DICE: Consoles Are Holding PC Games Back, BF3 Aiming to Fix That
DICE: Consoles Are Holding PC Games Back, BF3 Aiming to Fix That
Posted 04/18/2011 at 7:33pm
| by Nathan Grayson
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Gaming as a whole may be better than ever, but let's face facts: where once our rigs groaned and creaked under the strain of triple-A games, they now yawn disinterestedly and check Facebook. Battlefield creator DICE, too, isn't afraid to stare the problem in the face, but instead of whipping out the old “PC piracy too expensive kthxbye” argument and calling it a day, the developer sees PC gaming as the solution – not the problem. “It's actually helping us make a better console game,” said executive producer Patrick Bach.
“Yes, absolutely,” he told GeForce when asked if he thought consoles were holding PC gaming back. “That's the biggest problem we have today. Most games are actually still based on the same core idea that the consoles are your focus, the superior platform or something. I don’t know why. That was the truth 5 years ago, but the world has moved on.”
“So for our target of what we want to hit, we are now using the more powerful platform to try and prove what we see gaming being in the future rather than using the lowest common denominator, instead of developing it for the consoles and then just adding higher resolution textures and anti-aliasing for the PC version.”
He also added that putting your best foot forward and then scaling down for consoles allows for a greater degree of choice in what makes the final cut – thus eliminating the whole “hideous console version” dilemma.
“In the end, by, you know, painting this high-end target, you actually set a new bar and then when you scale it back, I think people will be surprised to see how good it looks on the consoles. We can't show it right now, because we're aiming to use the PC to set the bar, but it's actually helping us make a better console game,” he explained.
You, however, are probably still skeptical. You've been burned before, after all. But you'll just have to trust us, because at the end of the day, that's all life really-- kidding. Here's a 12-minute trailer of Battlefield 3. Enjoy!
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szore
April 24, 2011 at 6:14am
Wait! I just watched the gameplay trailer for BF3 HOLY CRAP! That's hot!
axiomatic
April 21, 2011 at 1:27pm
I've been playing DICE games since the begining. Their sandbox is still the best game in town. You bet I will be there for BF3 and you know I will play it on the PC.
Sure I love my consoles too but PC gaming is where the serious play happens.
Nimrod
April 19, 2011 at 1:13pm
Gaming as a whole is better now? BF3 uses nothing but yesterdays tech sorry to tell you that. We dont need another god damned mother fucking CoD4 clone and thats all this is shapin up to be.
Nathan, you are an idiot. Get the hell off the internet.
Caboose
April 19, 2011 at 2:34pm
The game engine powering Battlefield 3 is brand new, 2011 tech. Its hardly "old tech". It builds upon the engine used to make Battlefield Bad Company 2 which I believe was also new tech at the time.
Donnie27
April 19, 2011 at 11:51am
"""""DICE has clearly figured out what fans want to hear and are playing to it, almost to a disgusting degree. At this point I feel like I'm watch a politician kissing ass. I'll remain skeptical until they deliver something that's not based on 720p and a 5 button controller.. """
+1
Consoles are killing PC games because Consoles have more Paying Customers.
See Steam's Users system data base and try to figure out why would someone invest into something they know will loose money.
If I'm in that Business, I'm doing it for the inferior Consoles because they have Supior Profits. Not folks expecting me to do it for free daownloads on torrents.
Nimrod
April 19, 2011 at 1:14pm
yeah i guess thats why WoW makes more money than all the games on all the consoles put together isnt it? stupid ass
Donnie27
April 19, 2011 at 11:53am
"""""DICE has clearly figured out what fans want to hear and are playing to it, almost to a disgusting degree. At this point I feel like I'm watch a politician kissing ass. I'll remain skeptical until they deliver something that's not based on 720p and a 5 button controller.. """
+1
Consoles are killing PC games because Consoles have more Paying Customers.
See Steam's Users system data base and try to figure out why would someone invest into something they know will loose money.
If I'm in that Business, I'm doing it for the inferior Consoles because they have Supior Profits. Not folks expecting me to do it for free downloads on torrents.
majorsuave
April 19, 2011 at 10:16am
there's always a 2 years period where console graphics have an edge because the hardware is fairly new/on par with PCs. That 2 year period ended in 2007 when the nVidia 8800 came out.
It's been quite a while now. Anyone can buy a 300$ desktop and expect it to play most games at the same 720p res that consoles can.
lordmidnight
April 18, 2011 at 11:38pm
I'm hoping. If consoles are entering a 10-year cycle (which seems to be the buzz), then perhaps developers will find themselves frustrated by the old hardware, and start developing like this, with the PC in mind first, then just scale it back for the console version. Then maybe more people will want the better version, and get into PC gaming.
ScytheNoire
April 18, 2011 at 9:43pm
I wish more companies would realize this. You develop for the top-end, and then scale down, because you can't scale upwards. I'm tired of crappy looking PC games with horrible menus and controls because they were developed for consoles.
haboh
April 19, 2011 at 6:24am
Unfortunately that's not really the case. They sell the majority on consoles, and then will sell some on PC anyway. The cost of making the PC version good must be weighted against how many more they would sell because of it, and that's probably not many so they don't give a crap. Aiming for the "minority" platform which gain a small increase in sales at great cost doesn't make economic sense. (whether PCs are really minority is of course debatable, but this is how the devs and marketing think at least)
DICE has clearly figured out what fans want to hear and are playing to it, almost to a disgusting degree. At this point I feel like I'm watch a politician kissing ass. I'll remain skeptical until they deliver something that's not based on 720p and a 5 button controller..
Caboose
April 19, 2011 at 10:06am
Just watch all of the videos available for BF3 right now. They are all PC videos, and they all look amazing. There's even one or two which include keyboard commands in the videos, clearly indicating that they are being played ON a PC.
I believe DICE a bit more than CryTek or other companies when it comes to talking about building PC first and console second.
The videos for BF3 that are available now all look simply AMAZING! And those are alpha (late or very early beta) videos too, so they will only get better!
Marthian
April 18, 2011 at 10:25pm
I wonder when BF3 comes out, the console kids will see the pc graphics in comercials, and expect those on the xbox/ps3 versions, and then whine and say crap about the pc, and how they "betrayed" the console players... I hope they announce new consoles at E3 this year.
I would be happier if they would just ditch the consoles altogether, and just made accessories for the computer instead. sure lots would be lost, but on the other, you might just gain more.
nmanguy
April 18, 2011 at 8:37pm
It is kind of nice that my Frankenstein PC with parts from 2006 to 2008 can run most games. I couldn't say that about my GFX 5800 and Oblivion.
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