No Force Unleashed for PC makes the PCGA turn to the Dark Side
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is LucasArts' best-selling video game yet in its long-running and always lucrative sci-fi franchise, and gamers of all Force alignments should be enjoying the multiplatform title already. Everyone, except those who stickly solely to gaming on PC... the only platform Force Unleashed was never released on. Now the PC Gaming Alliance is giving LucasArts a good scolding over their decision to pass on making a PC version of the game.
PCGA president Randy Stude is particularly peeved with the reasoning provided by LucasArts itself. The developer previously explained that it was turned off from producing a PC version thanks to the challenge in accomodating for the myriad PC hardware setups out there. Stude deems LucasArts "uneducated" over PC gaming, especially in light of the fact that the developer was still able to get its Force Unleashed across very different console platforms, even the handhelds:
"In the last several years there have been at least 100 million PCs sold that have the capabilities or better of an Xbox 360. It's ridiculous to say that there's not enough audience for that game potentially and that it falls into this enthusiast extreme category when ported over to the PC. That's an uneducated response."...my personal opinion is if they're making games for the Wii, Xbox and PS3 they're scaling their experience to meet all three of those platforms. They're good on the Wii, better on the Xbox 360 and the best on the PS3. There's no argument that they could give not to be able to support good better and best on the PC."
The topper comes when Stude flatly states that LucasArts simply hasn't made a good PC game "in a long time". LucasArts has turned to "job shopping" with their IPs since they really done have any internal development left, and we're bound to see more of them Wii games instead of PC games. Sheesh!
It should be noted that the PCGA has been pushing for standardization of development and hardware requirements for PC games, in order to reduce confusion on the consumer end. So we can imagine LucasArts was keeping in perspective a reality which the PCGA already acknowledges is in need of smoothing out for the best interests of PC gaming. Of course, we can also imagine that LucasArts simply saw more dollar signs in prioritizing the mass market of console gaming!
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There is no 'early grave' for PC gaming though. PC gaming is like the beginning and end of gaming in general [edit: by this I mean that the low end, cheap games are on the PC, and the best looking, most cutting edge games are on the PC, where the consoles take up the middle] . There will always be PC games around, because there are tons of PCs around.
As for the 'confusion' about hardware, that is an issue for sure. So many people believe you have to spend a fortune to get a gaming PC. This once was the case, but not anymore. You can build a reasonably good game machine for $600,$700 -- and sure that is more than a console, but a PC can do far more than a console can.
The best thing about consoles, like you said, is their price. Another thing to add is their convenience. Shopping for computer hardware is not cool.... while shopping for a console is pretty easy. You also don't have to assemble anything with consoles. PC'd require tech savvy users. Pros and cons, pros and cons.
First of all, the EXCUSE about Hardware price and configuration for a PC to run the game is LAME. Hardware costs keep going down, and the options to provide a different range of settings to control Video preferences are common on most games. 700 dollars should be enough to buy a decently configured PC to run a high end game.
The real reasons (I think) are:
1) LA is NOT a developer anymore, it is a PUBLISHER. They are not interested in "breakthrough's" anymore, so they will go with whatever the DEVELOPERS tell them it is the most profitable way to go
2) Fear to piracy. Like many in the Video GAMES Industry, they have to plan on securing against piracy. ANY platform can be hacked, but PC GAMES are more prone to piracy 'cause the open ended architecture of Personal Computers. They decided that probably is better not even to try to put a game well protected out there for PC's.
At the end, it is sad that a company that championed some of the most amazing breakthroughs in Video Game technology and brought us some of the best PC games has decided to sit and just PUBLISH console games. Little by little I am starting to think that it is true what critics say: that George Lucas is becoming what he fought so hard against in his younger years... an industry fat cat.
As PC owners we should just stop buying ANY LA games for ANY platform and show them that we can disrespect their legacy as they disrespect our loyalty.
My 2 cents.
HB