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| Re: I know what I'm getting... | |
| Posted By: Sam <sam_edge@charter.net> | Date: 11/7/01 8:24 a.m. |
In Response To: Re: I know what I'm getting... (Tobin) : And it comes from Nintendo. If you want Halo, you can get the PC version,
Just a little side comment responding to your sarcasm here..... Yes, a super Athlon system with a good video card and good sound subsystem would be a good platform for PC Halo to run on.... But how many people are going to have that high of a spec on their machines? 20% of the pc market, if that, probably(Speculation). Are you going to shoot for that being your required system, and cut yourself out of 80% of your possible sales? The problem with having high end requirements on PC games is market penetration. This is the one area that allows consoles to excel so much at market.... any xbox title will run on any xbox; the spec is set. On your potential market, you have 100% penetration; all you have to do is find your target market and convince them to shell out their $$$. And the console market is bigger than the pc market; compare a $300 console, with a self life or 2-3 years, to a $1000 pc, with a shelf life of a 1.5 years (and, note that the pc will be obsolete in 9 months, requiring another 1 grand purchase to stay current). So, while Bungie might would LIKE to develop for a super PC (and it would kick ass if they did, based on what they've pulled off on the xbox) but you also have to consider sales. You can't shoot for the super top end of the spectrum and still have competitive sales. And, yes, we have performance scaling in games. However, if your high and average end are that far apart, you're almost developing 2 games, and that isn't cost effective. Never mention the compatability problems you'd have because of the open hardware spec on PC's. And if you start closing the requirements.... well, you're closing your market, and limiting sales. Never mind that on the pc side your dev platform is a MOVING TARGET; if your marketing and projection teams have done their job, and the dev team finishes the project on time, you MIGHT have decent sales; miss the hardware spec, and you go to market without a market to sell on. Bottom line; it's a money game. The xbox is a good dev platform because 1) it is a powerful system at a decent price, 2) it's a closed spec, and 3) you're close to the silicon. The xbox, out of the box, is probably more powerful than the average pc out there, and it's priced cheaper than a new pc. Are there pc platforms that are more powerful than the xbox? Yes, but those systems would run you around a grand, more if you don't have a decent monitor and sound system. However, pc's always have the cutting edge hardware (even allowing for the performance losses we suffer due to the OS's we have to run), never mind the multiplayer playground we call the internet. Are there pro's and con's to both? Yes. Your arguement was very one-sided. You can thank me for finishing the other side for you. :) | |
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