game they want. Microsoft's support of gaming is great, and that's why they had such a push to win over OpenGL. Also, just compare the number of Xbox exclusives vs Windows XP and Xbox 360 Exclusives vs Windows Vista/7. The 360 has hardly any, so Microsoft has brought more games that were formerly console exclusives over to Windows, and have provided so much for PC gaming to make the 360 thoroughly uninteresting.

If Microsoft would keep more 360 exclusives, allow any peripheral in games and kill the subscription fee, it would be a major blow to Windows gaming, but they're actually keeping things balanced and quite appealing that way, and Windows and PlayStation are neck and neck for me as my favourite home gaming platform.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Does anybody even remember how hard they touted 360 and PC cross platform online multi-player. That disappeared right after Shadowrun was more or less a flop, didn't it?

 

[aaron552]

I think you're missing the mark completely. Microsoft's support for Windows gaming is DirectX and XNA. They're providing tools for other devs to work with.

It's also certainly true that GFWL sucks; Steam (and even Impulse) does what GFWL does, better.

MS seems to have moved away from publishing games and focusing on the platform to make games: DirectX and XNA. One does not need to be a publisher to make money from games.

While there are problems with Microsoft's gaming products, DirectX is still the standard gaming library (and that doesn't look it will change any time soon) and they have a competitor to the major games distribution platform. This is almost certain to provide far more money than publishing games with less risk.

 

[beema]

I could really care less if MS never came through on PC gaming. It would be nice to have their support in terms of getting more games released on PC quicker, or those that are released, more compatible with Windows' various issues, but whatever. As long as there's Valve and Steam bearing the PC torch, I'm fine.

 

[Veylon]

Microsoft owns the mall, what do they need to open a store for? As long as they keep the electricity and plumbing in good order and don't inconvenience me much, I'm happy.

 

[mikespoff]

Good article - love the comparison to Duke Nukem Forever. It's a great analogy.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Microsoft, procrastinating like me!

*gasp*

I share a common trait with an evil, greedy company? I must repent!

*pledges to work on the stuff he needs to tomorrow*

OT: I always wondered why Microsoft never took advantage of the fact that they truly are the best platform for PC gaming. In anycase, the fact I can't install older games on 7 still has me steamed.

 

[Callate]

It's entirely unclear for me that Games for Windows has done much of anything for consumers or the industry as a whole. It's a great way to sell XBox 360-for-PC controllers and flout Windows' rather measely gamer-oriented features, but that's about it. As a platform (Games For Windows Live), it's a pain in the ass; since Microsoft realized that they weren't going to succeed in getting PC gamers to pay for the kind of network gaming features that they'd been used to getting for free for years, there's been little incentive for them to make improvements.

If Microsoft really believed in Windows as a gaming platform, they'd be encouraging other developers to make sure their marquee titles came to Windows, making sure the development kits were well-supported and easy to use, taking in and making widely available statistics about the kind of hardware Windows was being run on so developers would know where to aim their system requirements... And doing more to insure that what played in XP played in Vista played in 7, whether 32- or 64-bit.

Instead, Microsoft has actually prevented XBox 360 titles from coming to the PC, sometimes so their favorite gaming child can have an "exclusive", sometimes for little to no good reason at all.

Yeah, it would be nice if they'd stop lying to us. It's gone way past the point of being white lies of the "of course we love you, too" variety. Now it's just kind of insulting.