Quake IV Confirmed For QuakeCon

Gamespot has the word that Quake IV will get some face time at QuakeCon this year. id CEO Hollenshead released the information at the Xbox Doom 3 launch event. From the article: "Over the past few years, PC game sales have either declined a little bit or stayed relatively flat, while console game sales have seen mostly double-digit growth. I don't know if we'll be releasing multiple SKUs at the same time, but as for PS3 and Xbox 2 and so on, yes, we will continue our development effort on the consoles."

Comments

PC game decline

[OAB_X]

A lot of the decline in PC games is the lack of marketing, lack of (good) original titles, and high initial cost to get started with it.

Lots of console games are being released on the PC, and a lot of PC games released on the consoles. Consoles attract more money to developers because there is a larger installed userbase, PC Gamers need to be a bit more tech savvy then their console brothers and sisters to get games to work, and the keyboard/mouse configuration is less intuitive then a gamepad.

Having said that, I like PC Gaming MUCH better.

Re:PC game decline

[Black Pete]

PC Gamers need to be a bit more tech savvy then their console brothers and sisters to get games to work

I can't agree with this enough. When you want to play a game on the console, all you have to do is walk into a store, buy the game, unwrap the box, pop a bottle of beer, pop the disc into the console, and you're playing.

This is not the case with the PC. You've got to have the latest drivers, make sure the drive is clutter-free, no background apps hogging all CPU resources, etc. before you finally pop in the disc to begin "installing" the game (and experience all the joys that goes with installing any game - CD shuffling, failed installs, etc.) I'm not even going to touch the Steam issue...

Why can't PC games just allow you to pop in a disc and begin playing? These days pretty much everyone should have a high-speed CD reader at the very least, if not a DVD drive, so the "games run faster on the HDD" excuse isn't a valid reason these days.

I consider myself a hardcore gamer -- heck I write game software for a living -- but these days I find myself buying console games specifically to avoid the hassles of PC gaming installation issues. After a long day of staring at code on a monitor, the last thing I want to do is tinker around with computers when I get home.

Re:PC game decline

[nc_yori]

As a programmer you should know that CD/DVD read speeds can't even compare to HDD read speeds. Playing from disc also hurts the issue of disk swapping ("Please insert Cinematics Disc.....Please insert Play Disc).

It's true that installation can be a pain in the ass, but playing from HDD means that I can bust out an ISO and put away my easy-to-break CD/DVD media in a safe place.

That also begs the issue of additional content. It's no trouble to download or purchase new content for games, or even to make my own. What if I want the new levels for Halo 2 but don't want to shell out for Xbox Live? I'm SOL.

I think this just proves that PC vs. console is an issue of preference. IMHO, the decline of PC gaming comes from lack of interest from publishers. How much longer does the PC port of GTA:San Andreas take to come out than the PS2 version? Will Devil May Cry 3 ever be on PC? What about Metal Gear Solid 3?

Re:PC game decline

[Satertek]

Why can't PC games just allow you to pop in a disc and begin playing?

LiveCD Linux distros have really brought out the possiblility for this on the PC. Already there are LiveCDs with games like America's Army and the Return to Castle Wolfenstein expansion. Game saves could be stored on USB sticks or over the internet.

All it would take is one big company to step in a try it. And since PC games need to switch to the DVD format anyway, there would be plenty of space for the LiveCD Linux version, in addition to the Windows version of the game.

After looking around for any sign of life in this area, I couldn't find any. I'll guess that the game patches proved too much an inconvience, as the creator would have to remake the LiveCD after every update. It still looks like a promising area that should be looked into, however.

Linux aside, this should be an option in Windows as well. I personally would not use it, as I like being able to play games without scrambling for CDs, but it would be nice for games played infrequently.

Re:PC game decline

[Elranzer]

heck I write game software for a living -- but these days I find myself buying console games specifically to avoid the hassles of PC gaming installation issues.

How's Electronic Arts been hiring these days?

(Seriously, though, I agree with you. And I'd like to take it a step further.... these issues of swapping Play and Cinema discs, multi-disc installs, etc, would all be moot if the PC game companies would just switch to DVD-ROM. I sometimes wonder why I even have a DVD-ROM in my computer. Hasn't DVD technology been out for what, 10 years already?? Most people have a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo or even a DVD+/-RW drive in their computer, let alone a DVD-ROM drive at all, so I don't think that's an issue. Why would a company who designs games specifically for $500 graphics cards worry that the PC gamer might not have a $20 DVD-ROM drive to play it from??)

Re:Consoles

[mcslappy]

one example of a ps2 keyboard can be found here: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/bre/blacplay2key.html mouse: http://www.ubid.com/actn/opn/getpage.asp?AuctionId =601416162&s=uwb70000 adapter for keyboard and mouse for xbox http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=&product s_id=5438 these products do exist, and i suppose if you didn't own a computer, it might be a pretty decent deal

Quake IV...

[Geraden]

but still no Duke Nukem Forever.

Re:Mouse and keyboards

[imitier]

As someone who until recently did all his FPS gaming on consoles, I have to say I prefer a dual-analog controller over a mouse and keyboard. Having recently built a PC that can play games like Half-Life 2 and Unreal Tournamentl 2004, I'm catching up on a backlog of PC gaming, but I find the mouse and keyboard combo to feel somewhat unnatural, and a lot less immersive, than a console-style dual analog controller (PS2 or XBox, take your pick.) I understand that the mouse and keyboard is probably faster and more accurate, especially if that's what you're used to, but even with that in mind, it just doesn't feel good to me. I spend all day working with a mouse and keyboard -- I don't want to use the same equipment to play games. Playing FPS with dual sticks just feels more immersive to me -- the increased precision of a mouse and keyboard doesn't make up for the loss of immersion.

Now, that's just my opinion, and I wouldn't claim to speak for anyone else on the matter, but all the same I wouldn't be so sure that everyone playing FPS on consoles is in a rush to get a mouse and keyboard set up.

Re:Mouse and keyboards

[kafka47]

As someone who until recently did all his FPS gaming on consoles, I have to say I prefer a dual-analog controller over a mouse and keyboard.

I would invite you to bring your favourite FPS game and your dual-analog controller online... and play against us PC-based mouse users anytime. :-)

I wouldn't be so sure that everyone playing FPS on consoles is in a rush to get a mouse and keyboard set up

They will if it means not losing anymore. :-)

/Kafka

Re:Consoles

[CronoCloud]

Why do you think the Playstation 2 has USB ports?

There's even an offically badged Playstation 2 mouse and keyboard: SCPH-10230 SCPH-10240, which are unavialable in stores.

Re:More Space Marines

[edwdig]

Quake 1 felt totally different than Doom. Quake's atmosphere felt medieval. Replace the shotgun with a crossbow and you could've released Quake as a sequel to Heretic.

Quake 2 I can't really comment on. To me it felt totally different than Quake 1, and never managed to hold my interest past level 2 or so.

Are you kidding????

[SvnLyrBrto]

> and the keyboard/mouse configuration is less intuitive
> then a gamepad.

If you're NOT kidding, you're completely out of your mind.

Back in college, I had a group of non-CS-major friends who thought they were hot stuff on Goldeneye, for the N64. As I understand it, Goldeneye is STILL considered just about the best console FPS, and one of the best N64 games, ever released. I thought it was rather low-quality and pedestrian, myself. But whatever. A couple of them could even beat the game on "00 Level". Oooooo...

Eventually, I finally got them to come into the lab at night, and set up a Quake 2 deathmatch. For starters, only being able to play a game with just four people at a time, and being confined to one corner of the screen is lame. But I digress. I spanked them... even the "I finished Goldeneye on 00 Level" guys. And I don't just mean I won. I totally dominated. And on real FPSs, I was never really even that GOOD.... strictly average. But playing with those POS console controllers, and their associated crutches (cheats like auto-aim, for example) instilled so many bad habits into them that even the best were all but helpless against just an average "mouse and keyboard" player.

It'll be interesting to see if the xBox2 and PS3 versions of Q4 will be able to play on-line against the real version. Specifically, it'd be interesting to see the deathmatch kill stats between them. I'd bet good money that said stats would bear me out.

cya,
john

Re:Are you kidding????

[JonathanBoyd]

If you're NOT kidding, you're completely out of your mind. [snip] I spanked them... even the "I finished Goldeneye on 00 Level" guys. And I don't just mean I won. I totally dominated. And on real FPSs, I was never really even that GOOD.... strictly average. But playing with those POS console controllers, and their associated crutches (cheats like auto-aim, for example) instilled so many bad habits into them that even the best were all but helpless against just an average "mouse and keyboard" player.

Surely this proves the point? If a mouse and keyboard was more intuitive and easier to pick up than a controller, then they wouldn't have had too many problems playing against you.

Oh and mocking beating the game on 00 agent mode without having done it yourself doesn't add any credibility to your claims. Same goes for your lack of knowledge that auto-aim can be turned off for multiplayer.

About PC gaming...

[AzraelKans]

PC gaming quite simply can not die And never will. Its impossible for a small independent company to release a game in any other platform and its more technologically advanced that any console in the market (and will always be since is upgradeable) MS mentioned in their keynote the PC will always a great lab for gaming and gameplay (and for once they are right).

Its expensive for developers to release boxed games for Pc's thats true. But is not as much if they get rid of the box and provide it as downloadable content. Im not sure how efficient that method is. But it certainly is the less expensive choice for any developer (no royalties to pay, no publishing, no international/national orders shipping and handling, nothing! all they need is a pc port of their game , a cc handler and a download source, thats it) another cool detail is that since pc gaming is less populated it could actually be considered a "niche" of sorts.

The only actual problem with pc gaming I see now, is how video card manufacturers are basically self destroying a part of the market, most probably they are aware than their newer card prices are unreachable for almost any pc enthusiast. Yet, they try to set them as the industry "standard" news flash: you can only call it an standard if the majority of the population prefers it over alternatives. (I mean seriously why cant new games WORK with an ati 9200 ? or geforce mx,5200 cards? those are actually affordable cards and to my knowledge they are still available in a good ammount of pcs)