Alan Wake Definitely Not Coming to PC

[lost]

http://evavhost.com/i/news/alanwake.jpg

Potentially sad news PC fans as Microsoft's big 360 exclusive, Alan Wake, has been confirmed as have being scrapped for anything other.

"Some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen. We ultimately realised that the most compelling way to experience "Alan Wake" was on the Xbox 360 platform, so we focused on making it an Xbox 360 exclusive. Both Microsoft and Remedy have long histories in PC game development. This decision was about matching this specific game to the right platform." said a Microsoft spokesperson.

From Strategy Informer. (http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/6978/microsoft-alan-wake-will-no-longer-be-coming-to-the-pc)

[randir14]

Nice job spitting in the face of every PC user who bought Max Payne 1 and 2, cocksuckers.

[Saracens FTW]

Pretty much. I know I won't be buying for my 360, since it's broken again and out of warranty.

[pwnophobia]

We've known about this for months.

[lost]

We've known about this for months.

But not 'fo shizzay'.

I don't get the fuss. It looks like Alone in the Dark.

[MasterEvilAce]

I hope it FAILS so they can look back and say, "Wow.. we were dumb for eliminating the majority of our fanbase"

[Evil Avatar]

I hope it FAILS so they can look back and say, "Wow.. we were dumb for eliminating the majority of our fanbase"

You mean like when Infinity Ward spit in the face of PC gamers? Remember how badly that backfired.

PC gamers don't matter at all any more and they matter even less to Microsoft. Keep in mind, this is the company who gave up on Ensemble Studios and the Age of Empires franchise despite the fact that the games were Million+ sellers.

MS doesn't do gaming on the PC.

[brandonjclark]

MS doesn't do gaming on the PC.

Microsoft might not "DO" PC gaming, but they still provide DirectX, the platform that 99% of PC games are developed on. I'd say they still have a major hand in EVERY PC game made(with DirectX).

[gravlax]

I think MS's made it plenty clear now...it's their way of saying, "Do not play games on PC."

[brandonjclark]

I think MS's made it plenty clear now...it's their way of saying, "Do not play games on PC."


You're obviously missing the wisdom of my last post.

If Microsoft wanted to "kill" PC gaming they could do it in one fell swoop with the discontinuation of DirectX.

Do you think the aftermarket businesses would enjoy that? see: ATI & NVidia

Also, PC gaming is the crux reason people stick with the Windows OS. Take that away and you've really got no reason to stay with Microsoft as there are freeware or open license replacement software for just about anything that runs on Windows.

ya herd?

[ElfShotTheFood]

Wasn't this one of the first games shown running on a quad-core CPU? Now it's not even coming to the PC.

[Flatulus]

Wasn't this one of the first games shown running on a quad-core CPU? Now it's not even coming to the PC.
Yep... I remember that demo from a while back... showcasing a "realtime weather system" or what not on the brand new ultimate Intel Quad Core Q9450 or something.

I was really psyched about the game back then. But now, I feel like they cheated on me by abandoning the PC version.

Well... I guess this will be a rental for me at best. Might even ignore the game if the reviews aren't stellar.

[Windsong]

Seems the devs were too stupid to put in an honest day's work and implement a decent PC version. Fuck them and everyone else in the universe with their names.

[alienchild]

Seems the devs were too stupid to put in an honest day's work and implement a decent PC version. Fuck them and everyone else in the universe with their names.

I share your anger, and then some. I'm never buying a Remedy game again, after having waited for this for years for the PC. Fuck them for pulling us along. If they had stated this a 360 exclusive from the get-go it would have been different.

[Stooby]

The game looks like a piece of shit anyways. So, who cares?

[Derella]

I didn't have any interest in the game, but their reasoning is just insulting. It's not like Alan Wake is a fucking party game.

[baz]

See, I don't really care that it's not on the PC, I've got plenty of good games (and a 360 for that matter!). It's the reason they give that really grates.

I freaking hate marketing speak. That is one of the most bullshit paragraphs of text I've ever read.

[saulob]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!

:(

[bean19]

I think it is much more likely that they think that they won't get a solid return for the time needed to port it to the PC and create a UI that works with PC controls. Plus, they may want people to buy the 360 version instead of waiting for a PC release (that they do later).

[Johan]

It's the reason they give that really grates.

I freaking hate marketing speak. That is one of the most bullshit paragraphs of text I've ever read.

Truth, truth, and more truth.

[brandonjclark]

If it sells 500,000 to a million, is that enough reason to do it? Why does every game have to be a fuckign number 1 seller just to justify it's release?

Oh well, I never liked Max Payne anyway.

[JazGalaxy]

This game has looked worse and worse the more information has come out about it.

I mean, I'm really sick of people who see good graphics and say "that game looks good" as though graphics and gameplay are one in teh same. Or worse yet, forget about gameplay, graphics are all that matters.

I was incredibly interested in this game years ago due to it's association with Twin Peaks, but now all the information about it being an episodic bunch of nonsense?

No thank you.

[toranaga]

I would almost be upset and say FU very much Remedy (and make no mistake this one's primrarily on Remedy, not MS. Remedy are the ones signing a contract which left the PC version up in the air, allthough they were in a good monetary situation to negoiatate a good contract had they really given a shit about a PC version), but since Alan Wake turned into Alan Weak long ago I'll file this under "Meh, whatever".

[Nighthawk]

this is the company who gave up on Ensemble Studios and the Age of Empires franchise despite the fact that the games were Million+ sellers.

MS doesn't do gaming on the PC.

Lets not forget that they stuck a knife in ACES, which made a somewhat popular game called (MS) Flight Simulator for no obvious reason, since it was still selling like gangbusters.

[vallor]

I don't know why MS doesn't do more to support Windows Gaming in their Game Studios. I have heard they pay a little more than industry standard, so it is more expensive for them to make games internally, but isn't that the whole point of XNA and all their other tools? Write once, port to the other platform with ease?

If even MS doesn't have the faith that their tools work to make/port PC games well then why should any other development studio take them seriously?

[bean19]

@JazGalaxy - Honestly, I haven't seen anything on this to make me excited. It does look good, but I have no idea if it will be fun. It's always been in the "rent-first" category for me and nothing has changed that for me. Honestly, the best way to get me to buy a game at release is to have a kickass demo.

If it sells 500,000 to a million, is that enough reason to do it? Why does every game have to be a fuckign number 1 seller just to justify it's release?
500K to a million sales projected for PC and they would absolutely do it. That would be a smash hit for the PC (for a single-player game - not a MMO).

[brandonjclark]

And I think AW could've hit that mark. Can you think of a PC game more hyped for such a long time? This thing was reaching Duke proportions.

[lost]

And I think AW could've hit that mark. Can you think of a PC game more hyped for such a long time? This thing was reaching Duke proportions.

I reckon the Duke associations are what drove them to butcher the original game into its current form.

Remedy are good, they've never been good enough to carry their ambition for the title.

[Playing Mantis]

Are you really missing out though? At least you won't have to deal with Games for Windows LIVE.

I was reading about all the problems Batman AA had with it, and it just sounds like a nightmare.

AMD and nVidia need to do some campaigning though...if people stop making PC games, their market will get smaller and smaller (i'm sure this is already happening).

[lost]

I don't think they should be scared about the PC market shrinking more than its expansion will not require continual graphics card upgrades. PCs feel less relevant as visual power-houses and more relevent as the perfect medium for downloadable stuff.

Nothing has more games to play, nothing has more quality free content, nothing has as many original ideas. You just don't need a crazy powerful rig for a lot of it.

[brandonjclark]

You just don't need a crazy powerful rig for a lot of it.

I don't remember where I saw it (actually did some googling and couldn't find it) but I once read an article which exlpained in detail how software used to be the driving factor in hardware advancements, with hardware releases always playing catch up to the software. But ever since the end of the megahertz race and with the shift to multi-core CPU's the software developers are now playing catch-up to fully utilize the power of the modern computer. In what was once a relatively linear advancement rate (Moore's law?) has now become a jagged upward slope which creates unpredictable environments for the software devs.

I reckon once the jolted change to multi-core computing is better understood we will see a more parralel computing environment between the hardware and software.

The question is, what the hell is taking so long?

One thing I'd like to know is why software hasn't become better at interoptibility. An OS's multi-tasking ability is probably the best example of what I'm talking about. I think all software should be developed with multi-tasking in mind, which is where the extra cores come into play.

Thoughts?

[bean19]

lost - the real reasons publishers are moving games away from PC are these:

1. WoW (and other MMOs)
2. Shitty retailers

Publishers mine tons of data. They know that they are going to sell a certain number of PC games from a game that does well to PC gamers on Steam and other digital distribution as well as preorders. Good analysts can probably get within 10-50K of the expected sales based on the title's critical rating (and they have people who know games assessing a title in it's early formats to rate it the same way normal critics do). That's the "core" market. We are easy to predict.

The problem comes in when they have to sell a title to a larger demographic. These are the non-gamers. They don't know shit about games and don't really play games. They'll pick up the titles that they played at a friend's house or that they heard about from friends, but if they want a game and they are going to choose based on availability, price, and box art. Seriously. They'll choose a game because it "looks cool". There are millions of these potential customers.

So fine, make decent box art and hope you get lucky, you might think. Well, this is where # 3 comes into play. Most game retailers aren't carrying your game, or they have one copy crammed on a shelf for a month with only the side sleeve showing (at your local Gamestop, for example). The places that are willing to carry your game are big electronic warehouse stores that carry tons of games and use that as part of their strategy. They'll keep your game as long as it sales or you pay them. Other stores, like Target and Wal-mart are all over the place in markets that don't have Best Buys or Fry's and they make you pay every month you want your game stocked, so you better be selling enough copies to stupids or you'll take a loss just for trying to sell it. Plus, Wal-Mart and Target KNOW that they'll make far more money for charging you to sell your product than they'll ever make from selling it so this will never change. They'll always keep their selection area small even when they have 4 or 5 isles of old DVDs. You'll still get a 4' x 10' space off to the side of the electronics department.

So PC gaming is being choked to death. There are plenty of non-gamers that have PCs and that would love to buy PC games, but they aren't willing to go search for great new titles. They get what people are willing to sell them at Wal-mart so they aren't able to pick games that are right for their interests.

Eventually digital distribution will catch on with the masses and Wal-mart will not get payola anymore, but until then we are going to see fewer single player PC titles. . . (Also, I'd be mildly surprised if the next console doesn't integrate PC features (MS office, e-mail, etc.). All of the office stuff we do is much easier to do than gaming already. . . it just won't make financial sense for Microsoft to do it until one of their competitors does. Sony may be too big and stupid to do it, and Nintendo likes to sell cheap toys for mad profit, so it could be the NEXT NEXT gen, but I expect it within 10 years).

[bowie]

The question is, what the hell is taking so long?

One thing I'd like to know is why software hasn't become better at interoptibility. An OS's multi-tasking ability is probably the best example of what I'm talking about. I think all software should be developed with multi-tasking in mind, which is where the extra cores come into play.

Thoughts?

It is taking so long because parallel programming is in much harder than traditional programming. There are so many more ways for your program to go wrong and it is so much harder to work out why it has failed when it does. The situation should improve with time as more programmers become experienced with parallel programming, as languages improve support for it and as libraries of parallel algorithms are developed.

[ONI5]

This is what happens when you don't by the PC version of Ninja Blade. Next time you'll all pay up.

[lost]

Everybody should have bought any version they could of Ninja Blade. Crazy game.

[unleashbass]

Sounds like a cop out to me. Its taken so long to make for 360 version they just can't be arsed to port to the PC.

[Froggy]

They act like we don't know how it works.

[lost]

They don't care. We continue to fail to vote with our wallets.

[Johan]

They don't care. We continue to fail to vote with our wallets.

Speak for yourself! I always vote with my wallet.

In fact, logically speaking EVERYONE votes with their wallet. The problem is that their wallet often votes in ways that are in direct contradiction with their words.

[bean19]

They don't care. We continue to fail to vote with our wallets.

I just wasted 20 minutes explaining the death of PC gaming is because of stores like Wal-mart and Target. . . and no one read it.

We (gamers) vote a resounding YES to PC games with our wallets. It's the fact that marketing a PC game to non-gamers is so expensive that companies can actually take a loss from simply having their products in stores that inhibits PC gaming.

[Froggy]

The problem is that their wallet often votes in ways that are in direct contradiction with their words.

Nice.



_________________________________________________

[blackzc]

You mean like when Infinity Ward spit in the face of PC gamers? Remember how badly that backfired.

PC gamers don't matter at all any more and they matter even less to Microsoft. Keep in mind, this is the company who gave up on Ensemble Studios and the Age of Empires franchise despite the fact that the games were Million+ sellers.

MS doesn't do gaming on the PC.

You shut your whore mouth!!!

I did want to play this, only on PC though.