Alan Wake Coming to PC

Twilightning

Well isn't this excellent news!

Granted I've already played it and completed it on the 360 but I'm guessing they'll probably pull out a game of the year edition and throw in all of the DLC along with it to make up for the fact PC gamers never got to experience it. It'll look fantastic!

tuxy

It was originally coming to the PC when it was announced in 2005

johnny_ultimate

Today on After Thoughts...

Corkfeen

I remember playing it when I got a 360, the makers of the game clearly had the same taste in music as me because I was playing David Bowie in the background and then the same song came on in-game. But overall i'm not if I was a major fan of it. It was interesting but I think it failed to deliver, although I never finished so I make give it another during the holidays. :pac:

PogMoThoin

tuxy wrote: »

It was originally coming to the PC when it was announced in 2005

If only the'd make the game they originally intended, before it got consolitis
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/6523

Zero-Cool

will look into this when its out on pc. so is it like a silent hill type game?

gizmo

PogMoThoin wrote: »

If only the'd make the game they originally intended, before it got consolitis
http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/6523

Yes, consolitis. Because the 360 doesn't have multiple cores, can't handle real time streaming of data, doesn't use the CPU to prepare data for the GPU and has never had one of its cores used exclusively for physics in a game.

Oh...wait, none of that is true.

The main thing Alan Wake suffered from was a turbulent development which saw their original design for an open world game changed to a more linear experience. If you had played the game, which I can only assume you haven't after the above comment since everything shown in the above video actually made it into the released game, you'd know that an open world game wouldn't have really suited it. Sure you could have opened up some free form travelling between key areas but in terms of creating the type of experience they were looking for, it would have been largely redundant.

If you want to really talk about consolitis, you could mention the fact that the game runs at a sub-HD resolution, the fact that their lighting solution doesn't work well indoors and the fact it runs at 30fps. None of these really affect the enjoyment of the game though.

All that being said, despite having played through the game and its DLC on the 360, I'll definitely pick it up on the PC for a second playthrough. ****ing love Remedy and hopefully the increased sales for the PC version will do them some good.

Magill

I thought it was a pretty good game tbh ! Nothing out of this world, but one of the best xbox exclusives anyway.

Kiith

This is great news, assuming (and this may be a big assumption) they don't give us a ****ty console port. And i'm not saying that in a 'consoles are **** way' (which i don't agree with btw). But i'd hope for higer resolutions, properly designed pc controls etc...

I'd been meaning to pick it up recently, but will wait and see what they do with this.

Icyseanfitz

to late, why do companies expect to see a profit from these games when there released so late after the console versions, anyone who wanted to play that game probably has by now, what makes it worse is they will still try to charge full price for it....and then moan about how pc games dont sell :rolleyes:

gizmo

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

to late, why do companies expect to see a profit from these games when there released so late after the console versions, anyone who wanted to play that game probably has by now, what makes it worse is they will still try to charge full price for it....and then moan about how pc games dont sell :rolleyes:

In this case the game was published by Microsoft who probably insisted on the game remaining exclusive to 360 for a period of time. Since its release their relatively small team has had two DLC packs, a remake of their first game Death Rally for iOS devices and the recently announced Alan Wake American Nightmare to work on so, between said deal and the time it would take to port the game over, it would certainly take this long for any kind of news to appear.

As for the price to charge, the game is only out 18 months, still looks and plays great and will cost a decent amount to port over so it certainly doesn't deserve a budget release. Also something to bear in mind, the game only sold a little over a million copies, the majority of which, I'd imagine from looking at the price drops, came in at a considerably lower price point. Given this I think it's fair to assume they're not rolling around in royalties. I'd imagine it'll come in at the £29.99 mark on Steam, a perfectly fair price imo.

Fnz

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

to late, why do companies expect to see a profit from these games when there released so late after the console versions, anyone who wanted to play that game probably has by now, what makes it worse is they will still try to charge full price for it....and then moan about how pc games dont sell :rolleyes:

Yeah, I hope they manage their expectations. The fear is they will jump to the wrong conclusions if the game doesn't perform well.

"People wanted it on PC. We spent the money to make it. It didn't sell. We were right not to bother with PC a year and a half ago."

pixelburp

Alan Wake. Huh; in it's time it was another little Duke Nuken Forever, floating around the halls of gaming like the vaporware it seemed to be.

Was the final game actually any good? I can't recall it at all, and certainly too lazy to check out reviews. All I can remember is Yahtzee giving it a paddling in one of his video reviews, that's about it.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

it wasn't amazing, but it was a pretty damn good game and a very good "experience".

also has the honour of being one of the few games with a truly ****ing hilarious sidekick

Retr0gamer

pixelburp wrote: »

Alan Wake. Huh; in it's time it was another little Duke Nuken Forever, floating around the halls of gaming like the vaporware it seemed to be.

Was the final game actually any good? I can't recall it at all, and certainly too lazy to check out reviews. All I can remember is Yahtzee giving it a paddling in one of his video reviews, that's about it.

Yahtzee will give anything a paddling, he'snot someone you should base what you buy on

It's a decent enough game from what I played. Main problems was it got repetitive and thought it was far cleverer than it really was.

PogMoThoin

gizmo wrote: »

Yes, consolitis. Because the 360 doesn't have multiple cores, can't handle real time streaming of data, doesn't use the CPU to prepare data for the GPU and has never had one of its cores used exclusively for physics in a game.

Oh...wait, none of that is true.

The main thing Alan Wake suffered from was a turbulent development which saw their original design for an open world game changed to a more linear experience. If you had played the game, which I can only assume you haven't after the above comment since everything shown in the above video actually made it into the released game, you'd know that an open world game wouldn't have really suited it. Sure you could have opened up some free form travelling between key areas but in terms of creating the type of experience they were looking for, it would have been largely redundant.

If you want to really talk about consolitis, you could mention the fact that the game runs at a sub-HD resolution, the fact that their lighting solution doesn't work well indoors and the fact it runs at 30fps. None of these really affect the enjoyment of the game though.

All that being said, despite having played through the game and its DLC on the 360, I'll definitely pick it up on the PC for a second playthrough. ****ing love Remedy and hopefully the increased sales for the PC version will do them some good.

Well we're going to find out just how consolised it got, remember the pc version was pulled very late into production, it was Microsofts decision, they were the publisher and wanted a 360 exclusive. Like I said, I want to see this in all it's glory at 1920x1200 on the powerful multicore pc they told me I'd need.

gizmo

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Well we're going to find out just how consolised it got, remember the pc version was pulled very late into production, it was Microsofts decision, they were the publisher and wanted a 360 exclusive. Like I said, I want to see this in all it's glory at 1920x1200 on the powerful multicore pc they told me I'd need.

Oh don't get me wrong, I raged when they said it wasn't coming to the PC too. If it had been an actual technical reason then I could understand but to suddenly make it a platform exclusive for no reason other than to give your console an exclusive that year was a slap in the face to those of us who had been looking forward to it for nearly 5 years.

Performance wise I'm confident it'll be good though, as you said the PC version was canned pretty late in development which should mean the engine will be fairly well optimised for the PC. The multiple cores they were referring to in that video were in a C2Q chip so we should be covered on that side. My only worry is on the art side. If I remember correctly most of the artwork for the game was outsourced so heres hoping the original high res assets are still around.

hooradiation

The fact that people actually think 'consolitis' is a real thing is depressing.

Icyseanfitz

i wouldnt call it that but there definitely is a dumbing down of games occurring due to the large increase in casual gamers, which mostly play some console or another

Myrddin

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

i wouldnt call it that but there definitely is a dumbing down of games occurring due to the large increase in casual gamers, which mostly play some console or another

Of course, I wouldn't call it a real-term, but there's quite obviously differences in the same product on the different platforms.

I thought Alan Wake though was very enjoyable, I'll prob play through it again on pc as I never bothered with the dlc packs.

Azza

Icyseanfitz wrote:

i wouldnt call it that but there definitely is a dumbing down of games occurring due to the large increase in casual gamers, which mostly play some console or another

It does exist from a technical point of view.

How much it affects gameplay is debatable.

Myrddin

Azza wrote: »

How much it affects gameplay is debatable.

I wouldn't see it affecting gameplay at all, some of the greatest games of all time have graphics/complexity that is nothing by todays standards.

Icyseanfitz

yeah skyrim is a pretty prime example of how to streamline things without making them worse, morrowind is a more complex game than it but id rate the two of them about the same,

dragon age 2 :mad: is an example of trying to get CoD crowd with their "push a button something awesome happens" mantra

anyone else feel worried that me3 is going the way of DA2 when you hear shepeard say "oh ****" in the new trailer maybe its just me losing all my long founded confidence in bioware

hooradiation

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

i wouldnt call it that but there definitely is a dumbing down of games occurring due to the large increase in casual gamers, which mostly play some console or another

I am also deeply fucking confused at how moving away from making impenetrable number-crunching fests to cater for a very specific subset of nerds is a bad thing.

Azza

Well graphics aren't that important, good gameplay is, but it would nice to have both.

But you could look at Crysis 2 and say that the smaller levels decreased the number of tactics you could employee. Or that the smaller levels in Deus Ex Invisible War hurt the immersion factor, making the world seem alot less believable.

But the term is overused anyway. I take alot of what is blamed on consoles is just an attempt for developers to appeal to the mass market.

The COD series which is often accussed as being a dumb shooter series, plays the same as the first COD did which was of course orginally a PC game.

Icyseanfitz

hooradiation wrote: »

I am also deeply fucking confused at how moving away from making impenetrable number-crunching fests to cater for a very specific subset of nerds is a bad thing.

notice how i said that i liked both morrowind and skyrim equally when skyrim is outwardly a much simpler same, the difference in a good games quality is the effort put into making it, drivel like da2 and CoD are just a way to make an easy buck, in fact most fps are these days.

I personally blame the devs and not the consoles for trying to cater to the ever growing casual crowd and forgetting who supported them and made them what they are today

marco_polo

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

yeah skyrim is a pretty prime example of how to streamline things without making them worse, morrowind is a more complex game than it but id rate the two of them about the same,

dragon age 2 :mad: is an example of trying to get CoD crowd with their "push a button something awesome happens" mantra

anyone else feel worried that me3 is going the way of DA2 when you hear shepeard say "oh ****" in the new trailer maybe its just me losing all my long founded confidence in bioware

I was just about to mention Dragons Age 2 .

Crysis 2 is an enigma as well, the controls I felt were actually a decent improvement over the original, but the game itself was much poorer overall (Boyth really just my opnion of course).

It certainly got labeled with the term 'consolitis' as a result (a term that makes me cringe TBH), which was certainly not a fair description as there really was no technical reasons why the levels were so much much less open (the fact that the original is available on XBLA is testament to this). That they decided to make it a much more linear, scripted set piece game, really had nothing to do with the fact that it was a multiplatform game but more about appeal.

The rest of the critisim was mainly down to a lack of polish put into the PC version (in terms of UI, graphics options, mouse accleration etc), this is certainly a real phenomon in many PC games, but in that case the blame lies solely at the door of game developers consoles.

Azza

hooradiation wrote:

I am also deeply ****ing confused at how moving away from making impenetrable number-crunching fests to cater for a very specific subset of nerds is a bad thing.

Because rock paper scissors gets boring after a while.

Like saying football is too hard. I want to able to play it with out putting effort into learning it. To that end I want the goals made 50% bigger and the ball to auto track towards the goal.

hooradiation

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

notice how i said that i liked both morrowind and skyrim equally when skyrim is outwardly a much simpler same, the difference in a good games quality is the effort put into making it, drivel like da2 and CoD are just a way to make an easy buck, in fact most fps are these days.

But DA 2 is better than it's predecessor, so.....

But leaving that subjective nonsense aside, all I get from this is it's less got to do with a simple "I did not care for this game/trend/genre" and more perpetuating a myth that people who self-identify as 'gamers' or 'hardcore' rather than 'casual' are some kind of downtrodden underclass, fighting the good fight or something other persecution fantasy.

It's bizarre.

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

I personally blame the devs and not the consoles for trying to cater to the ever growing casual crowd and forgetting who supported them and made them what they are today

They owe you nothing, don't be absurd.

hooradiation

Azza wrote: »

Because rock paper scissors gets boring after a while.

Like saying football is too hard. I want to able to play it with out putting effort into learning it. To that end I want the goals made 50% bigger and the ball to auto track towards the goal.

Do you actually think that's a valid comparison?
I'm asking because it doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to one so I'm curious as to whether this is Poe's law in action or not.

ScumLord

gizmo wrote: »

In this case the game was published by Microsoft who probably insisted on the game remaining exclusive to 360 for a period of time.

I don't know why Microsoft don't find some way of making the PC their more powerful xbox. With games for windows and steam it's getting harder to pirate games on PC, I'd say it's not worse than consoles anyway, I don't really pirate games though, for some reason their the only thing I have no problems paying for, well I might if I was paying console prices for games.

Microsoft more or less own gaming on PC, if they could put some sort of xbox emulator in windows I think it could kill the Playstation altogether. Micrsoft would have it's customers on a purchasing track that could go xbox>windows which opens them up customers to the entire suit of Microsoft products.

pixelburp

Maybe instead of the term 'consolitis' we should be talking about gaming hipsterism. I think what people (not necessarily in this thread) are claiming is a dumbing-down, or a lowering of standards, is in fact a case of gaming hipsters getting uppity about the medium not being quite the same as it used to be.

Case in point & apt because the two games were already mentioned: in other forums, I've seen clear cases of people knocking Skyrim with comments such as "oh, well, Morrowind was much better. Far more complex and YOU probably didn't play it" and the like. The overriding theory being not so much Skyrim is dumbed down, but the idea that Morrowind was what the cooler kids played back in the day.

marco_polo

hooradiation wrote: »

But DA 2 is better than it's predecessor, so.....

The PC version of the original had a substantially different tactical combat system, that was removed from the Dragons Age 2. Not removed because of consoles of course (after all the original was multiplatform), but it is an example of a lack of thought put into how the PC version plays out (ie. not very well in the case of DA 2 as the game had no controller support and the new combat system was 'clunky' with a K/M to put it kindly). Playing Dead space 2 with a K/M was a similiarly unplesant experience, but the sequel a massive improvement in this regard.

Most PC gamers would be more than are satisfied with a decent level of graphics / keybinding custom settings, more polished textures,unobtrusive DRM, and a UI / gameplay that plays nice with the platform primary control devices. Why the hell is that so unreasonable about that exactly?

Sure you do get will get some that make absolutely ridiculous demands of developer (like as 25 sq KM Skyrim be cover in Ultra HD textures), but to try and portray that as some sort of norm is very disingenuous of you.#

pixelburp wrote: »

Maybe instead of the term 'consolitis' we should be talking about gaming hipsterism. I think what people (not necessarily in this thread) are claiming is a dumbing-down, or a lowering of standards, is in fact a case of gaming hipsters getting uppity about the medium not being quite the same as it used to be.

Case in point & apt because the two games were already mentioned: in other forums, I've seen clear cases of people knocking Skyrim with comments such as "oh, well, Morrowind was much better. Far more complex and YOU probably didn't play it" and the like. The overriding theory being not so much Skyrim is dumbed down, but the idea that Morrowind was what the cooler kids played back in the day.

Probably mostly true, although I think with any RPG where the sequel changes aspects of stats /eveling/gameplay you will find an almost equal number of people who love / hate the changes. Mass effect being a great example of this. The one exception appears to be the lthe level scaling in Oblivion, now everyone hated that

Icyseanfitz

hooradiation wrote: »

But DA 2 is better than it's predecessor, so.....

But leaving that subjective nonsense aside, all I get from this is it's less got to do with a simple "I did not care for this game/trend/genre" and more perpetuating a myth that people who self-identify as 'gamers' or 'hardcore' rather than 'casual' are some kind of downtrodden underclass, fighting the good fight or something other persecution fantasy.

It's bizarre.



They owe you nothing, don't be absurd.

good god no

hooradiation

I love the way you fixated on the utterly subjective part (DA 2 is better than Origins) and ignored everything else.

Well done.

Most PC gamers would be more than are satisfied with a decent level of graphics / keybinding custom settings, more polished textures,unobtrusive DRM, and a UI / gameplay that plays nice with the platform primary control devices. Why the hell is that so unreasonable about that exactly?

And what, exactly, does this have to do with this mythological phenomenon of 'consolitis'?
And more to the point since when have any of these been a problem? Did I miss something? Am I just getting special versions of these games in comparison to everyone else?
I certainly haven't experienced anything to suggest the above are an issue.

Retr0gamer

I'm all for developers simplifying systems and removing stuff that was overblown or needless. However when it's at the expense of complexity then I don't like it. It's when games are simplified and lose the complexity that people call it consolitis. An example of this is Bioshock which lost the excellent RPG mechanics of System Shock 2 meaning there was no choice in how your character developed. However some of the streamlining did work like getting rid of the controversial weapon degradation. I wouldn't really call that consolitis more a failed experiment. I do miss more complex games though, currently playing through the first system shock and loving all the little systems and tweaking you can do. Streamlining and simplifiaction is a good thing though just some times it goes too far.

There's also the problems of games compromising becasue of the hardware they are on, which would definitely constitute consolitis. An example would be Thief deadly shadows and Deus Ex 2. By no means bad games but both suffered form a console being the host platform. Gone were the sprawling non-linear levels of the originals and are replaced with tiny linear levels separated with loading screens. Still you don't see this anymore since the current generation are more than capable of these type of games without compromises. If anyone really believes that games don't get compromised because the host platform is a console then check out warren spectres lectures with the lead designer of Deus Ex 2. However as I said you don't really see it anymore. I think that the lack of complexity in games these days is a budget thing. It's too risk to risk complexity and alienate players due to the huge financial risks involved. However we've still got stuff like what Obsidian and Bethesda are doing and Dark Souls, so it's not like it's gone for good.

tl;dr, it's a stupid term foran industry that is trying to streamline complexity rather than remove it.

gizmo

One of my biggest gripes with the consolitis term is how misused it is by so many people. Not only when it simply doesn't apply, such as the current context of Alan Wake, but when it is used as an excuse for simply poor design. Take the first reports of Counter-Strike: GO for example, the ones where it was claimed the game would feature no recoil. This triggered outraged amongst many gamers, all of them screaming bloody murder about how it was a "dumbed down console game", a "****ty console port" and how it suffered from "consolitis". It boggles my mind how people can actually think this. How many major console FPS games feature no recoil? The UI in Skyrim is another example, this was also criticised for being consolised but again, outside of a cross aspect used which worked with a d-pad, the most of the issues with it appear to be simply down to poor design rather than an subversive consolisation.

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

I personally blame the devs and not the consoles for trying to cater to the ever growing casual crowd and forgetting who supported them and made them what they are today

And I blame gamers for not supporting the games they want to see. You often hear of people saying "vote with your wallet" but that only ever seems to come up when they're saying they're not going to buy something. Where was the voting when it came to fantastic titles such as Rayman Origins? Only 200k sales so far there. The 1m sales for Bulletstorm, a game which despite featuring some of the nastier features prevalent in current console games, was still an incredibly fun old skool shooter at heart. Then there's more recent examples such as Hard Reset, Serious Sam 3 and The Witcher 2. How many people haven't bought the former two yet complain about consolitis? Too busy playing Skyrim? Waiting for it to reach the bargin bin? Picking it up for a fraction of the RRP from some .ru key site? Waiting on the end of year Steam sales? Short on cash so going to pirate it instead? Fair enough, just don't be surprised when a publisher announces there won't be a sequel or is changing the followup to appeal to a wider audience. At the end of the day, support works both ways.

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't know why Microsoft don't find some way of making the PC their more powerful xbox. With games for windows and steam it's getting harder to pirate games on PC, I'd say it's not worse than consoles anyway, I don't really pirate games though, for some reason their the only thing I have no problems paying for, well I might if I was paying console prices for games.

Despite the increase in piracy on consoles it is still dwarfed by PC piracy.

ScumLord wrote: »

Microsoft more or less own gaming on PC, if they could put some sort of xbox emulator in windows I think it could kill the Playstation altogether. Micrsoft would have it's customers on a purchasing track that could go xbox>windows which opens them up customers to the entire suit of Microsoft products.

I reckon they're moving in this direction for Windows 8 and beyond. The Live service will be tightly integrated into the gaming hub and there'll be a proper MS App Store which may also feature titles in there, all of which is a good start. Unfortunately you'll still have the same subset of PC gamers who will scoff at such moves and refuse to buy games that are on Steam but at the end of day, they'll remain the minority, albeit a vocal one.

marco_polo

hooradiation wrote: »

I love the way you fixated on the utterly subjective part (DA 2 is better than Origins) and ignored everything else.

Well done.



And what, exactly, does this have to do with this mythological phenomenon of 'consolitis'?
And more to the point since when have any of these been a problem? Did I miss something? Am I just getting special versions of these games in comparison to everyone else?
I certainly haven't experienced anything to suggest the above are an issue.

Cranky much try?, try reading my posts more closely, focusing on the bit where I pretty well state that I don't believe in 'consolities', but firmly believe in existance of sub optimal PC versions of games. It has everything to do with the discussion because it is exactly those kinds of issues that are the reason that certain games tend labeled as such.

And plenty of people have complained both about the Dead Space controls and that the simplification of Dragons Age 2 combat system did not translate especially well to a K/M.

As to whether or not you got a special versions, I don't know, perhaps you did, or perhaps some people are less easily pleased than yourself.

kearneybobs

Since I dont have an Xbox360 I'll be picking this up. Hopeful the deluxe edition thing happens. Would love it.

PogMoThoin

Early 2012 folks


http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/12/14/alan-wake-pc-really-real/

marco_polo

What is the included DLC like good/bad/indifferent?

Icyseanfitz

jesus some people really get their knickers in a twist with the whole console/pc debate, of course consoles are holding back game development on pc (at least multiplatform development) they have 6 year old hardware how couldnt they be.

Also dont put something up about DA2 being better than DAO if you dont want people to call you up on it, im a life long bioware fan and that game was a big steaming pile of horse ****, they took a decent rpg (origins) and turned it into a weird hack and slash coolade hybrid where awesome stuff happened in the same dungeon a hundred times over

hooradiation

marco_polo wrote: »

Cranky much try?, try reading my posts more closely, focusing on the bit where I pretty well state that I don't believe in 'consolities', but firmly believe in existance of sub optimal PC versions of games. It has everything to do with the discussion because it is exactly those kinds of issues that are the reason that certain games tend labeled as such.

Then i'd put forward that people really do just use it as a catch all term for "things i don't like", given that we've got about five different definitions of what it is.
Which goes back to it just being something that exists in peoples heads and not a real, quantifiable phenomenon.

marco_polo wrote: »

And plenty of people have complained both about the Dead Space controls and that the simplification of Dragons Age 2 combat system did not translate especially well to a K/M.

And to that I'd say "buy a joypad". There are plenty of USB ones, the 360 ones springs to mind straight away.
If people see no problem is using a joystick for flying aircraft in games like Battlefield then I refuse to listen to people complain that KB&M is suboptimal for some multiformat titles.
This is supposed to be one of those things that is a PC strength, play to it.

marco_polo wrote: »

As to whether or not you got a special versions, I don't know, perhaps you did, or perhaps some people are less easily pleased than yourself.

Or the "minority" you claim are making ridiculous demands of the developer aren't as small as you'd have me believe.

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

j
Also dont put something up about DA2 being better than DAO if you dont want people to call you up on it,

Yes, you've called me on the my entirely subjective opinion on a video game, well done.
I'm sure your "life long" status as a fan of bioware served you well in this pointless endeavour.

Myrddin

hooradiation wrote: »

Then i'd put forward that people really do just use it as a catch all term for "things i don't like", given that we've got about five different definitions of what it is.
Which goes back to it just being something that exists in peoples heads and not a real, quantifiable phenomenon.




And to that I'd say "buy a joypad". There are plenty of USB ones, the 360 ones springs to mind straight away.
If people see no problem is using a joystick for flying aircraft in games like Battlefield then I refuse to listen to people complain that KB&M is suboptimal for some multiformat titles.
This is supposed to be one of those things that is a PC strength, play to it.



Or the "minority" you claim are making ridiculous demands of the developer aren't as small as you'd have me believe.



Yes, you've called me on the my entirely subjective opinion on a video game, well done.
I'm sure your "life long" status as a fan of bioware served you well in this pointless endeavour.

What is it your trying to say here exactly? That a games quality remains the same regardless of the platform? I generally don't understand your confusion.

Yes, a finished game, gameplay wise will likely be as playable on a console as it would be on pc. For me, the term means the games is designed in such a way that it removes either some graphical grunt, or general scope/complexity to allow it to run on console hardware.

But it only really applies if a games coding direction changes during coding, such as Alan Wake - & such examples are few & far between. Does it apply to Crysis 1? Not really for me, it's just an example of a console doing a damned decent job at running a high end pc game. Sure it doesn't look the same, but who cares? The gameplay is intact

marco_polo

hooradiation wrote: »

Then i'd put forward that people really do just use it as a catch all term for "things i don't like", given that we've got about five different definitions of what it is.
Which goes back to it just being something that exists in peoples heads and not a real, quantifiable phenomenon.

I am not really disagreeing with you on that score though, as that is essentially what I have been saying all along. Most disquiet is caused by developers not fufilling the basic expectations of the functionality a PC game should have, such as a reasonable degree of customisation ability or have had controls simplfied (Which can be percieved as 'consolised' although it is usually for one of two reasons, either because not enough time was spent properly optimizing the PC controls, or it the developers intention was to make the game more accessible/improve playability, neither of whiich have anything to do with nothing to do with console hardware itself).

And to that I'd say "buy a joypad". There are plenty of USB ones, the 360 ones springs to mind straight away.
If people see no problem is using a joystick for flying aircraft in games like Battlefield then I refuse to listen to people complain that KB&M is suboptimal for some multiformat titles.
This is supposed to be one of those things that is a PC strength, play to it.

Absolutely it is one of the strengths of PC gaming, but the two games I specifically mentioned are a third person shooter and RPG genres have typically lent themselves very well to K/M play, so you shouldn't have to buy another peripheral to play them at their best. Obviously certain genres such as driving game are never going to be as good without specialised peripherals. Tell me how do you think versions Fifa or Batman AC that played best on a Kinect or Move would be recieved?

Or the "minority" you claim are making ridiculous demands of the developer aren't as small as you'd have me believe.

There are many silly demands made of developers, however some such as making Dead Space play better with a K/M (which they did for the sequel) or PC gaming staples such as adding advanced configuration options etc are not.

Napper Hawkins

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

it wasn't amazing, but it was a pretty damn good game and a very good "experience".

also has the honour of being one of the few games with a truly ****ing hilarious sidekick

He was the only good thing about that game.

Thought it was ****e personally.

Holding the torch on the enemy for what felt like an eternity before you could even shoot them got old quick.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

indeed, who wants new or interesting mechanics into an otherwise stale genre

NOT ME

Corkfeen

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

indeed, who wants new or interesting mechanics into an otherwise stale genre

NOT ME

It would have been far better if it was an fps. Alan Wake could be a Marine turned writer fighting off hoards of super soldier. Sounds innovative. :pac:
To return to serious chat on the game, I remember when I got it and think I didn't give it enough enough of a chance as I was sick and stoned off painkillers when I was playing it.:D Was it just me or was it notoriously easly to run out of ammunition? Now that's a true survival horror...

Edit: Why does it seem as if there's going to be a random PC vs Console argument? People relax and stop all this sniping.....

hooradiation

EnterNow wrote: »

What is it your trying to say here exactly? That a games quality remains the same regardless of the platform? I generally don't understand your confusion.

My confusion mostly stems from the existence of people, with a straight face, saying "such and such was ruined by consolitis". I think it's a short hand for "I did not care for that game", dressed up in a persecution fantasy.

I mean, since when was "I didn't like that game" insufficient? At what point did people need to find a new word that lays the blame for whatever they don't like about a certain game at the feet of some unseen and sinister force is actively tainting and corrupting?
Or am I just mental for going "whelp, that's not for me"?

Absolutely it is one of the strengths of PC gaming, but the two games I specifically mentioned are a third person shooter and RPG genres have typically lent themselves very well to K/M play, so you shouldn't have to buy another peripheral to play them at their best.

Right tool for the job, really. I mean, a USB 360 pad is pretty cheap why not use it if it'll do the job better?
Also, 3rd person shooter and RPG games have also lent themselves very well to Joypad play too, I don't think claiming precedent is going to do much

And while I'm remembering, wasn't the KB&M thing on the original Dead Space got to do with the mouse being artificially and intentionally hobbled so as to match the console experience?
If they've gone and done it on purpose then I'm not sure it constitutes a lack of proper care and attention being given

Tell me how do you think versions Fifa or Batman AC that played best on a Kinect or Move would be recieved?

If that were possible, I'm not going to lie to you. I'd be all over that.

There are many silly demands made of developers, however some such as making Dead Space play better with a K/M (which they did for the sequel) or PC gaming staples such as adding advanced configuration options etc are not.

You know, I've never bothered with any of the advanced configuration options in any PC game I've played.
If it's running sluggish and I can just pick a simple drop down and go "Medium" and not have to worry about rejiggering twenty options then fine by me.
The less dicking about I have to do to get to the part where I actually play the game, the better.

Napper Hawkins

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

indeed, who wants new or interesting mechanics into an otherwise stale genre

NOT ME

I do. But new and interesting should also be good.

Alan Wake was ****. Sorry.

Hammy acting from the main character, story that didn't really go anywhere and the action was beyond predictable.

Played through the whole damn thing just to see if it would get better. It didn't.

Got it free with my Xbox, ****ing glad I didn't waste money on it.

Also, that's just my opinion. I'm sure there are games I like that you don't, so relax.

Hercule

I haven't seen a good xbox360 to PC port (or at least I can't think of one) Especially from microsoft game studios - who improve cripple any ports with "games for windows live" bull**** and black bars.

As with LA Noire delayed release, this is a last ditch attempt to bleed the wallets of the gaming population.

I expect to see it in the Steam summer sale for 12 quid - might pick it up then if I am bored and havent heard bad things about it