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Champions for Xbox 1!
iamrune
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Well, okay, not really. Neverwinter is instead.
But as long as a Cryptic game is finally coming to consoles, what are the chances Champions could find a new life with Microsoft on the new console as well?
Discuss!
But as long as a Cryptic game is finally coming to consoles, what are the chances Champions could find a new life with Microsoft on the new console as well?
Discuss!
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Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
To give you perspective, the new Spiderman game was almost not ported to the XBONE due to its unusual (i.e. weaker) hardware. yes, the AAA game based on a beloved IP was scheduled to come out for every console - yes, even the PS3 and 360 - but not the XBone. To compound its other hardware weaknesses, it has comparatively archaic RAM and reliance on some strange, tiny processor cache instead of improved DDR5 stuff. The end result of this is a next-gen system that can barely handle 900p. In addition, it frequently overheats and breaks down, and is topped off with horrific advertising, product placement, and basically every exclusive it has already runs much better on PC, will soon be ported to PS4/WiiU(maybe), or is just a plain bad game.
What I'm basically saying is that what most likely will happen is that the XBONE Port of NW will either (most likely) get canceled, or will be released to a crowd of Xbox diehards that are more interested in games like CoD or Halo re-releases or whatever, and not the goofy, stream...lined... extremely...class....based.... sraightforward....... skill system... action-rpg.
Well, whatever, even if it works out in the end, CO's default control scheme, as it's now been defined by stuff like Strafing Run, Plasma Beam, other such weird powers, and pretty much everyone using the default RPG control scheme simply because it makes communicating so much easier, is probably going to be enough to effectively bar CO from consoles.
But I say that's fine. Most console game communities seem really really obnoxious.
I think the middle picture makes my point just grand
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
I am surprised. This is actually a smart move for Cryptic and an interesting move by Microsoft.
We PC gamers think we're the elite, but we're actually the minority. PC purists (not counting those who play PC and a console on the side) make up only 10-15% of hardcore gamers. If that looks small, you underestimate the console crowd.
It's a smart move for Cryptic as they can at least reach out to a larger sea of hardcore gamers.
But in the past, Microsoft turned down MMOs for their consoles...including CO. Remember how that was supposed to be on the Xbox 360 as well? Microsoft wants its monthly Gold membership subscription fees and won't share.
But Neverwinter is more about microtransactions than monthly subscription, so this may work.
An interesting play. A clever move by Cryptic, but perhaps it shows the Xbone's desperation. It's still a long road ahead for this tale, though, which takes us to the next point...
I doubt they'll port CO to Xbone. It's a lot of effort and you noticed CO doesn't get much.
Even if they did, they would almost certainly be on separate servers 99.99 repeating %.
To their credit, Microsoft puts a lot of infrastructure for the Xbox game servers, always has. It's funny because it's more reliable than their enterprise Cloud Office 365 solutions. Even (especially) then, they stopped cross-platform gaming.
The only game that was cross-platform, where Xbox 360 players could play with PC purists, was Shadowrun. Not the recent RPG, the 1st/3rd person shooter. Maybe you vaguely remember it or not at all? That's how well it did.
Even Microsoft Game Studios's Gears of War on PC never bothered with shared servers.
---
Btw, no hard feelings towards PC purists or Xbox owners. I was not commenting on people, just the business ecosystem. These things were part of my job. Numbers may have changed since then, but the trends remain.
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A Playlist of my CO PvP video's (starting from post nerf PTS team duels)
The latest iterations of the Cryptic engine don't bother with that equation as much, hence the lack of controller support and such. However, XBone and PoS4 are basically overpriced gaming rigs with none of the utility of a PC, so they now have the actual memory to run the games better without having to dumb graphics down like DCUO had to do.
Anyways, to be hysterically to the point, the fact that these new consoles keep coming out is funny, because by the time they've released they are already behind the times as far as graphic capabilities and hardware power. The only thing keeping people buying these things now are the exclusives which the gaming public seems to vocally be getting sick of now.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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This is in some part true. Consoles will sell more simply because most 'gamers' aren't really inclined to try and spend several hours putting PC parts together, installing 7 different discs, and praying that it's all compatible. Other factors, like plug-n-play, specific features, social aspects (A SSBM/Gauntlet/Mario Party game works so much better on console. I've yet to see a brawling fighter or somesuch on PC that really took off), and some exclusives, really boost the deal in the mainstream's eye.
But regardless of that, Cryptic chose the wrong team. Both PS4 and Wii U have much more solid install bases. By trying to target the 'easiest' port (it's easy to assume porting to XBONE is easier, since it is still based on Windows), they're actually crippling themselves. Not to mention, more so than most other past consoles, the hardware and software in each system are now more comprehensible than ever.
If Cryptic really wanted to establish a new playerbase in NW, they should've rolled with the PS4, all things considered. Since a whole lot more people have bought PS4s, this would allow the game to reach a lot more people. Though, really, if they were console nuts they'd just do all three, but if I had to pick one system to port the game to, it would've been PS4.
Jees what is this 1980 or something? Having a Pc built for you is more affordable than ever, and how games are no longer plug and play on systems anymore without some sort of install and update phase, even on a console, they are more alike than ever. In fact there is very little worry about plug and play as most of it is universal now for PCs. In fact it's become so universal that consoles have been starting to use PC features.
Basically put, the premise that PCs are more expensive than Consoles is a false premise now.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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That's a false premise. The advent of Steam and Win7+, along with the stagnation of hardware - current gen graphics cards are rebranded from 3-year-old designs for example, means you can buy just about any premade PC and run with it. Or even a Mac, which I am very sure does not need several hours to assemble with 7 discs and compatibility issues - just run Windows and Steam on it and you're good to go.
Yeah, to be honest, my last experience with a game console was the original Wii, which wildly diverges from the norm as it completely lacks huge patches for its games. As for PCs, only the premade stuff you get from like Dell or Alienware is really plug-n-play. This is stuff that will cost somewhere around $450 and have an integrated Intel GPU - This is something that will have tolerable slowdown in Champs at 900p, cannot do antialiasing, and slows even more when graphical effects are set to 'high'. (Yes. I've fallen back on an Intel HD 4600 one. It wasn't pretty). On the other hand, you can spend $2000, and be able to run every single game on High/Ultra at 1080p with minimal hitches (although it's still victim to crashes and compatability bugs in the game itself!). Keep in mind, you could buy all three next-gen consoles, and then some, with that money.
The premise that PCs are more expensive than Consoles is honestly a bit difficult to compare, due to just sheer difference between the two and extreme price variances in PCs, but comparing a $450 Dell that can't run Champs at 900p, with a $400 PS4 that already has a large library of games that run at 1080p/60fps, I'm kind of having trouble believing it.
I could go into depth about how building your own PC is also less expensive (Especially at the high end!), but good luck convincing a console gamer to even really consider that as an option.
Speaking of building PCs!... In order to get started at that, you'll need:
After those parts are fitted together (if you take it slow and make sure not to ding stuff up, it can take you perhaps an hour, maybe more), you power on, see if it works initially, and then get the fun part of putting your drivers on your GPU, Sound Card, Ethernet, and Disc Drive, appropriately patching your MoBo BIOS, and updating all your cool software, including Steam. In experience this saves a lot of trouble I have whenever I wonder why Windows Media Player keeps skipping sections of songs, or why my games keep freezing after 20 minutes of playing without any signs that my GPU is overheating or anything.
In short: Man I love PCs and quite honestly detest consoles, but those really aren't going to die in a fire any time soon, sorry.
So everything you said here makes sense to me. But then, I'm one of you.
The console crowd sees things differently and it makes no sense to us, but they're not wrong. It's like trying to convince someone who doesn't like raw fish that it's delicious, using logic and costs and so on. Doesn't matter! More sushi for you!
Because sometimes you go with the deal you got, not the deal you want.
Cryptic has worked with Microsoft in the past when CO was considered for the Xbox 360. They might have found them easier to deal with. Possibly MS is offering developmental resources to even help the transition.
And it's not necessarily monetary. It may be actual developmental support. They can send field engineers to actually work with Cryptic who know the Xbox One better. That's actually a common offer to content providers.
It's very possible that the PS4's very popularity over the Xbox One (I estimate WW PS4 is about 10 million and Xbox One at half that) that's driving MS to make a sweet deal for Cryptic. You ask why? They say, that's exactly why.
And honestly it's early days yet. Xbox 360 had a lead over the PS3 last gen, with about 100 mil to 80 mil consoles sold IIRC. Now while I agree with you that I think PS4 is winning this gen, I can't say for certain right now.
In short, I think Cryptic went with the easy route, but sometimes that makes it the right one.
Still! I think Cryptic is being clever, opportunistic. MS...seems a little desperate to me.
I hear you guys. I built my own rig, so it's like my my game station, my design station, even my work station at times, all rolled in one, for more convenience. It's cheaper for me yet delivers more value, so it's a no brainer for me.
Except I recently upgraded my GPU, and here's what I found was good for next gen games:
- nVidia GTX 770: about US$350 (but price will drop over time)
- a whole Xbone or PS4: about US$399 (not sure if price will drop any further)
That's just the GPU. For US$50 more, they can get a gaming system out of the box. I went for a GTX 750 for about US$150, but I can see why console gamers prefer what they got. I certainly don't think I'm better than them.
I use my gaming PC rig to do my art, including those god-awful comics you see via my sig. Selphea, you got your awesome YouTubes and your CO stat analysis. Wolf, I know you do other nice things. We can't do that with consoles.
But, in the end, that just means we are a different customer segment than console gamers. We're not wrong. Neither are they.
Oh, and finally, you mentioned Steam as your supporting evidence? Valve is making a console called Steam Machine, now.
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It's already dumbed down and simplified enough.
How? It's as equally complicated as Champions. The only difference is it has a hard coded class system, but that really isn't much different from archetypes.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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No, really.
Nevermind Online control scheme and targeting was clearly made with consoles in mind. It's already very close to game pad.
If it bears similarities to CO, it's only because still has traces of his own console origin.
It was pretty obvious that Nevermore will have console version since this game was released.
The only unknown was which console it will be.
That is a very weak argument since lock on targetting in Champions is kind of hand holding over the need to wheel around and mouse over your target that Neverwinter does. And even freeforms aren't that complicated.
BTW, Champions was built from ground zero to be on the 360. I am not sure Neverwinter was, since it was being made in the age when XBox deals had already long since fell through.
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And it's very unikely NW was built specifically for XBox, but it certainly was designed with possibility of adding use of a game pad in mind.
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I actually got my Intel Integrated laptop for travel for US$250 (First hand :O!), and my current desktop costs about US$800 and maxes everything out at 1920x1080
I'd contest a head-on comparison because I think every modern household needs at least a desktop connected to the internet. If not for working from home then for news and Netflix or school projects or giving the children a leg up with exposure to programs like Photoshop and Calc/Excel. From there, the difference between a desktop and a gaming PC is really just the price of a graphics card and maybe a stick of RAM.
You need most of that for a basic home desktop (no I wouldn't risk a no-brand made-in-China PSU even for a basic home desktop), and even if not Apple/HP/Dell/whoever, sites like NewEgg or iBuyPower do come with decent prebuilt rigs to save you the trouble.
I honestly wouldn't recommend the GTX 770 unless you have dual monitors or a 4K monitor, but that's really a setup quite far beyond mainstream gaming. I personally bought a 760 around 2 months ago myself and it maxes everything out nicely at 1920x1080 (well roughly 1600x900 to be accurate because I run everything windowed). I'll consider upgrading when 4K monitors become mainstream, although I do see some people on YouTube/Twitch.tv starting to broadcast at 4K.
So personally, I think the price argument is moot today, and the ease of use argument is moot today. But there is still an argument for Console over PC in some cases. The main one IMO, is genre. There's more console games designed to be played side-by-side than PC. In that respect, it's more social. Having a console is nice to have for parties when people come over.
That and all the big Japanese RPGs and fighters look like they'll hit the Playstation and stay there without ever reaching PC. But I personally think MMOs like FF14 looks awfully clunky on a console, as do RTSes like Command & Conquer and 4X games like Civ5. The action-oriented MMOs like NW and even GW2 seem pretty console-friendly though.
But those benefits are luxuries I don't really want to spend on right now. Getting a console and a decent game library and all the services is going to set me back around US$1000 by my estimate, so that's out of the picture for me for now, even if it does lock me out of 2 genres I really like.
And yes Steambox is interesting but SteamOS is nowhere near mature enough yet imo.
If the long-term goal is to be available on both Xbox One and Playstation 4, porting to XB1 first makes more sense from a development standpoint. They can stagger development on the things they're unfamiliar with this way. Starting with an XB1 release allows them to remain in familiar base APIs while they figure out the console-specific technical details, Xbox Live platform integration, and controller-centric UX.
While that's going on, they could have another technical team working on the PS4 port of the base Cryptic Engine. I don't know if that's a matter of hiring engineers who have experience with Sony's APIs and teaching them how CE works, or training their current developers in the APIs. Probably a little of both.
And if Wii U is still a viable platform after that (and yes, I consider that an open question), the engine team can start that port while the Neverwinter team completes the PS4 version.
ADDENDUM: Oh, and can I point out that this is the second time that Andy Velasquez has spoken like a feature that's been in Champions Online from launch is an eye-popping revelation when implemented in Neverwinter? "Blocking! Controller support in an MMO! Isn't Neverwinter awesome?"
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
In the meantime, to reply to some fascinating and true points here:
Regarding the GPU, thanks for your insight. I was doubting myself, good to know this.
You summed up my MBA thesis (which was on video games) in 1 sentence, better than I did.
Yeah, it's true! The console purists' culture is simply different than the PC purists' one. And within that there's enough differences between US console gamers and Japanese console gamers that I'd personally segment the 2.
The console has value to them. We may not agree with them, 'cos we're simply different.
And here's the humdinger. Even I didn't think of this, but this is a great point of reference.
To you, and to me, the console is the luxury good, because it's like the extra thing we don't need. We NEED our PCs for games and more. To console gamers, the PC gaming rig is actually the flashy luxury item.
I'm not just emphasising your mentioning "luxury". It's your estimated game library costs.
Our research showed many self-described hardcore gamers buy only 2 to 3 games/year:
- the 1st game per year is Football of their culture: Madden, FIFA, Winning Eleven, etc.
- the 2nd game will be super-hyped game: Halo, The Last of Us, Call of Duty, etc.
- the 3rd game MAY be something that caught their fancy...even a Xbox Kinect game
Net-net, they buy the console with an exclusive, plus 1 game, Gold service...about US$500.
Then the recurring 2 to 3 games plus Gold membership/year, about another $150/year.
I'm guessing you buy your games on Steam when they're on sale. You're a PC purist 4 Life.
Man...the sheer gross tonnage of games I bought on Steam and have yet to play, man.
No, it's not. But we both know this is just 1 data point, we got to look at the whole line.
The 1st Steam console should flop. The 2nd one will be a serious contender, because they learned the necessary lessons from their initial failure. The 1st Xbox sold only 20 million, beat by PS. Xbox 360 was near 100 million, beating PS.
At 1 point, I actually said Valve would never, ever release their own console. I was wrong.
Valve, IMHO, is pretty smart. They see this as an ongoing trend for the next 10 years out and want to be part of it. It's not like I never saw the trend, I saw many trends, but their move gives most weight to this one.
(Fun Fact - Valve's founder Gabe Newell worked on the 1st few versions of Windows.)
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In conclusion, I think Cryptic is taking advantage of this trend. A clever move for them.
Microsoft on the other hand just needs to show they have more content, RP content.
This holiday season will be High Noon. NW on Xbone won't be ready until 2015, but they'll be showcasing & spotlighting it as ONE, just one, of their big bets, their RPG with the D&D license, come this calendar year end.
Also, IMHO, NW really is optimised for consoles. I can only play it with an Xbox Controller.
More action at Champions Online Comics @ http://co-comics.webs.com
I wish this myth would die, already.
Consoles made sense back when they were on par with beastly machines of the time, but Microsoft and Sony choose to settle for simply "meh" consoles, and now they have developers and publishers pushing stupid lines like "filmic" to justify that their next-gen consoles aren't nearly as next-gen as they'd like the gaming public to think.
My current 4-year-old machine runs Warframe, a launch title for the PS4, just fine. I have to remove the silly things like Depth of Field and Motion Blur (both of which I find detrimental settings in general, but that's me), but I'll settle for that in exchange for a crisp picture and 60fps, which is necessary in shooter titles. I know the console die-hards like to cite "optimization" as games getting better, but truth be told, that's not happening this gen, and I anticipate a lot of irate gamers when that realization becomes more widespread.
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You mean that pile of garbage that had the audacity to claim being a Shadow Run game instead of the generic 3rd person shooter it was? Yeah, I can't see why that bombed. At all.
Anyway, it's not a surprise because... PW actually has a console division that they made not too long ago. They will likely make more games for consoles, possibly console exclusives and/or new IP.
Lol, the Wii U. Yeah, that thing prints money... Oh wait, that was the other Wii that people not named Nintendo actually made games for.
I build my computer back in 2009 and I've upgraded the RAM. The only other thing that needs to be upgraded is my graphics card and it's hardly super important to do so. Games really don't push for high end machines anymore, so getting new parts isn't needed very often.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009
Substituting a joystick for that mouse-movement thing strikes me as a pretty massive improvement. And the way the abilities are set up, mapping those to controller buttons should actually work much better than the default setup, where you have to coordinate your mouse and keyboard constantly.
I might actually consider playing NW again sometime, if they ever port a version to the 360 (I'm not dropping four bills on an XBone just to play one game, and nothing else on there has looked all that great to me - probably because Microsoft wanted to emphasize this whole "entertainment center" thing instead of making a gaming machine).
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But it does happen. Sometimes. There's a lot of caveats:
I never said anything about Xbox One being able to achieve this, and staunchly agree that it runs way short of getting anywhere near 1080/60. I thought my first post in this thread kind of made that clear, and from what I saw in the video, that's kind of the point they were hinting at with the video.
Wii-U, I could've sworn that its first-party games (particularly MK8 and Super Mario 3d World) were 1080p, and they're undoubtedly locked at 60fps even when there are shells and coins flying everywhere, but they are in fact just 720p. Well, guess it's a good thing the Wii-U doesn't have any super-detailed shooter games on it. It's the downside of rushing a game system out the door before everyone else while giving it a ridiculous title.
PS4, however, has no issue hitting both marks as far as I know. This implicitly comes at the cost of some scene-rendering detail, so you don't get the huge textures you see on your PC, or there's not as many explosions going on on-screen.
There's a misconception that consoles can run a game at the same optimal framerate/resolution as a high-end computer, yes. The graphical hutzpah needed to crank a game like Watch_Dogs to its fullest are pretty wild, but it isn't said anywhere that consoles actually run at the same graphical configurations. Developers end up optimizing on a game-by-game basis, and console gamers end up with a custom-tailored optimization to their game system that runs at (ideally) 1080p/60fps. By and large, even with stuff like more severe LOD or simpler textures, I think most people agree that the repertoire out for those two consoles are pretty satisfactory on the visual department.
So I guess, yes, 'optimization' will happen, still does happen, and quite possibly is the only thing that happens for console games. Because of price limitations on the consoles themselves, computation resources are limited, but in the case of PS4, though, the end result is decently strong enough to overcome the challenge, and in the case of the Wii-U, even people who pay attention to this stuff are having some difficulty telling the resolution difference on modern games, and in the case of XBone they're too distracted by their extremely bad DRM, patching, and systems being turned on by ads to really focus on super specs.
PS4 has no issues because they cut a lot of graphics corners.
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I have all the main machines and I can play online no issues but the moment I play something on my XBOX online its just full of children and morons. It makes me love my PC all the more.
Seriously its not a group of people you want to do some mmo'ing with.
Also I built a fairly decent PC for under £250. You just gotta take your time searching out the best parts for the cheapest price.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
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......Well now.
Interesting discussion all around. Personally, I'm not worried about Console gamer joining us, because I also believe they'd get their own Console specific server.
I do think that CHampions is head and shoulders, hell miles above DCUO, in every aspect but one, and that's graphics, and it isn't the engine, it's the art design.
STO and NW basically prove the games engine can easily support much more detailed character faces, armors and environments, and so on, but the Champions game as it is, showcases almost none of it. There are a couple places in Monster Island that come closer, and the sky files are all gorgeous, as is the water, but the characters are intentionally simpler, more of a blend of semi-realistic textures with DCOU animated blockyness.
Like if you took Brice Timms Blocky and stylized characters and made them 3D models, then skinned them with more detailed textures I guess I'm trying to say, and of course, a lot of people have commented [in the past, quite vociferously, perhaps they all left now], how they don't like Champions Graphics, but they are really mostly grousing about the Art design choices on the characters.
I think an all new console crowd, being sold the game with a focus on this art design choice as a positive thing that some players would WANT to see, may be leveraged to get over that issue, and I think Champions could do very well as a Console MMO, but this is a major hurdle it would need to get over, in my opinion. Not the only one, obviously, but a bigger one than Cryptic may have realized at the time the game was developed.
What will XB1 (and no doubt PS4 players, when NW comes to it, because both consoles are basically just PCs) players think about $100 DLC (the stupidly overpriced Dragonborn pack)?
I don't think they'll take it very well at all...
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Because zone chat doesn't have any of that now, and it definitely doesn't have anyone discussing political and religious nonsense.
CO's community isn't much better then whatever community you might find on a console.
No... Not interested. If it were coming out for WiiU eh, maybe I'd consider it. Frankly, I'm a PC Master Race type. The only reason I have a WiiU is because Nintendo has first party franchises that they never release on anything but their own console, and they're games I can't do without. Namely Zelda, Metroid, and the platform Mario games.
↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → Ⓑ Ⓐ
Seriosuly though XBOX owners buy crap like CoD , Halo and A$$CREED.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
I mentioned this before in passing, but the big shortcoming of Champions, visuals-wise, is that it wasn't bold enough to be decisive in its visual definition. Devs didn't want to make it look mostly realistic like DCUO does, nor did they opt to go all the way with the low-res, outlined, hand-painted early-2000s Gorillaz-Music-Video look that Borderlands carried - probably precisely because, while they wanted to give the game a comicbook charm in its look, they still wanted to keep it neutral enough to apply itself to as wide a variety of genres as possible - Not just superheroes, but also sci-fi explorers, fighting mystics and demons in alternate dimensions, silly batman expies, to horrifying angel-demons that want to destroy the world. I guess it.... Sorta works? I know there has to be a better solution to the game visually, but heck if I know what it could be. I'm not that creative.
Graphical prowess/detail wise, There definitely exist some kind of engine differences between CO and STO/NW - For example, the latter two seem to be better enabled for dual-GPU use. Even then, the fact that graphical standards kept rising after 2009 meant that Cryptic kept upping its game with the later releases. To think: Static eyeball/face models and foot positioning are antiquated by today's standards. Could it be fixed? Maybe, but it'd mean redefining a lot of animations that currently cause the eyes to bulge out/telescope in to the head, not to mention upping detail on several costume pieces.
I have to highly disagree with people, constantly, about the graphical look of Champions, especially when people compare it to DCUO. Character model wise, Champions triumphs over DCUO. World wise DCUO comes out ahead but only just. The characters are so flat and generic in DCUO its painful, especially when watching them talk. The only thing that makes the characters remotely identifiable in DCUO is their trademark costume, which again CO is definitely beating on looks.
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Compared to games like Skyrim, Sims 3, Saints Row 3/4, or even the other two Cryptic titles, though, CO's character models are quite primitive. Somehow it's still the superhero MMO with the best character graphics.
Skyrim, Sims 3, Saints Row, etc, don't have to worry about dozens to hundreds of other players in the same vicinity, or as much about a polygon budget as all that would entail, so they are more free to put more detail in the character models. If you compare Skyrim to TESO you see the same thing, the TESO models are inferior to Skyrim.
It's why many MMOs are opting for more stylized looks than realistic.
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STO and NW are stylised as well. Faces in STO are a bit cartoonish and NW is graphic style is straight lifted from DnD 4th ed manuals.
And that's not a bad thing. Stylised graphics allow for lower system requirements, and also stylised graphic are slower to age.
CO could use stronger comic outlines and cell shading. Its relatively weak look is because it's hanging somewhere between being stylised and being realistic.
So do PC gamers, there are quite a few people who even own both a console and pc. I know a few who own CoD and Battlefield for both console and PC. That doesn't make one better then the other. Immature people will be immature regardless of platform.
Perhaps, but CoD/BF is just a small part of a huge ecosystem of genre fans. You got your more whimsical/creative shooter fans who play stuff like TF2/Loadout, Strategists who do stuff like Starcraft/Civ 5, Bunches of children and screaming Swedish guys who play Minecraft, RPG dudes who play Bioware's stuff, RPG dudes that play Bethesda's stuff, People who played Bioshock Infinite once and were very impressed by how railroaded it was, Players of GTA/Saints Row, Emulators, Grognards/RPers/Fat people who play any MMO, Indie gamers, and Simulation fans.
I'd say PC environments redeem themselves, simply because it umbrellas everything under the sun, genre wise. The lack of choice the XBone exhibits means that that's basically the only ecosystem over yonder: The fratboys/confused girls/12 year olds/dorito munchers that play Titanfall/Halo/Call of Duty 38/FIFA 420 edition/whatever. And the choices in genre alternatives are not good.
Discussing this all, it kind of makes me think: Perhaps it's not about what XBone can do for NW, but what NW can do for XBone. (probably nothing.)
I saw that in the IGN article and it's the bit that surprised me the most.
Microsoft used to (they still should) have GUIDELINES on what they allow in the Xbox's in-console store. DLCs or Live Arcade games have to be under a certain file size (faster d/l) and at certain optimal price points.
And it's not because they're tyrants, quite the opposite. The division that handles the Xbox is very concerned about user experience and they recommend to devs what price point people will buy their offerings.
(Example - they waived the size restriction for Street Fighter II HD because it's SF2.)
I think the $100 Founder's Pack as a DLC does a disservice to Neverwinter and to Cryptic. They're trying to get in the door as a F2P, but console gamers will gawk at that. They'll think it's Pay To Win or something.
I wasn't there behind the scenes on that one, but fact is, I honestly feel that studio was persuaded/pressured by Microsoft (as it was under MS Game Studios at the time) to include the cross-platform multiplayer option.
In short - that game was lacking because they put all their eggs in that 1 feature. A major miscalculation.
That I did not know. That's very interesting.
Yeah, as partnerships are always about both parties, but I should add Microsoft itself is a 2-headed beast.
The 1st head faces outwards to fight its competitors, like Sony/Playstation 4. It's doing so by bringing more content for gamers, exploring possibilities, forming alliances. It's healthy competition, tries to benefit customers.
From that outwards perspective, it's throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
The 2nd head faces inwards to appease itself. They have all sorts of metrics, scorecards, KPIs that their leadership just makes up and it has to appease them. This is the part I'm afraid of as it wastes a lot of time and effort.
From that inwards perspective, they may be adding Neverwinter just to fulfill some criteria.
I'm going to focus on that inwards perspective, IMHO this is what Neverwinter fulfills:
- an RPG Xbone-exclusive. With Xbox 360, they had Mass Effect 1 as their launch RPG
- a reply to Playstation 4's MMOs, like Everquest Next and, as you guys said, DCUO
- associating the Dungeons & Dragons IP/franchise/brand/fanbase with Xbone
Imagine for a moment the new head of Xbox doing a Powerpoint. It's at least 2 or 3 slides worth of catchy content, but IMHO it sounds more impressive to his leadership than to perhaps the gamers.
What does NW bring to the Xbone? A good story to tell for the new Xbox VP. For its players, like you said, not much.
And that's my problem. Halo HD for Xbone, Last of Us HD for PS4, Bayonetta 2 for WiiU, I'm actually excited to play that as a gamer. NW for Xbone appeals to my curiosity as business news, but not as a gamer.
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I find that rather humorous since console gamers actually tend to jump at those things more than PC gamers (since many of us will just wait for the special edition then).
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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Am I a fratboy, a fatboy, a kid, or a foulmouthed brat? I need to know which pigeonhole I'm supposed to crawl into at the command of the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Well if there is a demographic to fall under, the Nintendo Fanboi is probably the best. I would rather be a kid the rest of my life because I play games to have fun instead of relying on ultra realistic brown colored graphics and having blood splatter covering my screen every time there has to be ultra realistic gore, even if the deaths demonstrated are so insanely inaccurate to be laughable, but hey, it's ultra realism.
Silverspar on PRIMUS
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It depends, Jon. Is your primary device (most time spent on) a PC or consoles?
Then, the customer profiling begins. I'm looking at your avatar and I see a real family man, and a tech-savvy one at that. You're willing to spend a little more money for a lot more value and reliability, for you and your family.
If you go to a Best Buy, etc., they would actually call you a "Buzz", after Buzz Aldrin or something. They have a script catered for YOU. As for how kids these days pigeonhole you, who knows? With their clothes and their music...
(But I'm seriously guessing every time you go to a big box store, a salesman tries to steer you to the Home Entertainment to show you the big TV you can pay for in installments to go along with your consoles. Am I close?)
But you think you got it bad, "Buzz"? I go in those stores, to them I'm a "Wang Chang".
As a "Wang Chang", I go to buy high-end stuff in order to, get this, "save face". lol
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Is that supposed to be a phallic reference? It really really sounds like it :x!
Salespeople see customers coming into their stores in cloths that look like they cost a pretty penny, they reason these customers also spend big bucks on entertainment as well, not unreasonable. But the nickname is racist as hell.
This, a hundred times. Gamer kids(and their parent's wallets) can handle small a la carte purchases just fine but once you start introducing peripheral-less addons with triple digit price tags in the console community you're gonna start turning some heads and getting a lot of negativity thrown your way.
[at]riviania Member since Aug 2009