bhcompy wrote on Oct 4, 2011, 13:14:
Beamer wrote on Oct 4, 2011, 12:53:
And? id games have had longevity.
I've played Quake more hours than every other game I've ever played combined.
How many hours did you get from Doom 3?
Good job, though, on claiming you got more hours out of a 16 year old game than a 7 year old game.
The point is longevity. I played Homefront through once and rarely played it after that. There was nothing to hold me there. Ditto with Doom 3, really. Nobody is playing Daikatana despite it being very old, but there are plenty still playing games of similar/older age like Quake 2, Half-life, etc. I'll still go back to Quake fairly often and still see people playing that I've played with for over 10 years, because the game is so good at certain things that there is nothing that can compare. And like I said, Quake more than every other game combined, not just one game.
Companies like Bethesda, Activision, EA, Ubisoft, etc are deliberately breaking a proven system(HLCS being 1 or 2 top played on Steam right now is indicative of this) in order to have more institutional control. No private dedicated servers means that, no matter how awesome the game may be, it has a defined lifespan. Fuck that. Same goes for every other standard feature that becomes vaporware. Those games last so long and generate future revenue and goodwill for the company do so because of the features, not despite them(which is how the companies treat said features, as if they are antagonistic).
Agreed.
I think a few of us here still remember wasting away the vast majority of our time playing, mapping, and modding Quake/Quakeworld back in the day. The only other game that approached this degree of play with me was probably...no, actually that wasn't even close.
I've had a few hours sleep after my first stint with the game, and I pretty much stick to the assessment: Technically, the game is amazing: the graphics engine will be a foundation for years to come. Yes, it has issues, but I can't remember a single id game that didn't require steep hardware to see all the candy it had to offer. Doom3 practically REQUIRED the latest generation top of the line hardware on release.
One other thing; I know many of us like griping about the influence of the console on PC gaming, but there is a harsh reality: Aside from World of Warcraft (which, *gasp* I
don't play), has there been a game in the last 10 years that has been PC only that could sustain a company of id's size and calibur?
Not really.
That's the reason you see consoles taking over. it's not because they are better or a desired platform, it's because the dev cycle is more predictable, tech support is easier, and the numbers are much greater. Even BF3, with the PC as it's "lead platform," is porting over to consoles. It's a fact of life.
And, when your sitting in the big chair, looking at the people whose livelihoods depend on your every decision, it isn't really a choice, unless you want to slip the way of all those other developers that steered clear of consoles and commit those people to the welfare line.
Trust me, when you look at an employee that has two kids and a spouse out of work, deciding to broaden your platform base is affected far more by that than by a few people thinking you "sold out PC gaming."
I still think that is a lubricious charge, considering how big game worlds are nowadays anyway (see Fallout 3/NV, RDR, GTA4, Dead Space).
Just sayin'.
"Never start a fight, but always finish it."