Mailbag From May 22, 2006 |
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I was wondering why BioShock continues to be mentioned on the 360 but not on the PC? I know I may sound like a console hating PC lover, but I do have a great PC and am looking forward to this game on my PC not on the 360. Did they not show BioShock running on the PC or not metion it? I would like to see more metion of this games PC release.
-- Brian
The simple answer is that BioShock was only shown on the 360 at the show. It's unfortunate because it would have won all kinds of awards otherwise. Rules for the voting have become a bit more strict over the years since we started going to E3 to make sure no mistakes happen since versions of games can be quite different than one another. In the case of BioShock, the versions will be pretty much identical and released at the same time, and the PC version will likely be a little prettier than the 360 version if you have the PC for it. Definitely keep an eye out for this game on the PC. Hopefully next time they show it, they'll have both versions running (Irrational has told us that the PC version is already up and running well) for us to see.
-- Dan
So that's it, E3, yes, all very shiny but where was Fallout 3? Not even a hint, a teaser, a brief mention, not even one of your reviewers lamenting the distinct lack of Fallout 3! Last I heard Bethedsa had the rights and were working on it, I had hoped now that they had finished the undeniably remarkable Oblivion they might move on to Fallout news? Ah well I've been patient for several years now I guess I can wait another few.
-- Mike
You make a good point there Mike. We did know about it not being at the show but somehow forgot to report on it, maybe because we weren't completely surprised about it not being there. Regardless, you're right to point out the oversight. Hopefully we'll get some more info before too long that we can share. We're definitely curious about what approach they're taking with the game and how they'll include the tactics portion, which was obviously one of the huge draws of the game. I can envision some pretty cool scenarios for real-time tactical combat (along the line of Ghost Recon) but we'll see what they do. I know a lot of people that have suddenly become very offended by my mere suggestion of fully real-time tactical combat. Either way, we're digging for it and will keep you posted when we know more.
-- Dan
Eh? We've had that in the UK for a few years now...cardborads long gone.
-- Ste
Your article about the EIMA announcing that all PC games should be in DVD cases only was so boot-licking and fawning I was amazed!
This happened in the UK about 5 years ago. Basically the start of the PC games sales decline in this country.
Unlike consoles, you need to know the system requirements of a PC game to see if it will work on your machine. You cannot do this with the small amount of room on the back of a a DVD case. Unlike console games, many more PC games are bought "on spec" by causal gamers. These purchases were helped in the past with bigger boxes allowing more screenshots and more descriptive text.
This will allow for more and more publishers to shy away from any simulation or RPG or anything beyond an FPS barebones shooter that needs a manual of over 35 pages unless a) they make the text so small as to be unreadable, or just make it a pdf manual.
In either case, this de-values the product and makes it less likely to be purhcased "in store", or at all.
Budget games now account for over 60% of all PC game sales in the UK. 5 years ago it was 35%. Back then you could tell a budget title specifically because it was in a DVD case.
You wouldn't know all the above from your puny article though. Just like the UK media, falling over yourselves to please the advertisers and "powers that be" rather than gamers that keep your site alive. If the USA follows the UK and goes "DVD only" it will be another nail in the coffin of the PC games market.
You should be a lot more investigative and neutral when these announcements are made. If you are not, then why would I believe your reviews? If I cannot believe your reviews why would I come to your site?
Mark my words, at the rate the PC gaming market is shrinking, it will be gone completely within 3-5 years. Do not help bring that day forward with articles like this.
-- John
Yeah, we know that they've been out in the UK for a while now, which is why we're happy that the transition is finally happening here. I seriously doubt the addition of DVD casing to the PC market is the reason that PC games sales in the UK have been dying off. Blame consoles that are getting closer to the power of the PC. Blame that consoles are now including genres of games that were once pretty much exclusive to the PC. Blaming the boxes is ridiculous.
You can't fit minimum specs on a DVD case? Bull crap. If you can't you're not trying hard enough. And as far as manuals go, there are double DVD cases for games that come like that which should be able to fit any decently sized manual. If all of that doesn't work, shrinkwrap the damn manual to the outside of the DVD case.
PC games were being taken off of store shelves in the US because the boxes took up too much real-estate on shelves and because console games simply sell better. EB Games out here in the States has been systematically removing PC gaming from their stocks.
Finally, the fact that casual games are a larger percentage of gaming is because there are simply a lot more casual gamers than there used to be that have a lot more appealing casual games. If you look at the most popular games on the PC, they're popular because they hit both hardcore and casual audiences. Games like World of Warcraft, Age of Empires, and The Sims are all huge successes because they bridge the gap between the two sects of gamers. You're going to see a lot more games like this in the future, whether you want to or not because gaming is very big business these days. As more and more women get into gaming, there is also a much higher likelihood that they'll be playing fun and quick games rather than those where they'd have to blow some dude's head off or use a flight stick to play the newest fighter simulation. The fact is, simulations, for the most part, don't have a huge following and publishers are worried about their bottom line.
Your comments are aggravating at best. If you paid any attention to this year's PC slate at E3 you'd recognize a large quantity of PC games are indeed due out this year and next. PC will remain the forefront in technology and will always have companies developing for it. When consoles get powerful enough that there's basically no difference in technology or functionality, does it really matter what hardware you're playing the game on? The same games will come out on those consoles for the same audience that they do now and will function the same way. A game is a game is a game. Intelligent gaming won't completely go away over time. There's too much room for games like Civilization, SimCity, and Age of Empires. You're right that some of the very hardcore stuff might dry up, but it's not likely.
-- Dan
How come CnC wasn't even in the nominees, or the intro of the awards, in the Strategy award? Was because the only thing revealed was a trailer? If so you should of mentioned that.
-- Linda
Awards are based off of playable demos at the show. That means either we can play them or someone else can play them. Our opinions are also based off of these showings and the truth is, EA showed jack about the game. They talked about the story a bit which certainly sounds good. They showed off a live version of the engine which was pretty. But they showed basically no gameplay which means they don't get an award. That's not to say it won't be a good game, there's a good likelihood that it'll please a lot of people but compared to the other live demos at the show it just wasn't impressive.
-- Dan
when will the spores game be avalable, and also is the spores game F2p/free to play, or p2p/pay to play because it mentioned that it will be interating with other players so just wondering
-- Philip
Spore should be released Spring of next year meaning April and May however there is no set release date yet so it's not totally out of the question that the game will be delayed a bit.
The best way it's been described in this aspect is as a massively single player game. All of your interactions with the world are your own. The only interaction with other players is through a database of information that holds all of the player made creations which can be downloaded to populate your own ecosystem, planet, solar system, and galaxy with creatures, items, cultures, and planets. There should be no charge for this service so you shouldn't have to pay to play. Hope that helps.
-- Dan
We used to be monkeys!!
-- Dan
The simple answer is that BioShock was only shown on the 360 at the show. It's unfortunate because it would have won all kinds of awards otherwise. Rules for the voting have become a bit more strict over the years since we started going to E3 to make sure no mistakes happen since versions of games can be quite different than one another. In the case of BioShock, the versions will be pretty much identical and released at the same time, and the PC version will likely be a little prettier than the 360 version if you have the PC for it. Definitely keep an eye out for this game on the PC. Hopefully next time they show it, they'll have both versions running (Irrational has told us that the PC version is already up and running well) for us to see.
-- Dan
So that's it, E3, yes, all very shiny but where was Fallout 3? Not even a hint, a teaser, a brief mention, not even one of your reviewers lamenting the distinct lack of Fallout 3! Last I heard Bethedsa had the rights and were working on it, I had hoped now that they had finished the undeniably remarkable Oblivion they might move on to Fallout news? Ah well I've been patient for several years now I guess I can wait another few.
-- Mike
You make a good point there Mike. We did know about it not being at the show but somehow forgot to report on it, maybe because we weren't completely surprised about it not being there. Regardless, you're right to point out the oversight. Hopefully we'll get some more info before too long that we can share. We're definitely curious about what approach they're taking with the game and how they'll include the tactics portion, which was obviously one of the huge draws of the game. I can envision some pretty cool scenarios for real-time tactical combat (along the line of Ghost Recon) but we'll see what they do. I know a lot of people that have suddenly become very offended by my mere suggestion of fully real-time tactical combat. Either way, we're digging for it and will keep you posted when we know more.
-- Dan
Eh? We've had that in the UK for a few years now...cardborads long gone.
-- Ste
Your article about the EIMA announcing that all PC games should be in DVD cases only was so boot-licking and fawning I was amazed!
This happened in the UK about 5 years ago. Basically the start of the PC games sales decline in this country.
Unlike consoles, you need to know the system requirements of a PC game to see if it will work on your machine. You cannot do this with the small amount of room on the back of a a DVD case. Unlike console games, many more PC games are bought "on spec" by causal gamers. These purchases were helped in the past with bigger boxes allowing more screenshots and more descriptive text.
This will allow for more and more publishers to shy away from any simulation or RPG or anything beyond an FPS barebones shooter that needs a manual of over 35 pages unless a) they make the text so small as to be unreadable, or just make it a pdf manual.
In either case, this de-values the product and makes it less likely to be purhcased "in store", or at all.
Budget games now account for over 60% of all PC game sales in the UK. 5 years ago it was 35%. Back then you could tell a budget title specifically because it was in a DVD case.
You wouldn't know all the above from your puny article though. Just like the UK media, falling over yourselves to please the advertisers and "powers that be" rather than gamers that keep your site alive. If the USA follows the UK and goes "DVD only" it will be another nail in the coffin of the PC games market.
You should be a lot more investigative and neutral when these announcements are made. If you are not, then why would I believe your reviews? If I cannot believe your reviews why would I come to your site?
Mark my words, at the rate the PC gaming market is shrinking, it will be gone completely within 3-5 years. Do not help bring that day forward with articles like this.
-- John
Yeah, we know that they've been out in the UK for a while now, which is why we're happy that the transition is finally happening here. I seriously doubt the addition of DVD casing to the PC market is the reason that PC games sales in the UK have been dying off. Blame consoles that are getting closer to the power of the PC. Blame that consoles are now including genres of games that were once pretty much exclusive to the PC. Blaming the boxes is ridiculous.
You can't fit minimum specs on a DVD case? Bull crap. If you can't you're not trying hard enough. And as far as manuals go, there are double DVD cases for games that come like that which should be able to fit any decently sized manual. If all of that doesn't work, shrinkwrap the damn manual to the outside of the DVD case.
PC games were being taken off of store shelves in the US because the boxes took up too much real-estate on shelves and because console games simply sell better. EB Games out here in the States has been systematically removing PC gaming from their stocks.
Finally, the fact that casual games are a larger percentage of gaming is because there are simply a lot more casual gamers than there used to be that have a lot more appealing casual games. If you look at the most popular games on the PC, they're popular because they hit both hardcore and casual audiences. Games like World of Warcraft, Age of Empires, and The Sims are all huge successes because they bridge the gap between the two sects of gamers. You're going to see a lot more games like this in the future, whether you want to or not because gaming is very big business these days. As more and more women get into gaming, there is also a much higher likelihood that they'll be playing fun and quick games rather than those where they'd have to blow some dude's head off or use a flight stick to play the newest fighter simulation. The fact is, simulations, for the most part, don't have a huge following and publishers are worried about their bottom line.
Your comments are aggravating at best. If you paid any attention to this year's PC slate at E3 you'd recognize a large quantity of PC games are indeed due out this year and next. PC will remain the forefront in technology and will always have companies developing for it. When consoles get powerful enough that there's basically no difference in technology or functionality, does it really matter what hardware you're playing the game on? The same games will come out on those consoles for the same audience that they do now and will function the same way. A game is a game is a game. Intelligent gaming won't completely go away over time. There's too much room for games like Civilization, SimCity, and Age of Empires. You're right that some of the very hardcore stuff might dry up, but it's not likely.
-- Dan
How come CnC wasn't even in the nominees, or the intro of the awards, in the Strategy award? Was because the only thing revealed was a trailer? If so you should of mentioned that.
-- Linda
Awards are based off of playable demos at the show. That means either we can play them or someone else can play them. Our opinions are also based off of these showings and the truth is, EA showed jack about the game. They talked about the story a bit which certainly sounds good. They showed off a live version of the engine which was pretty. But they showed basically no gameplay which means they don't get an award. That's not to say it won't be a good game, there's a good likelihood that it'll please a lot of people but compared to the other live demos at the show it just wasn't impressive.
-- Dan
when will the spores game be avalable, and also is the spores game F2p/free to play, or p2p/pay to play because it mentioned that it will be interating with other players so just wondering
-- Philip
Spore should be released Spring of next year meaning April and May however there is no set release date yet so it's not totally out of the question that the game will be delayed a bit.
The best way it's been described in this aspect is as a massively single player game. All of your interactions with the world are your own. The only interaction with other players is through a database of information that holds all of the player made creations which can be downloaded to populate your own ecosystem, planet, solar system, and galaxy with creatures, items, cultures, and planets. There should be no charge for this service so you shouldn't have to pay to play. Hope that helps.
-- Dan
We used to be monkeys!!
-- Dan
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