Gamefest: On Promoting Windows Games And Communities

[JCalCGM]

FiringSquad reports from Gamefest (http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11689) where we attended panels on how Microsoft plans to revamp their Games For Windows program along with another panel report on how to develop and expand fan communities for games. Here is a snip:

McIlvaine also talked some more about the Windows Game Explorer aspect of Vista, particularly the way it will be using the ESRB ratings system. People with admin access to Vista will be able to not only lock out kids from playing any “M” rated game loaded onto the PC but also lock out games that may have content descriptions like “blood’ or “violence” that the game has listed even if the game is rated as something their kids would normally have access to playing. He also talked about how Vista will ease installing games such as eliminating the number of dialog screens that a person will have to flip through to get the game on their PC hard drive.

[bean19]

JCal - There is a lot more meat to this story. A ton actually. You could have easily done 5 stories on this event with different leads. I'm going to quote a lot because I know that if other people are like me, they may have a hard time reading articles at Firing Squad (too much white, and a tiny font). It really sucks that FiringSquad does so much really good game news reporting but their website is such a disaster.

-Two modes for games to get Microsoft approval on Games For Windows: Essentials and Showcases. See below for requirements. . . it looks like Showcases tend to be a way for Microsoft to encourage game developers to create games that require gamers to upgrade to Vista. I really don't want to be shoe-horned into buying $200 software unless the game experience is awesome. . . especially when I ALSO have to buy a new graphics card for $300. Maybe they'll come out with a Windows Vista/uber graphics card bundle at some point. :)

-No CD-Rom support in Vista (at least under the Games For Windows banner. I can't imagine the OS simply won't run CD-ROM drives as that would be stupid).

-Demos sell a lot of games, and pay-to-play extra game content sells best when released 60-90 days after a title is released.


McIlvaine also talked a bit about what Microsoft is doing to put new and upcoming Windows games in two categories: Essentials and Showcases. Games with the Essentials brand basically do the minimal amount of effort to get Microsoft’s approval for using the Games for Windows brand, which are still fairly high. Among other things they have to support the Xbox 360 controller for Windows, they must support Windows Media Center and they must use the new Windows Game Explorer in Vista. McIlvaine said that Vista will be much more of a gaming OS than Windows 9x or Windows XP since for one thing there will be a games section right when the user hits the start menu button. Direct3D must also be the primary graphics driver. McIlvaine did mention that Open GL will also be supported for Vista natively as well but as you might imagine they are making their own DirectX driver their primary focus for Windows games in Vista.

. . .

While PC games within the Essentials category will have high standards, games under the Showcases banner will have to strive even harder to get more marketing and push from Microsoft. Among those requirements are supporting the upcoming DirectX10, native support for 64-bit and multi-core processors and using error reporting in order to find and fix game bugs. Indeed, McIlvaine is recommending that game developers and publishers abandon support for Windows 9x games altogether for future titles simply because bug reports for games that run natively in Windows XP and Vista will drop enormously. Games that take less than three clicks to install and support DVD-ROM drives exclusively will also get Showcase support for Microsoft. This is because Vista will only support DVD-Rom drives; there will be no native CD-Rom support for the new OS. Finally games that do cool stuff like use multi-monitors like the upcoming Supreme Commander and have new and unique gameplay will likely get the Showcase banner.

. . .

While we didn’t attend this panel we saw a Gamefest Pointpoint presentation on how Xbox Live Marketplace is working for the Xbox 360 and they claim that at least 3 Xbox 360 titles have generated over $1 million in revenue via paid add-on downloads (we know at least one of them to be Call of Duty 2 thanks to figures supplied by its publisher Activision a couple of weeks ago). The slide said that the timing of releasing the add-ons was a key to their success and that developers and publishers should release such add-ons within 60 to 90 days after the release of the main game. However the presentation also indicates that free demos for games can also spur more people to purchase the final product depending on when the demo is released. Fight Night Round 3 had a 40 percent conversion rate among people who downloaded the demo, according to the presentation, and that currently each demo is averaging over 250,000 downloads with Prey getting over 300,000 downloads in one week. Indeed, a demo is downloaded two to five times more than a simple game trailer for the same game

[goc_sin]

From what I've read and heard I am not counting on too much boost to PC gaming from Microsoft. It sounds like they are pushing the easy install and the Live anywhere, which then they will try to force micro transaction on us PC gamers. Yeah.. I don't think so.

[Frogleg Special]

Attaboy, Microsoft.

[fitbabits]

JCal - There is a lot more meat to this story. A ton actually. You could have easily done 5 stories on this event with different leads. I'm going to quote a lot because I know that if other people are like me, they may have a hard time reading articles at Firing Squad (too much white, and a tiny font). It really sucks that FiringSquad does so much really good game news reporting but their website is such a disaster.
The font looks fine to me. Do you have a mouse wheel? If so, try holsing CTRL and moving the wheel up and down to increase the font size.

Apologies if it's noob advice.

[Borys]

I guess I should be happy, right?

Funny how Microsoft didn't boost "Gaming for Windows" (known in the NORMAL world as PC gaming) on Windows XP. You gotta sell those Vistas!

Making less install dialogue boxes will make PC gaming better... ?

Yeah, right.

Stop stealing PC games and putting them on Xbox, push more PC exclusives (like AoE, Flight Simulator etc.) series, move towards digital distribution model (dwarf piracy) and maybe something will come out of it.

Live anywhere, payable microcontent (horse armor, lol) won't mean a shit to me and 95% of other PC gamers.

[NeoSuplex]

I gotta say, this is the area where Microsoft is pissing me off... A PC is a PC. A Console is a console. While I'm at it, an Arcade is an Arcade. They are all diffrent for good reasons. Why the hell should I need a Controller to play my PC games? I've got a perfectly good Mouse and Keyboard.

The major diffrence between the three big gaming venues is the customization. PCs are user customized. Arcades are creator customized. Consoles are fully standardized. Why does MS feel the need to standardize PC gaming and Customize console hardwares?
Even worse, why does everything for the XBox HAVE to be on PC and Vice-Versa?

XBox Live: Love it.
XNA: Will probably Love it.
Custom Soundtracks: Love 'em.
All these other bullshit 'innovations' can GTFO.

[Borys]

Okay, let me explain to you all my way of thinking and why I will always *dislike* MS venture into the console market (as most of you have already noticed I don't hold any grudge against the Playstations or Nintendo consoles):

First Microsoft decided to slam a fucking HUGE cleaver in PC gaming industry's back by launching Xbox console. They stole many games/ franchises from the PC market - first it was Bungie and their FPS/RTS hybrid Halo, then BioWare and KOTOR, Jade Empire, then UbiSoft with Splinter Cell, Ion Storm with Deus Ex: IW and Thief: Deadly Shadows and dozens and dozens of other games that would launch on PC only if Xbox didn't exists.

The beginning of Xbox was also the end to amazing, high quality, NON-COMPROMISED PC games. Almost every PC game that launched after Xbox was a ridiculous Xbox port made with a crappy 750 MHz, 64MB RAM machine in mind - shitty textures, small, cramped levels, ugly and huge UI, very short and idiotic dialogues (compare Baldur's Gate dialogues vs KOTOR's).

After all this damage has been done and the poor PC gaming guy is lieing on the floor bleeding from the cleaver wound on its back Microsoft decides to crush its head with a 40 kg hammer - by launching Xbox 360. The term "PC games" is becoming obsolete in Microsoft world, they don't want "PC games" they want "XNA games" that is games that are virtually the same on PC and Xbox 360. Your PC has 2 GB of RAM and 7900 SLI? Your PC is 2 times more powerful than Xbox 360? Sucks to be you - you'll still be playing a shitty Xbox 360 port that takes NO ADVANTAGE of your high-end machine. And you will pay $5 for every extra map too!

Now, the PC gaming guy is smashed to pieces on the concrete, he is on the brink of life and death and Microsoft... reconsiders.

"Hey, if we revieve this guy a little we might be able to sell him this new jacket! [Vista]"

Microsoft wants to "revive" PC gaming ONLY because they NEED to sell Vista. They don't give two shits about PC games or PC gamers - they only want their money.

It's disgusting and I really can't believe how fast it happened.

Mark my words - Xbox marked the beginning of an end to PC gaming.

That's all, thank you for your time.

[bean19]

All these specific bits of new data and all you guys can manage is a Microsoft rant.