Platform Preferences

[NeoThermic]

The biggest threat to PC gaming is the profit incentive. Developing for the console is cheaper and makes more money.

What? The PS3 devkit costs ~£20,000 unless you sell your soul to Sony for exclusivity. (Even then they charge you something for the kit...) Deving for the PC is "free". Even if you factor in visual studio and a dev box, it'll still be be cheaper than a devkit. (That being said, MS at one point were happy to give serious studios a xbox360 devkit if they asked nicely... )

The Wii devkit is about £2000 last time I checked, so it's a damn sight cheaper, but PC deving, even if you factor in a whole new machine for doing so, is far far cheaper. Sales... well, that depends on what kind of game you've got going and what kind of outlet you have for said game...

NeoThermic

[KingAl]

The barrier to entry is certainly higher for consoles, but on the flipside, PC games also introduce issues with support and incompatibility, which are potentially expensive, and console owners - in contrast with PC owners - are a 'guaranteed' market, in the sense that they all own them for the purpose of playing games (or perhaps for a cheap Blu-ray player...). How significantly that affects publishers and developers and their decisions, though, is beyond me.

[brog]

The 1960sness was quite nice though.

60s?

20/30s from what I've seen - Some very pretty Art Deco...

I seem to recall it changed style from 20s to 60s during development.


Consoles annoy me, each console seems to have just one or two games that I want to play, but not enough for me to shell out the cash to buy one (not until I have a real income, at least). Collectively it adds up to quite a few games missed.
I'm not sure what the state of affairs is with backwards compatibility, but if say a PS3 would let me play the PS1 and PS2 games I missed it might start to be cost-effective. (not that I'd buy a ps3, just an example.)

Plus it would just hurt me inside to have what's theoretically a universal computer lying around and not be able to run arbitrary programs on it..

[Nutter]

I must admit I'm going for the x360 version as my PC is pretty much ready to be tossed out the window. Stalker ran somewhat alright at the lowest settings but either running Bioshock at low settings or "perfectly" on 360 leaves little choice.

I've played some more and caught a glimpse of some sort of ammo select screen in the PC version, which is going to be interesting on joypad, but it plays no part in the demo so I can't comment until Friday.

The quick select for the ammunition is like oblivions as it uses the dpad controls.

[xander]

The barrier to entry is certainly higher for consoles, but on the flipside, PC games also introduce issues with support and incompatibility...

This was, I think, the argument that Alec at Bit-Blot was making with regards to the Macintosh. The hardware environment is a known space -- there are only so many variations, so it makes it easier to develop for the Mac. He thinks that game developers ought to treat the Mac like a console. With Mac Minis out there costing less than a PS3, it might not be a bad way of thinking about things. Steve Jobs ought to rename the Mac Mini the XMac720, and market it as a gaming machine. ;)

xander

[OrR]

Anyone tried the game with the Wiimote, yet? Sounds like it might work well... I don't care much for ego shooters since the waste of time that was Half Life 2, though.

All my favourite gaming moments were on the PC. A few have been on hacked consoles with pirated import games (Don't worry, I always buy games I like, only I have to find out, first...) or homebrew games. I hate unhacked consoles, though, they always leave me with an empty feeling... I shouldn't have bought the Wii (yet), only a Wiimote + Nunchuk for my PC. Zelda TP was disappointing. Well, I do love Excite Truck and Sonic... I feel bad about buying Rayman, Kororinpa, Wario Ware and Elebits, though. Wasted money I should have spent on PC indies.

[KingAl]

On the subject of the Wii-mote, Microsoft has apparently added support for it to XNA. Food for thought.

[martin]

On the subject of the Wii-mote, Microsoft has apparently added support for it to XNA. Food for thought.

XNA support for the wiimote? really... *thinks jedi*

[martin]

Anyway, can anyone tell me how scary/gory the bioshock demo is? I don't really like gory games, but if Chris thinks it's that good...

It's quite disturbing...more than enough Clockwork Orange in there for me...

Now thing is, I asked a friend who'd played it the same question and he said I'd probably be ok, so I downloaded it - and I was fine. In fact I quite enjoyed bashing people to bits with a wrench... what?

Anyway, the only bit I was worried about was the bit daddies, that bit in the trailer always makes me look away

[Cabbage]

If you are planning on playing Bioshock on the PC, you should check out the whole Securom DRM issue. It's a bit complicated, so you'll be better informed if you googled "Bioshock Securom" than if I tried to explain it.

EDIT: Here's the official thread on the matter in the 2K forums.

And here's the Bioshock technical FAQ regarding the copy protection.

[martin]

if I get bioshock - which I might, not sure - I'll get it off steam, and steam usually just works :p

[allen]

if I get bioshock - which I might, not sure - I'll get it off steam, and steam usually just works :p

Steam still has the securerom activation, and the limited installs. check the steam store page for bioshock

http://storefront.steampowered.com/v/in ... 7670&cc=US

Game requires Internet connection for activation

Note: Contains SecuROM copy control software. Installations limited to five PCs per license

[martin]

errr, I only have 1 PC - so I only need to install it once :/

I suppose I may want to install it on a laptop if I ever get one - but that still leaves me with 3 machines

[KingAl]

martin: You do realise that SecuROM enforces the limit? There's been concern about people being unable to revoke their license for one machine and thus being completely barred from playing a game which they own.

[Icepick]

Well I picked up the PC Version yesterday after returning from PAX (woo), and installed it without any issues at all. It runs awesomely with all graphics options maxed on my computer, and so far I've not been disapointed, although I'm not very far into the game yet. Just far enough to get my ass kicked by the first Big Daddy.