Newell Blasts PS3, 360 and Vista

[EnderAndrew]

http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?arti...&filter=&rp=357

 

So Gabe Newell says he doesn't like the 360 because it doesn't have a HDD. He doesn't like the PS3 because it is proprietary. He doesn't like Vista, well he doesn't give a reason why.

 

But his answer to everything is to build on Steam.

 

Isn't Steam proprietary? And given that neither console needs a HDD for caching since performance won't really be an issue for some time, the main reason I suspect he is pushing for HDD's in consoles is for Steam and downloadable content.

 

I respect Newell's willingness to speak his mind, but I think he is being hypocritical for slamming Sony for pushing their technology, and then wanting the industry to adopt his toy.

 

In the end, I imagine most people will eventually get HDDs for the XBox 360, if not right away, for Live purposes. On the PS3, it will depend if developers create a need for the HDD. If there are killer games that require, or are made better by the HDD, then people will buy it. It is that simple.

 

If developers completely ignore the HDD (see PS2) then no one will buy it.

[Child of Flame]

Well, I've never heard about any plans to put Steam on consoles, but the wording in his quote about the Xbox 360:

 

It's like Xbox 360 doesn't make my life any better, and in fact, it makes it a lot worse, as you're telling me I can't count on having a hard drive," said Newell.

 

Makes it sound like he's a lot more upset about them dividing the platform (aka pulling a Sega CD) than issues with it not having a HDD specifically.

 

I mean, he's upset about half of them not having a HDD, but I'm guessing he's more upset about it complicating development ("Do I really want to make the HDD an important feature in 'X' game, because then I'll have to also code for consoles that don't have the HDD") than it not being there.

 

I mean, look at the number of games that actually used the Sega CD.

[Kitch]

I mean, look at the number of games that actually used the Sega CD.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But boy did it have some good ones.

[Child of Flame]

I mean, look at the number of games that actually used the Sega CD.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But boy did it have some good ones.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yeah, but nobody except you and people with emulators ever played them. "

 

His complaints about PS3 code sounded really valid too, even more so than the Xbox 360 bashing really. At least, if it really is that hard to port code from one platform to another.

 

Yeah, that pretty much sucks.

 

I hope it doesn't mean that I won't get the new GTA on my computer.

 

That would suck worse.

[EnderAndrew]

The PS1 and PS2 did quite well with exclusive titles. The XBox thrived more with multiplatform titles. I imagine the 360 will have several multiplatform titles that people will buy on the 360 specifically for Live. Sony will stick with exclusive titles, and I'm sure many of the 3rd party developers (read: mainly Japanese) that have made exclusive PS1 and PS2 titles will do so on the PS3.

[roshan]

What is vista?

[Child of Flame]

New name for Longhorn.

 

New 64-bit Windows OS.

[DemonKing]

He sounded pretty grumpy throughout the whole thing.

 

I'm with him re: the X-Box having 2 versions, 1 with HD and 1 without. It makes development very difficult - do I develop 2 different versions? Do I just develop for 1 version and hope that's enough to cover my costs? Do I make everything usable without a HD meaning my games are less complicated/updateable than they would be otherwise?

 

I like his idea of self-updating video/display drivers. I imagine a lot of the end users for his products don't have a clue how to update their drivers and even for people who are used to doing it, it's a pain in the ass.

[Child of Flame]

Self updating video drivers would be teh shiznit.

 

But then again it would probably help to kill off my already slow at the moment tech support business.

[EnderAndrew]

New name for Longhorn. 

 

New 64-bit Windows OS.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There already is a 64-bit version of Windows. I have it. It is Windows x64.

 

Vista comes in a 32 bit or 64 bit beta, and it may ship at retail in both versions as well. However, it doesn't have any real noteable new features, and won't ship til 2006-2007. All the main features they were talking about two years ago like the new file layer, etc. have been cut.

 

There is a new API for running full Windows apps without installng them remotely via Internet Explorer. Hello, Java basically offered similiar functionality years ago before M$ hosed it, but now M$ is making a proprietary version. But didn't they already do that with ActiveX? They don't know this will be done in time for launch, and mark my word, it will be a bigger security nightmare than ActiveX.

 

The new file layer to help searching you can download a beta of for Windows XP and doesn't require Vista. And Google Deskstop Search replaces this with freeware.

 

There is also DirectX 10, but you'll be able to download that for XP.

 

The main new feature is a better looking GUI called Aero. Too bad Aero won't work as well or as fast on NVidia cards. The main new feature of Aero is window transperancy. Yet, I have that in XP with Style XP.

 

Vista looks to be a real worthless upgrade that will just eat system resources and run slower.

[Hurlshort]

Microsoft is really screwing themselve by offering the hard drive as an additional component. Developers will not build games for it, because they can't be assured that everyone with an Xbox can play it. It's dumb, they should just offer one base system. It's not like they offer a game system with a wireless controller and a system with no controller at all. They offer a controller with a wire, because you NEED a controller to play the game. They should either make it so the Xbox needs a HDD, or doesn't. Make up your frickin mind Microsoft.

[Astatine]

Too bad Aero won't work as well or as fast on NVidia cards.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

OOI, where did you get that from? Right now it's ATI who are behind on API support (read: Shader Model 3), not that I remember exactly what the requirements for the various "levels" of Aero are...