So holy shit I guess not.
Is PC gaming Windows Linux and Mac or just Windows.
The answer I get back is yes.
People expect I'm joking when I try to include Mac and Linux.
Operating system almost doesn't matter. It's hardware. If you don't have it.. try adding some.
I asked a Mac user if he would keep his Mac and invest in an external GPU to play games. Duh yeah. Same answer I always get from Mac users that want to play PC games they don't otherwise have access to.
Obviously the issue is that as a game developer say BioWare with customers on a wide range of platforms and you want to reach them all.. You can't release the same game on 'PC' if you include Windows, Mac and Linux because there's this misconception that Mac doesn't have that hardware and Linux isn't for AAA gaming its for hobbyists.
An external GPU could very easily turn just about anything into a gaming PC. One part of the Phil Spencer bullshit is that he won't say break out box. At the moment Xbox One's only ability to benefit from such a thing would be limited to USB 3.0 ports because Xbox One doesn't have more modern ports on it. Well fuck, release an Xbox One that does have more modern ports, Xbox One Slim, and add an optional External GPU and voila 4K ready, support for VR, runs anything a Windows 10 gaming PC should be able to run.
But I'm a hardware person so to me.. I expect developers for AAA games to deliver as many SKUs as they can for each platform relevant to the product they are trying to sell.
The platform that doesn't matter at this point is console. Both Xbox 360 and Xbox One are almost irrelevant because the hardware is so out dated.
Yet people think I'm joking to think Mac and Linux should be included in the 2016 and 2017 release calendars for AAA games.
I thought look..
If this sock-mouthed madman has made such a big issue out of this thing..
UWP is a fully open ecosystem, available to every developer, and can be supported by any store. Broad range of tools https://t.co/LqPcjRFzu9
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) 4 March 2016
Like honestly.. that's me. C# was where I wanted to finally enter game development with something simple and still expect that my code base.. which is currently still 0 due to all this moronic bullshit.. would be able to port to any windows platform, and mobile. It's finally 2016 and finally seems possible to make a universal app one that don't have to build several times so I can carry my game with me and won't have to deal with Apple, Google, Facebook's or Valve's bullshit. Frig its been so many years I've practically given up the idea of building my games due to all these platforms being separate and different lol.
But the other part of the argument was that I was just about to hit the part in my C# class where I could decide to go mobile, Windows or iOS.. e.g. make a decision.
There's no decision to make any code worth releasing has to be able to run natively on Android AND Windows. These tools which Phil talks about have to run two ways. Android natively on 64bit architectures and for Windows 10 devices.
I'm going to stay put on the fence about this issue while Microsoft fails to properly support Android and while Google keeps fucking around with Android.
It just makes it hard to care then that there's these bigger issues for real developers like BioWare lets say that has similar problems where they have to chunk up their efforts based on these platforms.
There's going to be a mass effect 4 for console(s), for Windows 10 devices.. and maybe Mac? I don't care. Linux? who knows.
They support PC and console and each different platform just means more work.
So I said look... what's the real issue though? some people that claim to be gaming on Windows are stuck on 32bit systems... that you can't really change. You need more modern hardware if you're that far behind.
If I'm BioWare and I'm looking at these people I'm thinking, these people are the real problem. It would be easier to support an Android (like a Shield native version of Mass Effect) user or iOS user because mobile hardware that runs 3D games will be running 64bit games with multicore GPUs.
And these fuckers are scraping by with Xp running what? 1 or 2 gigs of ram? No video card? 1024x768 screen? stereo sound..
Hopefully not anything that snaggletoothed but I mean they ARE PC gamers. They just have a PC running a defunct version of Windows.
People on Windows 7 aren't much better because we need to be running Directx 12. The 64bit users that have 8gigs or more system ram, and with a 512 meg or better PCIe GPU with at least some grunt factor to claim to be running a gaming PC, at least have enough RAM and graphics muscle to play games comparable to Xbox One.. They have a better argument but are still dragging their knuckles. Yes it might run Crysis.. It's still OLD.
I'm not seeing any really convincing arguments though for Windows 10 yet as the best development platform for games.. but yes there are good arguments on the software side. They're mostly all marketing bullshit meant to pull developers to Microsoft's platform so MS gets more licensing fees.
Being that hardware guy again... at issue is support for the hardware needed to power these games. That hardware can power gaming on Windows, Mac Linux AND mobile. If that hardware is VR, 7.1 or higher audio, 8+ gigs of ram into the realm of the ludicrous 32+gigs, Quad SLI or better..
People have been running multi-monitor setups for decades. People have been running 4K setups for a long time. The higher the resolution and more complicated the game you're running the more local processing power and graphics muscle you need. That's PC gaming.
This campaign MS is on to port apps from other programming platforms is most annoying because it should work both ways. Whatever's on PC could be pushed to other platforms... of course that's hard to sell since what other market is as ludicrous on the high end side as 'PC gaming'. The best part of it is PC gaming is mainstream enough that there are many games at that highest level that push hardware in that 18 month cycle which is why Xbox One obsolete at launch and just keeps looking shabbier every month it is on the market.
Again, compare Ark Survival Evolved on PC and Xbox.
What in the hell can get that Xbox One version on par with the PC version? Billions spent by Microsoft on that next step up? NO! It'll be shabby again in no time!
I want my game running on the programming language I'm familiar with and would be happy to port it. BUT frankly I want to support all platforms where the hardware I need to run that experience is supported. Plus if I can expect that the game will support new hardware as it hits the market.. great!
Where my game would have been a 2D Fragile Allegiance type RTS.. I want it running on mobile now more than anything.
BUT since it has taken so many years and false starts.. it would make more sense to have my game targeted at mobile VR platform. That's Android. That means 3D. That means hardware with grunt. Hardware that isn't really out yet or mainstream outside of the 600-800$ best of the best phones from Samsung.
It makes it easier to look at a 2D game on all platforms in the meantime and figure anything I can connect a set of VR glasses to would work in the short term. But it has to run the physics to simulate the orbital dynamics I need too.
Right now I can't connect a set of VR glasses to Xbox One. How sad is that?
And then Palmer Luckey goes and says retail Oculus Rift won't support Mac.
Why?!
I had a Mac user that beta tested Oculus tell me it is bullshit because OF COURSE Mac supports Oculus Rift.
Is it just a business decision of post Facebook rift?
Is the bullshit 699 price tag of retail rift bullshit? Yeah when it needs to be connected to a PC.... *rolls eyes*
Well.. here again.. I thought it was a simple question.
What's the middle ground Windows 10 hardware that MS isn't talking about, that should appeal to the massive user base of people MS can't get to upgrade to Windows 10.. and that don't want Xbox One and Xbox Live subscriptions.. but Facebook's rift is trying to shove down your throat and is somehow more capable than Mac Pro?
Are these the Windows 10 gaming PCs Phil Spencer is not talking about?
The ones that make a new Xbox moot (one with more powerful specs that make it less shabby)? ignoring the billions that would have to be spent to make a new Xbox that can stand toe to toe with a gaming PC that can run the best AAA PC games out there.. or at least games that can only run on PC.. like lets say Star Citizen with Rift or any VR in mind. Like are these the minimum hardware target AAA games should be aiming for?
If not.. I'm even more confused.