Question for PC gamers

I see multiple threads and comments showing a general hatred for console "ports", and one question always comes to mind.

Why do you players continue to support these games? I mean, purchasing and playing games that are essentially Xbox ports, just gives the developer the "go-ahead" to do it again. I'd like to think that a developer would see poor PC sales and realize that perhaps their customers desire higher visual fidelity and/or better controls, UI etc.

If some PC players could chime in and explain why so many PC gamers don't just "vote with their wallets". That would seem much more logical than purchasing a game and moaning on the public forums about poor porting.

Anybody else agree? Thoughts?

(Before I get flamed, I just want to say that I'm genuinely curious, not trying to incite platform wars or any of that BS)

Because not buying a console port (worse, pirating it instead) only tells the developer "I don't want you to release this on PC." If you buy a game, you can complain as a customer-- not as someone who just might be interested.

I'm not fond of Defiance's UI, and I didn't expect a full-PC-like interface, but the graphics options and interface are abysmal.

I don't limit that to just PC, though. The interface, for example, does not show what kind of mod you just obtained unless you actually open the interface and select the mod in a long list of 150 items. This is garbage, as I should be able to tell if this is a rifle mod, and which slot it fills, just from the icon.

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Originally Posted by Schwa

Because not buying a console port (worse, pirating it instead) only tells the developer "I don't want you to release this on PC." If you buy a game, you can complain as a customer-- not as someone who just might be interested.

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This. /10 chars

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Originally Posted by Schwa

Because not buying a console port (worse, pirating it instead) only tells the developer "I don't want you to release this on PC." If you buy a game, you can complain as a customer-- not as someone who just might be interested.

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I understand this mentality. But obviously it's not working, judging by the increase in "console ports" i've seen over the past few years

If your logic was correct, then Defiance wouldn't be an Xbox port, would it?

console porting.. as people are calling it here, is only bad for the gaming community as a whole when it's restricted by the worst console it ports from (xbox).. exclude that horrid machine from the equation and you would see fantastic games, where it wouldn't be noticed if it was a "port" or not... just saying.. games made for a system that clocks at 1.6ghz vs systems that work at nothing less than 3.2ghz.. computational and graphically.. no brainer..

To me a game that is released to console first, and then re-made/re-packaged for PC is a true console port. As a console has a set type of input controls any UI design for a title planning to go to console at the same time it goes to PC has to take that into account, in this instance I don't think it should be considered a port as it is releasing on both console and PC platforms at once.

Now some ports work, and some don't. Most PC gamer have issue with ports cause the developers don't really upgrade the visuals for PC gaming or change the UI. In the case of Defiance the biggest PC complaint I've seen is the location of the logout button (which on PC I think 'Settings' has a hotkey) other than that I don't understand the UI issue for PC players.

I played the Alpha and Beta on PC and really didn't have an issue with anything except the Logout (at first) and the compare view screens. After about 15 minutes I adjusted and it was fine, so again I don't as a PC gamer see the big deal.

Some "console ports" turn out pretty good, dead space 3 comes to mind.

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Originally Posted by Mirimon

console porting.. as people are calling it here, is only bad for the gaming community as a whole when it's restricted by the worst console it ports from (xbox).. exclude that horrid machine from the equation and you would see fantastic games, where it wouldn't be noticed if it was a "port" or not... just saying.. games made for a system that clocks at 1.6ghz vs systems that work at nothing less than 3.2ghz.. computational and graphically.. no brainer..

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So you're saying that ports from a PS3 would be more ideal? How is that possible, considering the Xbox architecture is right inline with a PC. Whereas the PS3 is far from it.

This stance seems counter-intuitive. No porting at all would be ideal. Although this would hike up the prices of game development even higher

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Originally Posted by ssfb

Some "console ports" turn out pretty good, dead space 3 comes to mind.

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This. There's a section of the community of PC gamers that absolutely refuses to touch anything "dirtied" by the consoles, but some of that content is still plain fun. It's up to us to support those games, whether or not it is "dirtied" by one of the "inferior" systems out there.

My issue with Defiance is yes, they went with a Console-based UI. Okay. That doesn't excuse the bad implementation of a console UI through garbage mod icons, terrible chat, or lack of gameplay options.

Developers are going to continue porting from console to PC as long as it remains the easier, more cost effective route. PC games always sell less and it costs money to develop a secondary UI just for one platform. I don't think it's right, but it is what it is. I think Bioware is the only dev I can think of who has a separate UI for PC and consoles.