paris-gdc posts

Two Blizzard bigwigs -- SVP Rob Pardo and COO Paul Sams -- criticized Microsoft for not doing enough to support and propagate PC gaming in Windows, according to Gamasutra. At GDC Paris, Pardo said: "With Microsoft, I think they have a bit of lip service with PC gaming. They have their own game system now, so I don't think it's really in their best interest to support [PC]." He also suggested that Apple might step up to the plate that Microsoft has allegedly abandoned.

In a yet-to-be-published interview with Gamasutra, Sams continued where Pardo left off. "I kind of look at it and say to myself, and I think similarly to Rob, is that it would be great if they put more emphasis on the Windows operating system, certainly probably the most prominent operating system in the world. Even more so than console boxes," he said. "I think that there's more that can be done."

So add their voices to the increasingly discordant choir of developers simultaneously singing about the life and death of PC gaming. It should be no surprise that Blizzard is committed to the platform, though. Its recently-announced-megaton-of-a game Diablo III will be exclusive to Windows and Mac computers.

Matt Hooper, lead designer at id Software, was recently interviewed by Next-Gen during the Paris GDC and had a few things to say about user created content and their upcoming game, Rage.

Simply put: user generated content is "not a huge consideration for us right now." By that Hooper means they are focused on making the best game possible with the new idTech5 tools. Granted, user created content has always been part and parcel of id games, but they are first and foremost dedicated to creating a game that pushes the visual and gameplay envelope. Fitting in the ability for gamers to create content is more work than they are willing to commit too at the moment. Hooper stated that conversations about Rage gameplay elements like automatically connected maps, user ranking system, and other mods happen all the time... but none of it has been implemented. They're simply focused on making a great game.

His wording suggests that tools to allow user generated content are not out of the question. And given that the game is still early in development, it wouldn't shock us to see them added prior to release.

[via Blue's News]

Obsidian's Josh Sawyer (no relation to Tom Sawyer) recently spoke in a session at the Paris GDC. Discussing their follow-up to Bioware's incredibly popular Neverwinter Nights, the discussed one of the major things they did wrong: making the tools too complex. From Josh Sawyer's seminar:

BioWare's approach to the Neverwinter Nights toolset was to go for ease-of-use, so that people could get small things running quickly and then expand from there. Obsidian's approach was to cater for the hardcore, though - dramatically increase the level of control, meaning that more things could be altered. That would make the barrier to entry higher, but we thought that would similarly raise the quality of what was produced.

You can only get so far as an amateur designer if the tools given to you are so complex that they require far more investment of time than you can put in.