Yesterday, after over three months of patient waiting, Crytek released a patch giving its acclaimed shooter Crysis 2 DirectX 11 support. The patch improved upon an already stunning looking game, giving it advanced tessellation and particle shadows, among other things. It was welcome news, but for some dedicated PC gaming purists, it was a move that was too little, too late.
For many, Crysis 2 was just another example of the "consolization" of the PC gaming market, or the idea that the industry is becoming more console focused and most PC games are just mediocre ports of console games. As hard is it is to say, PC gaming is not the dominant force it used to be. Many games either don't release on consoles at all (Red Dead Redemption), or release many months after their console counterparts (Assassin's Creed). Most of the time they are only pale shades of their former console glory. Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360 and PS3 is one of the most groundbreaking games ever released. Grand Theft Auto IV on PC is one of the worst games I have ever played.
So what is the problem with Crysis 2? Crytek obviously cares about the PC market if they are trying to improve their product after its release, right? Well, that's the problem. The game shouldn't need improvement. DirectX 11 is becoming a staple of PC gaming. A game like Crysis 2 that is well known as a graphical powerhouse should have included it from day one. Combine that with the fact that a patch had to be released that changed the menu from saying "Press Start to Continue" and it seems like the PC version was just an afterthought. It doesn't help that a demo was released on Xbox 360 a month and a half before the PC demo was released.
PC gamers have a right to be upset. They spend thousands of dollars to build a machine that can handle the toughest games. When developers release a half-assed PC port, it hurts. It hurts deep. There are shining beacons of hope like DICE, who are developing Battlefield 3, the year's most anticipated shooter, on PC with plenty of extra goodies (64 person multiplayer!), but it really seems like the vast majority of developers are leaving PC by the wayside and focusing solely on consoles.
And you know what? I guess I'm ok with that. The PC is my gaming platform of choice, but I also own a PS3. Most of the time I only use my PS3 for Netflix, but when there is a rare occasion when a game does not make it to PC, I have my PS3 for backup. The last game I played on it was L.A. Noire only because it was not released on PC, though Rockstar has announced that it will be shipping a PC port this fall. Before that, it was Red Dead Redemption.
I understand that there are plenty of people who only own a PC though, and for those people it truly sucks when a game does not release on PC. Red Dead Redemption was one of the top three games of 2010, and it is a shame that Rockstar chose to leave an entire market out in the cold. I have friends who only have PCs. They really wanted to play Red Dead Redemption, but they can't unless they go drop $200+ on a console they will rarely use.
So this is where the two roads meet. There is a choice between not playing a great game at all or playing a buggy, sometimes broken version of it. There are pros and cons each way, but this is the way I see it: I would rather play an inferior version of a great game than not play it at all. You could argue that by not buying these games and supporting the publishers who release shoddy PC ports you are sending a message that this is unacceptable, but I am not so optimistic. If you ask me (and honestly you would not have read this far if you didn't want my opinion), if consumers don't buy the mediocre ports then publishers will stop making them all together. It just wouldn't make economic sense. Sure you may not get a graphical powerhouse that shows off what your $3,000 gaming rig is capable of, but that's what games like the original Crysis, Metro 2033 and the upcoming Battlefield 3 are for. For now, buy the crappy port unless it is broken to the point of being unplayable (*cough*GrandTheftAutoIV*cough*). You don't deserve to miss out on great games.
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