And finally I got one

[Harrison]

This is very true. The exclusive game releases of the 360 are now all being released on the PC as better versions with more content, and due to the power of high-end PC technology they are looking even better, and due to no storage limits also contain more levels, extra content and additions.

Much like the original Xbox, I think the 360 is going to end up as the poor man's PC, with the same but inferior games released on both platforms.

[Submeg]

Ahh, the story of M$ lol

[Ghost]

Hello all,

I find that a shame that these days games are more and more converted to other platforms.
I didn't mind so in the past as it didn't happen so often, and I liked when it was possible to play arcade games finally at home without the constant need to spending lots of coins.

But these days it almost no longer matters which machine you have as the games from one will probably be quickly adapted to another, only the company's own titles won't be so quickly converted.

[Harrison]

This isn't quite true regarding the PS3 and the Wii. Sony own a lot of film studios and game developers and titles created by one of Sony's own development studios or based on a Sony owned franchise are not likely to see a release on anything other than the PS3. And Nintendo's own first party games are similarly never going to see a port to any other hardware. But the Xbox 360 isn't quite in the same situation because while M$ do have a lot of cash, and did buy up some developers during the original Xbox launch, they don't have the same intellectual property as Sony or the loyal fan base of Nintendo.

[Ghost]

Hence why I said that a company's own titles wouldn't be so quickly (read: never) would be converted to another machine officially.

Edit:

Damn, now I need to correct this response.
Its highly unlikely in Sony's or Nintendo's case that they will ever convert their own console titles to another machines, in M$ the case lies a little different.
Sometimes the games they release were already planned for the PC, but were simply released for the Xbox first, and later appeared as yet on the PC.
Or in some cases they were converted from the Xbox to the PC.

I probably have said the same what Harrison just said but I do not want to give the impression that I am ignorant.

What I find annoying is that a lot of 'PC' games also end up translated to consoles, taking away any selection of games that are unique to it.
The PC is already often mentioned as an MMO machine, consoles are catching up, and it is my fear that the PC will only loose more and more single player games as MMO game development replaces them.

Also not very happy about the re imagining of certain games that were originally just on the PC, the often mentioned 'Fallout' (but this already has its own thread) and 'Wing Commander', the prototype for the first person space action shooter, now turned into a semi 2D/3D shooter, lacking a developing storyline like the originals.

[Harrison]

A very good point you mentioned there Ghost regarding the re-imagining of games for cross platform development. So often a game starts pre-production with a single platform in mind, but then the publisher decides it will be cross platform and then the game needs to be redesigned to fit all platforms included.

This especially hits games designed for the PC as they often end up lacking decent controls because they have been designed with a gamepad in mind. Over the past few years I have encountered many PC games where on-screen information appears that is clearly designed for someone using a console controller and not a mouse and keyboard. That is always very annoying.

The other area that often used to suffer was the graphics and model detail because often developers would model for the lowest spec system and then just port over those models to the higher ones, so the game would end up looking the same. Hence the reason some PC games end up looking like they are running on a PS2.

But at least now we are in a slightly better situation. With this current generation of consoles the 360 and PS3 are easily powerful enough to be on a level with current PC technology so games developed for one platform shouldn't suffer quite as much as they did in past generations.

[Sharingan]

The trouble with developing uniquely for one platform nowadays is the financial risk. With development costs skyrocketing, bringing out a title for only one platform can potentially mean disaster, especially for the smaller companies out there. What if the game you just sunk € 30-40 million into just doesn't sell enough to cover the costs? By going multiplatform, you reduce the risk of that happening, since you'll be reaching a market that's three/four times as large.

That's why you're seeing less and less exclusive games this generation, even franchises that have previously only appeared on, say, the PlayStation brand.

[J T]

I find that a shame that these days games are more and more converted to other platforms.

Yeah, I just hate that more people can play a bigger selection of games than ever before.

And people aren't missing out because they don't have the market-leading system or just want a simple plug in and play gaming experience? Honestly, the cheek of it.

[Submeg]

Meow! lol

[Harrison]

But... there is a very good reason for wanted something being developed exclusively for a single platform. Controls. Games developed specifically for one platform always utilise that system's controller much better than if it is a cross platform release.

Just look at how dire the controls are for many games that are released on the Wii, which have been ported from other systems.