More titles drop Windows XP support. Industry finally makes progress.

[lacktheknack]

Context is for wimps!

All I know is that we're both standing in glass houses, chucking rocks at each other, and we're not even clear on why.

EDIT: Actually, I'm not sure that I'm standing in a glass house. Care to correct?

All I'm saying to you is that I can't be bothered to explain anything to you because your attitude says it is not worth any effort on my part.

If you were hoping to make me less hostile, you're doing it wrong.

How does it always work that, in a knee-jerk response to perceived emotions, people ALWAYS become ridiculously insufferable, and thus often a victim of their own prejudices? The irony is pretty delicious (although not as delicious as the 2002 remark, which I bet set this off).

Maybe I need to remind you that YOU'RE the one who made the ridiculous "every year" remark, and I'm the one who made the more realistic "every decade" remark, and I'm still the only one who even tried to back that up in this exchange? YOU'RE the one who's had nothing but one-line responses almost designed to confuse and annoy. And now you're literally backing out by claiming I have an intolerable attitude.

I've heard of this being referred to as "forum cancer". Please stop.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

If you were hoping to make me less hostile, you're doing it wrong.

How does it always work that, in a knee-jerk response to perceived emotions, people ALWAYS become ridiculously insufferable, and thus often a victim of their own prejudices? The irony is pretty delicious (although not as delicious as the 2002 remark, which I bet set this off).

Maybe I need to remind you that YOU'RE the one who made the ridiculous "every year" remark, and I'm the one who made the more realistic "every decade" remark, and I'm still the only one who even tried to back that up in this exchange? YOU'RE the one who's had nothing but one-line responses almost designed to confuse and annoy. And now you're literally backing out by claiming I have an intolerable attitude.

I've heard of this being referred to as "forum cancer". Please stop.

I can see why your post count is so high.

 

[lacktheknack]

If you were hoping to make me less hostile, you're doing it wrong.

How does it always work that, in a knee-jerk response to perceived emotions, people ALWAYS become ridiculously insufferable, and thus often a victim of their own prejudices? The irony is pretty delicious (although not as delicious as the 2002 remark, which I bet set this off).

Maybe I need to remind you that YOU'RE the one who made the ridiculous "every year" remark, and I'm the one who made the more realistic "every decade" remark, and I'm still the only one who even tried to back that up in this exchange? YOU'RE the one who's had nothing but one-line responses almost designed to confuse and annoy. And now you're literally backing out by claiming I have an intolerable attitude.

I've heard of this being referred to as "forum cancer". Please stop.

I can see why your post count is so high.

Yes, I have the GALL to actually try to DISCUSS things on a DISCUSSION forum.

 

[Slayer_2]

Of course it didn't have a memory print the size of Vista. In 2001 128 MB was probably average memory (I might be off. It's eleven years ago), but XP would eat a lot of that for people running a machine built for Win98 if they installed XP on it.

This. Computers in 2001 were many, many times slower than computers in 2006. Hell, 128MB of RAM might have been considered good in 2001.

 

[loc978]

Well, here's hoping for native linux support in the near future, eh? Also, here's hoping for more 64-bit applications. WoW64 [http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wow64] is most of the reason I can't stand Windows 7 for gaming... it's damn near as bad as running everything through Wine, honestly.

 

[SpAc3man]

WoW64 [http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wow64] is most of the reason I can't stand Windows 7 for gaming... it's damn near as bad as running everything through Wine, honestly.

I have no idea where your are getting that from. First time I have ever heard anyone complain about WoW64 in a gaming context. Ever. What obscure problem do you have?

 

[ResonanceSD]

Of course it didn't have a memory print the size of Vista. In 2001 128 MB was probably average memory (I might be off. It's eleven years ago), but XP would eat a lot of that for people running a machine built for Win98 if they installed XP on it.

This. Computers in 2001 were many, many times slower than computers in 2006. Hell, 128MB of RAM might have been considered good in 2001.

Another catalyst for progress jumps is of course, getting rid of the shit-specced PS3. There are probably TI calculators with more RAM than that thing. And it's meant to be the best hardware of the current console gen.

 

[NiPah]

---So Angry---

Man you're so angry, I've seen less emotion in football games then I've seen you having in a thread about game developers discontinuing an old OS. I mean I'm sure your life will be complete and all when everyone goes with the latest generation of hardware, the way you carry on it would seem XP murdered your dog.

I mean hell watching people buy Mac products must shave years off your life.

 

[Xdeser2]

Hmm....seeing as I have better things to spend my money on than upgrading my Pc....deal with it if people dont care so be it.

Its not activly degrading quality of games that come out(I could care less abut the texture quality on some rock) or hurting you in any way, so why do you care if the keep or detract support in the first place?

 

[Racecarlock]

I wish games would also "drop" support for 2005 console hardware and actually push the boundaries like they used to. What happened to the Doom 3s and the Crysis', the one-upmanship of FPSs in particular that always strove to make the move incredible experience possible? It died is what, and instead we've had 4 years of brown tinted shooters. Unreal Engine 3 might be great to work with but it's ancient compared with what modern hardware is capable of.

I miss the days when developers made boundary pushing games and ported them to console. I know they're gone but I'm no less resentful for it. Microsoft could've easily given XP DX10 support but decided not to in a big to force people to upgrade. That decision sadly means that it is old by gaming standards. More capable than younger, current gen consoles, but no DX10 or 11 support.

Does anyone know what version of DirectX comes standard with Win8?

Ok, I don't know enough about all that OS crap besides windows is expensive.

But about that console thing you said. Do you really expect me to game on this laptop? I can barely handle the latest flash games with this thing, let alone modern games. Fuck, halo PC has framerate drops on this thing. And I do not have $100-$500 required to build or buy a new one right now. So yeah, xbox 360 it is.

 

[votemarvel]

I'm still using Windows XP for a couple of reasons.

Firstly Windows 7 does nothing for me that XP can't. Plus a basic install of Windows 7, with nothing else installed, takes up around the same amount of hard drive space as a XP install with my most commonly used programs and Mass Effect.

Now hard drive space isn't a concern but when combined with the first point is does make me question just why I would want Windows 7.

I was also quite happy with Windows ME, I must have been the only person who had no trouble with it. I stripped out tat like Movie Maker with the Optional Component Maker and it was essentially just Windows 98 3rd Edition.

Then came along The Battle for Middle-Earth, a game I was desperate to play but it didn't support the 9x based operating systems. So while I hated the switch to XP I stuck with it because it had something I wanted.

So the second reason I've not moved to Windows 7 is tied to the first. In the three years that it has been available there has been no game released, that I want, that requires Windows 7.

I've always thought of myself as a tech-savvy person but at the same time I like technology to give me a reason to want it beyond it being new.

 

[Imbechile]

Bioshock was a brilliant case of setting up atmosphere and developing a compelling and deep story. It is emotionally powerful and fun to play.

No, it's not fun to play because the gameplay is painfully shallow and boring.

It would have worked as a movie, but as a game it's below average at best.

 

[Skeleon]

Backwards compatibility is a bad thing now? What?

 

[Imbechile]

snip

Please, re-read my posts and point me to the part where iv'e laid the blame on the OS or Direct X.

Abandoning XP will have a side-effect of graphics being better, which in turn will increase the time and money that will need to be spent on the graphics.

PS: Companies and publishers are not responsible for the dumbing down. The consumers are, because they are the ones that shape the market.

 

[Jason Rayes]

snip

Please, re-read my posts and point me to the part where iv'e laid the blame on the OS or Direct X.

Abandoning XP will have a side-effect of graphics being better, which in turn will increase the time and money that will need to be spent on the graphics.

PS: Companies and publishers are not responsible for the dumbing down. The consumers are, because they are the ones that shape the market.

I honestly don't believe good graphics and good gameplay need to be mutually exclusive. Most games nowadays use proprietary engines so that part of the graphic grunt work is gone, then you have things like Speed Tree and Havok that take care of that aspect of it. Most art assets done for games are done scanned in at a lower res than the original art they come from to make them compatible with consoles and older OS's. Now they don't need to drop that quality when scanning skins etc. As for the consumers leading to the dumbing down of games, there is truth to that, but ask a lot of gamers and you will definitely hear rumbles of dissatisfaction about the stripping out of features. Gamers don't like it, but it's all we're served up, and the suits that make the decisions keep striving for more and more streamlining to reach a larger audience. They have almost reached the point where the larger audience they are aiming for won't be interested anyway, and the core audience that games as a hobby has been alienated. Things like the success of indie games over the last few years, and funding projects like Kickstarter show that what the corporations think the public wants is not necessarily what everyone wants. There are markets for things they consider to be dead genres, which shows they are out of touch with the consumer in certain fields. So it isn't just down to the consumer, the publishers really do have to take some of the responsibility for what they produce.

PS: As an aside, in today's climate its a miracle even a stripped down version of an Xcom strategy game got made, considering the plan was for an FPS. Perhaps the fact that it has sold well will lead to a sequel that's even better? This is kind of what Im talking about, the publishers were worried about this release because it was a dead genre no-one would buy, right? Wrong.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

ok, I have fond memories of XP, even use it occasionaly on one of my dad's workshop thinkpads, but it's not realistic to expect support after a decade, I hear win8 is cheap now, and 7 works very well. XP VM is always an option if you really want to. Personally never got along with Vista (and no, it wasn't on a crap XP Walmart PC, it was on my 2008 big beefy $1400 PC) but I hear it is actually fairly good if you can keep the footprint to a minimum.

All in all, a decade is not an unreasonable amount of time to support something for, it's far more cost-effective for devs to not have to QA and fix on extra OSes.

 

[likalaruku]

I like backwards compatibility because I still play a lot of old games that refuse to work on Windows 7. Fortunately there is an XP Emulator. I hope no one drops support for windows 7 until Windows 9 comes out, because I always skip every other version of windows.

 

[ResonanceSD]

snip

Abandoning XP will have a side-effect of graphics being better, which in turn will increase the time and money that will need to be spent on the graphics.

You should check out what Unreal 4 is doing to game development time. Graphics will no longer be a huge factor for coding.

 

[Jason Rayes]

I like backwards compatibility because I still play a lot of old games that refuse to work on Windows 7. Fortunately there is an XP Emulator. I hope no one drops support for windows 7 until Windows 9 comes out, because I always skip every other version of windows.

Generally when faced with an upgrade, I have to decide whether to gut my current rig or buy a new one. Mostly I buy a new one and keep the current one around as a server and for old school goodness.

Edit: Admitedly this usually involves putting the graphics card from the current one in the new one, the graphics card in storage in the current one, and the the one in the new one in storage. Just to make things simple.

 

[taciturnCandid]

Bioshock was a brilliant case of setting up atmosphere and developing a compelling and deep story. It is emotionally powerful and fun to play.

No, it's not fun to play because the gameplay is painfully shallow and boring.

It would have worked as a movie, but as a game it's below average at best.

I'm not sure I played the same game as you. I really had fun with the game and I found the gameplay to be exciting and is one of my favorites of this generation. I thought the game had depth in what powers you choose and how you decide to approach a situation. It is far more deep than your average shooter. Maybe not the same as most rpg games, but certainly has more depth than most fps games. It was also the only game that actually scared me. I've played a ton of horror games and it was set up perfectly.

I guess people just have their own tastes. A lot of people hated the combat of Mass Effect 1. I loved the heck out of it and I put over 150 hours into the game. A lot of people liked skyrim and uncharted, but I thought they were snoozefests. Many of the top games of this generation I didn't like and found boring.

Besides, Bioshock wouldn't work with anything but a game. It is the immersion and the ability for you to believe you were the character. The emotional parts of the game wouldn't work without that feeling that you were responsible for the events in the game.