Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Funcom not focussing on Xbox 360 version
fallenlords
Member UncommonPosts: 683
According to this report Funcom are backtracking already on their proposed Xbox 360 version of The Secret World (TSW). A title that was initially billed as being a PC/Xbox 360 game. It looks now like they will only release a console version 'if' TSW is successful enough to warrant a console release. So no hope for a 360 version then at all.
Personally I had thought an Xbox 360 version was a good idea, it kept Funcom in check and stopped them going over the top on the graphics and things that can negatively effect performance. To my mind it basically offered them some limitations to work within which meant there was a good chance the majority of people would be able to run the game without issue on release. There is also a big hole in the market for a reasonable MMO on Xbox.
I am actually moving over to console gaming, fed up with the issues with PC performance and while I had planned on getting a decent rig. I decided playing Crysis 2 without any issue, warranted an Xbox. After picking up a few console orientated games - which is basically anything that gave me a headache on the PC due to the limited field of view. I have started to convert, so much so I was actually looking forward to having TSW released on the Xbox. But now Funcom do their normal trick, promise and don't deliver. Wasn't AOC coming to the Xbox, wasn't Rise of the Godslayer billed to be released. Empty promises and to my mind a clear indication that Funcom probably can't get their dreamworld, bag of bolts engine, to work on anything other than PC. Consoles are limited but at this stage in Funcom's existance they need to release something that virtuallly everbody can play - I doubt with this news that will be the case and based on AOC I reckon a top end rig will be required to play TSW.
Comments
Understandable, but I doubt it will succeed unless they can make it work well on budget machines. An Xbox 360 version would have kept them within the limits of hardware that is a few years old. Which in turn would mean that anybody with a reasonable machine should be able to run TSW without issue. Now they have no restraints which personally I don't think bodes well for the game at all. Nor do I think backtracking at this stage is a good sign. You don't start off with a design for a PC/Xbox game and then at this late stage in the day all of a sudden drop the console part. So either the game has issues, or they lied and never planned to release an Xbox version in the first place.
Imho they had at some point the idea to broaden their market chances that way to include the console players but already from the experience with AoC (same engine) it was clear that offering console players the same level of technology and game experience would be impossible and a heavy stripped down version of TSW or AoC would only be lackluster.
Really, most consoles do not even have the disk space to have the games installed so....its only a good decision finally made.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
Just the mere mention of a console crossover (hasn't worked yet) initially dampened my enthusiasm for this title. Now it would appear that the fiasco with AoC has brought Funcom to their senses. What remains to be seen is how much of the interface/gameplay is console-friendly. It would appear that PC players are starting to wise up, refusing to pay for games that have been simplified for console consumption.
Personally, I'd be interested in seeing just how many PC games would be adapted for consoles if Microsoft stopped dangling incentives in front of developers.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
I honstly think they need to wait for the next generation of consoles because they consider console MMOs. MMOs seem to spark an interest with console only gamers that wont touch PCs because they're afraid of them or something. But then devs stop going for it, and everyone's disappointed. The consoles as they are just have way too low specs. The PS3 (correct me if I'm wrong) only has 256mb in ram. When I first heard this, I was thinking, no way, that can't be right. When I play an average PC game it takes far more ram. But I'm no hardware expert.
The consoles need to be built for MMOs. And there needs to be a dev that makes MMOs specifically for consoles maybe. Right now devs are just focused on making generic military and sci fi first person shooters over and over and over and over and over, with good games coming out few and far between.
Crysis 2 to me is an indication of the way things are heading, the original Crysis game made it's name on the PC. Crysis 2 was designed with consoles in mind and on the PC is nothing more than a port. The multiplayer PC beta cock up - 'press Start to continue' was evidence if you need it, that aside from the dumbed down controls and aim assit tech. A lot of PC games now are nothing more than console ports, quite evident by the default head hurting fields of view they have - amongst various other things. But then with smartphones, iPads and touch screens - simplified controls are probably the way to go to get mass appeal with anything.
Funcom are backtracking on what they initially said about an Xbox 360 version. To me I find it odd at this late stage in the day. Surely if you are designing a game you decide at the beginning where you are going to target. Which will impact hugely on your design decisions. There is a difference in deciding if you are going to develop just for PC with a view to a port, than designing multi-format.
If you look at DC Universe Online you can tell the interface is all designed around the use of a joypad. It has to be that way around because you only have a limited number of buttons available if you target the console market. The design of the control interface has a huge impact on how the game operates. So you have to design it based around the lowest common denominator - that being the joypad. But that wouldn't be a decision you take x number of years after starting development of the game. I find it altogether quite strange that this Xbox news hits only now and feel there is more to this story than is being mentioned.
I agree all one has to do is look at dcuo to realize that making mmo's to work on consoles is a really bad idea.
I know of no MMORPG that has a successful release on both PC and console. It's all nice for singleplayer games, and I get that games get released on console more because there's more money in it (less piracy), but MMORPG's are a different breed with different requirements. Every time a game company tries to develop an MMO for both console as PC it gets dumbed down in a number of key areas.
Even MMORPG's that were designed with 5+ year old computers in mind like WoW and SWTOR aren't being released on console, so that's saying something.
So, if they wanted to keep their options open initially, see how far it could go, sounds sensible. If they've discarded it now as an unfeasible option, no big loss to me. Even the better, I'd say: it means that the development and optimisation will happen with purely the PC in mind, a superior device to a console anytime in my eyes.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Shock, it's AOC all over again. Ironic its the same company. I want to play this game, and I want to play it on my 360. This makes me sad that I'd have to wait for quite possibly a year before we see a console release. Thumbs up for DCUO sucessfully starting the console war.
Played - M59, EQOA, EQ, EQ2, PS, SWG[Favorite], DAoC, UO, RS, MXO, CoH/CoV, TR, FFXI, FoM, WoW, Eve, Rift, SWTOR, TSW.
Playing - PS2, AoW, GW2
Always good news hearing they dont care much about console version!
PC first then maybe console, i dont care if they port it or not.
PC is best platform for mmo's and for most games consoles should stick to donkeykong, mario, sonic games:)
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
To my mind Funcom could of rebooted themselves with a good console release and played down their bad rep by delivering to a new market. If they are going to deliver in gameplay terms what they have actually described this should of been an ideal console release. At this stage for Funcom to be dismissing console gaming when the likes of NCsoft/Sony are actively pursuing it, I think just shows what a lack of insight Funcom has overall.
I also think it leaves Funcom in a position to do what they like with no limitations. As we have already seen with AOC they go in their own direction and ignore popular opinion. They are more concerned about what they create rather than if people enjoy that creation and can play it without issue. Games that are successful these days are the ones that actually listen to their users and take an active interest in them. Something Funcom has neglected now for some considerable time.
Overall I had some hope for Funcom with them saying a console release was planned, now I think their long awaited demise is inevitable. This isn't the market of a few years ago, they are going to have to release something extra special for people to get over their past poor performance.
porting mmorpg to console will and always be a terrible idea. the very foundation of mmorpgs rests on the chat box. console users dont use them. what does that mean? you have a bunch of people questing in the same area or going into town without actually talking or interacting with each other. then you get DCUO.
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
Shocking. It's seems FunCom is capable of making a good decision after all.
I'm still surprised when some folks think that MMOs can work on that platform, especially with how old and anemic they're getting. I mean why stop at the X-box? My Atari 2600 could use some new games too and Yar's Revenge just ain't cutting it anymore. And don't forget the Intellivision! I mean, where's the love?
I don't agree with the argument the foundation of an MMO rests in the chat box. Regardless of having a chat box I find you get ignored in most MMO's unless you make an effort to participate. The amount of interaction is often more dependant on the quality of the tools - like group finding. If something is good at throwing a group of random people together with a common goal you tend to have interaction.
Typically most Guilds within MMO's, that are serious, will use Vent especially for things like raids where everybody needs to know what they are doing. A chat box is handy to globally spam the server and is nice if you have a hobby of building massive ignore lists. But the idea it facilitates interaction I think is overly hyped. The majority of it's usage on most MMO's I have ever been involved with is down to looking for group and would like to sell/buy. Normally accommodating for a lack of tools within the MMO to facilitate the requirements.
When I played DCUO they had issues with both the group finding and the chat system, so it was quite an isolated experience. As a game though I liked the game, it just lacked any depth.
I agree Evasia. MMORPGS should NOT be on consoles. Consoles will dumb down the game waaaaaaaay to much.
Look at what you need to play AOC at a decent wallop - 64 bit OS, loads of memory, better than average graphics card. The problem with Funcom is they don't focus on what most game developers take for granted. That being it's easy to create something that will blow you away in terms of graphics and effects when you have no boundaries. But it's a lot more difficult to do that when you are aiming to produce something that will run on 'most' machines.
Why does WOW have 12 million subs? Because you can run it on virtually anything is one reason. The reason I was interested to see Funcom release to Xbox 360 was it would have limited them to producing something that wasn't over the top in terms of performance. The bulk of graphics cards that are sold are 'budget' cards - with AOC Funcom immediately positioned themselves outside of the market of the average user. Their min spec was complete BS and a lot of people gave up on AOC because of performance issues (waves hand as one of them). During the entire time I was playing AOC they did nothing to address performance and it was always left on the user, even though the community knew of the issues.
I hoped an Xbox 360 version a) Would fill a gap in the market b) Keep Funcom in check with regards to performance. Now I don't hold out much hope for Funcom and TSW. I think they have missed the boat and unless it is somehow extra special (which I doubt) I don't think they will be forgiven for past mistakes.
Hopefully the fact that they had the 360 in mind through so much of the development means they will have limited the graphical needs of the game, (though it didnt help with FFXIV) and that using AoC to test the engine also gives them feedback on this issue, they have no excuse.
I am not that worried about performance, its what aiming at consoles does to the interface that bothered me, and that its seems a waste of effort on the devs part when consolers are not that keen on subbing anyway. Its seems funcom are trying to avoid the mistakes made by SOE and Squenix on DCUO and FFXIV, which is understandable.
If TSW does well, I dont see them resisting a console release, this is the way round it should always be done.