The top selling PC game last year sold 450,000 units. That is nothing and warrants a development spend of about $6 million. Any decent game costs about $10 million to spend...

PC gaming is dying. And the reason is NOT because of "big business" - the reason is because of consumers all moving to consoles.

Good point there!

PC games are coming to a slow death - at least it will plateau and trend downwards slowly.

The good thing is, most of us have discoverd that there really are great console games and the XBox is a nice little machine.

Excellent thread guys.

I don't blame developers for going to consoles at all. If a game is great, it can be great on any medium that meets a minimum asthetic requirement.

A game that even stands a chance nowadays costs about $10 million to make. I'm not sure, but I think you have to sell about 600-700K copies to just break even. It's not very smart to ONLY make PC games if you want to secure the future of the studio. There are so few dedicated PC developers - Valve, Blizzard, and a few others. They suck up a big bulk of the total "spend" consumers have per year on PC games.

I wish the new Ion Storm company (whatever they call themselves) luck. I think they have a bunch of smart guys there and with proper focus and game design leadership, they will make great games, no matter what the medium.

Also, I find it sad how PC-only gamers are quickly becoming tired Luddites.

The PC Game is incredible. Just incredible. I can't remember the last time I felt such tension in the game - the AI is truly scary!

And WTF was that gamespy article talking about? The graphics are just beautiful in hi res.

Who cares about all this XP/2000 nonsense?

The demo is awesome - I can't believe the studio made something so incredible.

Why all the emphasis on DX:IW when Thief 3 just came out? I saw on Metacritic it was averaging an 88 - that is a fantastic score - and the game is awesome. The PC version is just beautiful. Isn't that the same team, more or less, that did DX:IW?

I would wager to say that people in that studio made that game great - not Warren Spector. I bet they even take offense that people think the studio is nothing without Warren.

Whatever that new company is, I am sure it will kick ass. If they had a chance to choose the best of the best, it's gonna be pretty frickin awesome.

Did you see the new PC shots of the game??? http://www.thief-thecircle.com/shownews.asp?id=1596

Yes Chris I have heard good things about Trey too. I doubt he had anything to do with Randy's departure - but you never know. I suspect Warren still really calls the shots around there - and there must have been some creative differences at work.

Peter Molyneux is quite overrated, IMO. I liked Populous and Syndicate... but that was about it, brotha.

I wonder why Warren Spector didn't go and speak at this deal...maybe busy dealing with Thief 3 stuff I guess.

That is a smart move by Eidos. They are a good development house. I don't think they have the raw talent of Ion Storm Austin (another Eidos dev house) - but the Hitman series is very nice.

get over it, fuckheads.

Ahh such an intellectual debate. I'm afraid when discussing rational reactions to games with this sort of intellect, the match is over before it has begun.

I don't think Warren got into the details of Thief 3, very similar to DX:IW. That's too bad - but I think the end result will still be impressive. I showed this interview to a friend and he pre-ordered Thief 3 also...

I at one time was afraid to admit it being a diehard PC guy, but the future is consoles. Games are games... Those that aren't willing to change with the times and have bad attitudes will be bitter Luddites. Fine with me.

I love Spector's self-effacing and honest delivery. He knows DX2 was not as great as it could have been, but no doubt it is still an excellent game. Spector definitely knows what he is doing and that is a group that will learn from their mistakes and move forward.

And yes you hosers - break down and get an XBox. No self-respecting gamer can say they don't have one!

Invisible War is a pretty good game... it's still the only game in town if you want to actually use your brain to solve problems in innovative ways besides just shooting people.

Call of Duty is a great game - but you only have to orient your mind in one direction - killing bad guys. Deus Ex Invisible War is the only game on the market (that I can think of), that allows for such open-ended gameplay and complex problem solving.

Here here Erratic - wise words.

Spector has an excellent track record. And Invisible War was not so bad... sure - maybe an 80/100, but to have his biggest mistake be an average but still good game, well that's not too shabby.

Boy there are some real bitter idiots on this forum!

Warren Spector's a great guy and an innovative designer. To think that one cannot take the Tomb Raider formula and add some interesting innovation is the height of ignorance. Look at what was done with the Prince of Persia series - a few nice little innovative features combined with the original game made it a very compelling and great game.

Harvey Smith ruined DX Invisible War - not Warren Spector. This is fairly well known, but I always enjoy watching idiots blame Spector... gives me a chuckle.

Yes I wonder if her pet-name is Dyke-atana

Stupid ass democrats...

I saw this from the designer for Dungeon Siege II at http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/474/474733p1.html . It echoes my sentiments that consoles are the future and there is nothing in the console equation that makes them inherently "scary":

"Personally, I find trends in game development fascinating, and one of the most interesting things I saw in 2003 was the success of RPGs with a traditionally PC RPG-type design being released on consoles. Examples like Knights of the Old Republic, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Final Fantasy XI, and last year's Morrowind are blurring the line that separates console and PC RPGs.

There are a number of reasons why this is happening. For one thing, there is now a console audience for the more mature, complex elements that have typified PC RPGs. Second, PC technology has largely exceeded the needs that people have for it. As a result, consoles have largely caught up to most gamers' PCs in terms of power, and at a lower price point. "

Eidos has over $100 million cash (check finance.yahoo.com). They are also profitable. Some of the agrarian Marxist types in here think that somehow profit is evil and that Eidos/Ion Storm should only want to make a little money in order to satisfy only PC Gamers. This is insane thinking.

As PC Gaming wanes, Console gaming waxes. There is nothing about Spector's "Thinking Man's Games" that makes them incompatable with consoles. Granted, Spector and friends made some bad decisions in DXIW (tried to squeeze too much technology in)... but these problems will probably be fixed in Thief 3.

Eidos has enough cash to allow Warren Spector freedom to create games as he sees fit - I just hope they grant him the resources and freedom he needs to get this stuff done. If not, he's gonna take the other top designers away to another Publisher - where they can get more shelf space and more resources.