One more lucasarts says good bye to PC

I can't understand why this Force unleased must be x-box exclusive. Why not make pc version and earn more money? Star wars is a huge thing on pc too.
 
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As a fan of lucasarts games I was really looking forward to force unleased but that game has been removed from pc. .
Removed? As far as I know it was *never* intended for PC, never promised, and any questions have always been rebuffed since it was announced.

So while I might lament that LucasArts has failed to deliver a solid new Jedi Knight style game in more than 4 years, I do not claim that it has gone back on its' word in this case.
 
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I can't understand why this Force unleased must be x-box exclusive. Why not make pc version and earn more money? Star wars is a huge thing on pc too.

I wonder the same.

But - developing an PC game consumes more development money which can be saved by NOT developing it - leaving MORE profits as the result !

This is another - imho - mosaic stone in how LucasArts thinks.

The only game they probably were right in not releqsing for the PC is Obi Wan, which I hear is *really* crap (heard it from two people who actually played it).


Ah, and when I'm at it: I surely know I'm weird, but in my mind (and I'm German where the Pc market sill is bigger than the console market) I might come to the conclusiion that LucasArts "forces me" to buy a console - because I'm a fan.

This sounds weird, doesn't it ? It doesn't even sound reasonable.

But I can get the impression if you considfer that I didn't see any sense in buying a console this far, because games for the PC were so good I never saw any need in buying console games.

And, of course, no-one actually "forces" me to buy a console. But on the other hand fans do strange things - even fans of local baseball/football/soccer/whatever sports. ;)

In a way - and this is surely getting even more weird - this has something to do with "consumer binding". A company (or a sports club in this case) has a more steady income when it manages to "bind" customer to it - that's why franchises exist. Shrek and the stuff. If you manage to get fans of a certain ... product ... then you can bet on it that they'll buy the next ... product ... simply because they are fans ! Or fans go to the next football game, because they are fans of one particular club. Some even travel through the whole country to attend every game, follw a famous band to every concert (example: Genesis, I actually read from someone who did it) and so on.

LucasArts tries to bing fans with the Star wars brand - or rather: tries to appeal at them. "Here, here, this is our new Star Wars game ! Aren't you interested in learning how it plays ?"

If "the force is strong" enough, then they might even be able to lure fans away from PCs towards consoles ( side-step: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin ) - if only they have a new, exiting and fascinating product that makes the fan drool so much that he or she wants to buy and play it so badly it doesn't matter which platform.
 
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I might come to the conclusiion that LucasArts "forces me" to buy a console - because I'm a fan.

You need look no further than my avatar to see my Star Wars fanboy status ... and perhaps someday they will release a Jedi Knight style game I need to play and not on PC ... that might tip it, but not for the stuff they're pushing now.
 
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But - developing an PC game consumes more development money which can be saved by NOT developing it - leaving MORE profits as the result !

This is another - imho - mosaic stone in how LucasArts thinks.
...and developing for two systems (or porting from one to the other) is another way of sinking money; it certainly drives the point of break-even towards the ceiling.

Well, avoiding unnecessary expenses actually is quite clever... if you're a company aiming at making money (which, I assume, most gaming companies are ^_^). If Lucas Arts was a charitable organization, on the other hand, it might be different... might.
 
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I'm a fan, too, I have almost all of the older PC games, and a *lot* of novels - plus I'm collecting these figures to some extend (which becomes less and less nowadays).

Besides: Look at this: http://yakspub.wordpress.com/
 
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Does anyone else smell that foul odor surrounding this issue?

Smells like Micro$oft.

Atleast the official response smells like cow dung:

Quote:
While The Force Unleashed will be coming to higher-end consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there will be no Wii or PC versions for the time being. "At this time, we are not planning a PC release," said Blackman. He said that current PC hardware constraints would prevent the game from reaching a broad audience and added, "The minimum spec for a PC version right now is just too high."
Source: TGDaily

IMHO a rather lame excuse from SW:TFU's project lead when one considers the fact that the game is being released on Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS and N-Gage. The reasoning would hold more water with me if they were only going to release the game for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. But of course that isn't the case and you didn't ask for a good reason...

Todays medium pc is more-or-less equilavent of a xbox360/PS3. Highend PC is better even. Not to forget that they develop the game for ps2 and cellphones the excuse really looses its base.

With Jim Ward (marketing & advertising background) at the helm, LucasArts believes that consoles and handhelds are the way forward and I can't really argue with that decision based on the sales numbers I've seen. So I expect they won't release much in the way of PC games for at least the next couple of years, excepting any new SW MMORPG they may release.

Thats most likely the real reason. Som CEO has vision that goes beyond the horizon - PC is dead! There are many reasons why they might want that and perhaps they got some "support" from MS and Sony who knows.

http://www.petitiononline.com/g5d4iu5f/petition.html

Thers over 13000 names on the petition so far but like most petitions in the internet I dont think it really amounts to anything:

TheForce.net recently spoke to a LucasArts representative who spoke about the much wished-for PC version of The Force Unleashed. They did not respond very positively.

“It definitely will not be coming to PC.”

Many fans will probably be very disgruntled over this. The question was asked because HMV.co.uk had listed a PC version of the game on their site.

You can discuss this story in the forums.
 
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Is this Lec-marketing fella new on business or a non-gamer? Any gamer should know that Jedi knight games for example are some of the most successfull sw-games ever and yet he can't see the potential of pc-games? Star wars franchise is like a golden eggs laying chicken. Its like impossible to fail getting rich with it, unless you are an incompetent fool . Really, is there a cooler concept than a jedi with a lightsaber? I don't think so. What will it take for suits @ lec to grasp it and make an other jedi knight or kotor?
 
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Hers a cold example (comment from another gamedev) how microsoft can fully control the pc game market simply by using their console as an extortion device:

The PC version will never be released if MS refuse to concept approve the game for the XB360 due to there being a PC version. What means is that, rather than ship a PC version, I would finish the XB360 development and ship that instead because obviously the XB360 version is more beneficial to us.

Sometimes MS will allow the PC version of a game to be released a short while after the XB360 version. That being the case, if they don't say "no PC version, ever", then the PC version may follow after the XB360 version. Given how that works, I wouldn't expect to see it inside of a year after the XB360 version.

http://www.3000ad.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49000001&st=20

They can dictate what games are released on PC and what are not - developers must follow their orders because they have no choice. Players must buy ms console because ms does not allow the game to be released on PC.

Ultimately of course microsoft wants maximum control over the game market and gamers. That way they can force people to pay more money for simpler games and crappier boxes. Of course we are not quite there yet and it might not ever go that far.

Allthough I have to say it seems that many big titles are released only for PS3/xbox360 and rest of the platforms get reduced versions of the game - if any release at all. Excluding pc of course which version might be superior to the PS3/xbox360 -combo but thats of course just one extra reason to remove it from the release list.

Just hope sony stays in the game. If it was only xbox, pc and wii it would be a very sad state of affairs. PC would be kicked out instantly and I dont think wii could be an equal competitor.
 
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Wii directs imho to a rather different nice - not the "real gamer", but rather "family-friendly".

So ... if MS wants to kick Sony out of business, then we can say:; They want full control of the "real gamer". The one who spends mmoney - money for the newest hardware, for example.

Social control.



By the way, I often wondered if MS developed MS mice and keyboards only for not having to pay money for them to different companies ? Keeping the money in the house ?
 
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Wii directs imho to a rather different nice - not the "real gamer", but rather "family-friendly".

I don't get the distinction ... so people who like the Wii aren't real gamers? Or real gamers don't play Wii? It is the top selling 'next gen' console despite being constantly out of stock ... outselling the X360 by 25% total sales despite being released a year later.
 
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Well ... Would you expect someone with a love for Unreal or WWII games playing Endless Ocean ? Or Mario Party ?

That was rather the point.

I must agree that Resident Evil isn't a "family game", but in general when I look at games for the Wii I get the impression that no publisher would dare do these colourful, joyful, happy-looking fun-games for the PC.

On the opposite, the PC has merely becomer an "action platform" for me, all of the old games we had in 10 years ago have died out, Jump & Run for example, or Lemmings. I just can't remember and imagine any colourful, simple, happy-looking fun games for the PC anymore, especially since the total mass of war games (especially WWII games) have overrun everything else.

I call Beyond Good & Evil a gem,. because nowadays no-one else does these games for the PC anymore. Or Commander Keen, or Zanzarah or Whacky Wheels or ...
 
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Well ... Would you expect someone with a love for Unreal or WWII games playing Endless Ocean ? Or Mario Party ?
I love to play them all, but I guess I'm not the target group.
 
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lol :D

Yes, maybe. ;)
 
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Some points:

Most games are now written with multi-format 'engines. You put data into your PC workstation/server and you pump out 360, PS3 and PC working code. Then you 'tidy up' each version depending how much money you want to spend.

When a game is written with an engine, the difference between a PS3 only, for example, and a PS3,PC and 360 game is under $1 million. So if a single format game costs $4 million, a multi-format costs $5 million. This means not having a version come out on a certain format is mostly about politics.

It will be this 'multi-format' type gaming, ie, every genre in every game, that will ultimately kill off hard core gaming. This move to multi-format now makes genres non logical. If Bioware's Baldur's Gate is an RPG,how can Mass Effect be an RPG? If Tomb Raider is an arcade adventure why is Jade Empire an RPG? STALKER si said to have RPG 'elements', Half Life 2 has been described as an adventure with shooter elements. So if you are an RPG fan what can you believe any more?

As hard-core games become more bland,trying to please everyone but pleasing fewer and fewer, so casual and retro gaming will continue to grow.

You could say that 10 million DOSBox downloads is an indictment on modern PC gaming (as in: If modern games were plentiful and of great quality we would not be playing our older games!), the large growth in retro game downloads on the XBox Live and Sony Arcade services is the same.

I believe a quiet revolution is taking place and because of the actions of the video games business, hard core gaming is coming to an end and future gaming will be Wii, DS, and i-phone related, rather than PC, 360 and PS3 related.

Thank god I have a collection of 550 PC games, 335 Commodore 64 games (and my real C64 and 1541 floppy!) and 110 PSX games (played through emulation) (including every single C64/DOS LucasArts game, from Rescue on Fractalus to Battlehawks 1942!)!!! with most of these games being of the strategy/sim/rpg/adventure/wargame variety, I have many years of great gaming ahead of me even if the video business closed down tomorrow!

As a PC gamer, so few titles are released now (my last purchase was Fallout 3, 4 months ago!) I have no choice but to play games from my collection more and more. DOSBox and PSX emulation makes it easy!

So watch out hard-core gamers. Our world may be coming to an end. Get your favourite older games of ebay, while they are still cheap, because as modern gaming gets safer and safer, so many more gamers will be looking to their old games for entertainment.

After all, how many years do you have to go back to play a PC game that was written as a PC game from the ground up?!
 
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Piracy is probably as solid a reason as any to postpone the PC release. Once the hype for the console version is over you can release a port (at little extra cost) to cater to the fans who dont have a console...
 
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Piracy is probably as solid a reason as any to postpone the PC release. Once the hype for the console version is over you can release a port (at little extra cost) to cater to the fans who dont have a console...

Piracy is always brought up for PC, but it is much larger on console, because of rental. In any event, I cannot see how the PC games industry can complain about piracy and at the same time talk about Oblivion and Fallout 3 and STALKER and Witcher and others all selling 3-5 million units! That's as good as a decent hit on console! I don't see how those sales could be reached if piracy was so rampant!

Give PC gamers more games of the quality of Fallout 3, Oblivion and The Witcher (all full-on RPG's please note!) and shooters of the quality of STALKER and you would see more multi-million selling PC games! It's just that we have to wait years between titles like this, with a lot of fairlyb average stuff inbetween!
 
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Piracy is always brought up for PC, but it is much larger on console, because of rental. In any event, I cannot see how the PC games industry can complain about piracy and at the same time talk about Oblivion and Fallout 3 and STALKER and Witcher and others all selling 3-5 million units! That's as good as a decent hit on console! I don't see how those sales could be reached if piracy was so rampant!

Not only rental, but used game purchases which is HUGE in the console world but almost non-existant in the PC. Game companies don't make a dime off used games sold by EB. It's not piracy, but its effect is the same.
 
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Piracy is always brought up for PC, but it is much larger on console, because of rental. In any event, I cannot see how the PC games industry can complain about piracy and at the same time talk about Oblivion and Fallout 3 and STALKER and Witcher and others all selling 3-5 million units!

Fact is that industry makes games more for consoles than PC. And the reason is surely obvious: More money from console games. Im pretty the developers have all the numbers to back it up.

One reason Ive seen is that problem is not the few big hits but average mediocre games. You can make more profit from average console game than average PC game. Thats what matters most. Very few games are actually superhits ala oblivion or witcher.

Few comments from game devs and other data:
Cevat Yerli of Crytek, the makers of Far Cry, Crysis and Crysis Warhead has publicly stated:

We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy, to the degree [that PC gamers who] pirate games inherently destroy the platform. Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we won’t have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future.

John Carmack, often called the 'father of PC gaming', and co-founder of id software, makers of the Doom and Quake series, recently stated:

It's hard to second guess exactly what the reasons are. You can say piracy. You can say user migration, but the ground truth is just that the sales numbers on the PC are not what they used to be and are not what they are on the consoles.

Cliffy B, lead creator at Epic Games, makers of the Unreal Tournament and Gears of Wars series, has been quite outspoken on this topic:

Here's the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software. Therefore, high-end videogames are suffering very much on the PC. Right now, it makes sense for us to focus on Xbox 360 for a number of reasons. Not least PCs with multiple configurations and piracy.

Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games, makers of Supreme Commander, also chimes in with his assessment:

...people are going to stop making [games] on the PC because of my earlier point, what's happened on the PC with piracy. The economics are ugly right now on the PC. You're not going to see these gigantic, epic investments of dollars on the PC when it just doesn't work. The economics have to work. You're going to see those investments made on the console side and it's going to become a more console-centric investment. And then you're going to see them ported back over to the PC and that creates a different experience on the PC.

Robert Bowling, Community Manager at Infinity Ward, the makers of games such as Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4, provided a fairly blunt opinion on the issue. He made a blog post entitled 'They Wonder Why People Don’t Make PC Games Any More', the title of his post along with the contents clearly linking the move away from PC game development with piracy:

On another PC related note, we pulled some disturbing numbers this past week about the amount of PC players currently playing Multiplayer (which was fantastic). What wasn’t fantastic was the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game on stolen / cracked CD keys of pirated copies (and that was only people playing online).... the amount of people who pirate PC games is astounding.

The people quoted above are some of the most successful and prominent PC developers of our time. Virtually every PC gamer has played one of their games, and all of them have demonstrated a high degree of dedication to PC development over the years. I doubt any of them would suddenly start abandoning PC development based only on flimsy information and false perceptions. The logic of their argument is quite sound: if the same game has the potential to sell many times more copies on a particular platform because sales are not being undermined by piracy, then quite clearly the priority of the developers and publishers should be to focus on that platform in their design, development and marketing decisions. As with any other business, games developers and publishers want to best accommodate the needs of the majority of their paying customers. Unfortunately all of these developers have received public abuse for making the above claims, the problem being that on the surface the disparity between PC and console game sales appears to have nothing to do with piracy. It seems to be a simple case of there being many times more console gamers than there are PC gamers. It's only when we take a closer look at the available data that it becomes apparent that things are not quite that simple.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html
 
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