@WolvenOne: Thanks for commenting so I don't have to :)

Chewbenator

@okenny :): Umm, did you miss a few words there, Yoda? :)

Spoony Bard

It'd be nice if people their console wars out of the PC :(

okenny :)

Eww, somebody got Microsoft in my Gaming. Unlike Reese's this is a HORRID COMBINATION.

MasterJoefus

Growth and Opportunities in PC Gaming

These are exciting times for the PC gaming industry. We announce an initiative every now and then to save the industry, and then do nothing, and yet PC gaming refuses to die.

Everybody's panicking about decreasing numbers, even as the companies that produce those numbers admit that they have no way of accurately recording real numbers. The very basic way in which PC games work as a business has spun completely out of our control or the way that we've done things ever before, and nobody wants to buy out stupid Windows Live Gold accounts because, as it turns out, PC gamers are smart enough to recognize the stupidest idea ever and avoid it, unless it happens to be part of a Sims expansion pack.

Meanwhile, while we've alternately fiddled as Rome burns or piddled in the pool, better and more forward-looking companies have stepped into the gap and made better services, made tons of revenue we could have positioned ourselves to get, and generally made the platform look great despite our flawed new operating system and complete lack of attention towards gaming. We're hoping that we can make some noise again, since it's close to E3, take credit for the whole mess, and then ignore things for another year.

These are exciting times. This letter is the first actual work I've done since Desktop Tower Defense came out.

Here's to PC Gaming.

PositivelyGreg

"...the Windows-based PC [is] the largest gaming platform in the world."

Please, this is like saying "We're proud to say that we have made the toilet the largest shitting platform in the world."

man_in_gauze

@Toasticus: exactly what the letter should have said, well done *thumbs up*

tonka_92

so what?
and they didn't even talk about Live crap (and that's good).

salaminizer

I love how there is no mention of either Gears of War PC or Halo 2 PC, both of which are bug-ridden piles of dog shit that Microsoft doesn't seem to care AT ALL about patching.

Yes, I am sad because of this. :( I just want to play Halo 2...

jrronimo

does this mean we're getting more achievements? i like pc games with achievements. I wish there were more of them

Kenzo287

To Whom It May Concern,

People are playing PC games. Hooray!

Sincerely,
Microsoft

Toasticus

@Archaotic:

If I could post a facepalm pic, I would right now.

You are correct, Sir. I am reading something about GTA:IV right now, and they mentioned the clothing store "Perseus." I had it on my mind, and completely fucked my Greek mythology.

PapaBear434

So many Brand names in that letter that it looks like an advertising method rather than something honest.

I was just wondering, does MS have friendly relations with Valve and everyone else too? or only those people who label their games "Games for Windows"? (For which the makers have to pay MS???)

Reetesh

What was that WolvenOne?

I was too busy playing Crysis on my 500 dollar machine..

cbre88x

@PapaBear434:
Wasn't it Sisyphus who had to push the rock up the mountain? Perseus killed Medusa.

Archaotic

Articles about PC Gaming never end well. Cue all of the people whining that PC gaming costs too much, you can't play the games on your couch, they are too complicated, and all of the other ridiculous crap spewed forth by people who choose not to educate themselves.

Anyway, the PC will always be my preferred platform, and it's not close. The only reason I even own a console is because there are certain games that are not released for PC. Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Madden & NCAA. Release those 4 games for PC, and I have zero need for a console.

mva5580

The PC gaming environment is not to be tamed. It's like the Wild West of sorts. A large amount of people, all agreeing to a basic moral code in which violators are dealt with via community justice (cheaters/spammers being banned from a server are ridiculed mercilessly, for instance.) Even with this sense of community, people are still left to their own devices for the most part to customize their own systems and configurations however they please.

For instance, when I was playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory competitively, I had my system rigged out for maximum frame rates, a mouse with at least 10,000 scans per unit, a nice worn keyboard with a comfy wrist rest. I also equipped the game with a custom config file, to make sure it ran the way I want and disabled features that I didn't need or would distract me from the target, like "hitflash" and blood sprays.

When I played WoW, everyone and their brother had a million mods dedicated to do whatever they need it to do. Each class had certain mods tailor designed for them in addition to being able to customize and reorganize them for your own personal ease of use.

The PS3 probably has the most potential of the consoles to do this kind of stuff in the future, as the mods and keyboard/mouse support for UT3 have shown. But I still don't think it will happen to such a degree, simply because even though the PS3 and PSN is a more open platform than the 360 and XBL, it is still a closed hardware set with a certain amount of control placed over a semi-closed network to ensure that things work in only the way the creators designed.

PC gamers are a feral set, and will not give in to being penned easily. Even Steam, as great as it is, faced a lot of animosity when it first came into being. Even I myself didn't like the idea of having to sign in and confirm my purchase every single time I wanted to play Half-Life 2. I got used to it, of course, but it has the saving grace of being free, and also offering services to games outside of personal stable of properties (you can still use Steam as a handy clan-chat, forgoing redundancy programs like Ventrillo and Teamspeak, as well as having XBL-like features such as telling you what game and server someone is playing on, and with whom they are playing with.)

Good luck pushing that stone, Microsoft. I fear you are going to end up like Perseus, however, eternally hauling it up hill only to find it slipping away from you to the bottom yet again.

PapaBear434

I don't like PC gaming. I can't keep up with the technology.

I prefer to pay for a console and have it be guaranteed to provide me with quality gaming for at least 5 years.

Humpski

"Today I'm excited to report that Microsoft and a growing community of the gaming industry's leading publishers, hardware manufacturers and retailers have made the Windows-based PC the largest gaming platform in the world."

Wait, hasn't Windows based PCs always been the largest gaming platform?!!!

darknessgp

Yeah, that letter was
less about the state of
PC gaming, but rather
more about the event.

Sullyville

@Spoony Bard: but, you know it's all true!

jgross

@TheHun, Fnor: I'm assuming he's typing this through a wormhole to the European Union, where Microsoft kind of have this problem...

wild homes

Do you guys remember the episode of the Simpsons called "The PTA Disbands!" - it's about a teacher's strike?

Mrs. Krabapple and Principal Skinner fight over the intercom system, and Skinner wins, quickly announcing:
"Attention, this is an emergency broadcast. All is well in the school."

Yeah... not sure why I was reminded of that quote...

Tonx

I can't even muster the energy to wade into this thing. So, um, yay for pressers?

wild homes

John Schappert is such an ass. Everything he says is a load. He as an individual person is in large part responsible for the sweatshop-esque working conditions in place at EA Sports.

RippleTide

@Gitaroo_Dude: Windows dude Windows...

TheHun

I don't get all this hate towards PC gaming. It's a versatile platform and you don't need to invest into an incredibly powerful machine to play. Of course, you can do so, but it's not just an investment in gaming. The computer can do so much more.
I'll let you people continue on this useless feud, I'll be somewhere between my desk and my sofa spending some quality time in PC and console gaming.

PeterPanDude

PC gamer for life! Y'all joystick junkies can suck my trackball!

Heh, that turned out pretty good. IN ALL SERIOUSNESS THOUGH, I don't need this Corporate Vice President guy to tell me that PC gaming is still strong. When I play Team Fortress 2 or Call of Duty 4 online I can tell it's still strong.

ShirtGuyDom

(I don't think it's dying period, but not thriving commercially...)

You know, I'd have a bit more faith in the health of PC gaming if they could stop putting out press releases to highlight the fact that it's not dead yet.

fuchikoma

@Gitaroo_Dude: Are you posting through a temporal rift from 1983, or something?

Fnor

Sigh... Valve, could you fix the market for us, and become a media behemoth that will end up denying my life-insurance when im 94 years old? MS is doing a poor job.

MOP88

Needs more cowbell.

greyhoundbus

live is for console noobs.

idrisz

Hah, poor MS.

You may be able to dupe young Americans, but the PC will remain a bastion that you cannot monopolize.

Gitaroo_Dude

while PC's are good for some kinds of games, the point of entry for being a PC gamer is just a little too high if you ask me.

The main problems are that, while you can make a decent gaming PC for $800, you have to know how to assemble a computer many people don't know how to do that. You need to upgrade too frequently to be able to keep playing games at relatively high settings.

Finally, for the amount you're paying the visuals aren't all that much better than a modern consoles. I mean, visuals on a PC, "can," be much better, but an entry level gaming PC costs 800 dollars and a top of the line one costs over a grand, that's not exactly competitive with consoles in terms of price.

On the other hand, PC's are an open format with few restrictions, very customizable, and can be used for many things other than gaming. If the hardware and game developers could just decide to lower the bar for cost and visuals, I think the platform would actually do pretty darn well.

WolvenOne

While I do think that PC gaming is very much alive, I don't know what they were hoping to accomplish with this. The PC as a platform is so fractured, you can't make it into a community. They're trying to give Windows an identity, but PC gamers are on too broad of a spectrum.

Trying to make unity among PC gamers is just as ridiculous as saying that PC gaming is dead. It's too huge to write-off as dead, but it's also too huge to try to unite it and capitalize on. It's too open. The only thing that unites PC gamers is when they roll their eyes at PR garbage like this. Also, none of them are going to subscribe to live.

cr0m300

So this would mean that Microsoft is at the top of PC gaming as well as with the 360 in the console market?

RPGJunky

@Arsenicberyllium: Ah, good point.

KillerBee

@KillerBee: They don't care about SC. It's not a Games For Windows Game.

That's why they don't mention WoW either.

Arsenicberyllium

@ara: So not true, thats why majority of games that are from microsoft are 360 + PC and exclude the ps3. Most deals they make are just to delay the ps3.

Ejvid04

This is bad news indeed;

Blinklink11

Yea... too much "Microsoft(r)" in my optimistic PC gaming news... :(

lumpi

Bwahahaha! :D It's just hilarious to see them touting how great things are on PC gaming world when they have abandoned the ship themselves. Microsoft doesn't give a shit about PC release dates as longs as the Xbox360 version is released, then, after a year or two they bring their badly outdated games to PC.

ara

. . . and no mention of the web.

doc_rob

Oh boy, Stephen...let me paraphrase the comments to come.

"PC GAMES SUCK! You have to buy a $3000 computer to play for 6 months and then it becomes obsolete!"

"No, console games SUCK! We get to do COOL mods in Oblivion!"

"No, YOU SUCK!"

"Your MOM!"

Thankyou, thankyouverahmuch. I'll be here all week.

Spoony Bard

Translation: just don't bail on us until Starcraft 2 comes out.

KillerBee

PC's still have 80% of the games I want to play. Most console games don't appeal to me (MSG4, GTAIV, etc.). Most of the Xbox games are released on PC anyway. No complaints here except I wish good, stand-alone RPG's were more frequent.

malio

What has Microsoft really done for PC gaming? If we weren't running on Windows we'd be running on some other OS. DX? It coulda been OGL.

This is microsoft taking credit for something they were part of but had nothing to really do with shaping when it really mattered. All the old games I used to play back in the day ran on IBM Dos too.

Thier unifed API, read DirectX, makes it easier on developers, But it in no way has shaped gaming. I could concede to a small respect it has shaped some of the interface, but Like I said it could have been any other OS to step up with the largest market share.

invictus

yea cause majority of pc gamers played crysis (after they upgraded). age of conan (heard it gets old and after playing mmo's for years the shit just.. well.. gets repetitive and you find that one day you're just staring at the screen like "wtf am i doing?") Also hellgate london was buggy.

we should probably not include the few top games keeping pc gaming alive when trying to make a point on how Windows pc is the top gaming system.

Savior

And oddly enough, the 360 is exactly what's been hurting the PC gamers by making devs move away from PC and onto the console, where they can charge ridiculous amounts of money for DLC. Look at IW, they barely acknowledge we exist.

Darkest Daze

they're up to something....

*** If the hardware and game developers could just decide to lower the bar for cost and visuals, I think the platform would actually do pretty darn wel. ****

seems to have done ok, being number one and all...

railskins

edit... sorry it's actually 160 euro :P:P:P that 4850

foxhound009

you got to love pc :P

btw. There are finally people playing UT3 on pc :O
great!

pc gaming will never die my friends...
it may lay low at perticular times but it won't vanish..
people just want the ultimate personal gaming machine...
personal gaming settings... personally(in my case) assembled system...

people are talking crap about pc being expensive...

today I've foun out that ATI Radeon HD4850 costs 140 euro in my country :O ..... that thing has frigging POWER
I think you can afford that much cash a year?
2 new games = 120 euro...

about the hd4850... I'll still wait for 4870.. it will be like... 200 euro.... I'll just sell my old gfx for.... 80
and voila! only 120 away from beautyfull hd4870 :P:P:P

foxhound009

Love the way they ignore the two most important factors in pc gaming today (wow and steam) and focus upon games for windows, with which they have had such wild success so far.

ZhouYu

I hoping all this PR talk means a Crysis: Warhead trailer today. Will look forward to that.

Dontdrop

@PapaBear434: Awesome post!

rudolphdude

@Reetesh: Actually, developers don't have to pay Microsoft any money to receive Games for Windows certification; they only have to fulfill a list of technical and usability requirements.

grundlesnatch

PC gaming is too expensive for me. I don't have a job(if I did, I probably wouldn't make enough for one) or a lot of money so I can't afford a good computer. And you have to keep upgrading your graphics card thingy. And I don't know anything about putting together a computer, installing any hardware or anything else like that.

The only PC games that I really would want to play would be the MMO's, and you need a subscription for those.

AngelMayLaugh

My PC is a great gaming platform - now that I've replaced Vista with XP. I could never get my computer to play a game for more than maybe 20 minutes - 45 minutes tops, without a BSOD until I took Vista off it. And this is a machine that uses all vista-certified parts.
I think the bleakest thing on the PC gaming horizon is Vista, and I don't hear Microsoft addressing that problem.

psychicfriend

Hm, I am wary of believing that HGL has one million ACTIVE subscribers, if this were true Bill Roper would be shouting it from the rooftops...

Can Kotaku confirm this number by any chance?

StealthBlue

Is it just me, or does this news release sound odd froma company that is trying very hard to kill PC gaming in favor of it's fully controlled platform (360). Every move they've made has looked like they are strategically maneuvering the whole PC game industry onto the 360 and trying desperately to kill the open system. It feels like they hate Pc gamers and wish we were all 360 fanboys instead.

kingmanic

@cbre88x:

Either you have a supplier that's getting you top of the line parts for much cheaper than most people could imagine, or you're playing on very low settings at a relatively low resolution.

Yes I've heard people say that you can build a decent entry level gaming PC for $500-600, but every time I budgeted out a machine that could play the newest games at reasonably good settings and frame rates, I've found it came closer to $800.

So yeah, even you can pull this off with a lot of knowhow, it still doesn't change the fact that the bar for entering the realm of PC gaming is still set far too high for people who do not already know exactly what they're doing, or more specifically almost every non-PC gamer out there.

Asking all these potential PC gamers to know all this off the bat is simply unrealistic, it's like asking middle schoolers to build a particle accelerator using only a high school science textbook as their guide.

Furthermore you have to ask yourself, from the viewpoint of a non PC gamer what platform is more attractive? One that merely needs to be plugged into the wall and won't need any upgrades, or a platform that comes disassembled and needs major parts swiped out every eighteen months?

If you've answered the latter then you're either fanatically devoted to the PC platform or currently residing in a mental institution, possibly both.

I will admit that the PC being a customizable open format is attractive. However PC game developers ignore the fact that the vast majority of PC's can't run their software, and instead focus on selling their goods to a relatively small number of highly devoted followers.

That's not a strategy for growing the market, that's a strategy for appealing to a niche.

Here's an idea for the PC developers. See all those machines on the market with single core CPU's and integrated graphics, the ones that make up over half the market? Go ahead and design some simple fun games to run on that hardware.

Most people with those kinds of computers won't care that the visuals are only about X-box level, and the people that do care don't make up a significant portion of the market.

In short, they could tell all the PC gamers out there to go fall off a log and still grow the market.

WolvenOne

Wow. A suit blowing smoke up my ass. It feels tingly, but not sincere.

MS has been working hard to destroy the PC gaming industry. They care more about getting sales for the XBOX than PC gaming titles. It's not that I blame them for that, considering the fact that they want the XBOX to be a dedicated profit line for them, but I dislike hypocracy.

This guy can pump out as many smoke-blowing letters as he wants, but like most people with some small amount of common sense, I'll wait to see what MS does instead of what they say.

Recently, all they've done, IMO, is buy up PC game dev companies and direct them to make XBOX games. I guess this guy thinks were all a bunch of ignorant rubes not to know that. Sorry, Charlie, but I'm calling BS on you until MS changes the way they're directing their money and efforts, if that day ever comes, which I doubt.

Madoc

@Spoony Bard:

/lawl

/hi5

EnigmaNemesis

@WolvenOne: You mean those Intel Extreme integrated graphics chipsets? Those things can barely handle 2d graphics, let alone anything with more than 2 vertices in 3d.

Evangel

@PapaBear434: I agree. It's why I've always liked the PC; it's endlessly customisable and you can tweak it just the way you want. But it's that same appeal to the hardcore that also makes the PC less and less attractive to the masses. The PC will always remain a profitable platform, but the big money has been in consoles since the PS2/Xbox generation, methinks.

@kingmanic: @Madoc: I don't really believe MS are out to kill the PC games industry. Xbox or Windows doesn't really matter to them - so long as they're still developing for an MS platform....

Windows is the Microsoft mothership. All their products tie back to Windows in some way (i.e. on Xbox it's Windows Live IDs linked to your Gamertag, Media Center Extending etc). So they would not be deliberately trying to turn developers over to Xbox - rather, they're just trying to make the porting process from one to the other as painless as possible, and since the big money is made on consoles nowadays, that's where devs go first.

P.S. Madoc - you're not the same Madoc who posts over on John Birmingham's blog, are you? If so, you rule. If not, forget I said anything.

freakout

@Spoony Bard: Yes... yes I did ^_^;

okenny :)

@Evangel:

Not quite true actually. The vast majority of PC games out there don't make good use of the horsepower available at all, and even those weaker computers have enough horsepower to pull off some acceptable visuals.

The trick in computers with integrated graphics, would be to make games that are mostly CPU dependent. The reason why most PC game developers don't do this is because it limits how good a game can look, even if you throw in a really hefty GPU.

Would it look as good as top end PC titles do now? Not even close, as I said it'd look a lot like a Wii or X-box game. However it would have the benefit of being, "compatible," with far more computers, thus making it accessible to a far larger audience.

Frankly, making a game or platform accessible is far more important than stroking the egos of a small handful of PC users who treat their machines like hotrods, and spend their days drooling over hardware that might let them squeeze a few extra frames per second out of Crysis.

WolvenOne

ATi are coming out with the new series and that card costs only 199.99, Pretty cheap and it has that RV770 chip.

[kotaku.com]

So we will be seeing cheaper hardware that is more powerful, in ATI's case.

Everybody happy.

Mibu1

The first step is for some group to come up with industry standards for computers.

For example, instead of confusing people of the mainstream who WANT to get into games on the PC with endless specs that they don't understand and don't want to learn about, use a simple number or color system. Or both.

For example, A Green level computer, a 1, would be the basic entry level. It would clearly state what games it could run. Green could handle Flash games, and all PC games that have the large Green symbol on their box. Or on their digital download.

Next step would be Blue, or Orange, or Purple, etc..Red being the best.

The difficult thing is getting everyone on board with this system. It has to be EASY TO USE for everyone, but at the same time POWERFUL.

And we also need to be HONEST about the requirements needed to play the games.

For example, show screenshots of the game like usual, BUT at each 'color' level. Let's take say Red Alert 3. Each color level would be shown, but in green it would be VERY CLEAR that if you own a Green Dot computer, it will NOT be able to play the game.

And each screenshot on the box would show WHAT THE GAME LOOKS LIKE on the respective level computer!

So the best would have all settings maxxed, the next lower would have some items turned off, all the way down the line to where the game looks and runs like crap - but keep in mind if the screenshots are honest - and all would have to be honest about this - some people might be ok with the 'crap' level graphics.

Why? Perhaps they have only played games on the cell phone, and even crap level PC graphics look stunning to them.

It would also motivate people to perhaps buy a more powerful level the next time they buy a computer.

Or one can say to the company they bought the PC from that they want to move from a Blue level computer, to the next step, an Orange - but they do not want to buy a new computer. They would ask if they could send it in to get turned into (upgraded) into the next level. Company might even say it would be cheaper to buy a whole new level due to the age of the current computer.

So you see guys, it does not take a visionary to come up with some kind of system to put in place. Microsoft's Games for Windows is a total joke compared to how good a system could be.

The TRICK is to show how it would benefit each company to do this. It would also have to be as easy as possible for companies to sign on - WITHOUT charging a lame fee for some kind of membership.

Vanguarde

@Vanguarde:

The problem with doing a, simple color based spec rating, is that specs and system requirements on PC's change so quickly that you'd have to add Dates to the ratings too. That would quickly make it become just as confusing.

Lets say for example, in 2010 you buy a Red PC, designed to handle the biggest baddest games around. Well what happens two years later when you go to buy a new game and it's a Yellow 2013 title? Do Red 2010's play Yellow 2013's? Where do I find this out, is there a compatibility list?

This isn't a huge deal initially, but the longer the system is in use, the more complicated it's liable to become. Consoles of course bypass this problem by not upgrading their hardware for years at a time, and I suspect this may be necessary to make PC's roughly as approachable.

Of course, it isn't going to happen. Nvidia, AMD, and Intel aren't going to stop churning out bigger and badder gaming hardware just because inconvenient for the people trying to market PC games.

This is partially why I'd like to see Moore's law come to an end, at least for personal computers. Of course we need more powerful computers for industrial and research use, but sometimes it feels like the hardware race is actually a distraction from just, gaming.

WolvenOne

@Vanguarde:
That's a good idea, but honestly, I'd like to see a change in graphics levels themselves. I don't want to start out at perfect and make things look progressively shittier until my computer can handle it. I'd prefer that there be a list of things you could toggle on or off (water reflections for example), so if you didn't care about them, you could run the game better without them. Plus a stress test like Valve's (Steam's?) where you can see if your computer would slow down during combat, explosions, on seeing reflections, etc.

man_in_gauze

@WolvenOne: They could use numbers indicating performance rating, instead of colors. The numbers will gradually grow, but can be clearly compared, so it's not a problem at all.

mizeriq

@freakout: 'P.S. Madoc - you're not the same Madoc who posts over on John Birmingham's blog, are you? If so, you rule. If not, forget I said anything.'

Sadly, no. I still rule, but I'll go ahead and forget that I do. :)

Madoc

You see how he keeps on mentioning how great "Windows based games" are? You know why? Cause they want to profit off of games for windows live a.k.a. the most pathetic attempt by microsoft to squeeze another penny off of you. Fuck that. I say we move to Linux gaming. That would be glorious.

Dragondefonce