Age of Conan

Originally posted by Tordak

 I'm glad you mentioned this, however, they're not building a complete 360 version from the ground up and that is the definiition of a port to 360.

 No matter what you heard, the second team is only dealing with the pc coding transfer to 360 and the required code base optimization.  The only differences between the two releases are graphic quality and code optimization for the respective platforms. 

 The delay in the 360 release is so the pc version can iron out most issues before they let the 360 version go gold.  This is so it makes smaller patches for the 360 in the short term before game expansions.

 Your right they're not going to play on the same servers at the same time but it's not because they're 2 different games.

Are you special?

Originally posted by xxreaper008

You can play the same account on both xbox and PC. You dont need to pay for xbox live either, you can use silver.

lol, where did you come up with this shit?

Originally posted by sinjin

Originally posted by Tordak

 I'm glad you mentioned this, however, they're not building a complete 360 version from the ground up and that is the definiition of a port to 360.

 No matter what you heard, the second team is only dealing with the pc coding transfer to 360 and the required code base optimization.  The only differences between the two releases are graphic quality and code optimization for the respective platforms. 

 The delay in the 360 release is so the pc version can iron out most issues before they let the 360 version go gold.  This is so it makes smaller patches for the 360 in the short term before game expansions.

 Your right they're not going to play on the same servers at the same time but it's not because they're 2 different games.

Are you special?

Sinjin as a Maritimer you should just inherently know it.   lol

Originally posted by Tordak

 I agree about Brad McAlmightyHeavenlyFather, Shannia, and  your point was just what I tried to say in my original post. 

 It didn't seem that personal to me at first, until it became so.  Anyhow, he's confident in his opinion and gets respect for it but I'm also equally confident in mine and nothing excuses a direct personal attack.  You just need to respond in kind and grin back.

 

Not you Tordak.  Feel free to post your mind.  I was referring to the OP to this thread who decided his first two posts on MMORPG.com were going to be "Doom and Gloom, I hate AoC" threads.  I've been around the block a few times with you in discussions and respect your opinion.  I wasn't calling you out.

Shannia, 

 I actually didn't think that you were.  I was just trying to clarify my intent, with that previous post.  Fearing they'd be taken out of context and/or order later, as it seems to happen often with other peoples.

This has already came up and the game was firstly designed for the PC. Thus the reason it will be released for the PC before the Xbox. The combat system was set up to be easy for both which is also a mass appeal to gamers in general and not aimed at a specific format but instead to be easy for everyone to learn and love. Xbox = mini gaming pc so it will handle the graphics just fine. The main things that can be an issue is size of the world in comparison to how much disk space is needed to play on Xbox. Which is why the release of the Xbox version is not until later.

In just over a month when you log into the game and spend some time playing it.. your going to say to yourself;

'How could I ever have thought this was designed for the Xbox360 first? I must have been delirious!'

this is absolutely a valid concern and one we should not dismiss summarily.

most of the time a publisher / developer has attempted to make a game that satisfies widely different and multiple target markets they have failed miserably.

if the design effort is focused on a particular platform and then "ported"/"modified" to another the receiving platform audience suffers --- i.e. the efforts to take PC designed RTS games to consoles - Battle for Middle Earth, C&C, etc. Or in general any FPS designed for the PC is complete rubbish on consoles.

or the reverse where console designed games are thrown the PC bone and suffer; good on consoles, rubbish on the PC - i.e. NFS series,  Halo, the new Rainbow six stuff etc.

the times where the developer actually tries to make a superb game for multiple platforms is where we usually get games that stink across the board or the game is never as good as it could have been had it not made sacrifices to one audience or another..., and that list of games is nearly immeasurable - Deus Ex Invisible War, Mass Effect, etc.

what I worry about in AoC specifically is this:

-smaller zones due to design limitation in dealing with small memory footprints

-Longer load times and frequent zone transitions

-Lack of depth in environmental details; smaller amounts of inadament objects to improve world feel

-Reduced texture resolution by limited graphics memory and processing power

-HUGE TEXT

-Clunky interface controls due to having to map to a controller

The only games IMO that did a good job serving multiple masters were Oblivion and Bioshock. And even as great as those games are, both still had clunky console interfaces and suffered from zone load issues - and neither were MMO's.

so in summary I concur that AOC has shown signs of consolitis (a disease ravaging the gaming community). I just hope it doesnt actually contract the disease in full.

Originally posted by Terranah

Stop calling the Xbox 360 an Xbox.  That's like refering to the Wii as a Gamecube.  The Xbox 360 and the the Xbox are two completely different systems with completely different specs.

 

Now, I happen to have an xbox 360.  It's not really so outdated as you say.  Graphics and performance are still respectable, and probably will run some games better than the 'average' pc. 

 

The pc version of AOC will be playable on a variety of hardware, ranging from average to hardcore most likely.  But the Xbox 360 version only needs to be optimized for one system, which seems like an advantage to me.

 

At any rate Xbox 360 version may never even see the light of day.  If it is ever released, I don't see how more choices for gamers can be bad for the industry as a whole.  There are a lot of people who prefer the console over pc, merely because they don't want to wrestle with all the incompatibility issues and frequent/costly hardware upgrades.

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My only major concern is if the Xbox 360 version ever comes out is what will the world population be like. Will players be able to interact with the PC players? I hope the two versions aren't isolated.

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Smaller areas is a concern as well. If the install is as large as people say what kind of compression, streaming, or install will the game have. The Xbox at the least comes with a 20gig hard drive but really only half of that is available to the user at the start. You have to delete video that comes on it to free up more space. Will certain aspects only be installed with the rest being run off the disc? What about expansions will have you have to change disc if you enter an expansion area from an original game area etc?

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I wish more information was out.