[Speculation] Star Trek Online coming to Next Gen Systems?

ussdanube

Hi

Sorry if this has been discussed already but it appears Star Trek Online and all of Perfect World's other titles will eventually come to next gen consoles according to these articles

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/star-trek-online-publisher-promises-future-free-play-consoles/

http://www.develop-online.net/news/perfect-world-opens-console-division/0187607

What are the community's thoughts on this?

Keep it Clean, keep it civil and express you're thought's, Thank you

earlnyghthawk

I hate to say it, but if they do this, I fear a further "dumbing-down" of the content & controls, and no upward movement of the system, as consoles are non-upgradable. Whatever processor & GPU the come with, that's what they're stuck with.

ussdanube

I suppose another question to ask as well is, If STO and all these other titles come to consoles, if we decide to play on the consoles, will we have to start again or will we be able to pick up where we left off on the PC?

kjwashington

If they put STO on a console, it'll be like Minecraft. You know, where the PC version is infinitely better. :P:D

ussdanube wrote: »

I suppose another question to ask as well is, If STO and all these other titles come to consoles, if we decide to play on the consoles, will we have to start again or will we be able to pick up where we left off on the PC?

Most likely start over. We may (probably won't) have all our C-store unlocks. But probably won't.

daedalus304

noticed they said "consoles", not specific to the already outdated consoles like the bone or PS4, despite the statment of the PS4 for blacklight (developed for pc and consoles).

I've no doubt STO will be on the Steambox.

but to see STO on consoles would mean as stated above me, the game would either be stuck on the crappy processors the current Bone and PS4 have, or there would have to be a larger and individual team for each console and the PC, requiring more and more money.


If they do this, there will not be a large market, nor will it be worth the effort, time, money, resources etc.

in all honesty I think those articles are just vapor posts, I seriously doubt PWE can handle the time and resources needed to convert and maintain all of the cryptic titles on the bone and ps4.

ussdanube

Well we'll just have to see what the future brings. I don't mind as long as it doesn't bring STO crashing and tumbling down.

daedalus304

ussdanube wrote: »

Well we'll just have to see what the future brings. I don't mind as long as it doesn't bring STO crashing and tumbling down.

oddly enough I kinda miss the old Atari days....somethings just made sense and at least crafted with beautiful in mind (not always in practice), now things feel like cheap toys made in china with lead paint.

thegalaxy31

ussdanube wrote: »

Well we'll just have to see what the future brings. I don't mind as long as it doesn't bring STO crashing and tumbling down.

Trust me, STO will come tumbling down if they make it available on consoles. Unless they somehow make the UI different for consoles, still keep the same UI for PCs and have enough servers for it.

thedoctorbluebox

It is all about money, simple as that.

I share the concerns of the second poster.

aloishammer

ussdanube wrote: »

What are the community's thoughts on this?

My only thought: "Oh, it's this thread again."

ashkrik23

Not sure what to say honestly. This is gonna cost more to do than it would if they were like Sony and had their own consoles to put stuff on. Like they did with DCUO.

arrowmatic

earlnyghthawk wrote: »

I hate to say it, but if they do this, I fear a further "dumbing-down" of the content & controls, and no upward movement of the system, as consoles are non-upgradable. Whatever processor & GPU the come with, that's what they're stuck with.

For the current console generation that would be an 8-core x86 cpu and a DirectX 11 / sm5 class GPU, which exceeds the specs of the average PC currently in use in the world. Remember you have to compare it to what people actually have, not the bleeding edge of what they could get. Why do you think so many games are still shipping with DirectX9 support? Primarily for the plethora of XP-era relics that people are still refusing to get rid of.

The actual issue of course would be the interface and controls; not the internal hardware.

elessym

Okay.

You can stop the panic machine >here<.

First, the actual press release. http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/perfect-world-entertainment-announces-nextgen-console-presence-20131219-00496

Note particularly, the wording here:

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Perfect World Entertainment Inc. a leader and publisher of widely-acclaimed free-to-play MMORPGs, announced today a company expansion by creating a console division targeting current and next-gen consoles. Planned console products expected include current and future games from Perfect World Entertainment's suite of developers. Players will be able to experience the best of free-to-play online games on their consoles, bringing PWE's popular games to a whole new audience.

Note that it doesn't say "all current ... games." It could actually only be one game out of the many that PWE runs. STO is, as has been pointed out, a fairly unlikely candidate for a console port. Neverwinter, on the other hand, is practically there already. And that doesn't even begin to delve into the many non-Cryptic games from PWE.

So in light of this, the idea that STO is going to be "gone to the consoles" is hardly more likely than it was before.

starswordc

Also note simple financial considerations. Last time I looked MMOs didn't do particularly well on consoles (the exception being Final Fantasy XI).

fatman592

Besides being trek, the only real draw STO can claim is space combat. Standard controllers lack the necessary controls to pilot any ship at tier 5. There's what, 14-16 buttons on a given controller? 10+ buttons would be needed just for Boff abilities. There goes singularity powers, or redistribute shields, independent weapon controls, targeting commands, tray powers, and so on.

If STO goes console, the way Boffs and general mechanics work would have to change. If there was a built in macro system that would cut down considerably but not enough. But hey, ground combat is probably simple enough to be ported straight over (while alone, not with Boffs).

So yeah, it's not going to happen.

neoakiraii

Doooooooooooooooooom!!!!

daedalus304

arrowmatic wrote: »

For the current console generation that would be an 8-core x86 cpu and a DirectX 11 / sm5 class GPU, which exceeds the specs of the average PC currently in use in the world. Remember you have to compare it to what people actually have, not the bleeding edge of what they could get. Why do you think so many games are still shipping with DirectX9 support? Primarily for the plethora of XP-era relics that people are still refusing to get rid of.

The actual issue of course would be the interface and controls; not the internal hardware.

oh wow....you sound very...nevermind.

first off, no those specs are actually just under what an average PC is used in the world. I'm not talking average office and school hardware, I'm talking average consumer PC, just because something has 8 cores does not make it supreme...I'm using an FX-8350 and it's good but not nearly as good as a solid i7 or i5, but again this is sitting in the low rung of casual use.

the i5 would be used for gaming, and the 8350 would be good as a hybrid device.

so before I go into the wondrous world of PC hardware lemmie just say this, the hardware on the consoles right now is about 1.5 years out of date in terms of both price, average usage etc.

now the other thing, the only people who would still have the XP run pc's are people either not able to afford a new PC of any price, or schools/office's. anyone else who has the time money and aim to get something to run something like STO would be stupid not to trade up.

oh and in case you didn't already know, the 360 and PS3 both ran DX9, they were the primary reason why the games in this world were held back for so long, and the consoles as they are now will also do the same thing, constrict the majority of the gaming world to a bottleneck of outdatedness, and especially now in this age of hardware and affordable components, indie developers are pulling things out on the PC that the consoles will never be able to hold with.

if STO get's on the consoles, it will be the equivalent of tying ten cinder-blocks to your arms and legs then dropping into the Hudson River.

and let me keep pushing this fact, The Average PC in terms of basic processing power, GPU(special cases, non home built), and cutting edge software, on a consumer disposable razor brand, outclass the current gen consoles. however, in affordability and sheer fun, the homebuilts have been outclassing the next gen before the next gen even exsisted.

and no, for many other reasons, STO will not be put to consoles, the primary of which being both financial and technical skill force needed.

arrowmatic

daedalus304 wrote: »

oh wow....you sound very...nevermind.

I sound like someone who looked up actual user stats from various sources like Unity and Steam instead of making up data.

first off, no those specs are actually just under what an average PC is used in the world.

This is incorrect. Correct information can be looked up at your leisure. You will find that the number of dual core PCs in current use is actually quite staggering.

the only people who would still have the XP run pc's are people either not able to afford a new PC of any price

Global user stats show that this is a larger number of people than you realize.

oh and in case you didn't already know, the 360 and PS3 both ran DX9,

Quite, but obviously this has little to do with PC-only studios and titles. And for the record the PS3 did not actually "run DirectX 9" but the hardware was of that class, yes.

earlnyghthawk

arrowmatic wrote: »

For the current console generation that would be an 8-core x86 cpu and a DirectX 11 / sm5 class GPU, which exceeds the specs of the average PC currently in use in the world. Remember you have to compare it to what people actually have, not the bleeding edge of what they could get. Why do you think so many games are still shipping with DirectX9 support? Primarily for the plethora of XP-era relics that people are still refusing to get rid of.

The actual issue of course would be the interface and controls; not the internal hardware.

I'm not comparing them to what people currently have. I'm comparing them to what people could potentially have in a year or two, for reasonable prices. Consider, I went from what is now considered a low end PC (AMD Athlon XP 3200+ CPU, with an ATI Radeon 1050/1300), to a mid-range laptop. (AMD dual core with an Radeon HD 7340 GPU), for $404 and some change (counting the extended warranty). If I was to have waited, and spent that next year, for example, I could probably easily get a quad-core, with an even higher level GPU. Or if I had stayed with the desktop, I could have bought a fairly recent motherboard, then, as I felt the need & had the money, upgraded the CPU. memory, hard drive, video card, sound card, etc ect.
With consoles, you don't have that option. You're locked into whatever CPU they come with (no upgrade possible). Whatever GPU they come with, again, you're locked into that (no upgrade possible). Memory, same issue. Sure, in some cases, the hard drive can be upgraded. And of course, with the newer style consoles, you can plug in certain USB devices, for increased storage space, controllers, etc. But the base level of computing power & praphics handling, can never be upgraded on a console, ever. Part of how a console stays stable for it's games, and why they tend to have less bugs or issues. Since there are so few variations, any game maker knows, they only have to program for "this set of specs". Whereas, PC's/laptops/tablets, there's literally millions of variations possible. Not even accounting for differing versions of Windows installs, and differing device drivers, that even two users of a component may be using.
Also, with very few exceptions, MOST console gamers, tend to have very different expectations from their games, than PC gamers do. Why do you think certain kinds of games flourish on PC, only to wither on console, and vice versa?

arrowmatic

As I explained to the guy above you, your personal belief of what the average PC is and the reality are quite a bit different. This is not a matter of opinion, interpretation, or belief. It is a matter of data, and the data is there for all to see.

In any case I have little interest in seeing this game ported over to consoles, and I have even less interest in engaging anyone in their personal "pc vs console" jihad, which I feel is a silly argument. My only interest in this topic is in correcting misconceptions about the quality of the average PC in actual use.

azurianstar

Surprised there was no formal announcement by the team here on the STO site. But looks like my comment in that other thread must've brought a good chuckle to the Dev Team. :P

I don't mind them extending to console, as long as they don't dumb down the game for the PC and MAC users, and don't neglect the other aspects of STO. Which when I say that, I'm talking about the Foundry (doesn't need neglected any further than it already has been).



Though, I'm curious how this is going to affect ARC? Because consoles work better with individual launchers than with systems like ARC, Origin, etc, because of the reduced capacity consoles have over gaming computers.

steamwright

*glances at threat title*

so...Star Trek Online: The Next Generation? :rolleyes:

ussdanube

aloishammer wrote: »

My only thought: "Oh, it's this thread again."

I did initially say I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, no need for implied attitude.

Keep it clean, keep it civil, thank you:)

zipagat

I doubt STO will be one of the games PWE ports to the new gen consoles, there are too many controls that are vital to make STO work like BO skills , weapon control, shield balancing singularity powers and the like. A Xbox controller has 14 buttons + two clickable sticks and the dashboard button.

The ps4 controller has 2 less buttons as Start and select are gone now in favor of the share and options button which are not used as game control buttons.

So yeah I can't see it happening , Neverwinter though is a far more likely game as you only have 6 skills total at any one time so it is far better candidate.

fenr00k

zipagat wrote: »

I doubt STO will be one of the games PWE ports to the new gen consoles, there are too many controls that are vital to make STO work like BO skills , weapon control, shield balancing singularity powers and the like. A Xbox controller has 14 buttons + two clickable sticks and the dashboard button.

The ps4 controller has 2 less buttons as Start and select are gone now in favor of the share and options button which are not used as game control buttons.

So yeah I can't see it happening , Neverwinter though is a far more likely game as you only have 6 skills total at any one time so it is far better candidate.

You're forgetting button click combinations, eg left stick + x etc, which increases the number of commands that can be sent from a controller.

majorsmoker420

I'm really torn at this idea, in one way it would be cool to have STO on my game console along with my other games, but translating all the commands to a controller... if you have the ability to plug in a keyboard and mouse that would be awesome, and in my opinion the best option. Also would it all be a shared environment? Or split? I just feel that keyboard and mouse vs controller, the KB is going to win every time. Hopefully it will launch on PS3, I feel it can more than handle STO, but I can just play on my Mac and wait until I get a PS4, at the same time though I doubt we will see a launch until 2015.

Any thoughts?

Source
http://m.digitaltrends.com/gaming/star-trek-online-publisher-promises-future-free-play-consoles/

askray

majorsmoker420 wrote: »

I'm really torn at this idea, in one way it would be cool to have STO on my game console along with my other games, but translating all the commands to a controller... if you have the ability to plug in a keyboard and mouse that would be awesome, and in my opinion the best option. Also would it all be a shared environment? Or split? I just feel that keyboard and mouse vs controller, the KB is going to win every time. Hopefully it will launch on PS3, I feel it can more than handle STO, but I can just play on my Mac and wait until I get a PS4, at the same time though I doubt we will see a launch until 2015.

Any thoughts?

Source
http://m.digitaltrends.com/gaming/star-trek-online-publisher-promises-future-free-play-consoles/

LOL my roommate just read this and yelled "HE LIED TO ME" because he asked about consoles at the meetup and was told it's not something they're working on atm. :P:P

majorsmoker420

Lol yeah, and they weren't working on a Mac version either. I was very surprised to read this though.

ashkrik23

Honestly, if they end up going onto console as well, they need a team just for PS3 maintenance IMO.

noblet

So we can expect the UI to be dumbed down in the near future?;)

ashkrik23

noblet wrote: »

So we can expect the UI to be dumbed down in the near future?;)

Console UI does not= PC UI always.