I returned home from work today to find my newest issue of Computer Gaming World had arrived. Or, more accurately, my newest issue of “Games for Windows” had arrived. It seems CGW has changed its name.
There is this new push by PC gaming companies to “standardize” the industry and brand it the way X-Box and Playstation are. Thus we have the new “Games for Windows”. These games are designed to ideally interface with Windows Vista. They are pushing the idea of allowing easy parental controls and compatibility guarantees.
This entire concept is ridiculous and it will never fly. Seriously, it’s one of the most laughably stupid things I’ve heard in a long time.
Firstly, and possibly most obvious. Windows is not the only Computer platform that plays games. It is certainly the most prevalent but many games had been moving towards including Mac and PC versions of their games on the disc at release. Branding these “Games for Windows” certainly undercuts the idea of “Games for Macs” and to a lesser point “Games for Linux”. I’m sure Microsoft is not shedding any tears over this. The more I hear about Vista, the more I don’t like it.
Second, they are pushing this branding as some sort of compatibility equalizer. Guess what, part of the reason the PC game market is so fractured is because PC market is fractures. Every Playstation 2 sold is identical to the one sold before it. Ok, technically there are minor hardware upgrades we never see (Soul Caliber 3 won’t play properly on my old hardware for example) but for the most part they are all the same. PCs on the other hand have an unlimited number of configurations available. My PC at home is different than the 2 PCs I use at work. Which are different from each other, which are different from all of the PCs in the control room and most of the PCs in the building. PCs, unlike consoles, are easily and infinitely configurable. An article in the magazine mentioned wanting to more or less do away with “confusing system requirements”.
You can’t do this. Not without somehow limiting the hardware market, which will never happen. Assuming this completely idiotic idea somehow sticks, I guarantee in 5 years there will be “Games for Windows” being released that are no longer compatible with my current PC.
Third problem, and no so much a problem but a personal issue. The move for this standardized interface and the use of Vista’s new Media Center as well to interface with the game bothers me. It’s just one step closer to excessively invasive Digital Rights Management style regulation of software. There was a rumor going around hat PS3 discs would somehow become hard coded to the first console they wee played on preventing plays on other consoles. This is pretty much impossible to do without writable media or forcing an Internet connection on the user. The same sort of scheme would be more easily implemented on a home PC considering they are more likely to be on the internet or include a writable disc drive by default.
Finally there is simple the simple volume of PC developers. Ok, it’s probably not as many as for consoles but it’s also not as organized as consoles. Anyone can make a PC game and distribute it via the Internet for the PC. A push of this sort can only mean bad things for “the little guy” and the independent developer.
Or it could mean a lot for the independent developer. Windows Vista seems to be a moving towards a really dummied down version of Windows. On the other hand, your average PC consumer probably will love all of this restriction. For someone who knows how to work a PC properly and efficiently like myself it’s only going to lead to a lot of frustration. On the other hand, the chaos and nature of the PC world means there are always methods for circumventing even the most irritating inconveniences.
