The Problems With Porting Games 330
mr_sifter writes "There's a large lexicon of monosyllabic, four-letter words for describing something you don't like — but only PC gamers use the word 'port' with such a fervent degree of repulsion. Common complaints about console ports include meager graphics options, dodgy third-person camera angles, poorly-thought-out controls and sparsely distributed save points. In this feature, Bit-tech talks to developers of games such as Dead Space, Red Faction and Tales of Monkey Island to find out why porting games between the three major consoles and the PC is so difficult. Radically different CPU, graphics and memory architectures play their part, as do the differences in control methods and the rules Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo set about how games should work on their systems."
Rob Lang speaks the truth... (Score:2, Insightful)
Since the vast majority of developers can achieve the vast majority of technical feats with enough time and effort. The problem is the fact time and effort costs money. The Guitar Hero 3 port was crap because no-one put any real money behind it, simply because chances are, no-one would buy it. That only makes sense.
I understand a lot of what the devs are saying, but if I'm going to be really negative about this I couldn't help get an uneasy feeling reading about Dead Space. So, essentially he's saying "don't blame the consoles for the restrictive PC experience, blame us, we chose to make it restrictive!" Surely saying they designed it explicitly for consoles, so natrually it wouldn't work well on the PC, is the epitome of consolification? If I designed a game that only worked "as intended" on my Nokia 3210, and thus doesn't work well on anything else, claiming no-one can complain because it was originally designed for a phone is not an excuse. It's still just poor design choices.
Re:Obligatory (Score:1, Insightful)
Punchline: (Score:5, Insightful)
Making an interface that actually works properly on both Mouse+keyboard and gamepad(never mind wii stick) falls into the "squaring the circle with world peace" pile.
Dead space no remappable keys (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree with the first paragraph! (Score:5, Insightful)
"...only PC gamers use the word 'port' with such a fervent degree of repulsion"??
How about Mac OS X users!!?
Every time they give us a "port" these days, it's just someone repackaging the PC game code around the Cider engine, tweaking some of Cider's parameters until it appears to "basically run ok" and then they turn around and charge full retail price for it, AFTER it's been out at least 3 months for the PC already!
Never-mind the PC version might ALREADY have just been ported from a console.....
Re:Punchline: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Punchline: (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not sure whether to take this straight or as satire. Does the "performance crown" in PC games really mean the game that runs the slowest?
Re:Rob Lang speaks the truth... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, it's really fucking hard to have redefinable keyboard layouts. I don't know much about console programming, but if there's an event loop capable of calling a buttonpressed routine, you have no excuse.
Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Insightful)
The mouse is a superior controller for anything that involves aiming (FPS) or pointing (RTS). The PC can have superior graphics to any console (at the price of a $300 GPU). That said, PC gamers still aren't justified in claiming the overall superiority of their platform because certain types of controllers aren't really there for PC gaming yet.
If one of the major game publishers (EA or Valve?) were to start selling Bluetooth-enabled motion sensor style controllers, and supporting them on multiple titles, we really could see PC gaming become superior to console gaming in all categories (except price, of course).
DX? (Score:3, Insightful)
Let us use a damn mouse and keyboard (Score:5, Insightful)
All three consoles now have USB ports. Let us use a mouse and keyboard with games that are appropriate for this kind of setup (FPS, RTS, etc).
You don't play MegaMan with a godamn keyboard and mouse and you don't play Starcraft with a godamn gamepad.
Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Insightful)
Boot time isn't an issue, just use linux! Moblin boots in less than ten seconds! You can go from zero to NetHack in less time than it takes to display the console game developer's logo.
Yessir, you can have games on linux in any color you want, so long as it's black. Nethack, Falcon's Eye, Slash'em: It's a regular gamer's utopia!
Re:PORT to Linux!! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not like linux doesn't run great on high end hardware or anything. So, don't worry about the poor little consoles for a moment and PORT to Linux!!
Yeah, clearly Bungie was stupid for targeting Halo 3 for that crappy 360 and selling 8 million copies in 3 months when they could have gone straight for the Linux gaming market and have garnered 15 sales in a year.
Re:PORT to Linux!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Obligatory (Score:3, Insightful)
Other consumer electronics don't come with "special monitor manuals".
Yes it does. The manual for a Wii explains how to connect it to a TV using any of several methods.
If they machine has an HDMI port, you're set. Otherwise it's going to be a PAIN
Which means that in most cases that one encounters, it will be a pain. Most PCs I see at Best Buy do not have HDMI ports, nor do any SDTVs.
Some allow the native panel resolution, some allow some lesser 16:9 mode and some only allow 4:3.
But even that is better than allowing only a blank screen because the PC is HD-only and the TV is SD-only.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:MSFT's market cap is over 2*10^11 USD (Score:5, Insightful)
Final Fantasy XI on the 360 allows you to use a USB keyboard as a controller, to include full WASD movement and not just typing messages.
Re:Don't forget Bowlderizing (Score:3, Insightful)
That was before the ESRB. Nintendo doesn't do that any more.
Re:I disagree with the first paragraph! (Score:2, Insightful)
Hell, my C64 has the words "personal computer" printed on it.
Re:I disagree with the first paragraph! (Score:4, Insightful)
Fuck, revisionists.
It was "IBM-Compatible." Not "PC-Compatible." I never. Ever. EVER heard "PC-Compatible." Why? Because originally, Macintoshes, Amigas, Commodores, et al were also personal computers. However, they had different architecture. So, you needed to know what company's architecture was in mind when buying software. When people came out with clones, they identified what company's software they'd run. Saying "PC" wasn't useful, since that only meant "Not a Server/Mainframe."
Re:Obligatory (Score:2, Insightful)