They just want to make sales on their little red ring of death 360's lol. hopefully that issue has been fixed i am assuming?

Microsoft will be shooting developers in the foot to break-up release dates. Last I checked simultaneous releasing worked well for great games.

Fragmenting release dates makes the games less appealing, mainly do to reviews and lack of hype. I guess M$ missed the memo where PC gamers actually look into the products they buy.

I can only imagine who'd wanna help Microsoft make more revenue while the dev/publisher takes a hit. Bungie? Oh wait...

This strategy shows that the console market needs artificial support. The PC market is stronger and PC players will wait for a game.

If MSFT keeps losing money on consoles and delays PC games, how do they make their money in gaming?

Not that I game much anymore anyway, but I don't think I would buy another console ever again. I bought the original Xbox four years ago and played it quite a bit for the first few months, but not very much since. I always come back to the PC for gaming. In all fairness, that could be because I mainly prefer RTS and FPS games, and the mouse and keyboard rules for those sorts of games. I adapted fairly well to the Xbox controller, but it wasn't the same obviously.

LOL to console gaming

http://server1.megagames.com/news/html/console/firmware240brickspla...

this isn't news, it isn't new, what it is is obvious and commonplace.

p.s. to argue the whole PC vs Console which is an absurd arguement the truth is everyone owns a PC and many ppl also own consoles, while most of those with the money don't give a crap about PC gaming it's the kids playing the consoles that do but don't have the money to change that they are stuck with a console.

consoles blow chunks while being easy to use and as has always been the case while ppl talk about a challenge they don't really want to deal with one hence the popularity of the console and it's dumbed down games made simple.

Just one more reason why we want Vista/7 to fail utterly and let Linux take its place in the market.. This kind of monopolist idiocy.

Right...because the OSS community definitely has all their sh!t together when it comes to things like desktop computing, nevermind the developers of third-party software. You can repeat it all day long if you like, but Linux ain't coming to the masses, people, and it sure as hell isn't coming to rescue gamers--not that gamers are asking to be rescued, either.

'On a global scale the Windows Vista business is as important as our Xbox 360 business. But in Germany for example, we want more gamers to buy our Xbox 360. If we launch a game that is on 360 and PC simultaneously, we basically shoot ourselves in the foot by allowing the German market to choose to play the PC version – because they are more likely to buy that than spend their money on the Xbox 360.'

I can assure you, even though I am not a German, I'm not giving in to your extortionist tactics. Not a single console for me, especially not one from your company. I'll wait for the PC version, thank you very much.

Just one more reason why we want Vista/7 to fail utterly and let Linux take its place in the market.. This kind of monopolist idiocy.

yay hard evidence to truly back up of what i have previously said

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/devilmaycry4/news.html?sid=619311...m_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule...[ot.com]

Games that we could only dream of is now becoming a reality.

And looks like its going to be a nice port thats going to take advantage of pc hardware.

And whats more it be available this month at a price of 39.99

Looks like i be buying this game.

Is this really news?

This has been going on for a long time.

They have nailed the reason I don't have a 360.

I would rather play CoD4, Bioshock, etc, etc. on my PC.

That and my PC has a resettable blue screen instead of a red ring.

Thats not necessarily true. its actually going both ways. In one hand yes you do have younger generation geared towards consoles, but at the sametime you have students taking computer classes and learning about how computers work and some wants to major in computer science. Pc's has a lot to offer. And even if mmo's were to hit on consoles what makes you think that be it for pc's. You be surprised what technology pc's are coming out with now. If anything consoles are the ones are at risk because they are nothing more than money making machines to which every title thats been ported from consoles to pc always looks better than the console's counterparts. This is the reason why pc's and pc gaming is gaining popularity.

And that does not stop there. You can actually run games off a flash drives,usb hard drives, or any portable device. Try doing that with a console. I am just shocked that i am able to run all the grand theft auto series off my 32gb flash drive lol. talking about taking your games on the go lol. Especially with steam.

So in the end Pc's remains the most open platform for anyone to learn/play Even At a young age. Yes i can see consoles are perfect for them from the start. But once they get older and start being exposed to computers when going to school and realizing how pc's are more than just a office/school computer then you have your next generation geek or the next bill gates lol. I guess what i am trying to say is that there will always be someone thats going to replace. It only appears that its not but trust me it is. And furthermore you can plug in a usb wirless rumble gamepad.

And also don't forget about that laptops are getting powerful enough where you can run crysis at decent quality. If a laptop can run crysis, then just imagine all your legacy games that are pretty much had its days but yet in a format where its away from cd's/dvd's bluray or optical to a much portable format such as a flash drive. Sure the ps3 may have usb ports but can you run a ps3 game thats on a blu ray and put it on a flash drive and run the game off a flash drive?. I don't think so.

As far as mmo's goes i think laptops will get there first or have already got there due to its portability something where a console can't touch. I can truly see mmo's dominating in the laptop space than any console hands down. And matter of fact, at my college i see a lot of young generation playing wow at the cafeteria having a little laptop lan party at the school's cafeteria lol. No more dedicated lan parties eh?. I find laptops more useful than consoles which only thing console has left is ease of use. But even that slowly starting to fade away due to consoles now have patches, and updates, and "download and install" lol.

So yea you are right about PC gaming not just being for the hardcore gamers anymore. And sides it was very limiting too. Thats the past.

Now: It is going both ways Hardcore and casual gaming. This is going to open up lots of opportunity of innovation. We already have the platform that can adapt. So why not put it to great use.

And Lastly PC gaming has 0 marketing. they only control or try to control on the software front but that can be easily be bypassed. Which makes older software and games that are no longer supported but still manages to survive. Example?? The command & conquer games those games is still going strong for 7 years and counting, even after the support has ended. Console games are short lived tons of money being spent just to hype it up. GTA IV is a prime example of being hyped. Don't even want to know how much they spent just to grab people's attention about this game. Me i just wait for the pc version of GTA IV

For MS it's not about getting the hardcore PC gamers but the casual users that don't want to send 1,200+ for a games PC. Most £€$400 computers will do everything anybody normally needs except serious gaming. As for PC gaming making a lot of money, maybe, for the couple of killer online ones with monthly subscriptions. Gold Live was a very good idea, from a MS economical sense. It should add on another €240 to the price of the console (assuming 4 year sub).

Then if you lock in the youth market you have them for life. Why do most here play PC games, coz console weren’t nearly as powerful as PCs back in the day and we got used to Keyboard + Mouse. I watched my nephew trying to play a couple of keyboard & mouse games; he says the controls don’t feel right, hates having to pickup the mouse all the time to re-center it and playing twister on the keyboard with finger gymnastics. He’s gotten used to a controller. I can use both and see where he’s coming from; it’s taken about a year of console FPS for me to get use to it, like mouse gaming you need to max out the sensitivity and unlearn the hard presses used with a keyboard for gentle movement. Simple things like running and walking in a game are much easier to control with a joypad.

Plus, I hate to say it, the ol’skewl Spectrum / PC / Amiga (+ C64) / Atari ST Warez seen was massive compared to today, not so much Internet / BBS, but if your friend got a game you could just install it on your PC and play, causal piracy was very common. Most of the people I knew when young didn’t have as much spare cash as kids now a days so if one got a new game everybody ended up with a copy, not saying it’s right, just that’s the way it was. You don’t see kids pirating console game much, as you need to modify the hardware.

I still believe once we get the first serious MMO for consoles it will be the beginning of the end for serious PC gaming. Along with the fact most serious PC gamers will grow up, have a family and basically move on from PC gaming, there won’t be a younger generation to replace them. Talking with my nephew about this stuff, his mobile phone is number 1, a PC is about Internet access to his Bebo / Myspace / YouTube (or whatever is the flavor of the month for the “In Bros”), then consoles for gaming. I’ve even tried to explain to him what a LAN Party was, which got a blank look; You bring your PC + Monitor somewhere to play games, why not just use the Internet! Kids have it sooo easy now.

PC games on Linux.. Give me a break. Theres a lot behind the scenes than just a "desktop computing os". Apparently lot of pc games are under dx api. Sure you can use wine but to me thats not close enough. Seems like dx or directx just seems to bring pc games to the table with hardly any issues at all or non at all.

Second reason is windows is standardized enough but yet flexible of what kind of hardware you have and can add. which is the reason why apple is only getting a piece of the pie when it comes to gaming. Sure games like doom and epic games such as quake wars and Unreal Tournament series are the only games that i know of that are Linux and windows but look at where they got them. Its not a mainstream hit. And fact those games has gotten cheap really fast. Linux is very good at the desktop and application front however that i will admit that. But then again windows can do that and pc gaming lol.

For the record, I have nothing against Linux per se, only fanboyism.
Unlike others here, I think that Linux can (and might) be everything to everyone... eventually.
The thing that is really holding back gaming is lack of marketshare.
IMHO, Linux needs to "unify" if it is to have a real chance of gaining marketshare. So far, the best contender, Ubuntu, isn't pushing hard enough, though.

Ok, back on topic. Nothing new here, staggered releases = higher sales. Personally, I think games should be released for all platforms simultaneously, but then again I don't care much about release dates, either.
If it's a good enough game, I will buy it whenever it comes out.

Without games on PC, there will be little reason for regular consumers to dual-boot windows (or, in fact, run windows at all).

Ppl will get by just fine on Linux and Mac.

Nice going, Ballmer.

In related news, I recall Blizzard saying something about simultaneous release of Diablo III on Mac and Windows. Neat.

This reminds me of what Sony said about the infamous PS3 how powerful it is and that it will replace your computer. LOL. This is all business talk. But one thing for sure is that these companies sure like to mess with their consumers and cause a reaction or a response. I seen this over and over again. Give it some time and eventually they realize what a mistake they did.

WTF? I buy PC games because

1. higher res
2. better control options (usually)
3. MORE EYE CANDY

Oh, yes. They care about both "equally". They just want to put the priority on XBox360 sales and will quite literally penalize PC gamers for not choosing to play the same game on inferior hardware.

How is that, in any stretch of the definition, "equal" treatment?

MS always rebukes those critics who say the "Games for Windows" program is just lip service. This move proves those critics absolutely right.

This is exactly what I was afraid of when Microsoft got into the gaming business: MS leveraging their near-monopoly market power to cripple PC gaming in order to artificially boost the sales of their consoles.

Then again, this could just be a regional manager shooting his mouth off. I certainly hope it is. But then, the intentional delays of PC versions of games like Mass Effect, the entire Halo series, Gears of War, and pretty much every other premium title MS has any control over whatsoever make this theory pretty unlikely.

Apparently, because MS (which, *gasp* is a publicly owned company) is out to maximize profits, that makes them evil. Heres a clue: THERE ARE NO COMPANIES OUT THERE LOOKING OUT FOR YOU. They all want your money, plain and simple. This is their legal obligation as a publicly traded company.

Why else would the movie studios not release DVD's at the same time as the theater? Because they want your $9 to see it in the theater, and then your $15-20 to buy the DVD later. They want maximize the money they get from you.

Strange, do they think that they will sell more with shifted sales? I wish I knew enough about economics to comment about it on the Internet. :(

Edit: Sorry, I got owned by reply. My original (double posted) message the guys below were kind enough to reply to was as follows:

Because they want to sell their products as profitable as possible. A lot of people consider that evil these days.

Valve and Steam FTW!!

Screw you, Microsoft. I hope Valve trashes their gaming business.

I would offer MS a 1-finger salute, but honestly, I haven't bought (or cared about) a game they've published since Halo 1.

Screw their release 'tactics.' I don't think they realize that most people who want a 360 already have one, and the chances of someone buying one purely to play a game on the 360 a bit earlier than they can on the PC are low. Yet another example of how not to sell games on the PC and hurt PC gaming overall for no good reason.