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Kalia
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
Posts: 30
Location: Arizona |
| Microsoft Announces Vista Titles @ IGN E3 |
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IGN's coverage of E3 included a listen to the Microsoft Vista launch lineup chat. Included in the list of games to be compatible with Microsoft's new OS, Vista, are Age of Conan: Hyborean Adventures and Hellgate: London. These games, among a few others, will be available for Vista's launch in January 2007. Read the rest <a href="http://pc.ign.com/articles/706/706271p1.html" target="_blank">here</a>. |
Wed May 10, 2006 3:03 am |
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Roqua
High Emperor
Joined: 02 Sep 2003
Posts: 897
Location: rump |
I read the whole vista site and i still don't understand what it does or how it will help pc gaming. I think it will just make a lot of my old games not run. I'm not an anti-ms fanatic. I was sold on xp just by the short boot time alone. I just can't find a list of features for vista that tell me how why it might appeal to me.
_________________
Vegitarian is the Indian word for lousey hunter. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 3:08 am |
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Guest
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There are some good features that will make vista really good but if the program compatibility is as bad as I have heard it will be useless since I probably won't be able to run a majority of the programs I want. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 8:19 am |
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Guest
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What i would like to know is if theses titles will only run on vista ? I don't plan on upgrading to vista and wait for a few service packs that we'll all know will come at some point... |
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Wed May 10, 2006 10:22 am |
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GTaher
Village Dweller
Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 20
Location: Alexandria, Egypt |
I was wondering the same thing. Does anyone know if this means these titles will not work on Windows XP?
I was really looking forward to Hellgate and AoC's 20-level solo campaign had piqued my interest too.
I really want to wait on Vista till the dust settles though. Maybe even longer if backwards compatability is an issue. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 10:26 am |
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Moriendor
Black Ring Leader
Joined: 19 Jul 2001
Posts: 1306
Location: Germany |
I don't think that backwards compatibility will be an issue. From what is known at this time, it looks like Windows XP will always remain at DirectX 9.x while Vista will get both, DirectX 9.x and DirectX 10.x. That's right. Vista is going to have two different DirectX folders under 'Program Files' or wherever they'll put it so you will be able to play DirectX 9.x games side by side with DirectX 10.x games.
Secondly, it doesn't look like the mentioned titles will be Vista-exclusive but that Microsoft has entered into marketing and development agreements with the studios that are developing these games (that at least seems to be true for Age of Conan because the corresponding Funcom press release says so).
This should mean that MS will be supporting development, probably by providing the DirectX 10.x SDK as early as possible, by providing QA and testing facilities and that they will generally assist the studios with DirectX 10.x development instead of letting them figure it out on their own  .
On the marketing side of the agreement, they will probably be making sure that these games get mentioned as "Designed for Vista" games every opportunity that Vista is presented as a gaming platform and they might include demos of the games in Vista presentations etc.
The DirectX 9.x versions of these games should be developed in parallel for WinXP (and theoretically Vista, too, if you want to run the game under the DirectX 9.x implementation of Vista) but I'll gladly eat my words if they come out with a press release claiming Vista-exclusivity later today  . |
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Wed May 10, 2006 11:09 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
Microsoft is really helping PC gaming here, isn't it?
I very much doubt these will require Vista (other than Halo, which is 1st party) - I just don't think these studios would restrict their markets. I wouldn't worry.
10/10 to Microsoft for making things clear as mud, however.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Wed May 10, 2006 11:17 am |
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doctor_kaz
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Posts: 108
Location: West Virginia, USA |
Yup, Microsoft sure is reviving PC gaming aren't they?  |
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Wed May 10, 2006 12:21 pm |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
Microsoft is really helping PC gaming here, isn't it?
Microsoft is helping Microsoft. PC Gaming helps them in helping with their XBOX360 and Cell Phone strategies, so they support it. It didn't before, so they were lackluster. When it no longer serves their other interests, they will drop it again.
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 12:26 pm |
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doctor_kaz
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Posts: 108
Location: West Virginia, USA |
quote:
Originally posted by txa1265
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
Microsoft is really helping PC gaming here, isn't it?
Microsoft is helping Microsoft. PC Gaming helps them in helping with their XBOX360 and Cell Phone strategies, so they support it. It didn't before, so they were lackluster. When it no longer serves their other interests, they will drop it again.
Mike
So far, I don't see any difference here. They are just promoting games that were already getting made as "Games for Windows!". But they are spending 95% of their promoting efforts still on the X-Box 360. Their big press conference yesterday was all 360. The only significant talk that I have heard out of Microsoft regarding PC gaming is attempting to turn the platform into plug-and-play, which I don't see as a good thing. Nowhere have they shown any attempts or interest in fostering PC-centric games or encouraging major publishers like Ubisoft and Eidos to make PC-focused games (instead of half-assed console ports) again. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 12:36 pm |
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Moriendor
Black Ring Leader
Joined: 19 Jul 2001
Posts: 1306
Location: Germany |
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
Microsoft is really helping PC gaming here, isn't it?
I very much doubt these will require Vista (other than Halo, which is 1st party) - I just don't think these studios would restrict their markets. I wouldn't worry.
10/10 to Microsoft for making things clear as mud, however.
Hehe, yes, Microsoft have a strange definition of "helping"  .
I'm beginning to believe that the only reason for them to say that they were going to revive PC gaming was so they can point back at that statement in a couple of years when PC gaming is near dead and tell people 'sorry chaps, as you can see we really wanted to and we were really committed to it but it just didn't work out'. They are washing their hands clean before the murder  .
Well, seriously, where there's money to be made, there'll always be a supply so PC gaming will never truly die but I'm afraid that we are looking forward to very dark times indeed.
One can only hope that Vista will sell like mad when it comes out so that devs and publishers can focus on DirectX 10.x development.
I don't know how hard it is or will be to develop a game for DirectX 9.x and 10.x at the same time but if it (dual development) increases development costs even just a little bit, then we'll probably be seeing even more X360/PS3/Wii exclusive games while only the real big franchises that are sure fire hits (like Diablo 3) will get a PC release.
Publishers are shying away from any risks as it is. An additional "platform" (DirectX 9.x vs 10.x or XP vs Vista) is probably not going to help.
And I think we can -independent of the success of Vista- pretty much forget about a strong, lasting commitment to DirectX 9.x as far as the big publishers are concerned. DirectX 9.x is going to be sooo yesterday the moment DirectX 10.x comes out. I bet that most publishers will rather fund a "cool next gen" DirectX 10.x game than any "old" DirectX 9.x stuff.
Which is where we might hit the vicious circle. If Vista does not sell well enough, publishers might turn away from PC gaming altogether until Vista and DirectX 10.x reach a market share that make Vista an interesting target platform.
Whatever will happen in the end, MS is certainly not helping PC gaming with the dual DirectX strategy. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 12:39 pm |
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doctor_kaz
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Posts: 108
Location: West Virginia, USA |
[quote="Moriendor"]
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
Microsoft is really helping PC gaming here, isn't it?
One can only hope that Vista will sell like mad when it comes out.
How can it not sell like mad with Halo 2 as the killer app?  |
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Wed May 10, 2006 12:47 pm |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
[quote="doctor_kaz"]
quote:
Originally posted by Moriendor
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
Microsoft is really helping PC gaming here, isn't it?
One can only hope that Vista will sell like mad when it comes out.
How can it not sell like mad with Halo 2 as the killer app?
I see Halo 2 like Halo 1 ... too little, too late. When it was released on the XBOX it was already me-too compared to PC games, and a few years later it is like discovering an old game ... but getting to pay top price for it. Halo 1 was quaint when it hit PC ...
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 1:02 pm |
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doctor_kaz
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 24 Mar 2005
Posts: 108
Location: West Virginia, USA |
It's remarkable that the most important figure in PC gaming is completely and totally clueless about why PC gaming sucks so badly nowadays.
Let's see, back before the X-Box came out, Bungie was one of the best computer game developers out there. Microsoft bought them out and shifted them to consoles. Now they make only console games, which are later turned into outdated mediocre ports to the PC. Duhhhhhhh, gee, do you think that maybe that wasn't such a good thing for PC gaming?
Since the X-Box came out, numerous PC franchises have been completely destroyed by porting over to the X-Box, or by developers jumping ship. The X-Box is, by far, the worst thing that ever happened to PC gaming. Microsoft has basically helped kill the PC, and they clearly don't understand this. |
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Wed May 10, 2006 1:25 pm |
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GTaher
Village Dweller
Joined: 31 Jul 2005
Posts: 20
Location: Alexandria, Egypt |
quote:
Originally posted by Moriendor
Publishers are shying away from any risks as it is. An additional "platform" (DirectX 9.x vs 10.x or XP vs Vista) is probably not going to help.
And I think we can -independent of the success of Vista- pretty much forget about a strong, lasting commitment to DirectX 9.x as far as the big publishers are concerned. DirectX 9.x is going to be sooo yesterday the moment DirectX 10.x comes out. I bet that most publishers will rather fund a "cool next gen" DirectX 10.x game than any "old" DirectX 9.x stuff.
Which is where we might hit the vicious circle. If Vista does not sell well enough, publishers might turn away from PC gaming altogether until Vista and DirectX 10.x reach a market share that make Vista an interesting target platform.
Well...thats really cheered me up 
Good points though. Food for thought for a relative PC illiterate like me. As if PC gaming wasn't under enough pressure already.
On the bright side, given Microsoft's other announcement, in the future what ever PC games do come out will be able to play vs. cell phones on line. That must mean more complex and challenging gameplay, right? |
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Wed May 10, 2006 1:37 pm |
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