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New Gears of War 2 Details, No PC Version
IGN has an interview with Cliff Bleszinski, design director for Epic Games, in which he discusses the achievements and unlockable content in Gears of War 2. He mentions that the game won't be getting a PC version as its predecessor did. Gamasutra has a related interview with Epic's Rod Fergusson, who talks at length about developing the new game after experiencing the popularity of the old one, and how he manages the franchise's growth into other forms of media. He also explains the decision-making process behind issuing Title Updates.
He mentions that the game won't be getting a PC version as its predecessor did.
Yeah, right. They said Gears 1 wasn't going to have a PC version, either. Bungie said that their next project after Halo 2 wouldn't be Halo 3. Game companies lie about their future plans all the time. Gears of War 2 will have a PC version, it'll just be after they've wrung all they reasonably can out of the 360 version. Mark my words.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
Three game press releases in a row? C'mon editors - got anything for the dozen or so real geeks still reading this site every other day?
No seal of Windows Vista certification, no deal.
And nothing of value was lost.
I thought Microsoft was the Office PC.
Not porting GoW2 to PC is like NOT selling crack in a Black/Hispanic neighborhood, the potential profitability is eclipsed by short-sightedness.
Oh, wait, this is /. car analogy or nothing.... ...is like selling Escalades in da hood...oh wait...
Oh no, a 2-hour long generic GRITTY bloomfest of a rail shooter isn't coming to the PC? EVERYONE PANIC
My opinion FWIW
I was under the impresion that Gears is an awesome game, I heard it on podcasts, I heard it on shacknews, I heard it EVERYWHERE, this game is more awesome than god of war, this game is 9/10'ths as good as GTA, this game is just fun, dumb, kickass bullshit - it's the predator of video games!
Unlike my normal skeptical self, I went with the flow "Fuck yeah gears is awesome" - I think I've even recommended a few people to check it out, since I try to stay on top of the news in the gaming scene and what's hot, despite me not seeing it myself.
Any time someone critisized Gears, you would see a response saying 'you've gotta try co-op dude' well,....I did.
I actually purchased it about 5 months ago but left it on the shelf, saving it for when a friend would come over so I could play it co-op, I just let it age like a fine wine, after all it was a foregone conclusion that it's a wicked game, right?
So a pal came over and I popped in gears - we played co-op for about 90 minutes. :( I was crushed, I got this awesome awesome game which couldn't possibly be bad and it was well boring, like really boring - the only exciting thing was that cool camera angle / cinematic feel when running.
I was forcing myself to like it, infact I was forcing my pal to like it, he was bored shitless and I felt the same but I kept saying stuff like oh sweet and hey look out and all that shit - but in the end I could convince neither of us it was good.
So I figured my friend was busted, or maybe out mood was wrong.
I tried the same thing with another pal a week later, we played for about 60 minutes, I did the same thing, tried to like it and... no - it just didn't click, it wasn't really fun to be honest.
I've since tried a 3'rd friend - again about 90 minutes and guess what - it felt boring, un-inspired and meh.
I have to wonder if half the hype for the game is the graphics? At the time they rocked but I missed out on them. I'd seen Crysis, GTA4, Heavenly Sword, Mass Effect, Quake 4 all before I saw gears - maybe that's why it didn't impress.
Definitely a very very over rated game and yes I love my dumb action crap like God of War etc.
I play-tested Gears 1 for Microsoft as I live in the area and I have to say I had the same "meh" conclusion even then. Ive been an Unreal Tournament junkie since the original unreal and before them, Doom and Quake. I assumed that since Id be testing a project made by the same guys that gave me my cherished UT, I would be in for a treat of combat-science. Sadly this was not the case. I tested a portion of the campaign and then a map that was essentially a circular arena with short walls about the size of freeway dividers sprinkled around the perimeter to provide cover. The object was to test the cover system, which at that time was very buggy. The combat seemed fairly nailed down so I assume not much changed because I was so put off by the simplistic combat that I was never interested in purchasing it. The campaign amounts to running down a hallway shooting whatever comes at you. I felt like an extra in a revolutionary war battle re-enactment. Stand at attention in the open and simply unload on the things marching toward you. There was no point in taking cover since the enemy would always find you or simply throw grenades, so taking cover only limited your rate of fire and accuracy - no point in wasting the effort. At the time the gfx were sleek and this was the only attractive part of it. Combat is weak and unexciting, even if the bad guys are hard to kill it doesnt make it thrilling.
You are wrong on so many levels.
1) Piracy is commonplace on consoles, too, you just don't hear about it as much
2) Very few game developers have completely abandoned PC - these developers were gemerally butt-hurt from poor sales after producing a few shitty titles. See Valve, Blizzard, and Stardock, for a few big names
3) If porting the game generates some profit, it will be done. Since porting the game costs effectively nothing, doing so will churn an enormous profit.
Yes, it is completely logical to have a game that's no longer making any money ported to another platform where it can generate additional profit.
It is completely ILLOGICAL to not port the game.
As we've seen time and time again, 360 exclusive games are eventually ported to PC 90% of the time
That means that there will definitely be a PC version, perhaps up to a year after the console version's release.
There's no reason to keep it 360 exclusive when they'll earn more profit by also releasing it on the PC. That's obvious.
Their strategy of delaying the PC release is also obvious. There are consoles to sell after all, and more hot exclusives = more sold consoles. A year after the game's release, no one will care about GoW2 anymore and that's when the PC version will be released.
It's a great strategy
A PC port of GoW2 would generate some profit, but I think spending their resources on a different, console project would generate even more profits. Gears of War PC didn't sell well. That and the PC port had many bugs. Not so easy and cheap to port, is it? Half-assed ports and games tend to piss off your buyers and would decrease future sales. For example: EA.
All in all, a PC port is not as logical as you make it out to be.
PS: Did you even buy the PC port of GoW? I'd venture no. You just seem to be "butt-hurt" over developers abandoning the PC.
On the contrary, for someone with a 360 and a PC, if they can pirate the PC version, they no longer need to buy it for the 360.
Yup, but the OP predicted that they'll do the PC port probably once they've sold most of the 360 copies they could have sold.
Once all the money that could be made by selling the "exclusive" has been earned, mayber then they re-compile the game for PC and see if they can catch a few more bucks easily.
I didn't buy the PC port of GoW and after playing it at a friend's house for a bit, I'm thankful I didn't.
All in all, good riddance if it doesn't come to the PC but in all likelyhood, they'll just release it for PC's a year later and then bitch and moan when people that have completed it on the X360 (theirs or their friends) don't want to buy the new and improved (!!!) PC version and end up saying "OMG PIRACY DRIVES AWAY OUR SAELS!!!".
what a bore. I could barely get past the first level without thinking, wow this sucks! and I was playing with mouse and keyboard.
You can't make a game good with marketing. Since I have gamefly I will probably give GoW2 a try. Though I can't say it seems any better than the first game.
I agree that GoW was way overhyped.
They're using their grammar skills there.
I'm glad there is no PC version because the original GOW was not that good and came out too late. Plus PC gaming in general is in a sad state right now. Just keep it on the consoles where it belongs.
This post needs some up-modding.
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
I played GoW for PC and for 360, and I must say, the PC version was completely useless. They prettified the graphics and made it 'harder' by making your weapons useless. No thanks. I'm not one to argue for 'realism' in games, but come on: it takes 40+ rounds to take down the first guys you fight in the game. That doesn't make the PC version harder, just repetitive. Those stupid holes in the ground from which enemies appear are just disheartening, because you know you're going to have to take about 5 or more enemies, and since each enemy takes upwards of 30 seconds to kill, you've got minutes of stock-still pointing and shooting on your hands.
I wasn't a fan of the 360 version, but at least you didn't have to try so damn hard for so long to hit the enemies. That fact improved the gameplay 10-fold.
I was going to check out the first one on the PC but with no demo I'm just not that interested.