Gears of War 2 For PC: No – Piracy is Bad

The last few weeks we’ve often brought up, on the gaming podcast, our reasons behind why Gears of War 2 wouldn’t be a PC title and only an Xbox 360. Our theory was more of a marketing tactic, assuming there would be no PC version because Microsoft wants to focus the attention of their big titles to the Xbox 360 as it’s a real gaming platform and they want more attention on it.  We might have been wrong.

In a recent interview, IGN asked Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski some pointed questions about the PC release. Like us, everyone has been questioning the move to NOT release Gears of War 2 on the PC especially considering the first game made a PC debut and Epic has always been a big PC developer. Turns out, Epic is utilizing the Xbox 360 as a nice big can of DRM.

“Here’s the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software.” (ign)

Following this answer he confirmed with a definitive no that we won’t see GoW2 on the PC. Of course, they also underscore the fact that the PC can have a wild array of hardware chipsets for video cards and catering to the masses with compatibility is pretty much a nightmare. A system with great DRM and a closed hardware platform is hard to pass up.

If Epic is going to take this route, will we see other major PC developers take the same road? Had the Xbox 360 been a failure, developers would continue to rely on the PC as their platform of choice for many franchises. Now, with the 360 vibrant and popular, developers are able to build a closed platform game with a high degree of safety against piracy.

Although pirates can produce hacked 360 games, it’s not nearly as easy to get them, create them and make them work on a stock Xbox 360 console. It’s not about making it impossible to pirate, it’s about making it hard enough that gamers will justify purchasing over the work of making the game function on their 360.

If I were a die-hard PC gamer, I’d be afraid of this movement. You’re running bleeding edge hardware that developers are afraid to take advantage of because you might just push the game to a torrent site. And, why would they cater to the bleeding edge customers when all the others don’t have hardware strong enough to play the game.

The chipset excuse seems a bit weak, we’ve always had hardware that’s been good and hardware that’s been old and crusty yet developers do their best to try to accomodate the middle end and high end systems leaving the “System Requirements” specifications on the box to do the rest. Are they just making excuses so they can protect the integrity of their game from would-be pirates?

0 thoughts on “Gears of War 2 For PC: No – Piracy is Bad”

  1. I think it’s legit. And pirates deserve to get the blame. They wanna steal games? Fine – let’s see how they react when all there is to pirate is Cabella’s Duck Hunt.

  2. I think it’s legit. And pirates deserve to get the blame. They wanna steal games? Fine – let’s see how they react when all there is to pirate is Cabella’s Duck Hunt.

  3. 360 is a different beast. It doesn’t have internet access like the PC. It doesn’t have BitTorrent. And do you know how much trouble it is to mod an Xbox 360? It’s more convenient to rent a game. (And cheaper.)

  4. 360 is a different beast. It doesn’t have internet access like the PC. It doesn’t have BitTorrent. And do you know how much trouble it is to mod an Xbox 360? It’s more convenient to rent a game. (And cheaper.)

  5. Hack and be hacked!! Hack the Planet!!!
    360 will be so Hacked so Cracked that Microsoft will wish there was a PC version!!!
    Even MS will conform and create new (HardWard GPL Licence )!! Updates will give the 360 more functionality!!! Run Windows XP,Windows Vista,Windows 7, Linux 100% !!!free online gaming. 360 will become the new seconed PC Box to own, alongside PS3!!!

    the futrue is bright the future is whatever we make it!!( power to the people)!!!

  6. Hack and be hacked!! Hack the Planet!!!
    360 will be so Hacked so Cracked that Microsoft will wish there was a PC version!!!
    Even MS will conform and create new (HardWard GPL Licence )!! Updates will give the 360 more functionality!!! Run Windows XP,Windows Vista,Windows 7, Linux 100% !!!free online gaming. 360 will become the new seconed PC Box to own, alongside PS3!!!

    the futrue is bright the future is whatever we make it!!( power to the people)!!!

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Users Pwn MetaCritic Review SubmissionsUsers Pwn MetaCritic Review Submissions

Although we’ve found Metacritic a userful resource for game reviews, many folks have gone on a user submission rampage to discredit games that haven’t even launched yet. Their first attack was on LittleBigPlanet followed by Resistance 2, now their hitting Gears of War 2.

While Gears of War 2 has a Metacritic score of 94/100 the user’s have reviewed it to be a 3.5 out of 10, with a bright red box around the user review due to its low nature we’re sure. Although users are free to give their own honest representation of the game from their perspective, Gears of War 2, as of the review dates, hasn’t been released yet – these reviews are bogus.

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We use Metacritic as guidance when we do our gaming podcast to understand what games are rated in the industry, but we don’t use user reviews as our main guide. There are plenty of folks out there that may utilize these reviews in more seriousness because they may feel journalists reviews are tainted by advertisers or “the man” and want the common gamers opinion.

The common gamer cannot possibility be reviewing Gears of War 2 before the title has arrived. This is bogus. Metacritic has this to say:

“My advice for our faithful users is to focus your attention on the Metascore for this game and not the thousands of user votes, most of which have been submitted before said users have played the game. This is a gaming community, and if people want to stuff the ballot box, there’s not much I can do at this point. When we upgrade the registration requirements for participation on the site in the near future, this type of thing won’t happen. We’ll post the full legitimate user reviews upon the game’s release. As always, thanks for using the site.” (1up)

So, to those looking for holiday gaming gifts, keep this in mind while you start hunting down games you’ll want to buy.

Rumor: Wii Motion Plus DelaysRumor: Wii Motion Plus Delays

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(Thanks, Kotaku)

Beauty of Micro-transaction MMO’sBeauty of Micro-transaction MMO’s

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