Apparent "forced" migration to Vista

[Jldnr77]

Has anybody noticed that more and more games are being announced that they will be Windows Vista compatible only? Games that are due to be released in the next 6 months to 1 year? With Windows XP being the longest standing operating system for quite a while now. (Most only had 3 years mainstream compared to 5-6 years with XP) Don't you think it would be smart for companies to "stagger" their releases to make XP-complaint versions?

Also, considering a PC has the most cost of any platform anyway (periodic upgrades, compared to consoles, just buy it and your done) Why would they really want to risk alienating PC users like this? ESPECIALLY when is it becoming more and more common to find MULTIPLE PC's per household (we have 3 desktops plus an old lappy) And also the price point for vista is pretty astounding as well.

So, they intend to force people to migrate to Vista to take advantage of all the "new" stuff, but you will also be taking a chance that your old (not TOO old in alot of cases) software will work right on Vista. It just may not.

Looks like the edition to get will be Vista Home Premium. $240 full version, $160 upgrade. $160 times 3 is alot of money. (The lappy wouldn't get Vista)

[Player-X]

To me the PC is not just a gaming system, so far Vista has done well in gaming but I mainly like the new interface and so far most XP drivers work with Vista, the only problem for me is to find a good enough reason to justify upgrading to Vista other than just Halo2 due to the cost.

[Kazuya Mishima]

I don't know how well Pc games are selling right now, specially with the advent of the Next-Gen consoles.
Maybe what they want is to be the first ones: Hey, i just got Vista, what do i have available that exploits it's "power"?

[Jldnr77]

Originally Posted by Player-X

To me the PC is not just a gaming system

This is not the point. A PC is NOT just a gaming sytem. However one of the more popular uses for PC's is gaming, and this seems to be what the industry is using as a method of trying to force people into migrating to Vista.

If you read my post, you would also see that I mentioned software in general as far as the backwards compatibility for Vista with current apps.

[Samor]

I assume backwards compatibility will be less problematic than with 9x -> XP.
How many games are currently announced as Vista-exclusive, btw?

and remember, this means mainly PC gamers will have to upgrade. Regular Joe will still work with XP for some time; and console gamers have their consoles.

[Player-X]

I assume backwards compatibility will be less problematic than with 9x -> XP.

I am running RC1 and it seems to be a little better than 9x->XP

How many games are currently announced as Vista-exclusive, btw?

Halo 2. That's all

and remember, this means mainly PC gamers will have to upgrade. Regular Joe will still work with XP for some time; and console gamers have their consoles.

Microsoft is not Apple, they keep backwards compatibility in thier OSes and the fact I can run Mechwarrior2 Dos from Vista says something about that.

[cloudsBro]

I just hope Microsoft doesnt make a habit of making games exclusive to Vista. XP is more than capable of running recent games just like Win98 was so theres no technical need for Microsoft to make games Vista-exclusive

[Player-X]

Actuaily they could just use DX10 as an excuse. Something about the way it handles graphics drivers, I don't know the specifics of it.

[ChankastRules]

Well, it's very easy, games such as the PC versions of Jade Empire, Halo 2 and Flight Simulator X will most likely be vista exclusive for the simple reason that they're founded and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

MS wants you to buy Vista and they'll do all they can to make you buy it. Games like crysis will still have an XP version, though duo to DX10 the Vista version will look and play a lot better, at least according to crytek.

[KillerShots]

I'm still curious how long it will take to get DX-10 support on linux via cedega. I have no intention of upgrading to vista at those prices, even if all games require DX-10

[Jldnr77]

Originally Posted by Player-X

Halo 2. That's all

Actually, I have heard of three so far.

Halo 2
Shadowrun
Marvel Universe Online (The new Marvel Superheroes MMO that ironically enough is being co-developed by Cryptic, who also makes City of Heroes/City of Villains) Marvel Universe Online is also being made for the 360, but who really wants to play an MMO on a console?

Also, I read and article stating that Sigil Games bought the full rights to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes from Microsoft because they were trying to make it Vista only and they (Sigil) didn't want that because it would severly limit their potential userbase, and from what I hear, Vanguard is a VERY anticipated MMO.

Also, with the introduction of Vista comes Direct X 10. So the costs go even higher. For me it would be at least 2 copies of Vista, plus at least 2 new decent quality DX10 graphics cards. And considering I have a 7600GT in my computer now, you can imagine how much I would have to spend for an equivalent DX10 vid card. Again, that would be times 2.

And one more point to make. Microsoft is also blatantly refusing to release DX10 on XP. Why? To force the migration to Vista.

Once again, I do agre that a PC is NOT a major gaming platform to most people, however considering that this IS a gaming emulation community, I would have to assume that for alot of people here, it is. I also wish they would just do away with consoles and start making all games for the PC. Considering the new consoles are mini PC's now anyway. Hell, with the Cell processor in the PS3, it would probably be more powerful than my AMD dual core. Moving the market completely to PC would have 2 big advantages.

1. COMPLETE userbase. (Anyone with a PC is a potential customer)
2. It just might force some of the more computer illiterate people to learn more about their computer, keep it up to date, and so on and so forth. That's probably why alot of people game on a console instead of their PC. A console is plug and play. It's simple. Idiot-proof.

I am simply saying that there should be a "staggering" period for at least a year after Vista is released when all games are made for both XP and Vista. I really don't think it is smart to just toss out an OS, which will probably also still have QUITE a few bugs, and then encourage (strong arm?) developers to make games Vista exclusives.

Once again, look at the consoles. How long were Playstation games made after the PS2 came out? And I'm sure PS2 games will still be cranked out for a while after the PS3 (finally) comes out. Same point.

[Exodus]

As long as it's only Microsoft that plans to release Vista only games, I could care less. They never release anything I like anyways. I can only assume that other devs aren't foolish enough to reduce their potential buyers by limiting it to Vista. I mean, they can't even make the final switch to DVD and abandon the 6 CD version.

[cloudsBro]

Originally Posted by Exodus

As long as it's only Microsoft that plans to release Vista only games, I could care less.

Lets hope it does turn out that way...

[S.SubZero]

Originally Posted by Jldnr77

Marvel Universe Online is also being made for the 360, but who really wants to play an MMO on a console?

Final Fantasy XI has been out for the PS2 for a couple of years, and is also available for the x360.

---

The DX10 and Vista fiasco is really bothering me. I'm waiting now for the DX10 video cards, while putting off my full system replacement. I'd order everything tomorrow if I could. But I don't have a PCI-E video card and I'm not buying two a short time from each other.

[Jldnr77]

Yes. But how many PC FFXI games are there compared to Console FFXI gamers? I would bet that hands down the PC version has a higher subscription base.

And yes, having to purchase Vista PLUS a DX10 vid card could REALLY put a dent in your wallet. You could buy a decent budget PC for a much as that would run ya. (For me anyway, considering I would have to buy 2 of each.)

[S.SubZero]

Originally Posted by Jldnr77

Yes. But how many PC FFXI games are there compared to Console FFXI gamers? I would bet that hands down the PC version has a higher subscription base.

Square-Enix doesn't really release numbers like that. However, the entire game interface is designed assuming the user is using a gamepad. The initial NA PS2 release of FFXI also resulted in Square-Enix having to add an additional server to handle the increase in the playerbase.

[ChankastRules]

I'm still curious how long it will take to get DX-10 support on linux via cedega. I have no intention of upgrading to vista at those prices, even if all games require DX-10

As far as I know the DX9 support doesn't even work yet... so you're probably looking at a whole lot of years.

[shafeen]

Originally Posted by Jldnr77

$160 times 3 is alot of money. (The lappy wouldn't get Vista)

yeah its a lot of money u can buy a console in that money with 2 0r 3 games cant u. in india 480(160x3)us dollars is a common mans salary

and also i think the games like halo2 and other announced so far for vista are made by microsoft so its a clear case here microsoft wants to sell vista forcibaly coz in developing countries like india compared to last year microsofts sales have gone down by 4-5% coz people are preffering other os like linu and unix so microsoft wants so save themselves by introducing gaming support for vista so people can buy it

btw i am not going to buy vistanow i am fine with xp and a ps2

[DoktorSeven]

Originally Posted by KillerShots

I'm still curious how long it will take to get DX-10 support on linux via cedega. I have no intention of upgrading to vista at those prices, even if all games require DX-10

I'm at the point where I'm not interested in a PC game unless it has a native Linux binary. Cedega and Wine are just too unreliable when it comes to running games.

And yes, that means I won't be playing a lot of games. Oh well.

[KillerShots]

Originally Posted by ChankastRules

As far as I know the DX9 support doesn't even work yet... so you're probably looking at a whole lot of years.

Actually, DX-9 is about all they support at the moment. They have a tendancy to focus only on the latest games and forget about the older ones (which is actually kinda annoying)... consequently, most DX-8 and below games don't work, and a large supply of DX-9 games do. Therefore, if they maintain that focus, there'll be a splattering of DX-10 games that work probably quite soon after the release of DX-10 (probably months). Hell, they'll probably make it a top priority to get Halo 2 working just to rub it into M$