Porting From PC to Console Is Doing Things Backwards, Says Rage Dev

[Zhukov]

This really shouldn't surprise anyone.

Hell, isn't that how most developers do things these days?

EDIT: Bloody hell, this thread. All you need to do around here is say "PC-console" and otherwise reasonable people spontaneously turn into pathetic whining little children. It's bizarre.

 

[Hristo Tzonkov]

I want BF3 and TW2 to hit consoles after being developed first on PC,see how they handle and hear gamer's opinions.I think that any port can perform well on any system if developers don't just do a half assed job to get some bonus sales.

 

[Treblaine]

If you want to make games for children then console is the way to go, if you want to make games for intelligent mature gamers then PC is the way to go. As we can clearly see with such games as the Witcher 2.

The Witcher 2 was developed with a console in mind through and through. I do not see how it helps you make your point.

Really?

No it was made largely with gamepad in mind but gamepad=/=console

Witcher 2 is full of stuff that would be utterly alien and hated by console gamers, for one it aims for graphics that would have to be hideously toned down for consoles. And the content, particularly the sex, is a liability very unlike console title where everyone is rightly terrified of their boxed copy being banned from Wal-mart.

Also, it's not even out on Xbox 360 yet. Likely won't be for a while and if they want to keep those graphics and a decent framerate, then the resolution is going to have to go way, WAY down. Right down to 1024x576 probably.

Witcher 2 deserves 1080p and 60fps.

 

[bombadilillo]

Goodbye ID...I enjoyed your quake & doom franchises but here is where our paths end after 20 years.

You guys realize this is talking about input control right? Carmack has plenty of history on this about gushing about graphics. See the references on page 1.

 

[tzimize]

Woot, go id!

Nice to see they have their priorities straight.

Q_Q

Priorities straight? Saaaaaaaaaaaaad! FPS on PC, 3rd person stuff on consoles

 

[adamtm]

This isn't the first time that id has made it clear what the priorities were for Rage: Nearly two years ago id's John Carmack said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93374-Carmack-Rage-is-Designed-for-Consoles] that the game was meant for consoles, and a year before that he said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/85541-id-Software-Moves-To-Consoles] that PCs were not id's main platform anymore. It's not hard to see why id's focus has shifted away from PCs and towards consoles - developers and publishers aren't charities, and there's a lot more console gamers buying games than PC gamers - but that doesn't mean it doesn't sting to hear it.

Rage comes out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on October 4th.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-13-rage-two-thirds-sales-to-be-on-console]


Permalink

Funny that, in this Gamestar interview at E3 he said the exact opposite to your article... ( http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/rage/news/john_carmack,43586,2323592.html )

Google translate version because i cant be arsed:

Carmack then took out the sweeping blow: "It is really a little embarrassing that we are in spite of limited despite the many computing power of the developer kit. It is unfortunately true that we here have consoles that run smoothly at 60 frames per second, while strong PCs break in frame rate, because PC-development budget to be exceeded. "

"It is not the slightest doubt that we have"on the PC much more computing power, so Carmack on. Studios would get 100 million U.S. dollars for the development of a console game, but they would develop a PC-exclusive game, they had problems related to general financiers. "It is out there, but countless studios that could make so many great things if they only would get the OK for that."

 

[Owlslayer]

Well don't that beat all.
Hopefully the PC version won't be some sort of cheap port. But i don't actually want the game to have some sort of mega-graphics on the PC, either, cause my PC wouldn't be able to run it...
Anyways, i suppose we'll live and see how all of this ends up.

 

[dantoddd]

And John Carmack said almost the exact opposite.

exactly.

 

[AgentBJ09]

Damn this thread is vile...

id are a great developer and it's true that multiplatform shooters sell the most on 360, then PS3 and PC respectively, let them play to their strengths.

The amount of hate I see toward 'immature, dumb, console gamers' makes me wonder who are really the immature ones...

Spoiler

It's the elitists

Indeed it is.

However, another reason for this trend could be the people who don't read these articles before commenting on them. This article had nothing to do with graphics or which version is better, yet I keep seeing posters talking about the console version's 'inferior' graphics instead of the logic for basing your early controls around the console first.

Honestly, I think hardly anyone really cares that much about graphics quality or platform, so long as the controls for the game are solid. I would love to play New Vegas/Duke Nukem Forever on a PC, but I don't have the rig for them.

 

[silverbullet1989]

thanks for making my mind up id, can cross this off my " to buy " list now

 

[Deathfish15]

What a bunch of bull****!

If the game is good on PC, it will sell very well and people will buy it (sometimes much more so than console).

The Witcher 2 was (and is for now) a PC exclusive. 400k sold in one week on just that platform is nothing to scoff at.

Minecraft? Oh, you mean that game that just announced it's sold 2.5 million copies to PC users prior to it's actual release date?

Portal 2 had 400,000 retail (physical) for all 3 platforms (PC, Xbox360, and PS3) and an estimated 275,000 in Steam sales in just 24hrs. So, those day one numbers show that the PC sold more than console....hmmm.


If Rage was a good game and promoted well, it would sell well. However, from reading this, I can say that it sounds like foot-in-mouth is needed as the developer's just broke their own PC sales.

 

[Macrobstar]

Just don't blame pirates when no PC player buys a console port

I can tell you right now I won't be purchasing it, yet have plans to play it.

id wants to play the backstabber game, well they can live by that path. Battlefield 3 is proof enough of just how much shit they are full of.

And why should console players have to have a PC port?

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Snip

Second person to drop and scream before being hit. There was one - one - comment about how consoles are for children, and the comment was beyond stupid and should be ignored, as any stupid post should.

Now, if you consider bashing the consoles' technical capabilities as what you've described, the problem is with you.

A quick head count and I see 7 posts on the first page that drip with elitism, a respectable, not too high, 7.

I consider 'bashing' of any kind intolerable, if you want to make a point, make it, don't decry something without a second thought.

Just for clarification, I have a problem with all elitists, not just PC ones.

Snip

Indeed it is.

However, another reason for this trend could be the people who don't read these articles before commenting on them. This article had nothing to do with graphics or which version is better, yet I keep seeing posters talking about the console version's 'inferior' graphics instead of the logic for basing your early controls around the console first.

Honestly, I think hardly anyone really cares that much about graphics quality or platform, so long as the controls for the game are solid. I would love to play New Vegas/Duke Nukem Forever on a PC, but I don't have the rig for them.

There is a fair amount of gun jumping at the slightest hint that consoles may be a developers first thought... I found the article very reasonable, consoles were first priority, PC would be inevitably better.

I have a PC but it's such a universal machine, I find myself more prone to playing smaller indie titles than big triple A shooters (I've spent more time in Minecraft and Recettear than I have Unreal Tournament 3)

My computer is completely capable, I just prefer my Xbox as it's more social, I have 97 friends on Live, 8 of them are close friends IRL, I have 5 on Steam, 1 of which I know IRL.

 

[fundayz]

id wants to play the backstabber game, well they can live by that path. Battlefield 3 is proof enough of just how much shit they are full of.

/Waaah!

It's a company ffs, not your best friend. You can't get backstabbed by someone who didn't owe you squat. It's not like they swore an oath to PC.


Freakin entitled kids these days...


P.S. I think what he refers to is the design of the game(flow, button layout, etc), not the technical side of the game (graphics, fps, etc).

 

[bombadilillo]

Woot, go id!

Nice to see they have their priorities straight.

Q_Q

Priorities straight? Saaaaaaaaaaaaad! FPS on PC, 3rd person stuff on consoles

HHHMMMMM a samll point. I think its more the type of game. I prefer something atmospheric and exploration based on console. Like your bioshocks for example, that many people proclaim are "crappy" shooters. Twitch shooters must be pc no doubt.

 

[Hristo Tzonkov]

Hey hey.People chill.This isn't about graphics or what plays better.I found it a lot more offensive that they are currently testing on the PC but they use a controller.Why are they even testing on the PC in that case.And I don't know about you but the movement patterns on the videos showed looked like the character was standing on 2 autoban cars set on tracks...

What ticks me off on console developement is that there's a lot of FPS/3PS titles but they don't seem to have the same fluidity and movement that PC shooters have.But that's a personal opinion mainly based on watching videos of people playing on consoles rather than playing myself.I found myself yelling at the guy playing Bulletstorm stuff like "You just missed 500 points!Move you're in the open!What are you doing you had several perfect shots that would award a lot of points!"

 

[AgentBJ09]

Snip

Indeed it is.

However, another reason for this trend could be the people who don't read these articles before commenting on them. This article had nothing to do with graphics or which version is better, yet I keep seeing posters talking about the console version's 'inferior' graphics instead of the logic for basing your early controls around the console first.

Honestly, I think hardly anyone really cares that much about graphics quality or platform, so long as the controls for the game are solid. I would love to play New Vegas/Duke Nukem Forever on a PC, but I don't have the rig for them.

There is a fair amount of gun jumping at the slightest hint that consoles may be a developers first thought... I found the article very reasonable, consoles were first priority, PC would be inevitably better.

I have a PC but it's such a universal machine, I find myself more prone to playing smaller indie titles than big triple A shooters (I've spent more time in Minecraft and Recettear than I have Unreal Tournament 3)

My computer is completely capable, I just prefer my Xbox as it's more social, I have 97 friends on Live, 8 of them are close friends IRL, I have 5 on Steam, 1 of which I know IRL.

Yeah. This is also why I've found games like Gothic, Mount and Blade, and some occasional high-res shooters for my PCs like Painkiller.

Consoles do get a bad rap as port machines, but as ID is pointing out here, if you're going to be multiplatform anyway, do the logical thing: Start with a PC build, set it to work with console controls, then get the game to run buttery smooth on consoles and PCs. You satisfy both bases that way. (Most of the time.)

Also, on occasion, some PC gamers will want to play PC games with a console controller or gamepad instead. You will also satisfy those folks as well if you do this because the controls are already mapped for those devices.

 

[ultimateownage]

That's like having the option of working on a 1680*1050 image and then downscaling it, or working on a 640*480 image and upscaling it.
It's common sense to work on the more flexible and powerful system first, and then it'll be much easier to fit onto the less flexible and powerful system. Which is why DICE are doing games on PC first.

 

[RA92]

Funny how PC gamers get hit with the '****' tag, but it's a console gamer that got banned in this thread.

I only come here for sheer irony.

 

[mrF00bar]

In my experience games ported from PC to console are fine on both platforms but when you switch it to console --> PC its always fallen apart, or that's what I have seen anyway. I guess we will see.