Microsofts gaming division has sucked ever since Ed Fries left. The guy seemed to be the only one who championed the PC platform while still doing his job getting the 360 off the ground.

Probably have about a million angry PC-purists after me now

Contrary to your overly inflated opinion of yourself, nobody really cares all that much that you liked Halo 3 and think it's the Greatest Shooter Since Like Forevar!11!!!

Really. Nobody cares.

Creston

Vista was a disaster all around including for games, but it has to be said that PC games were withering in the marketplace before the release of Vista. MS' big revenue has always come from OEM sales of o/s and Office so why should MS care about PC games? PC games have never been the bread and butter for MS. What will revive PC gaming is a couple of must-have games that cannot run on a console. Short of that happening, PC gaming will be in a deep lull for at least several years, unfortunately.

This was obvious from before the release of vista to anyone who had half a clue. They think that thier xbox 360 is MORE important than windows gaming by far.

Look at thier decision to entirely SCRAP directsound hardware support in vista (and giving a big kick in the nuts to creative, which deserves it don't get me wrong). What did they replace it with? A sound model that is much closer to what they are using on xbox 360 which incidentally makes it easier to port.
Look up things like XNA, XACT, etc.
Now in vista, all directsound is software emulated, instead of hardware accellerated, which incidentally only supports stereo sound. This results in the majority of games prior to vista release not able to do surround sound.
YAY MS!
They essentially screwed an entire industry just to save a few bucks in porting crappy titles like halo from xbox to PC.

(more recent titles have used OpenAL which can hardware support vista's new sound system, which started around the battlefield 2/2142 game release, and now most games use something like that, so the screwage mostly applies to previous games).

Fuck Bill.



------------------------------------------------
http://theslip.nin.com/
"The Bellic boys! Talking over your town, assholes!"

Where else but Blue's News would you see people bashing Bill Gates for devoting his time and money to charity?

I can understand frustration at Microsoft for putting the Xbox 360 ahead of the PC, but this one escapes me.

Fucking nice to know Bill is such a humanitarian. Fuckhead.

him and his fucktard co-founder paul allen are abusing tax loopholes. look up paul allen's venture capital company vulcan and you will find a lot of projects that should be defined as an eccentric hobby but they claim them as a "public" display and calling them museums. the problem is you cannot visit them year round. only on the most inconvenient time of the year are they open... winter. the govt is essentially allowing these people to write off the cost of creating such collections.

I got this today from Technet..

If you haven't already heard, Bill Gates <http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9217492> had his official last day at Microsoft on 27 June. He'll now be focusing more on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation <http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9217493>, created in the belief that every life has equal value. He'll be working more towards the foundation's mission to reduce inequities and improve lives around the world. And as part-time Chairman Bill at Microsoft, Bill will continue to be involved in various projects across the company.

Fucking nice to know Bill is such a humanitarian. Fuckhead..

Huh? Then how is Blizzard printing truckloads of money without publishing a single console title of any kind?

when was the last time blizzard released a new game? all they've succeeded in doing is create a sustainable subscription model. not everyone is into MMOs.

If I didn't dislike consoles, I would jump at a chance to ditch Windows and MS's bs in a heartbeat. These people need to remember where their bread is buttered. The 360 hasn't done very well financially. If people start jumping ship and breaking Windows' near monopoly by moving to Apple or (free and much more spyware free) Linux, MS is toast.

Since most PC games have started turning into lame dumbed down console ports, I have started buying far fewer video games. I don't buy console games at all.

As far as Halo goes, if your sole Halo-experience is from playing the ports, and the piece of garbage known as the Vista-exclusive (lol!) Halo 2 PC in particular, I can see why you would feel that way.

I highly doubt the mundane and repetitious level design, generic enemies, boring weapons and incredibly slow and floaty physics had anything to do with being ports.

because Europe is Sony- and Nintendo-Land. Not because of MS being an american company, but because the games on the 360 are more to the taste of US consumers than anyone else.

At least the 360 has some games (ok now at least every ps3 owner can go out and buy mgs4)

Seriously, PS3 software sales are still extremely low, everyone is jumping on the cheap blu ray train.

I would say that microsoft can't make games like blizzard does(as an example). So , besides the evident wish to sell more XBOX consoles, they're saying they don't care about pc games because they can't make outstanding pc games at the moment(as they did in the past) and they are focused on simpler xbox games, simpler gameplay, rich graphics, shot&kill, jump&run, left/right to drive, usually games that takes only a max of 6-8 buttons and not much storyline, etc. That's their limit :). At least they admit it!
Anyway, all my appreciation for the companies that make both pc and console games

The XBOX was created to make money.

The only way people would be tempted to buy an XBOX was if the games on it were exclusive to it (i.e. not released on PC simultaneously)

This is stating the obvious. This was always plain to me, and the main reason for the downfall of the PC platform.

I DISAGREE WITH YOU, THAT MEANS U R AN OBVIOUS M$ SHILL!!!

NOW WILL U CHILL, COZ ITS HARD WERK BEIN BILL'S SHILL. AINT SEEN NUTTIN BUT A ONE-DOLLAR BILL. YO. REPRAZENT.

You just need to adapt to the market.

Nononono, you get it ALLL wrong! The market has to adapt to YOUR wishes, not vice versa. And if this doesn't work, blame someone else, preferably "pirates", because they have no lobby.

probably because their objective has met its goal which is to kill off pc gaming.

Huh? Then how is Blizzard printing truckloads of money without publishing a single console title of any kind? All they have managed to kill off is "Microsoft Games" as a PC gaming brand - the own goal they did with their artificially Vista-exclusive Halo 2 and Shadowrun was so spectacular that no wonder they are hurting.

Blizzard and Valve are both making gobs of cash by playing to the strengths of the PC market. If other companies are too clueless to see what works for the PC and instead keep churning out crap in shiny boxes for the store shelves, they deserve to go bust.

PC also has plenty of new and independent developers all ready to bust in to fill any space that might open up in the PC market as big names move over to consoles. Sure, there's tons of chaff, but it's a tough world out there - survival of the fittest. If you make a good game on a PC, and have any clue as how to market it, you will make money. You just need to adapt to the market.

Probably have about a million angry PC-purists after me now. I'll be on #care @ QuakeNet awaiting your clever flames & witticisms...

I DISAGREE WITH YOU, THAT MEANS U R AN OBVIOUS M$ SHILL!!!

Don't be stupid like the rest of the world and think that the xbox360 is an adequate substitute for PC gaming, because it’s not

It's not only the germans. The 360 is only a big hit in the States. In Europe, the 360 is already falling behind the PS3, because Europe is Sony- and Nintendo-Land. Not because of MS being an american company, but because the games on the 360 are more to the taste of US consumers than anyone else.

Damn those Germans are smart.

Thank you
But I do think that Microsoft in this case didn't incorporate the fact that the Playstation brand is way more present in Europe. The PS3 has already matched the xbox 360 in sales numbers over here, see http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=Wii&reg1=Europe&cons2=PS3&reg2=Europe&cons3=X360&reg3=Europe&start=39250&end=39614&weekly=1

So it's not just the PC alone that gives them a headache over here.

2nd edit: Oh and Halo 3 REALLY was a generic game from a PC player's point of view. I played it on the 360...

This comment was edited on Jul 2, 06:26.