Elite / Frontier Some news on Elite 4 (and the Outsider)
- Thread starter amolang
- Start date
Dat's fightin' tawk in ma 360 lovin' household
Seriously though, I've got a powerful pc but it's my Xbox360 I use for games. If Elite IV comes out for both PC and XBox I'd get the Xbox version.
Maybe thats why the previous comment mentioned games being dumbed down for consoles. You must be a moron. PC games are superiour to console games in EVERY way. Whats wrong. Too many keys on a keyboard for you to cope with ?
That's not a very nice way to talk to other people. Here on this forum we keep a civil tone and you should too. All this "my console/PC is better than yours" is not the discussion we are having here so please take it somewhere else- or start a new thread with some proper arguments and less insults.
That's a bit harsh. Nowadays I play way more games on my console(s) than on my PC; simply because I can't afford to keep upgrading my PC so I can play the latest games in their highest quality. Certain games may (in the grand scheme of things) play better on PC - but I think we're getting to the stage now where almost all genres of games can be made for both console AND PC. Halo Wars is a prime example of a well made, console RTS - a genre which has typically sucked on consoles.
To say someone is a moron because they play more console games than PC games is just silly...
...or erm... a moro... hehe
In all fairness I haven't had to upgrade my PC in the last 18 months and I still play everything on high settings. The thing that console gaming has done, in my opinion, is save the gaming industry because it provides a much more definite stream of income because it's harder to pirate a console game.
What it has also done is caused games to not increase in hardware demand to any real appreciable amount. The majority of PC games are also available on consoles and as a result games houses develop for the most obvious income stream - that of the console gamer. PC gamers are slowly but steadily becoming an afterthought.
I understand the reasons, it makes perfect sense, but I don't like it...
Unless you're on the Internet's equivalent of Phekda or Riedquat, civility usually does a better job getting point across. And doesn't make you risk receiving an NN500 up your thruster, while we are at that. I have no trouble adjusting my behaviour between various forums - with the possible exception of Bethesda's official forums where the combination of ubiquitous, overwhelming stupidity of the most deranged sort and completely totalitarian moderators affectionately referred to as "Bethstapo" by forum goers shorted out my temper and got me banned, but that's another story - so you can probably do it too.
Still, I'm with the "PC is just better" crowd. True, console may be able to run pretty much anything designed for it out of the box and be cheaper, but:
Still, I'm with the "PC is just better" crowd. True, console may be able to run pretty much anything designed for it out of the box and be cheaper, but:
- the games for it are much more expensive which outweighs the cost of hardware in the long run
- keyboard and mouse are both, more precise and allow for more possible inputs - this outweighs any advantage in ergonomics pad may have for some types of game, especially given that poor ergonomics can be completely compensated for by practice, poor precision and lack of keys to bind can't.
- if the game allows any form of moding, the PC version is going to wipe the floor with console version shortly after release, and thoroughly annihilate it as the time passes. This applies to graphics as well as gameplay.
- all games have bugs, console players often have to suck it up when they get hit by one, while PC players can usually resort to console commands or fan-made fixes even in the absence of official patches.
- PC basically offers unbroken compatibility line from it's beginning, with help from various virtual boxes and other emulation software.
- Most people need a PC anyway. Most people don't need an ever-growing pile of consoles.
- :insert obligatory rant about consoles ruining the quality of gaming by catering for people who are too dumb to play any game requiring one or more functional brain cell and have too short attention span to play games longer than four hours here:
Last edited:
Anders makes a good point - we've taken this thread off subject which is a no-no.
Back on subject - I'm enjoying this sudden acceleration of Frontiers online presence and I do wonder if the Elite site is only a precursor to an Outsider site...
If they designed this on PS3 the PC contigent would be very happy with the end result, I have a PS3 and the only thing on a PC that I have seen that the PS3 lags behind is Crisis on a rediculously overpowered PC.
The visuals on Gran Tourismo 5 Prologue is truly breath taking on my 40" HDTV. I am in full awe with it, and I have seen gameplay of Heavy Rain which again is truly breath taking.
Crisis ofcourse is in a different league but remember, I saw Crisis on a show PC that nobody on these forums is likely to own. We are talking 3 top of the range GPUs, Quad Processor etc.
My main worry is the 360... but if they design it on either PC or PS3 then we should be fine, it should be dumbed down only for 360. I know that is harsh, but they should not restrict the two more powerful platforms. So far, when finances are taking into account, PS3 can stand up to the PC... but obviously when you are prepared to spend in excess of £2000 on a gaming setup then the PC comes into it's own.
(Please bear in ming I am talking about the Sony in-house exclusive games, not the ported 3rd party titles)
I've also found myself warming to consoles these days, but as a result I don't seem to get as many games completed. I still appreciate games on PC, but I don't have the computer to run them - though I've been using my laptop to play Starcraft and Baldur's Gate recently, and it's been a great blast from the past!
:insert casual games rant here:
May I recommend Planescape: Torment? Same engine as BG, but much less generic, much more story oriented, less infantile and, as the result, wipes the floor with BG.
Also, from modern PC exclusives, I recommend The Witcher, although I've heard that translation was very unkind to it.
Infantile?? Imoen will be very upset. BG was my first RPG, so holds a special place in my heart...a bit like Elite I guess. The slicker, shinier successors just seem like imitations (though the graphics in Oblivion were great...)
I'm with you on pc's though. Friends have got consoles and, yes, they are low-hassle, great graphics and I can see why they are taking over as the premier games platform. But I still like the tecchiness of pc's, and no console can manage strategy games such as Civilization.
Because RPG is one of the genres where slick and shiny doesn't matter a whole lot. Seriously, if you haven't already, do play PS:T. As long as you don't have problems with massive amount of text (descriptions and dialogue mostly), you'll love it. It uses the same engine as BG, but where BG was essentially your generic fantasy land with banal cliches abound, PS:T is intriguing, creative and seems to aim at deconstructing or twisting as much cliches as it can.
Sadly this is about the only good thing you can say about this game, especially if you're fan of the previous instalments of the series. And even that is debatable - what good are the most advanced shaders, parallax maps and whatnot, if the game conspicuously lacks meaningful art direction or idea how to use those resources? It's as if you painted stick figures with the most expensive artistic supplies you could find.
I don't think they'll take over. They seem to try do this since PS1, to no avail. Besides, apart from astronomy, the nature abhors vacuum - if the PC gaming niche is abandoned, someone will fill it.
Add simple observation, that the technology marches forward, but human perception doesn't - sooner or later we will reach the point where there will be impossible to further improve the graphics because of the limitations of the user, add several years and your average non-gaming rig will have such capabilities. It will certainly be interesting to watch, because huge corporations will desperately struggle to innovate in other areas. Those that loose in the competition or fail to adjust will crumble and go bankrupt.
Thanks DraQ I'll give it a go. I did try BG2, Icewind Dale I and II but found the latter a bit linear after BG. Like everything, it's probably better in the memory: I tried BG again recently and it reminded me just how much water effects have come on in the last few years!
Your last point is very interesting: we have been lucky to live in a time when Moore's law means that this year's kit really is much better than last year's. However, we are approaching photorealistic with both consoles and pc's, so this steady improvement is presumably going to plateau. It would be nice to think that this will force producers to put more time into gameplay and originality, but I'm not sure. It may be that the golden age of pc games is behind us as accountant-driven companies take over from enthusiastic geeks (DB, Will Wright, Sid Meier and a few others excepted!).
Or maybe I'm getting old and cynical!
Your last point is very interesting: we have been lucky to live in a time when Moore's law means that this year's kit really is much better than last year's. However, we are approaching photorealistic with both consoles and pc's, so this steady improvement is presumably going to plateau. It would be nice to think that this will force producers to put more time into gameplay and originality, but I'm not sure. It may be that the golden age of pc games is behind us as accountant-driven companies take over from enthusiastic geeks (DB, Will Wright, Sid Meier and a few others excepted!).
Or maybe I'm getting old and cynical!
Michael Brookes
Game Director
While I agree with you to a degree, Civilization Revolution is a good example of how strategy games can do well on a console. And I remember playing Panzer General on the first PlayStation. And UFO: Enemy Unknown.
The real issue isn't the capabilities of the consoles (the 360 and PS3 exceed that of your average PC, although top end PC's do have the advantage), it's about coming up with working control mechanisms. Just replicating keyboard and mouse on a controller doesn't work, so more novel control schemes need to be used such as voice or motion based systems. While they may not be their yet, they will be given time.
Michael
Michael Brookes
Game Director
i never completed it on the amiga mostly because the 'hidden movement' aliens turn could take up to an hour each! so that or the ps1 verson which took 30 seconds hmmm.............
i never completed it on the amiga mostly because the 'hidden movement' aliens turn could take up to an hour each! so that or the ps1 verson which took 30 seconds hmmm.............
Dont remember it beening that slow on the Amiga?.
Only about a couple of minutes for the terror attacks as I recall.