News Announcement: Elite: Dangerous coming to Xbox One

[mossfoot]

Have you ever considered that was done to make the game more scalable on lesser PC's? [FACEPALM]

The game HAS to work at a basic level for people with machines that are probably worse than the Xbox One, console ports have got absolutely nothing to do with it.

Indeed. I'm a PC player and was THRILLED to find out I could actually play ED on decent settings - Ultra if I don't mind a frame drop in stations and the like or Medium at 60fps. Had those beta graphics been kept, I'd probably be lucky to run the game on Low... if at all.

You want to know why I initially moved to the consoles in the first place, you're looking at the reason right there--the pressure for developers to make games that use the absolute max in processing power, leaving people who can afford only lower end systems in the dust... not to mention spend a console's worth on upgrading graphics cards or GPU just to keep up.

 

[Vladimar Rubicon]

Have you ever considered that was done to make the game more scalable on lesser PC's? [FACEPALM]

The game HAS to work at a basic level for people with machines that are probably worse than the Xbox One, console ports have got absolutely nothing to do with it.

Ok, so unlike other games that can still be played on lower-end PC's, albeit at a lower resolution, that can be adjusted by the player, ED just dumbed down all graphics? So for example, my settings of Ultra used to mean Ultra, but now are more like average... I guess I'm not understanding the logic here.

I believe the Devs when they say ED was designed for the PC... but Everyone wants to make money, so I am all for these guys cashing in, but once the announcement was made that Xbox is in the cards we all know that will mean ED is going to be dumbed down to a kids game. That's fine, its the way the world works.

 

[Druid]

Direct x 12 , small pc's for your tv that are upgradeable already exist . Consoles are dead if you cant upgrade them , long live the PC.

PC's will soon destroy the console market with their new TV box formats that sit next to your sky box . Every few years upgrade the cpu or graphics card and your done. Modular PC's are the future , consoles are not.

My opinion only of course.

 

[mossfoot]

I believe the Devs when they say ED was designed for the PC... but Everyone wants to make money, so I am all for these guys cashing in, but once the announcement was made that Xbox is in the cards we all know that will mean ED is going to be dumbed down to a kids game. That's fine, its the way the world works.

We all know, huh? Care to back up that claim with some examples? I'd like to see some PC games where, once ported after the fact, its glorious complexity that could only be appreciated on a PC was reduced to something on part with Super Mario - and that went on to affect the PC version as well for good measure?

I'm honestly curious if this has ever happened in the history of gaming. Oh, I can find dumbed down versions for consoles, like Civilizations Revolutions - but that was designed from the ground up as a console game, not a port of an existing PC game.

 

[devastat]

once the announcement was made that Xbox is in the cards we all know that will mean ED is going to be dumbed down to a kids game. That's fine, its the way the world works.

You are entitled to your prejudice against consoles.

 

[Varrag]

I haven't seen many threads complaining about the UI up to now, but now suddenly that there is an Xbox version on the cards, the UI sucks.... I'm not sure why this suddenly changed.

That's probably because most of the people around were tolerating clumsy, bland UI, same as many other things which are widely considered to be a temporary placeholders or the most basic foundation for things that should come. But now, some of us are not so sure. Are we actually playing a console game which just "happened" to be beta-tested and released for PC first?

 

[Vladimar Rubicon]

Can you play flight simulators on a console? I mean FLIGHT SIMULATORS.. with a yoke, and peddles, and actual buttons and switches, and analog inputs? No? hmmm.... I wonder why that is. And I wonder how they would keep developing the PC version of this game and also keep it's flight immersion while at the same time having a console version in the same universe. You can't improve the Console...so the only way would be to dumb down the PC.


Devastat: lol prejudice against consoles would be like hating toy hammers because I can't use them to build a birdhouse.

 

[undecidedadrian]

You are entitled to your prejudice against consoles.

Is it prejudice though?

The PS4 and Xbox One with it's unified memory and difereing architecture has meant some pretty spectacular unoptimised rubbish PC versions of cross platform games that have required stupid high PC requirements, especially with GPU memory requirements.

Also this announcement now has kicked the whole linux question dead in the water especially with the comment that Xbox One players will be playing with PC and Mac users.

As far as I can see MS is paying for this and what frontier is getting will be help with Windows 10 compatability and most likely help with the Win 10/Xbox One cross play.

I believe this is an awful call and from now on I will never kickstart a game ever again as it all seems to be broken promises and changes in direction,

 

[devastat]

There is no technical limitation why it wouldn't be possible to play a FLIGHT SIMULATOR on a console.

Maybe some of you recognize this?

 

[Varrag]

and actual buttons and switches,

You mean like... real, functioning keys in the cockpit, DCS-style? Blasphemy! Who would want that?

 

[Vladimar Rubicon]

No offense meant - seriously- I'm honestly not trying to fight here and don't mean to be in any way demeaning- I use sarcasm a lot, so take that into consideration-

But! you can tell when a person hasn't played with real analog controls like are needed for Flight sims. When I play ED with my home cockpit setup, it is very similar to Flight Sims like Xplane- which can only be controlled well with analog inputs. The space ships handle like planes- without air/wind variables of course) but if I had to play ED with little finger controls to move about space, it wouldn't be any different to me than playing solitaire on my iphone.

 

[oldmanmojo]

Can you play flight simulators on a console? I mean FLIGHT SIMULATORS.. with a yoke, and peddles, and actual buttons and switches, and analog inputs? No? hmmm.... I wonder why that is. And I wonder how they would keep developing the PC version of this game and also keep it's flight immersion while at the same time having a console version in the same universe. You can't improve the Console...so the only way would be to dumb down the PC.


Devastat: lol prejudice against consoles would be like hating toy hammers because I can't use them to build a birdhouse.

There was a mech game that had a $200 extra controller for it that had way more keys and buttons than your stick and throttle set up. So yes it is completly possible and has in fact happened. The consoles have already had their cpu and gpu power boosted since launch. Not like spending another $500 on the newest video card like I am sure you do every year, but still improved.
Does anyone remember when gamers just got along? I thought the PS and Xbox fanboys were bad enough but the PC elitist are way worse. Problem with that is, you are older supposed to be more mature and have just as much hatred and spite as the 13 year olds that you are afraid of.

 

[Vladimar Rubicon]

^^^ I don't think I'm afraid of 13 year olds..... wait, are you talking about 13 year old clowns? Ok...if you're talking 13 year old clowns...then yeah...

 

[mossfoot]

Can you play flight simulators on a console? I mean FLIGHT SIMULATORS.. with a yoke, and peddles, and actual buttons and switches, and analog inputs? No? hmmm.... I wonder why that is. And I wonder how they would keep developing the PC version of this game and also keep it's flight immersion while at the same time having a console version in the same universe. You can't improve the Console...so the only way would be to dumb down the PC.

So, what, you're saying that at some point down the road you imagine ED proudly announcing "Good news, PC players, we've decided to simplify the flying so you can share the same experience as your Xbox cousins. Throw out your HOTAS and grab a Xbox controller for the true ED experience!"

What exactly is the doomsday scenario you envision? The game as it currently is CAN be played on an XBox controller. People already do this. Ergo it can be ported to the Xbox with NO change to the game.

People also use HOTAS, people also use pedals and head tracking and voice commands and all kinds of other add ons. And there is no logical reason that changes would be made that would make this impossible in the future. It's just inputs and mapping, and it was always an option--just like using mouse and keyboard is an option.

I just don't see what you're worried about or how it could even happen.

 

[oldmanmojo]

^^^ I don't think I'm afraid of 13 year olds..... wait, are you talking about 13 year old clowns? Ok...if you're talking 13 year old clowns...then yeah...

Finally something we agree on, clowns.

 

[Spookyy]

Does anyone remember when gamers just got along? I thought the PS and Xbox fanboys were bad enough but the PC elitist are way worse. Problem with that is, you are older supposed to be more mature and have just as much hatred and spite as the 13 year olds that you are afraid of.

Console ports been destroying PC games for 10 years maybe? Just one example: FPS got popular on consoles and suddenly 65 in field of view was set as standard and now they port it with that crap FOV to PC all the damn time. (PC standard WAS 90 before)

 

[BigMik]

... that will mean ED is going to be dumbed down to a kids game.

I hesitate to say this as it tells my age bracket, but I WAS a kid when I played the original Elite (and I suspect quite a few of us were). As a result I found it very frustrating having to constantly create new commanders. However, the original Elite is one of the reasons I am still a gamer. I don't see why E: D has to be so complicated that a determined 'kid' can't enjoy playing it. Also I don't recall the original having a huge amount of content either... I enjoyed this, I suspect console gamers will enjoy this.

 

[Nikita]

We all know, huh? Care to back up that claim with some examples? I'd like to see some PC games where, once ported after the fact, its glorious complexity that could only be appreciated on a PC was reduced to something on part with Super Mario - and that went on to affect the PC version as well for good measure?

I'm honestly curious if this has ever happened in the history of gaming. Oh, I can find dumbed down versions for consoles, like Civilizations Revolutions - but that was designed from the ground up as a console game, not a port of an existing PC game.

I think the worry people have isn't so much that the PC version will be "dumbed down" after the fact, as much as there being this notion that features have already been cut from the game that we are playing now. It is not like the Xbox version fell out of a tree somewhere. If the game is supposed to be released on console this year, then it will have been in development for quite a while. Mr Braben himself says, that the console version was planned from the beginning. ( Eurogamer Interview) I think people feel that because the plan was to make a console version of Elite all along, that for the sake of parity features which are beyond the capacity of the console simply weren't considered for the PC. Furthermore, people fear that future expansions to the game won't be able to be as good as they could be if the developers have to take the consoles into consideration as well. I do of course understand Frontier's wish to make more profit with Elite and so the move to the consoles makes sense. However, I feel that, as usual, things were not communicated effectively. This was the plan all along and people should have been aware of this.

FYI, here is a quote from the original FAQ of the kickstarter (it is the very first question) :

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: "Can you release "Elite: Dangerous on the (iPhone/iPad/Console/Mac/Linux/Oculus Rift/Raspberry Pi) platform ?

A: Yes. It would be great. The PC version comes first though, and then we will look at the demand for other platforms. If the game exceeds its target, then there will be scope to increase the number of platforms. We will discuss with the backers in the design discussion forum, and how to address the issues that will arise, but I have every hope that we will cover some or all of these platforms.

kickstarter page


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Really, what this means is that the game has exceeded its targets and we should be celebrating that fact.

 

[Fnool]

I don't understand any worries about the game being dumbed down. I'll get slated for saying this but you need content before you can dumb it down, what could they possibly change?

 

[Pibbles]

We are hardly Beta testing JUST for the console version, we are also beta testing for the PC version as well .. And at no point did FD disguise the fact that ED was going to be anything but an ongoing development (ala Minecraft)



You really dont understand how real life works then do you ... David and the rest of FD are not just creating ED or any other game for the sake of it, they have bills to pay the same as the rest of us do as well.

Of course I understand how life works. I run multiple businesses of my own and last year sold one more valuable than FD themselves. Sometimes unpopular decisions are made to deliver a strategy, that was my whole point. If you read my posts fully you will see I am stating that going for consoles is a good thing for FD and therefore ED fans, but inevitably it will be seen as a cash grab or dilution by some. There is after all strong market precedent.

You are taking one part of a sentence out of context, and in fact the sentence you part-quoted was clearly attributed to a third party.

I merely take issue with what I view as using paying PC players as beta testers to get the game into console-worthy shape (which it is still not). But as I say, FD are hardly alone in this, it's something I see as an industry-wide issue and can easily be stopped by gamers refusing to buy unfinished PC releases.