Gas Powered Games - Chris Taylor Interview @ CVG

[Dhruin]

Gas Powered Games' Chris Taylor has joined Warren Spector (and others) with a PC State of Play interview (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=152622) at CVG. Here's a sample:
In what areas do you think the PC gaming scene needs to develop, and as a developer what efforts are you making to move it in that direction?

Chris Taylor: That clear challenge for the PC (and honestly, for all platforms) is to come up with new and compelling designs which takes players to someplace new. We can't just keep making the same old games with incremental improvements in the graphics. It's back to evolution vs. revolution, and we are either a) on the brink of a revolution, or b) need to start one. As a developer we "chip away" on this challenge each time we develop a game. Our strategy is to develop something that is both exciting to the "gamer" and that also has financial viability to it on the business side. This is an ongoing challenge, but a challenge we are up to and are working to solve.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=3303)

[Corwin]

Seems like a lot of hype for M$ to me, rather than a serious interview!!

[abbaon]

The interview dedicate$ all of two question$ to Micro$ukkz-related topic$: one to DirectX 10, one to Game$ for Winbl0wz. Chri$ think$ highly of both initiative$. The interviewer $eem$ to like DirectX. I appreciate the $ocial role that the$e exaggerated di$play$ of cynici$m play on thi$ $ite, but they do get tiring after a while.

[TheMadGamer]

I have to agree that the interview read like something out of a PR-101 manual.

But unlike Abbaon, I am quite hopeful that Microsoft's 'Games for Windows' will succeed. I'm not a big fan of Microsoft's bully-tatics in the business world. But if there's one company that can market the PC as a 'branded' gaming platform, it's Microsoft. And the PC gaming industry could really benefit from the PC becoming a 'branded' platform.

[roqua]

I didn't actually read the interview, but the way I see it is the quicker AAA PC gaming dies, the better off I am with more indie rpgs being made. There is definitely a correlation between the amount of indie rpg and TBS games being made now that "rpg"s suck, compared to when they didn't. And the indie games look like they don't suck. Sorry AAA "rpg" fans, but I'm out for number one. I'm sure Gothic 4, DS 3, and ES 5 will kick some ass on the PS4 and xbox120000.89

[Reyla]

We can't just keep making the same old games with incremental improvements in the graphics.

Um, is this not the guy who made Dungeon Siege?

[Corwin]

Yep, sure is!! That puts the whole thing in perspective, doesn't it!! :)

[txa1265]

But unlike Abbaon, I am quite hopeful that Microsoft's 'Games for Windows' will succeed.
Well ... what the heck *other* hope do we have?!?!

[abbaon]

But unlike Abbaon, I am quite hopeful that Microsoft's 'Games for Windows' will succeed.
Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand.

[aries100]

I don't like the way every developer and publisher seem to say 'ehm, we 'are trying something new' every time they release a game. It is nice to see devs. etc. introduce
something new, if it has something to do with the way games are controlled or supports
the interface or helps the story along.

But this -'new for the sake of newness' things, I don't really like nor do I understand why it has to be that way. To the players, it matters most that the game is solid and stable, and you're able to do what the devs. said you're can do in the game.

[doctor_kaz]

Gas Powered Games's Dungeon Siege series is one of the most derivative franchises in all of gaming. This guy really has no business claiming that PC gaming needs to go to new places and that we need new experiences instead of just churning out the old ones with revised graphics.

I'm extremely cynical about this Games for Windows business. I haven't seen anything substantive come out of it yet. Microsoft is still pushing the X-Box 360 over the PC. I heard about this Games for Windows initiative during E3 this year. It was maybe 2 weeks later that I heard Peter Moore on a podcast bragging about how great it was that you could play real time strategy games on an X-Box 360 and therefore, you don't need a PC to do it anymore. Microsoft has nearly killed PC gaming with the X-Box.

When Vista launches, the only notable "launch title" for it will be Halo 2, a 2+ year old port from horribly outdated hardware that's over five years old now. If Vista were a gaming console, it would have the worst launch library in the history of consoles.

[TheMadGamer]

I'm extremely cynical about this Games for Windows business. I haven't seen anything substantive come out of it yet.

I've only been aware of the initiative for about 3 months or so. I'm not sure exactly when the initiative was introduced to the retail outlets but it's a safe bet it's been less than a year. So it really hasn't been enough time yet to be able to judge if it has been effective or not... I think to be able to judge its effectivness will take at least 2 to 3 full years given the scope of the effor.

[TheMadGamer]

Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand.

I apologize if I misunderstood your comment. Typically the $ being used to replace the letter 'S' when referring to Microsoft means that the person really doesn't like Microsoft all that much. And you used a lot of $ symbols... so I took your post in the most cynical way. Regardless, I didn't find your opinion in poor taste nor did I intend to disparage you.

[TheMadGamer]

Well ... what the heck *other* hope do we have?!?!

As far as any effort to 'brand' the PC there is no other hope. On the flip side, the PC has succeeded nearly 3 decades without being branded.

Clearly, Microsoft believes that the continued viability of PC gaming requires that the PC be branded... but it's possible they could be wrong. In my experience, most pundits that predict this or that about the PC gaming industry miss their mark.

Still, I think it would be a big plus for PC gaming to operate under some kind of branded identity that makes a PC game as recognizable, from a marketing perspective, to a console game.

If nothing else, the smaller, consistently sized PC gaming boxes of the last few years sure make organizing my collection of PC games a heck of a lot easier.

[TheMadGamer]

Gas Powered Games's Dungeon Siege series is one of the most derivative franchises in all of gaming.

I was thinking the exact same thing. I thought the next interview would be with Sadaam Hussein and his comments regarding his policies during his dictatorship that promoted human rights *rollseyes*

[abbaon]

Typically the $ being used to replace the letter 'S' when referring to Microsoft means that the person really doesn't like Microsoft all that much. And you used a lot of $ symbols... so I took your post in the most cynical way.
It was an allergic reaction to Corwin's use of "M$".

[Corwin]

You can get an innoculation for that!! :)

[User Name]

Taylor, who is responsible for DS, is talking about the future of pc gaming? What a retarded gaming website! This guy is exactly what the problem with pc rpg in general.

But if there's one company that can market the PC as a 'branded' gaming platform, it's Microsoft. And the PC gaming industry could really benefit from the PC becoming a 'branded' platform.

Are you shitting me? Your 'so-called' pc brand will be nothing more than console-pc combined monstrosity.

[abbaon]

Taylor, who is responsible for DS, is talking about the future of pc gaming? What a retarded gaming website! This guy is exactly what the problem with pc rpg in general.
Wouldn't that make him the ideal spokesman for the future of PC gaming? Assuming things remain as dreadful as they are, as I'm sure you expect them to.

[Lethal Weapon]

Could someone please remind me what was the last quality game GPG has developed, because I can't recall.

[Reyla]

How can the PC be branded when they are made of parts from 300 different companies and be interchanged by anyone with a screwdriver set?

[Dez]

Tell us intresting stories. Take us worlds which we don't know. Create an AI which can simulate real feelings. That would be a good start :) Gameplay will follow if the setting is somethung totally amazing. Most devs stress too much about features when they should be thinking how they could make storyline, AI and gameworld better.

[KazikluBey]

I just wish more developers would make their games work in natively in Linux, so I can get rid of Windows forever.

[TheMadGamer]

Are you shitting me? Your 'so-called' pc brand will be nothing more than console-pc combined monstrosity.

Your deep, profound insight sheds much light on my glaring igornance. Thank you. What would this forum do without such sage knowledge from you?

[TheMadGamer]

How can the PC be branded when they are made of parts from 300 different companies and be interchanged by anyone with a screwdriver set?

The PC is already 'branded' in that any game that lists some version of 'Windows' requires that the game be installed under such version of 'Windows.'

Microsoft wants to replace 'Requires Windows Version X" with the the 'Games For Windows' moniker. Nothing is really changing here as the same PC's that might have thousands of different parts, all interchangeable via a screwdriver, will run these games. It's just a cohesive marketing tool being employed to firm up the 'PC' as a branded gaming platform in the minds of consumers.

I find it all interesting. From everything I've read so far, I find that I'm on the side of the fence that hopes it will succeed.

[Corwin]

Ah, the 3rd side of the fence; always the best one to choose!! :)

[DArtagnan]

Chris Taylor always spoke as if he was the second coming in the gaming world.

This interview is actually one of the most modest I've seen him do.

The guy did Total Annihilation, and that was pretty innovative and groundbreaking at the time. Whether or not it was accidental, I can't say, but since that time I've seen nothing impressive originating from him. Supreme Commander should be called Supreme Clone. Of course, he's cloning his own game, but doing that and talking about innovation at the same time takes a particularly conceited mind.

I don't have a problem with Vista or the approach MS is taking with games. I don't think they want to kill PC gaming, nor do I think they'll do it with this Games for Windows thing. I don't know how succesful it will be, but I'm sure it won't hurt any.

My instincts tell me it will be a moderately succesful enterprise which will pave the way for further restoration of the once reigning platform of gaming.

[Alrik Fassbauer]

What I actually don't like at all is that "customer binding" they try to do. Develop great games to bind gamers to MY platform !

It began with directx, which put the race between OS/2 (remembery, anyone ? It's called eComStation nowadays) and Windows to an end - in terms of gaming.

The thought is clear yet effective : Gamers are the first people buying hardware they need - and the more demanding a game is, the more they are going to buy !

So ... directx bings both programmer and customer to the platform : The programmer by offering him an really easy way to program things (well, at least in SOME respect), anf gamers because they actually NEED directx as a run-time or they simply won't be able to run the game !

It's like giving drugs for free : The fisrt shots are free, but then the need arises.

Microsoft gives away directx to programmers to build great games with great features (not to forget great graphics), and these games ussing directx actually force the gamer to use windows as the preferred platform, because neither Linux nor OS/2 have directx, or something similar.

It's nothing else as a really long-term marketing decision to bing both customers and priogrammers, and in the end mostly customers.

[DArtagnan]

Having started gaming in the early 80s, I know what it means to be a gamer in a multiplatform era. Let me tell you, it's not advantageous to the passionate gamer.

I would much rather have a single unified platform to game on, than I would want to split it up between multiple operating systems, not to mention hardware platforms.

Sure, Windows used to be a pretty crappy OS, and indeed I consider XP the first reasonable system they put out. But fans of Linux, OS/2, Mac OS, are blinded by old hatreds they can't shed. Sure, certain features are present in those that aren't in Windows, and the same can be said in reverse. If you think demonstrating bugs in an OS is hard, perhaps you should consider the context. Windows is run by so many people, the amount of bugs found is greater naturally. I have no emotional investment in an OS, believe me. But I still managed to crash two version of Linux without even trying, and running a shell-based system with minimal software with stability isn't too impressive, really.

Windows is the only choice for gamers, and it will only help us get the most games with the least hassle. It could have been any OS, and I wouldn't give a crap, but it just happens to be the system of choice for developers. Fighting it based on inept observations and emotional investment will only hurt gamers in the end.

[Corwin]

Yep, Windoze is pretty crap, but it's currently the best crap we have for gaming!! Personally, I liked DOS!! :biggrin:

[DArtagnan]

Of all those I've tried in my time, and there are A LOT of those, AmigaDOS remains my all time favorite OS.