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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
| Obsidian: Feargus Urquhart on Projects |
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You may recall a recent storm of rumours on Obsidian and KotOR3 (<a href="http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10077&newsid=45469" target="_blank">story</a>). Obsidian head honcho Feargus Urquhart has <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10697&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=100" target="_blank">posted</a> on the RPG Codex forums in response with some interesting comments:<blockquote><em>I like to think of myself more as uncountable than unaccountable.
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<br>But more seriously, as I know you all know, until a project is announced I can't say whether we are working on it or not without getting a lot of heat.
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<br>What I can say is that we are working on NWN2 and the other announced title, plus we are signing another project in the next couple of weeks. We are also finally getting out own technology off the ground, so that we have more freedom when it comes to the types of games we can create. To be honest, I'm not sure how hardcore of a RPG (other than NWN2) we can make soon. I'm sure that sounds like I'm a big pussy when it comes to what games we work on, but I want to stay in business as well. My goal for the short term make-up of Obsidian is to have three teams with two focusing on consoles as the lead SKUs and the other a PC focused SKU.
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<br>I wish it wasn't so disappointing to look at the sales of PC stuff right now. Actually it's super disappointing. I'm hoping that Vista and the stuff that Microsoft puts behind "My Games" is going to help.</em></blockquote> |
Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:59 am |
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Acleacius
King of the Realms
Joined: 24 Dec 2002
Posts: 453
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Bummer!
Why are current sales totals false and low?
The reason PC sales are down is cause all the damn good Devs keep getting paidoff by MS to make rushed console games so they can compete with Sony.
MS has intentionally taken more then 6 billion in losses over the last 4 years to compete with Sony, if I recall.
Second the PC games that are getting released are many dual developed and rushed due to being deveopled for consoles as well, so they are very buggy.
Third the PC games which are not AAA titles are being rushed as well, due to drying up of funds, so not only are they buggy as well they are bordering on crapy quality.
Fourth the World ecomony has been suffering for at least 4 years now, including sales of PC parts and Games.
Fifth many PC games sales are now being made online to private companies like Valve which do not release their sales numbers, there by further effecting sales totals.
If the PC industry had good Devs making good games with reasonable funding there would be just as good of sales as consoles.
Ooopps maybe I had to much caffinee  |
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Tue Jan 31, 2006 6:09 am |
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Kepler
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 109
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Console games sell better.
There is no conspiracy.
No more coffee for you. |
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Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:35 pm |
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Acleacius
King of the Realms
Joined: 24 Dec 2002
Posts: 453
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"Console games sell better"
Haha, I knew I forgot some. 
Console sale's totals include rentals (also hardware, if I recall) which are offered at many, many stores and PC games are not.
Just another reason why the comparison is bogus.
"There is no conspiracy."
Ha, willful ignorance just ask the people with the pointy foil hats!
Or you could read MS's plans (it is public information) to take the billions loss to be competitive with Sony
"No more coffee for you."
Grrrrrr! |
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Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:39 am |
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ToddMcF2002
Leader of the Senate
Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 317
Location: Boston MA |
The day consoles start attacking the MMO market we might as well ebay the PC. These are dark days.
And I'm sure we lost object shadowing in Oblivion because of the XBox 360 dumbdown.
Here is to NWN2 - the best and probably last bastion of true PC RPG's on the horizon *cheers* *tears*
_________________
"For Innos!" |
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Wed Feb 01, 2006 2:46 pm |
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KasperFauerby
Village Dweller
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 18
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Hmm... maybe it should be pointed out that just because a game comes out for a console it doesn't mean that it *has* to be a bad game or that *if* a pc-only version had been made, the game would have been much better. It gets a bit tiresome to listen to pc-gamers complain about "dumbed down" gameplay as a direct result of a game comming out on a console.
Gameplay is a thing that evolves and gets refined over time - no matter which platforms the games are developed for. PC RPGs didn't stop evolving at the SSI gold box titles either, did they? You might be right that gameplay has been dumbed down and some people (like you and me) find that to be a bad thing... but it happens as a result of that type of gameplay selling better and appealing to a broader audience - not because of the consoles
The game industry has a serious problem these days - the consumers expects better and better graphics and larger and more detailed maps in the games. But such graphics does not come for free - even a skilled 3d artist that is already used to working with the newest technologies (like bump-mapping etc) will have to spend about 2-3 times the amount of hours to create a model with all the latest flash as he did on a model for the current generation. And we also want more models... The only solution to the problem is to increase the amount of staff on each title, which again leads to huge development costs. It is no wonder that the publishers are less willing to take chances and instead stick to "known hits" and sequels - if a game flops its easily $10M down the drain for them.
So to de-risk they'll stick to mainstream games and develop for multiple platforms. And because console titles sell best the publishers will naturally focus on making console games.
Finally, as my last point in this rather long rant, I'll argue that the quality (here talking bugs and stability) of pc-games *benefit* from the games also being developed for consoles. On the consoles there are things called TCR and TRC that specifies a long list of requirements that a game must fulfill regarding stability and user friendliness. If a game does not meet the requirements it cannot be released for the consoles. As we all know, such documents does not exist for the PC market where any game in any state can be released ("no problem, we'll just release a patch later" - know what I mean? Now, if a pc-game is also being developed for the consoles it'll often benefit indirectly from the fact that the developers *has* to spend time polishing their game for the consoles. A game like for example Dungeon Lords would never have been released if it were a console game...
I'm a avid pc-gamer myself although I also have an xbox. I have been playing pc-games for almost 20 years now and my favorite genre is RPGs. Now I work in the game industry making games myself. I also often miss the good old "hardcore" RPGs - but I also understand why we just can't have them these days. Its no conspiracy or because of evil developers.. its just (near) impossible to get funding for a decent RPG these days. The best pc rpgs these years seems to come from either very large and already established developers - or from small companies from the eastern europe.
- Kasper |
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Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:40 pm |
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ToddMcF2002
Leader of the Senate
Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 317
Location: Boston MA |
The problem I have with your reply is that - to my knowledge at least - the only RPG not dumbed down for consoles is Morrowind. Then again you werent really commenting on the dumbing down, but rather the budget issues for PC's and quality control. Yup I agree on that. *But* that also causes the dumbing effect: they need the cross release to make money. That means dumbing it down. For cross release it has to cater to the largest sales segment - the mainstream gamer. The mainstream gamer is not intrested in complexity - rather "user friendliness" as you noted and what they can do with their force feedback gamepad. So *if* a PC only title is going to be developed it will have a budget to match its sales expectations. Goodbye Baldur's Gate. RIP.
As far as what console has for RPG... Fable is typical console. BG: Alliance was pathetic. JRPGs? Just shoot me. Its all understandible, since frankly the Grand Theft Auto ADD console gamer is the target audience. These companies arent stupid and they have to make money.
We are going to lose this battle horribly in the next few years. We have NWN2, Oblivion and Gothic 3 on the horizon. Perhaps in Europe things look brighter, but for the US I think that's the end of the line. Fire up the gamepads boys  time to do some Fable! 
For the record, the only XBox game I own is Dance Revolution! I do like DDR and all, but the xBox is a %*$&^ peice of %*&$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In protest I'm going to go play my favorite game - the patched and C08 modded version of Temple of Elemental Evil. I'd like to see that on a gamepad!
_________________
"For Innos!" |
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Wed Feb 01, 2006 4:23 pm |
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KasperFauerby
Village Dweller
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 18
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"Goodbye Baldur's Gate. RIP."
Yes! That's my point exactly! It sounds terribly bleak, I know, and I hope time will prove us both wrong and great RPGs with deep stories and complex gameplay mechanisms will have a renaissance in the coming years. But I must admit I don't see it happening anytime soon.
But we must face the fact that hardcore rpg players are a minority and as such we unfortunately should not expect that many new games done "like they used to make them". But then again, Beatles are no longer doing new records either, are they? Shit happens, times change - better make the best of what you get!
So my point is, instead of stubbornly sticking to the old times, why not play some of the newer games with an open mind? Personally I've found myself capable of really enjoying some of the new "dumb" games (Fable, Jade Empire etc). And when I feel like it, I can always boot up good old Ultima 6, Might&Magic 4-5, Baldurs Gate or whatever.
So guys - cheer up, don't spend your time being grumpy, bitter old men. Don't waste even a minute more of your time in a useless argument over missing shadows, features that changed from the last game (always to the worse, new features or changed features are evil aren't they?!?) or the evil consoles ruining an otherwise perfect pc game. It's just games - play those you like, discard those you don't like |
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Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:10 pm |
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia |
Could I suggest heading over to Lazarus and downloading their version of Ultima 5 if you want a really great old time experience with modern graphics. Oh, you need the original DS as well!! 
_________________
If God said it, then that settles it!
I don't use Smileys, I use Emoticons!!
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Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:11 am |
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ToddMcF2002
Leader of the Senate
Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 317
Location: Boston MA |
I downloaded Lazarus 5 and it was performing badly on my laptop - even though DS itself is quite smooth. I'm sure they added scripts for the mod are at fault. I'm sure it will run fine on my desktop which is very powerful but I try to limit RPG's to my laptop. I'll have to give it another looksee.
_________________
"For Innos!" |
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Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:18 pm |
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