Gears of War for PC.....No time soon

[kalniel]

(er I never said you said anything about MS flight sim, that was part of *my* point )

The mantra of PC gaming is *either* compromise *or* multiple paths. Developers have shown they nearly always go for multiple paths rather than compromise, especially if it has any effect on playability. Play a game like Beyond Good and Evil - there is a multiple path between the mouse+keyboard control scheme and the gamepad control scheme. Both actually work, though the gamepad is much better. The gamepad experience isn't compromised to make the mouse and keyboard one work though.

It could be the same with GoW - adding a mouse and keyboard scheme is not going to compromise the game to the point that reviews shout about how awful it is and no-one ever buys the game. Even if it was awful they'd just say 'you really need a gamepad to enjoy this game - and hey it works best of all on an X360 pad plugged into your PC'.

you simply can't build any reliance on these peripherals into your games if you want them to sell

Yes you can - the lack of a decent experience with keyboard and mouse does not stop many games from being made - including driving and flight games. If GoW requires a gamepad then so be it - it'd still sell well.

[pollaxe]

(Regarding playability differences across platforms) Maybe - I remember playing one of the Unreal games on the PC then playing it against a friend with a PS2 - very odd.

However, I still stand by my comments - those of us who don't own consoles wouldn't know any different (or those of us with sufficient brain/manual dexterity could still use controllers.. yuck!)

[directhex]

one of the key points of gears is the mechanism for hiding in cover

on a keyboard and mouse, the need for cover is removed, as you can aim with pinpoint accuracy almost instantly whilst standing still. why bother hiding in cover, or blindfiring through a window, when you can just take everyone out at long range with a shotgun as if it were an auto-aiming sniper rifle?

removal of the (now unnecessary) cover system, or changes to the AI to alter the challenge, result in a new game that is not gears of war

[kalniel]

Ah ok, so you're saying that it's not going to be exactly the same game on the PC? Ok that's fine, I'm happy with that - I'd wait for the reviews and if it's still a fun game I'd consider purchasing. Just like Halo et al.

[directhex]

Ah ok, so you're saying that it's not going to be exactly the same game on the PC? Ok that's fine, I'm happy with that - I'd wait for the reviews and if it's still a fun game I'd consider purchasing. Just like Halo et al.

but if it's a different game, then you're fundamentally missing out.

why not make a few other changes whilst they're at it - move from third to first person and replace the enemies with evil puppies of doom? it's still the "same" game, just slightly altered, right?

[pollaxe]

one of the key points of gears is the mechanism for hiding in cover

on a keyboard and mouse, the need for cover is removed, as you can aim with pinpoint accuracy almost instantly whilst standing still. why bother hiding in cover, or blindfiring through a window, when you can just take everyone out at long range with a shotgun as if it were an auto-aiming sniper rifle?

removal of the (now unnecessary) cover system, or changes to the AI to alter the challenge, result in a new game that is not gears of war

But my point remains - I've never played this on a console - I wouldn't know about the cover system so I couldn't compare the two. Obviously you could so it would be a very different game for you, for me, it'd be a new experience regardless of differences between platforms.

[directhex]

But my point remains - I've never played this on a console - I wouldn't know about the cover system so I couldn't compare the two. Obviously you could so it would be a very different game for you, for me, it'd be a new experience regardless of differences between platforms.

so why not play a game primarily built and optimised for PC instead? compare epic's Unreal Tournament series with the joypad-friendly Unreal Championship for xbox

[kalniel]

but if it's a different game, then you're fundamentally missing out.

And by inference the X360 players are fundamentally missing out on the PC version of the game?

Maybe, but if both versions are fun to play what's the problem?

[pollaxe]

I've played Unreal on Playstation and the PC - apart from the crappy Playstation controller it felt and looked much the same to me.

The point is what if I want to play a nice, violent graphically rich game like GoW? Sure I can get others but why should I have to? The technology on the 360 and the PC isn't so vastly different that they couldn't be ported. There are large numbers of console games available for PC and vice versa.

[steve threlfall]

I've played Unreal on Playstation and the PC - apart from the crappy Playstation controller it felt and looked much the same to me.

The point is what if I want to play a nice, violent graphically rich game like GoW? Sure I can get others but why should I have to? The technology on the 360 and the PC isn't so vastly different that they couldn't be ported. There are large numbers of console games available for PC and vice versa.

It already runs on pc's, that how they developed it. Its not a technical issue here. The problem is, it would be a totally different game with a keyboard and mouse. If you have ever played a lightgun game with a control pad then you can imagine just how bad GOW would be on pc.

[steve threlfall]

And by inference the X360 players are fundamentally missing out on the PC version of the game?

Maybe, but if both versions are fun to play what's the problem?

Yes, a vastly inferior version.

The problem is it would not be fun to play on a keyboard and mouse.

[pollaxe]

It already runs on pc's, that how they developed it. Its not a technical issue here. The problem is, it would be a totally different game with a keyboard and mouse. If you have ever played a lightgun game with a control pad then you can imagine just how bad GOW would be on pc.

Then if it runs on PCs it sounds more like a 360 marketing ploy not to make it available to the average PC gamer. Of course it'd be different with different controllers but I don't own a console because I hate console controllers with a passion.

If you can get inputs into a machine then you can play the game on a variety of platforms, surely? It can't be beyond the wit of man to make things work on a console and a PC - they can do it with other platforms.

Whether or not it'd be fun to play via a different control system is a judgement call by the individual..

[kalniel]

Yes, a vastly inferior version.

The problem is it would not be fun to play on a keyboard and mouse.

So play it on a gamepad. No longer 'vastly inferior'.

I mean, so what if the majority of PCs don't have gamepads? The majority of PCs don't have graphics any better than some crappy intel thing. That never stopped Crysis being developed.

[Dooms]

That doesnt solve the problem... the game would have to be redesigned to play with keyboard and mouse, as someone said the cover system would be shot and ignoured. People would play it on PC and think 'meh, its not that great' - You would just get the odd person who does have a controller going 'yer it was great'

[pollaxe]

We also live in a time with programmable mice and keyboards, you can't tell me it's impossible to map stuff to a key or a mouse press/combo etc.

?!

[kalniel]

That doesnt solve the problem... the game would have to be redesigned to play with keyboard and mouse, as someone said the cover system would be shot and ignoured. People would play it on PC and think 'meh, its not that great' - You would just get the odd person who does have a controller going 'yer it was great'

It wouldn't have to be. Did the developers of Crysis think that they'd have to redesign their game for intel gfx chip users and only have the odd person going 'wow this does look good after all?'

I think you're not giving the developers as much credit as they deserve - I've not played GoW, but would you really have to totally rip out the cover system for non-gamepad users? Would no other action/keypress go in it's place?

Anyway, this is largely academic seeing as it's in MS's favour to keep the license specific to X360 for a while at least.