First off: I know this question is going to be a little controversial with different people having strong opinions but please all be polite and respectful when expressing yourselves just having watched most of the media out surrounding brink i began to wonder if perhaps an age old question could possibly be met with a different answer.

Could we have, in Brink or more likely another subsequent game you make, ever have cross platform support to play the same game with people on PCs and Xbox360s?

now let me expand a little upon this first with one or two things to consider before you jump in to saying yes or no please! Also when you do reply i would love a few sentences instead of yes and no, maybe a few reasons why and then whether this is your opinon as a pc player, 360 player, PS3 player or combination of several.

My main Pro's
the game maker could literally port from the 360 version and instead of that being a reason to hate on them it could save time & money, avoid favouritism arguments and give everyone a better experience. The effort saved in trying to make the 2 versions different could be spent improving the game overall for all players anyway

The opportunity to play with friends on different platforms (something sadly lacking in any of the popular fps games ever made cod/halo/bf/tf2)

possibility in the future to buy the next game in the series for maybe a little more and have the ability to play it on both?

when the communities are linked the DLCs could come out same time for both and end all the debates over pc getting free updates and 360 users getting them first.

Maps and mods made by pc modders (that do not infringe on any rules) could possibly be shared with 360s to enrich their experience of the games.

My main Con's

the question over a player with a xbox360 vs some pc user on a ￡2000 desktop .. what impact will it have, will it be possible to have a fair fight?

would microsoft mind (imo i would think not.. depending on the reception they could well edge a bigger margin of market share from sony & nintendo and give themselves another UniqueSellingPoint on 2 of their most profitable products?!)

PCs are less easy to control / more susceptable to cheats / easier to customize configs etc , would there be too much advantage for PC users and too much downside for the xbox community to link up with them

neither platform needs more people, is there enough rewards to justify taking the risk and trying something not done before?

"Fair" fight will happen when you get to use M+K on Xbox or force PC to use controllers, either are obviously not going to happen anytime soon it seems.

Edit: And have you checked PC prizes lately? Think you need an update.

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-area51-alx/pd

friend has one of these, you'd be surprised the pcs some guys run with


on the devices everyone ive spoken to would accept the difference in pad vs mouse for the ability to play with friends. If you looked at the top pc and console players in one of the popular FPS shooters neither would swap and both would give each other a good fight imo.

I saw a link posted in one of the other threads about a test run by Microsoft to see if something like this was possible. Sorry I can't find it and sorry to the poster for not remembering who did find it, but apparently because of the input devices and more accurate controls, the PC gamers wiped out the console gamers so badly that no one considered the idea ever again. Here's the first link I found, maybe you can find a more detailed version.

http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/713/article/microsoft-aborted-cross-platform-online-gaming-project/

Also the games would have to add/minus other elements to deal with pricing and graphics and what not. Everyone would lose something.

And just to add, Xbox and PS3 coming together will also never happen sadly (because it would be awesome). The brands are competitors trying to get more of the same pie. Coming together, would force them to "cannibalise" themselves. (Example: If my friends all have Xbox, I buy an Xbox to also play. If they both play the same games, then I could buy a Playstation and Xbox loses that profit.)

So in my opinion. We are stuck with the fan boys.

interesting read, in fairness being a pc gamer and having seen xbox montages on youtube i suspected it might be the case. Dont know about others but as a pc gamer i would happily buy and use an official 360 controller if it meant i could play with my brother and friends on 360s

edit: FPS were always originally designed to be used with a mouse not a controller and the console has to use autoaim to rectify that problem in most games.. it would actually make a lot more sense to play with a mouse and keyboard not least because you improve your touchtyping which is useful in education and most office roles.

Yes people could blow several thousands off on a new PC if they want, but that ain't really needed.

Cuzin_1t sums the rest up pretty much.

Big up on admitting you'd use a 360 controller. You sure you won't be shunned by other PC players?

I'll admit, I'm a PS3 player, but honestly, I happily play Xbox or PC as well. It doesn't bother me, as long as the games keep coming.

i guess as ive been to one or two lans in europe (from uk to holland and belgium) with "turn up and play" events ive seen the good competitive side to equal equipment in gaming.

i got a friend of mine who i played with on my brothers 360 in halo to come over and try cod4 on pc. He's never used pc for an fps but he loved it, actually got bfbc2 and cod:bo on his computer and converted from a console gamer. the ability to actually aim at someone vs waiting for the autoaim to go on them is something you just cant go back from (that and every time in halo 2 people have crossed and the 360 has stuck you're aim in between them)

Well i fully understand why you'd want all of them to work together. I've been wondering the same thing lately.

I'm from South Africa, so we're always a bit behind on the tech. PC equipment suffers from a huge mark-up here, so a lot of people are on platforms. Sony was here years and years before Xbox, so it has a strong following in the older market, but Xbox got a lot of the younger market because of the price difference. No one cared until now, when we finally got connections that are fast enough to play online. (my first online game was only last week with Homefront...had my butt handed to me and it kept crashing or losing connection, but I still loved it.)

So every one of my friends are on different systems and no one has bought the same games. Now, suddenly, we're all regretting not getting the same thing. Brink will be the first time, the majority of us will be on the same system with the same awesome, awesome game. It's why I'm so obsessed with it :celebration:

This has been tried, and derided as a horrible method of operation. PC players have a much higher standard of customization and quality than console players. And due to all the limitations on consoles, you would have to port from console to PC, not the other way around. So no matter which way you slice it, PC players get screwed unless they have separate development.

with no disrespect meant to any companies making the games.. isnt this already happening though?

I would ask what in borderlands is different (ive played both versions) in terms of settings and content

i would also ask what is different in cod games, cod4 had plenty, but look at mw2 and blackops, apart from maybe 2 or 3 settings (that we could do without anyway) they are pretty much the same..
an example of this is the ping bars present on the 360.. you can put them in on the pc version if you know the command, it must of been ported over at some point and this would suggest the direction was 360->pc

sometimes the graphics are improved but on a game like borderlands i hardly notice the difference, when cartoons are involved realism is less important and i believe the same looks work on both, i would suggest that on that level brink could work on both. The only obvious problem is being able to react and insta point instead of holding the shroom and waiting for it to turn onto them will make too big a difference in a game of this pace.

a nice dream but sadly unless chess becomes a computer game i fear this will never be realised ;P

It would have to be optional; perhaps another playlist. My justification for doing things others don't expect is that they can do it, too. I can't aim with a controller like anyone can with a mouse. I can really only use 6 digits on a controller, a pc gamer has all five on one hand, two fingers on the mouse, and that's assuming they don't have a gaming mouse with lord knows what other buttons, switches, and gadgets.

The pc gamer can do things a platformer can't, which isn't fair and doesn't belong in any game.

Yeah, no. There have been multiple studies proving that the Mouse is far more accurate than the Joystick. One Microsoft game attempted direct Xbox360 vs PC, and mediocre PC players could out-aim Xbox360 pros. I'll look around for a link.

EDIT: http://technologizer.com/2010/07/22/microsoft-mightve-killed-xbox-360-vs-pc-gaming/
http://www.rahulsood.com/2010/07/console-gamers-get-killed-against-pc.html

EDIT 2: Almost all console shooters have some form of auto-aim, which only proves that the joystick isn't as accurate. Xbox360 vs PC matches would lean toward the PC unless you pump up the auto-aim.

Crysis 2 without DX11. Teh lolz. Dem r funneh.

Crysis 1 was a milestone in graphics (can't argue that), now Crysis 2 is stuck with console limitations.

I'm not sure that an FPS would be the best thing to do a cross-platform multiplayer game with. I personally prefer a controller to play an FPS, but ooooooo lawwdy lawwdy can you imagine the flame wars?
:flamethrower:

[quote name='Rammite' timestamp='1301426799' post='17390748']
Yeah, no. There have been multiple studies proving that the Mouse is far more accurate than the Joystick. One Microsoft game attempted direct Xbox360 vs PC, and mediocre PC players could out-aim Xbox360 pros. I'll look around for a link.


you misunderstand me when i say harder to control pc users i mean restrictions, the stuff they can play with, the cfgs they can access and change and also the files (like cheatfiles) they can play in the folder whereas xbox users cant. Mouse will always be better then joypad, kinda begs the question why joypad eh

ohhhh.

Regardless, my post can still stand as an argument against Console vs PC.

We did a podcast on this.

Shadowrun was Microsoft's attempt at cross console play. It failed miserably. Console has auto aim whereas a mouse has much more precision than a gamepad.
At a LAN Party we rigged a keyboard and mouse to work on an xbox and there was a definite advantage while playing Halo.
So when consoles have a mouse and keyboard then maybe but until then doubt it will happen for FPS games. Now RPG and games like portal 2 it may work but thats about it.
Conversely if I tried to play madden on PC against consolers it would be just as bad.