Variations Of Games - Pcs And Consoles
KungFuSquirrel
Basher of Muttons Join Date: 2002-01-26 Member: 103Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Basher of Muttons Join Date: 2002-01-26 Member: 103Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
in Discussions
<div class="IPBDescription">Gaming discussion! Aah!</div> So I picked up Serious Sam: The Next Encounter for my Gamecube today. Been playing through a little bit of the first couple levels. Good times to be had. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Anyway, me thinking about buying it and then actually getting it got me thinking... So now I ask you, what do you think of games that have different versions available for the PC and consoles? Obviously most of you here probably lean toward PC gaming, but does having the option of different versions of your favorite games on a console appeal to you?
Personally, I think it's great. In my opinion it's just as good a way to draw in a following as a straight port, with the added bonus that those with multiple systems can enjoy even more of the games they love, or if they can't afford or don't want to buy multiple versions, they gain the added benefit of extra choices to make sure they get the experience they'll enjoy the most. And... ports don't always seem to work that well. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
With Serious Sam and soon Far Cry and Call of Duty making dips into the console market this way, I'm sure to be having some fun in the future. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Now if only Doom3 on the Xbox had a different story and some new stuff instead of just the added bonus of coop... But meh, I'll end up with both anyway.
Anyway, me thinking about buying it and then actually getting it got me thinking... So now I ask you, what do you think of games that have different versions available for the PC and consoles? Obviously most of you here probably lean toward PC gaming, but does having the option of different versions of your favorite games on a console appeal to you?
Personally, I think it's great. In my opinion it's just as good a way to draw in a following as a straight port, with the added bonus that those with multiple systems can enjoy even more of the games they love, or if they can't afford or don't want to buy multiple versions, they gain the added benefit of extra choices to make sure they get the experience they'll enjoy the most. And... ports don't always seem to work that well. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
With Serious Sam and soon Far Cry and Call of Duty making dips into the console market this way, I'm sure to be having some fun in the future. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Now if only Doom3 on the Xbox had a different story and some new stuff instead of just the added bonus of coop... But meh, I'll end up with both anyway.
Comments
You'd have to be insane to think that FF7 plays more comfortably with a mouse and keyboard then with a controller sitting in your lap as you streach out on the couch infront of the big screen.
That and you can take more risk in the console sector. PC's now are beginning to be bland and just rehashes ot whats come before. All the time while the Consoles have now become the area of new ideas and creativity. Which is a shame but thats because in a way PC gamers want the same thing rehashed. Console gamers like creativity and will try and get games that are creative. But the PC markets best sellers are usually just another version of something that came before.
All the creative titles die off. How many people here have PLAYED Republic? or Startopia or even UFO:Aftermath.
Now heres a question for you, do you think that Sam And Max 2 would have been canceled if it had been developed for Consoles?
My view? We'd Probably be playing it now....
It's always going to be hard for console developers to match what the PC is capable of on a graphical level, but when it comes to playing conviniance, a few smoothed pixles and couple shaders can't match sheer player comfortability.
That's a strength of computer-gaming... if a game performs unacceptably due to lagging hardware, you have the option of upgrading your hardware. Not so with consoles.
On the other hand, convenience is an issue... I know that any racing game on the PC will more than kinda stink, as keyboard/mouse isn't that intuitive... GTA3 as an example. I'd have to sit down and cry if Nintendo somehow started to make a version of F-Zero GX for the PC.
But RTS and FPS belong in the PC world. The only two systems that MIGHT be able to break that are the PS2 and the Dreamcast... both of which have the option of a keyboard and mouse natively supported in FPS games. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Besides which while the current trend is for a machine that can do everything in general those that specialise tend to succeed more. The only reason why PC's are better (imo) for gaming is because of the way we can upgrade and because (as has already been said) they can better handle FPS's and RTS's. I also think they are just as good at RPG's (BG, Diablo etc) and also better for the almost obsolete adventure game (shame).
Eventually we will see people specialise if only because its the best way to make money.
We pretty much already have that. The new generation of console systems ARE computers, just more specified than PC's. Almost every game that comes out on console that is worth playing is released on PC, and it's getting to be the same for games that come out for PC being released to console.
You can buy a console controller for your PC and get that same console experience. If you really want to play on your TV instead of a monitor, most video cards produced in the past 4 years have a TV out, and having played BF1942 @ a friend's house on his TV, I know it works.
PC > console any day of the week, simply because of graphics quality, performance, and the fact that you can do almost anything with a PC. The only thing I'd have to say about console is that it levels the playing field. With online multiplayer, my experience isn't fantastic because my computer does not like to perform decently about 1/3 of the time, especially in NS. That's why I'm getting a 939 pin Athlon 64 processor in the next month or so.
Played Halo on my friend's XBox just yesterday.
1) The performance was miserable. A plasma grenade blowing up in front of me turned the game into a slideshow.
2) Controls are awful. In fact, playing single player on the PC was very easy, and it was incredibly hard on the XBox, because the controls are such pants.
3) Multiplayer was unplayable. I got this itty bitty screen roughly 8 inches x 8 inches to use, and since TVs are the absolute WORST rendering medium, it's like playing Natural Selection at 200x300 pixels. Enemies are roughly 3 pixels tall. It's rediculous.
I'll probably never own a console, and that's because the last time I did, I felt like a sheep. By buying a console, I admitted that I was mentally inferior to the operation of a PC, and that my favorite games to play are games that are cookie-cutter playable. By buying a console, I acknowledged that complex, deep games with lots of options and buttons confuse me. I told the world that I can't use any controller with more then 6 buttons that don't have everything pointed out blatantly to me.
Take Deus Ex. In order to appeal to the XBox crowd, they dumbed down the options. They cut WAY back, made an absymal menu system, and made the game more linear, just to make it easier to play on the XBox. It was a demented mutant of the original Deus Ex. It also had some completely non-Deus-Ex-style design decisions that I'm also thinking was made to appeal to the console crowd.
I'll always feel cheated when a console game comes out, because I know that no matter how could it is, it will always have been better on the PC, for the simple matter that if I don't like the game, I can always customize it for me.
Consoles have less RAM, less graphical power, etc. A console game ported to PC will always seem chopped-down and crappy because it's using only about half the potential it could be. A PC game ported to console was either a pretty lousy PC game to begin with, or they have to strip out a ton of features to make it even somewhat playable. You think FarCry would run on an XBox at full settings? HAHAHA
Also, when games are played competetively over a console, you know there is no custimization whatsoever which leads to another player winning. Skill vs. Skill, that's all there is.
On the other hand, if the console game's multiplayer is unbalanced... then there's nothing you can do about it, as it's stuck like that.
:|
Also the navigation is different. If you have ever played a console game on pc you will know how annoying it is not having a mouse in the menu's, sometimes even the game itself. I like being able to play console games on PC but for the love of god redesigning the menu system at least is a good step forward. Console games also just feel more Hollywood, X-men 2: wolferines revenge, hulk, halo etc. vs far cry, ut2k4, City of heroes. Even though PC games are in the same genre sometimes they are just that bit different that sets them apart, it's unexplainable and it gets the sales.
The XBox does not drop frames everytime a grenade goes off. The only time I've seen the game lag is when it has to render 16 different particle systems off the back of 4 different jeeps, rocket and grenade explosions, AND the reflective and bump mapping on player models. I'm running a 1.6 Ghz machine here, and I'd sure as hell lag up if I had to render that.
Consoles serve a different purpose than PC's do. Where a PC is essentially a solo venture, a console is meant to be played with siblings or friends. The second that people understand that one may serve someone else's needs better than it serves their own, we'll all be better off.
Having said that, I'm totally against cross-platform games. I feel that too often PC games get the brunt of the feature trim stick to make them console-compatable. Both graphicially and control-wise. One thing that gets me very riled up is this attitude of "Console players want COOP, PC players don't." which is complete and utter rubbish. Serious Sam 2 and System Shock 2's COOP were one of the most fun things ever. And DM on consoles seems to be very much dominated by "STOP LOOKING AT MY SCREEN! I SAW YOU LOOKING!". I think that playing local multiplayer games on consoles is a much more social experiance. Especially games like Double Dash in which two people must work as one. You just don't get the same feel in say two people driving a Hellbender in UT2004.
Each platform to their own genre. Consoles suck at FPS, whilst PCs suck at fighting games.
--Scythe--