Sometimes, just sometimes, I do feel that EA get bullied by the industry and users as a whole. I mean, yes they've made some dumb sh17 moves over the years. But in terms of their games...well....many of them are awesome to me at least. I think my favourite in recent times was Mirror's Edge, that felt so fresh and new and was delightfully elegant. But also, the Dead Space series has been great fun (and successful), there've been a few great NFS games lately (Hot Pursuit revival was ftw!) and I like BF3 yes i do (far better than MW3 for any shred innovation that's for sure). EA also stick by the PC very closely with almost every release and for that, i'm grateful to them. Other publishers have been far more lame for us PC folks.
Speaking of other publishers, like Ubisoft, who's latest stunts have been making DRM that prevents people from even playing their SP games without the internet, craptacular ports beyond beggars belief (From Dust was wtf bad almost unplayable) and general malignant behaviour towards PC. Where's their abuse? WHERE?
@S0ulReav3r I see what you guys are saying but there's still a problem there. The iPhone was the first of it's kind to market. That's why it then went on to gain such huge market share. The other Phone companies were just playing catchup (although now i'd argue have superceded the iPhone in numerous ways).Here, you're talking about a massive majority player vs a open-source project. 98% of people won't feel comfortable with Linux as it doesn't do half the stuff Windows does to "hold your hand". Let's face it a lotta people leave Windows for Mac because "Windows is too advanced for a simpleton". Now imagine those simpletons trying on Linux! Not happening, it doesn't cater to them. And "them" being a huge majority of the PC gaming market.Also arguements that "oh but loads of the open source people will port games to Linux". By that then I presume "pirate"? Can't see many AAA developers being happy with than, can you? Having their game tampered with 3rd party and then distributed "free!". Trouble is Linux is all well and good, but game developers have offices and need to pay bills. Free game distribution =/= pay bills.
The problem remains this: Why would someone publish a game for Steam? Sure Valve are doing this as a stunt. So their games will be ported. But take the case study of: Linux fo Macs. The coverage of (modern) OSX these days is now even slightly larger than Windows Vista 32bit so you'd think that it'd get loads of games? Well no, it doesn't. It gets a smattering of -some- titles, but highly restricted. Why? Because it doesn't pay to develop a game specifically for such a small crowd. It takes so much extra effort and for what, maybe 10,000 sales at best?Windows PCs are ubiquitous and no matter which dev says what, that's not likely the change in a hurry. Slow change is all that will occur, over time, slow progressions away or towards platforms. Windows 7 64bit is the King OS right now and rightly so, because it's really good.So keeping in mind the lacklustre 3rd party interest in Mac OSX...now imagine the interest in Linux gamers...it just isn't there.
I'm sorry, but how is Windows 8 "locked down"? HOW?! Yes the Win8 RT version is crap. But then so was Win7 Starter Edition! So what's the problem? Just don't buy that version!
I've been using Windows 8 RP for about 4 months now. It's perfectly fine. If you want the Start Menu back, Stardock have made an excellent App which brings it back from scratch and it works just fine, like any other WindowsBlinds sorta client.
Steam works fine, Origin works fine, all my seperate games work fine too. I can install any program I wish. I can install any hardware I wish.
I have to say, sweeping my hand around to control the interface of Halo Waypoint, sounds pretty cool X3 Just like in the game :3 I don't have a Kinect yet though. I'm sure they'll go cheap sooner or later.
Really don't see why simply having the option of Kinect in a game is a bad thing for those who are interested.I have Forza 4 and really never felt i "needed" a Kinect. But for AutoVista, i admit that kinda is cool. But only if you've already got one kicking around. Would never buy a Kinect just for THAT hehe.
They may have been meh in terms of first party PC games of late, that i'll admit. It wasn't always like that though. MS had a golden age of PC gaming, with Freelancer, Halo PC, Impossible Creatures, Crimson Skies, Midtown Madness, Rise of Nations, Flight Simulator 2004 etc etc. About 1999-2005 in other words. Those were good times.Now things have indeed changed and i'm certain not for the better.However, their work in the DirectX platform remains strong and influential. And i'm sorry, OpenGL are just busy shooting themselves in the foot. DX11 is a way better and more advanced platform than OpenGL4.In regards to Linux Steam, well i don't see why not. Personally I probably won't even need or use it though. I've been testing out Windows 8 Release Preview, with Stardocks awesome Win8 Start Menu mod installed. I'm very happy with it overall and games run very well!
andrew_ribbons' comments