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Microsoft also seems to have canned Alan Wake on PC. Yet Windows 7 and GfWL are gamer-oriented investments. Dunno what the hell is going on there.
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chautemoc: Microsoft also seems to have canned Alan Wake on PC. Yet Windows 7 and GfWL are gamer-oriented investments. Dunno what the hell is going on there.

It's all about money. Microsoft makes licensing profits from every 360 game sold, and they can make even more by selling DLC and Xbox Live subscriptions. While they do earn some sort of income from Games for Windows branded titles the potential profit for Microsoft is much lower on the PC; Live subscriptions don't exist, and PC gamers don't accept trivial DLC so readily.
Additionally, with certain audiences--especially in Europe--sales of key titles would be predominantly on the PC, which is the exact opposite of what Microsoft wants; in their own words, "we basically shoot ourselves in the foot by allowing the German market to choose to play the PC version ... If we launched a Halo game on PC and 360 in Germany simultaneously, 80 per cent of sales would be on the PC".
It is for these reasons that the 360 is actually in competition with the PC despite both being Microsoft platforms. A lot of exclusives do come to the PC as staggered releases some months later but just as many are never brought over, and it's impossible to know which games will make the jump.
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chautemoc: Microsoft also seems to have canned Alan Wake on PC. Yet Windows 7 and GfWL are gamer-oriented investments. Dunno what the hell is going on there.
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Arkose: It's all about money. Microsoft makes licensing profits from every 360 game sold, and they can make even more by selling DLC and Xbox Live subscriptions. While they do earn some sort of income from Games for Windows branded titles the potential profit for Microsoft is much lower on the PC; Live subscriptions don't exist, and PC gamers don't accept trivial DLC so readily.
Additionally, with certain audiences--especially in Europe--sales of key titles would be predominantly on the PC, which is the exact opposite of what Microsoft wants; in their own words, "we basically shoot ourselves in the foot by allowing the German market to choose to play the PC version ... If we launched a Halo game on PC and 360 in Germany simultaneously, 80 per cent of sales would be on the PC".
It is for these reasons that the 360 is actually in competition with the PC despite both being Microsoft platforms. A lot of exclusives do come to the PC as staggered releases some months later but just as many are never brought over, and it's impossible to know which games will make the jump.

Very informative, thanks.
I wouldn't really give a shit if they would just release all the good titles 3-12 months later. :P
I'm a patient man. But that's just unfair....
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ovoon: Second most overrated game series of all time.
Im sorry, but if you were tempted to buy and xbox for a 9 hour hack and slash with a twist then theres something wrong.
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tb87670: I second that, + rep.

Absolutely. I HATE these games with visceral hatred, and seeing any positive mention of them is enough to elicit these feelings in me. Stupid Zelda on rails for dummies with annoying British humor and characters. These games are awful, AWFUL.
His comments make him seem he's still very PC orientated, personally. That's what he gets for selling out to Microsoft, I suppose.
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Navagon: His comments make him seem he's still very PC orientated, personally. That's what he gets for selling out to Microsoft, I suppose.

Too bad he sold his soul to a bunch of people who couldn't care less about the PC.
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michaelleung: Too bad he sold his soul to a bunch of people who couldn't care less about the PC.

It's not that they don't care about the PC. It's that they're desperately trying to keep their console with its shitty build quality alive. Well, not each individual console, you understand. That would be impossible. But rather the market for it.
Well Fable 3 is going to use that full body motion thingy.... the one that can tell when your sad and happy, frustrated or reading a book... it reads body language... he made the "little boy" demo...
So F3 will know when were pissed off and respond to us, and we can really play with out dog.. Project natal might be the force that makes me finally buy a 360...
Post edited February 06, 2010 by Starkrun
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chautemoc: Microsoft also seems to have canned Alan Wake on PC. Yet Windows 7 and GfWL are gamer-oriented investments. Dunno what the hell is going on there.
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Arkose: It's all about money.

Agreed, and this summarize all of what MS is doing.
They don't want to "support the PC" with GFWL or anything else, they are just securing the market for a drm-closed platform called console, and full of DLCs providing easy money.
Now that the Wii is slowing down they'll try to get the "gimmicks market" for them, or at least try to get before Sony.
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michaelleung: Too bad he sold his soul to a bunch of people who couldn't care less about the PC.
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Navagon: It's not that they don't care about the PC. It's that they're desperately trying to keep their console with its shitty build quality alive. Well, not each individual console, you understand. That would be impossible. But rather the market for it.

Of course it would be impossible, just look at the percentages of failures and RRODs of the xbox.
What really makes me hate all the console market isn't the consoles themselves, but what they do to gaming in general, forcing the games to be developed on a lower level of quality and difficulty than the pc standard.
I hope they develop better consoles (specially higher hardware) for the next gen, that don't restrict the game's quality on one or two other platforms. Example of the last gen that I can't forget: Deus Ex 2.
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taczillabr: I hope they develop better consoles (specially higher hardware) for the next gen, that don't restrict the game's quality on one or two other platforms. Example of the last gen that I can't forget: Deus Ex 2.

Both Sony and Microsoft tried that this generation and they both effectively sold them at a loss, albeit for different reasons. Which is why we've seen as many exclusives this generation as we have - it's the only way they can make money from their failed consoles.
And yes, Deus Ex 2 is a very good example of how catering to the console market is damaging the PC market. Although now it's more and more frequently the case that publishers don't bother at all with the PC.
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Navagon: ...it's more and more frequently the case that publishers don't bother at all with the PC.

Yeah, they don't care much as the consoles.
The game is somehow changing for this year, the number of NEW console exclusives isn't the same. Just yesterday, that Rockstar exclusive for PS3 was announced for X360 too, but forget about a PC version.
But then there is the wave of new consoles and motion peripherals coming next, and that leads for another batch of exclusives.
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taczillabr: But then there is the wave of new consoles and motion peripherals coming next, and that leads for another batch of exclusives.

This probably explains why 2004 was the best year for PC gaming so far. One generation of consoles was on its way out and another one was on its way. It will probably be the same when this generation begin to fade, which by any reasonable standards should be soon.
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Navagon: It will probably be the same when this generation begin to fade, which by any reasonable standards should be soon.

Yeah it's starting to fade. We still have 2010-2012 or so, then the new consoles arrive.
But to cover this years gap, they are introducing the gimmicks and the respective exclusive games: Milo, Milo 2, Milo with a Fable 3 T-shirt, Milo 3 and so on.
I can't see biggggg things for PC in the near future, even if I want it so much; even Intel "failed" commercially with its GPU project.
Post edited February 06, 2010 by taczillabr
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taczillabr: I can't see biggggg things for PC in the near future, even if I want to, even Intel "failed" commercially with its GPU project.

I haven't liked Intel since they decided to play at being the geek mafia. If their market share takes a hit then that's good news to me. We don't need shitty practices like that. We get enough dodgy shit from Microsoft.
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taczillabr: I can't see biggggg things for PC in the near future, even if I want to, even Intel "failed" commercially with its GPU project.
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Navagon: I haven't liked Intel since they decided to play at being the geek mafia. If their market share takes a hit then that's good news to me. We don't need shitty practices like that. We get enough dodgy shit from Microsoft.

I like Intel more than AMD. I can't honestly give you a reason why, though.