Windows 7

[stevem]

It's nice certainly, but feels exactly like Vista in almost every way with minor differences. Some are better, Show Desktop for instance. While some are far far worse, Windows Explorer for instance.

I have similar sentiments. It still feels beta-like with missing features while the standard startup/desktop/shutdown screens jar visually. Vista just looks more polished. Performance of Win7 on older gear is good though, even with Office 2010.

 

[neliz]

twas not. that's just the usual hearsay nonsense. I suppose it could be a "nightmare" if one was exceptionally incapable of using a PC. Many things become a "nightmare" in that case.

A lot of big brands (like HP) still don't support XP64 on their machines, never had, never will.
There's also that "trade-up" issue M$ created themselves, hand over your 32-bit key and they'll give you a key for XP-64. That was just plain dumb. A lot of things back then (most personal SQL databases) were incompatible with XP-64 or 2k3-64.

Maybe for home use it was quite okay, but when most of the A-Brand vendors pull their support, you know it's not a good idea.

 

[Mize]

In which country dothest thou reside currently?

The blissful one in my sig.

 

[neliz]

The blissful one in my sig.

Then I am afraid I cannot help you.. I know some overpriced samples in the old world.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

twas not. that's just the usual hearsay nonsense. I suppose it could be a "nightmare" if one was exceptionally incapable of using a PC. Many things become a "nightmare" in that case.

Perhaps if you used a very very narrow range of hardware that actually had 64 bit drivers. Which up until Vista launched was virtually non-existant. And even after the launch of Vista, 64 bit drivers for XP64 aren't all that common.

In all other ways, XP64 was just a nightmare. Vista's launch was smooth sailing on a creamy sea of buttery goodness in comparison with getting XP64 running well.

Regards,
SB

 

[vazel]

By the time games start using the over 3GB that 64-bit allows we'll all probably be using Win8. But it all depends on the RAM next-gen consoles have in 2012 since the vast majority of big PC games are console ports.

 

[neliz]

By the time games start using the over 3GB that 64-bit allows we'll all probably be using Win8. But it all depends on the RAM next-gen consoles have in 2012 since the vast majority of big PC games are console ports.

I think you'll find that very few are actually straight console ports (SW:TFU as a bad example) and some actually get some work and attention.

 

[vazel]

But they started out designed for the console's RAM limitations. Which games have featured significant model/texture improvements from the console version?

 

[neliz]

But they started out designed for the console's RAM limitations. Which games have featured significant model/texture improvements from the console version?

Mostly everything that is not directly linked to a console foundation?
With the slew of UE3 games out there you'll find that they certainly benefit from PC only features.
Fallout 3 is something that is way more of a graphics show than on the consoles...
In fact.. I would like you to show me which games really are straight 360->PC Ports that suffer all the same issues and have no IQ upgrade whatsoever... even Square-Enix (The Last Remnant) did some patching/texturing up before pushing it's POS to the PC. (POS in regards to performance, I spent my 60 hours on it)

As before, with the exception of a few titles (SW:The Force Unleashed) most games benefit during their transition.

edit: removed the Halo2 bit, added the three latest Gamespot comparisons.
Modern Warfare 2

As usual, the PC version of the game looks better, but that's mainly due to higher-resolution textures and the ability to crank up antialiasing and anisotropic filtering settings. Outside of a few blurry textures on the PlayStation 3, the two console versions look largely the same.

Fallout 3

In what will come as no surprise, the PC shames both consoles in the image-quality comparison. Everything from the textures to the antialiasing to the reflections looks better on the PC. Foliage, piping, and far-off buildings look far superior on the PC due to transparency antialiasing effects. Even draw distance is better on the PC, as the rocks and a fence near the burned-out bus aren't even visible on the consoles.

Dragon Age

Our Radeon HD 5750 churned out visuals at the highest quality settings with nary a hiccup. Aside from having much better textures, the PC version also benefits from more onscreen elements, such as bag detailing, boxes, and other minor room accoutrements.

I won't even bring titles like B:AA and DiRT2 into this equation as that would be just plain shameful! It's already hard living in a world where the PS3 is hailed for it's great graphics cry, don't hit the other stubbed toe too!

 

[vazel]

Still not the kind of significant improvements I was talking about but ok. Remember back in the day when it was PC games that were getting ported to consoles and believe me you noticed the difference. Also when it came to arcade to console ports pre-Dreamcast era.

 

[neliz]

Still not the kind of significant improvements I was talking about but ok.

For that we have to wait for the likes of DiRT2

Remember back in the day when it was PC games that were getting ported to consoles and believe me you noticed the difference. Also when it came to arcade to console ports pre-Dreamcast era.

They're still doing it.. it took them what.. 2 years to get Tekken 6 from Arcade PS3 hardware to both consoles?
You're right however about current consoles holding development back. they're now down on two levels of DirectX and four to five generations of GPU's.
That's why we'll start to see more games coming back to the PC, Developers can't stay on DX9 forever and development for the next-gens will start soon anyway, Current high-end cards should suffice for that. PC games will be getting more and more features from this point on as well.

 

[vazel]

They're still doing it.. it took them what.. 2 years to get Tekken 6 from Arcade PS3 hardware to both consoles?

I'm not talking about the time it takes to port the game(the holdup was when they announced it was coming to 360 too). The console version of Tekken 6 has parity with the arcade version on 360(on PS3 when you enable motion blur it goes sub-HD with no AA which is still not the kind of significant difference I'm talking about).

Back then the differences were so significant that very many if not all models/textures had to be toned down and sometimes even level layouts had to be changed. Budget investments these days don't allow for those kind of port jobs that's why things are done with lowest common denominators these days.

 

[Moloch]

Anyone run into the bug where explorer becomes unpinned from the start menu and you can't pin it back? I just spend 15 minutes googleing it. Finally fixed it be deleting a few directories in the recent items folder, rebooting, then unchecking the recent items option in the task bar properties, rebooting and enabling it.

 

[vazel]

I'm not talking about the time it takes to port the game(the holdup was when they announced it was coming to 360 too). The console version of Tekken 6 has parity with the arcade version on 360(on PS3 when you enable motion blur it goes sub-HD with no AA which is still not the kind of significant difference I'm talking about).

Back then the differences were so significant that very many if not all models/textures had to be toned down and sometimes even level layouts had to be changed. Budget investments these days don't allow for those kind of port jobs that's why things are done with lowest common denominators these days.

My heart just dropped! I'll be eagerly waiting for this one.

But anyway that's enough of this talk in the Win7 thread.

 

[neliz]

But anyway that's enough of this talk in the Win7 thread.

If you were an "online reporter" you'd now write about the "death of the consoles!" and "Win7 brings gamings biggest franchises back home"

People would read it ... and you'd get payed for it!

 

[Silent_Buddha]

People would read it ... and you'd get payed for it!

Assuming they didn't die from laughing first.

Regards,
SB

 

[vazel]

If you were an "online reporter" you'd now write about the "death of the consoles!" and "Win7 brings gamings biggest franchises back home"

People would read it ... and you'd get payed for it!

Death of consoles? Never gonna happen and I don't want it to, I enjoy the PS3.

 

[Mize]

As much as I prefer gaming & win7 is pushing me to upgrade my gaming rig, consoles have their place. I love gaming on a 50" plasma from the couch &, being in my forties, the idea of a full blown rig, kb & mouse in my living room just doesn't work. Plus, I'd have to fight the kids for it

 

[pjbliverpool]

As much as I prefer gaming & win7 is pushing me to upgrade my gaming rig, consoles have their place. I love gaming on a 50" plasma from the couch &, being in my forties, the idea of a full blown rig, kb & mouse in my living room just doesn't work. Plus, I'd have to fight the kids for it

Most of my gaming is done on the TV sitting on the couch but itsall via the PC (one of the advantages of all these console ports is that they all support the 360 pad!)

I hear what you're saying about not having a PC in the lounge but I think it can be tastefully done. Plus it means that when you want to surf the net, you don't have to lock yourself away in a dingy office

The main reason for having my PC in the lounge though is music. Its plugged up to the 5.1 system and is basically the ultimate juke box.

 

[Mize]

My house is all networked so I can access all my tunes and movies from any TV (PS3/360 on one and media PC/360 on the other) with a central server that streams all. That said, the big advantage of PC gaming (IMHO) is keyboard/mouse. Sure, the visuals are way better, but the worse part of consoles for me are the controllers.