On Games for Windows [Dec 19, 2006, 11:24 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Games for Windows Vista how the new brand & OS will change PC gaming on Joystiq
offers an updated preview of the new Games for Windows initiative, attempting,
with limited success, to sort out what GFW represents besides a marketing
slogan. Based on a tour of the program by Marketing Director Kevin Unangst and
PR Manager Michael Wolf, they describe interoperability with Xbox 360 games via
"Live Anywhere," how PCs will get numerical ratings to gauge how well they can
play games, and what qualifies a game for the GFW logo. The conclusion they
draw, however, is that it is difficult to draw conclusions about all
this:
It's a risk. The Games for Windows strategy is on the verge of being schizophrenic. Can the cumbersome PC gaming experience really be simplified down to a console scheme? There are just too many freedoms and variations that exist in the PC universe to accurately interpret the PC as "the console that everybody already owns." It's not that simple. So is GFW a trick? Is Microsoft trying to lure back some of the consumers that were lost when Xbox was launched (an initiative that cannibalized PC gaming sales by design)?
The answer, like the Games For Windows vision, is not so clear. But there is most certainly the opportunity for Microsoft to create something very special. A cross-platform community where you and I can jump from Xbox to PC to our cell phones seamlessly. Anywhere.
SomeDude was saying that console games are far more stable. Which has nothing to do with content.
Not entirely true. The more content you have, the more content you have to generate and QA. Content generation is very time intensive ($$$), and so is QA... especially on the PC platform.
If you try and force a console-level quality on PC games, then you either have to spend a lot more money on it, or you cut the amount of content to stay in budget. And since cutting the content reduces costs in two (or more) places... guess what'll happen?
That said, the claim that console games are perfect is bogus; numerous (maybe even most) games have "glitches", some of which are game killing. And I bet you'll see the quality of games go really south on the PS3 (and, to a lesser extent, the 360) now that hard drives, and thus patching, is available.
Date
Subject
Author
Copyright © 1996-2025 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy. Manage Cookie Settings.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2025 James "furn" Furness & Blue's News. All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.5.0/blue++: Page generated 20 July 2025, 12:11.