Gears of War : Ultimate Edition only Windows 10 TH2 Exlc.

General statements are not meant to be all-inclusive. "Most" is what's key. Unless "most" people play Half Life 2 and Tomb Raider 2013 year after a year and are fully willing to pay $60+ (depending on where one lives) for a single player, 10-18 hour title with no built-in replay value (hitting max level is not a problem; no New Game Plus type functionality, character build planning out isn't an issue, etc), then I'll have to change my statement. But MOST people don't want to.

Just because you and your friends and another... 200,000 people, even, are willing to do the same? That's not enough. They want like 5 MILLION people to do it. They want 10 MILLION people to do it. Tomb Raider 2013 sold 4.2 million copies and they said that "wasn't enough".

 

Well, I'll give you that, most people probably don't do a yearly HL2 walkthrough.
But people are willing to pay for a good single player game. Look at Firewatch, it sold nicely, and so did the new Tomb Raider. If the game is good, it doesn't need any artificial replayability added to it. New Game Plus is just the icing on a cake. What is it good for if the game initially is crap?
You don't ask movie makers to redo the script to watch it the second time. No. If it's good you'll just watch it again and enjoy it. Same goes to games, music, books.

Well of course they want 10 million people to buy it! Wouldn't you, if you made something?
And not all of those 4,2 million copies were sold at retail price. Best case scenario, half of them were, the rest went for mere peanuts. Still should be a nice sum, but I heard the production was very expensive, so naturally they are very money-hungry.

 

the head of xbox said the were going to improve the experience on pc but didn't really elaborate. i'll take it with a pinch of salt.

 

Well...ehm...what else did you expect him to say? That this game is gonna suck?
Of course he said it's gonna be awesome, otherwise he would lose his cushy position.

 

well i expected them to say nothing at all.

 

Now this here, I'll agree with. People are willing to pay for a good single player game. But it's the PRICE that's asked for it that's the real killer. Firewatch was what, $20? The new Tomb Raider I haven't looked too hard at. I'll honestly give you that. I've seen people raving like crazy over it, though. And you are right that people would pay for something truly good. I won't deny this at all. And I don't like "artificial replayability" either, for the matter. No idea if ROTTR sold ENOUGH though.

New Game Plus is one mechanic. I don't mean it should be in all games. I can't see it fitting into Tomb Raider. But for example, take Bioshock 1. You CANNOT get/upgrade all your weapons and/or plasmids. There are also three (technically, but really just two) endings depending on what you do with the little sisters. Playing through at another date and picking different powers and weapons can change up the gameplay significantly, and it'll be like a fresh playthrough even though the story in itself hasn't changed. Dark Souls 1 is another example. While it DOES have a NG+ mechanic, the true lure is that most characters will not be able to level up enough to do everything. If I focus on magic and dexterity for quicker spell casting, by the time I hit levels 130-200 I'm going to have to make some more choices about what I actually level up, which determines what I can effectively use (the max level is approximately 711). Creating a new character and playing through the game another way (maybe I'll then focus on strength and super large swords or axes or hammers, or maybe a faith-based character using divine weapons and miracles, etc) is very fun to do, and attracts many people to play through again, and is better than simply grinding out levels past ~150 or so so you can indeed use "everything". The story in itself doesn't change. That's "replay value", in both instances. I believe Borderlands 1 had similar things too... where your class tree could not be maxed out no matter what, so you had to pick your way through. I could make two or three hunters and build them different ways and get a different gameplay experience. Borderlands 2 allowed you to pay to change your skilltree, and while it was useful, I wasn't inclined to say... make more of one character type, even if a certain type was my favourite.

I meant "they wanted more to break even" not "we wish people bought and enjoyed!".

Yes, this is the original point. People put a lot of time and effort into graphics/lighting/voice acting, and less into "gameplay" and "replayability", which are far more important for a single player title, especially if not a super long title like a Final Fantasy game which will sink about 100 hours of your time MINIMUM. And then you have to count advertising, licensing fees and security expenses as a given, and advertising/licensing are larger fees the more high-profile you want a game to be, single player or not. And then they want or need to sell way too much to simply break even, and as I said: if people are satisfied with a simple let's play or something, sales of the game can tank. Or if people review it badly its sales can tank. Or hell, if word of mouth spreads that it's not worth $60 a pop, then people just sit waiting for sales; even console users now since PS+ and XBL have those sales every now and then.

 

Firewatch is a 4h long game, so its price is fair for what it is.
Regarding ROTTR, to my knowledge its sales on PC outperformed XBox One sales (or even combined One + 360), but then again, who didn't see that coming.

You see, exactly what I mean! Not every game needs to have choices/NG+/etc. to be enjoyable/fun and have a replay value!
That's what I was talking about all damn time!
And Borderlands 2, oh man, I didn't even finish it. Bailed after a while (20ish hours, still not bad), couldn't see where it was all going, got bored in the end. Same as with Shadow Of Mordor...
Also, what kind of monster would kill little sisters in BS1 to see the other ending?!?

 

Some YouTubers, 'cause I watched them there

 

It's okay to do it for scie...wait what?!?

Yeah, I watched the other ending too, liked the one I got much better .

 

Little girl? Meh, I killed one little sister to see what would happen. Have played for only 5 hours though.

 

You see? You couldn't continue because you knew deep down inside what kind of monster are you

 

Yea I don't think I have ever killed a little sister, just felt wrong. It's also why I never go with the insulting or sarcastic dialog choices in RPGs. If it's not something I'm comfortable doing in real life I generally don't do it in games either. Unless we're talking multiplayer games then I sometimes get frustrated and act out, which is why I generally stay away from them. I play games to relax not to be frustrated and angered.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

Game is out. Anyone playing?

 

it's $30 in my account's region. I never bothered to change my account's region so i've been stuck with the original region pricing.

 

What's the difference between GoW Ultimate and the original for PC? I played the original back in the day with my Geforce 9800m GS at 60fps haha, I can't believe it's just... the same game with probably better textures?

On a side note, I hope they really improve the whole windows store thing. I am kinda happy it's getting attention, if only to raise awareness.

 

you can watch all the digital foundry stuff on youtube where they compared the xb1 to 360.

i do remember the original PC version had more levels in it compared to the 360 version so i hope those missing levels are there.

 

Oh I did watch it when it launched, but the thing is, I played the original on PC since the beginning, and to be honest it looked and ran much much better than on 360. If graphics are the main change, it just baffles me a bit since we did have the original already on PC.

 

from watching the vids everything was redone: the levels, lighting, textures, cinematics....everything!

EDIT: damn this game is taking forever to download....i really want to get some game time in before i leave canada for a good while (if only my visa wasn't expiring in a few days).

 

Hope you finish downloading soon and enjoy I love the first one specially. I wonder if they do plan on bringing the rest for pc as well? Although 3 was bad... and I never played judgment.

I just rewatched the video and I can see why it ended up being both better and worse simultaneously. It was a tough job that they had to do. I will skip it but at least it does hold the original game's feel particularly in multiplayer.

Single player took a hit in my opinion, but there are areas where they massively improved upon the original, like the city slums, while others were tremendously downgraded, like the raining factory. It feels like the game was more of a sidejob port rather than a full effort to make it the best possible experience. The original has amazing atmosphere even if its assets are very very old/bad looking at times. The new ones manages better atmosphere in some places, while very dull look on others.

Does it have any of the "limitations" of the windows store?

 

it's 25gb done so i'll have to leave it for an overnighter.

EDIT: temps are in the low 70s for me in gameplay. there's frequent but minor stutter but still playable.

 

OK, same **** as TR. No exclusive full screen, no gsync, no multi GPU, no overlay, horrible perfs and bugs on AMD. Huehuehue...

 

[updated] Epic boss accuses Microsoft of trying to "monopolize game development on PC"
https://linustechtips.com/main/topi...-trying-to-monopolise-game-development-on-pc/

"Sweeney called on Microsoft to make UWP an open platform, and he pulled no punches in expressing concern for the future.

Spoiler

"Valve's Steam distribution service is booming with over 100m users, and publishers like Adobe, Autodesk, Blizzard, Riot Games and EA are operating highly successful businesses selling their games and content directly to consumers.

"Microsoft's situation, however, is an embarrassment. Seven months after the launch of Windows Store alongside Windows 10, the place remains devoid of the top third-party games and signature applications that define the PC experience. Where's Photoshop? Grand Theft Auto V? Fifa 2016? There are some PC ports of what were great mobile games, and some weirder things, such as the Windows 10 port of the Android port of the PC version of Grand Theft Auto from 2004.

"But the good PC stuff isn't there, with the exception of Microsoft's own software products. Does Microsoft really think that independent PC developers and publishers, who cherish their freedom and their direct customer relationships, are going to sign up for this current UWP fiasco?

"In my view, if Microsoft does not commit to opening PC UWP up in the manner described here, then PC UWP can, should, must and will, die as a result of industry backlash. Gamers, developers, publishers simply cannot trust the PC UWP 'platform' so long as Microsoft gives evasive, ambiguous and sneaky answers to questions about UWP's future, as if it's a PR issue. This isn't a PR issue, it's an existential issue for Microsoft, a first-class determinant of Microsoft's future role in the world."

Sweeney said Epic had spoken with Spencer and Microsoft to express its concern about UWP ahead of its announcement. But, it seems, this concern had fallen on deaf ears.

"Because they listened very patiently, I hoped and believed that Microsoft would do the right thing, but here we are. Microsoft's consumer launch and PR around UWP are in full swing, and this side of the story must be told.""

Microsoft wants to monopolise games development on PC. We must fight it
http://www.theguardian.com/technolo...-pc-games-development-epic-games-gears-of-war

"Microsoft is looking to dominate the games industry ecosystem with its aggressive new UWP initiative.

Developers must oppose this, or else cede control of their titles.

Gears of War developer tells games industry: we must fight Microsoft"

Spoiler

Why We Fight

"As the founder of a major Windows game developer and technology supplier, this is an op-ed I hoped I would never feel compelled to write. But Epic has prided itself on providing software directly to customers ever since I started mailing floppy disks in 1991. We wouldn’t let Microsoft close down the PC platform overnight without a fight, and therefore we won’t sit silently by while Microsoft embarks on a series of sneaky manoeuvres aimed at achieving this over a period of several years.

This day has been approaching for over 18 months, and I need to give credit to Microsoft folks, especially Phil Spencer, for always being willing to listen to Epic’s concerns with UWP’s paradigm, and to proposed solutions. Because they listened very patiently, I hoped and believed that Microsoft would do the right thing, but here we are. Microsoft’s consumer launch and PR around UWP are in full swing, and this side of the story must be told.

Microsoft’s intentions must be judged by Microsoft’s actions, not Microsoft’s words.

Their actions speak plainly enough: they are working to turn today’s open PC ecosystem into a closed, Microsoft-controlled distribution and commerce monopoly, over time, in a series of steps of which we’re seeing the very first. Unless Microsoft changes course, all of the independent companies comprising the PC ecosystem have a decision to make: to oppose this, or cede control of their existing customer relationships and commerce to Microsoft’s exclusive control."

Tim Sweeney is the co-founder of US-based developer, Epic Games, creator of the Gears of War series of Xbox and PC titles, which has sold over 20m units worldwide.

 

anyone playing on a 970m ?

 

Actually i hope no one is playing on this crap at all.
The less people buy on WS, the better it will be for the future of PC video games.

 

Had this hit Steam, instant buy... as is, I'll pass. I had the original on GFWL and I don't even know how to download it anymore, which is the same fate the current WS version will go. I was excited when MS said they were going to support Steam a while back. Very disappointed now.

 

I believe, though I am not sure.... that the original no longer works. Be it broken due to GFWL, or no patches ever released for future compatibility... I had the game and I remember I wasn't able to play anymore. I think it requires activation, and the service no longer exists or something like that?

 

my windows store is broken hahahaha.. can't even think about buying it ! thank you m$ !

 

I still have the original PC version.