Putting Up With Consolitis 369
An anonymous reader tips an article about 'consolitis,' the term given to game design decisions made for the console that spill over and negatively impact the PC versions of video games.
"Perhaps the most obvious indicator of consolitis, a poor control scheme can single-handedly ruin the PC version of a game and should become apparent after a short time spent playing. Generally this has to do with auto-aim in a shooter or not being able to navigate menus with the mouse. Also, not enough hotkeys in an RPG — that one’s really annoying. ... Possibly the most disastrous outcome of an industry-wide shift to console-oriented development is that technological innovation will be greatly slowed. Though a $500+ video card is considered top of the line, a $250 one will now play pretty much any game at the highest settings with no problem. (Maybe that’s what everyone wanted?) Pretty soon, however, graphics chip makers won’t be able to sustain their rate of growth because the software is so far behind, which will be bad for gamers on consoles as well as PC."
Re:What...? (Score:4, Informative)
Take a look at Champions Online and it's follow-up, Star Trek Online.
The engine was jacked around with to specifically enable a console port that was to be released simultaneously.
Then the developer realized that a console port was going to be unsupportable and simply COULD NOT give the flexibility necessary.
Boom, console port went away. But by that point, all the console-specific stuff was so firmly embedded into the system that it couldn't be excised.
So what did we get with CO and STO? A pair of SEVERELY half-ass MMOs that were little more than button-mash-fests.
Re:Screen resolution drives video card performance (Score:2, Informative)
I don't think anyone actively likes Windows
Actually I do actually like Windows 7. Its a first, the last time I came close was "grudgingly respecting" XP. Trying to get Linux to play nicely on my HTPC made me love Windows 7 (holy cow, Flash actually works! Imagine that, in 2011!), and even be somewhat nostalgic for the hog that is Vista SP2.
I still hate Microsoft... But with Win7 they actually proved that they can make quality software. It would be nice if it was OSS, or done by anyone other than MS or Apple... but... oh well.