[cod] IS COD and other FPS's DEAD? On topic and off topic unfortunately!
Mark J. DeFilippis
defilm at acm.org
Sat Jun 4 13:04:52 EDT 2005
Been a heck of a week. Thanks all for your input.
If you look at the gaming console situation, and the new
upcoming consoles, they are basically sealed PC's.
The large difference between a Tivo (or DVR) and a
gaming console is almost blurred.. Except a DVR is
kind of like an ASIC is to a CPU. Specific purpose, vs
general computing.
The new Sony and XBox will have graphics processors that
are where PC's were and many stand now. (4 Way pipeline
GPU's).
However, the PC gaming will always be ahead. We now have
16way pipelining with the new sets of GPU's from NVidia, and
ATI. Yea, they are expensive, but a niche market for those that
can't lay out $500 for a GPU card at this point, is the PCI-Express.
(I read a review where a $135 Geforce 6600 x 2, on SLI exceeded
the frame rates of the single 6800 Ultra.) But in reality these prices
will come down. The irony is that the Motherboard tests for SLI
MB's had to be at Low resolution for most tests. At higher resolution
the GPU takes almost all of the processing, and the CPU is sitting
there darn near idle. That is a void gaming developers have been
waiting for. When CPU's were 2 way pipelined, 80% of the CPU
was busy doing processing and the remaining pipelines, T&L, and
Rasterization. 4 way moved it all on chip. 16 way is awesome.
PC's are complex to maintain. Consoles are plug and play. That is
the key IMHO. As the Consoles move more towards PC's and
move on to Broadband, real hackers (not crackers of course) will
welcome the new arrival with all the things a PC is subject to.
All the weaknesses they can find. The first to do so wins the glory
of taking down a MS network of XBoxes, etc.
One thing that does concern me..... If there was no 16 way GPU's
and I had to stay where I am now with my 3 systems with Geforce FX
5950's, It would not be terrible. But as long as there is the "next best
thing every 2 years, we upgrade... Many over-clock and tweak the new
16way GPU's, just because they can and want every little FPS they
can get. It all helps drive the industry in many ways.
The central question: If WOW and Matrix-Online come out for the new
consoles with 4Way pipeline GPU's, and 40GB Disks in them, self
contained, will most families be happy with that quality level?
Well, it is a huge step up in graphics quality from the current older
XBox and PS2.
For the console market, this may indeed be a huge win. Will we
ever see Console and PC based integration? Many questions...
I do notice when I go to EBGames, now owned by Gamestop, which
stated out as Babbage, the PC games are treated like the Classical
and BigBand era section in a music store.
I see, as the point made, that next gen consoles will also have impact
on the PC gaming community. How much? IMHO, I would tent to
think that those that have PC gaming will have both. Those that have only
consoles
will upgrade and still have consoles, and market share may increase from those
that have nothing, which I think will not reduce the PC Gaming pool.
Massive Online Gaming is directly sucking from the PC Genres.
But I think that market is in flux. I saw an ad in PCGamer for an
MOM game due out, with NO fees. Control of cheating and
licensing will be through steam. People hate it, but they know
everyone on-line purchased the game. But no monthly fee.
This seems to coincide with the return of many clan members
that I lost to WOW and Matrix. They still play the MOM games,
but they are back playing COD:UO.
We also have upcoming: BF2, COD2, and Day of Defeat Source
which has a huge following. The DOD ladders are doing better
than the COD/COD:UO, but it is a mod of the Valve HalfLife engine.
Funny thing is they almost all look alike ;-) I hope they all go over
big...
Thanks to the many that shared their experiences and ideas.
I think this list has some of the best people I have come to
admire.
Md
At 06:41 AM 5/26/2005, you wrote:
>I cant really speak for anywhere else, but the mainstream arrival of
>broadband here in the UK has had both positive and negative effects. As I
>say I can only speak for the UK but these days most serious online gamers
>have 2mb broadband or as high up to that as their line can support,
>meaning you see much fewer people these days over 50ms, eradicating lag
>issues pretty much. However while people used to turn to the PC and get
>playing online with 56k modems or ISDN, people are now just plugging up
>their broadband-enabled consoles not good for the PC market, especially
>when its generally cheaper and easier to do with a console.
>
>---------------------------------------
>Chris Adams
>GameSwitch Ltd.
><http://www.gameswitch.co.uk>www.gameswitch.co.uk
>
>(0871) 218 GAME
>+44 (0)871 218 4263
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: |PxR| TazAnimal [mailto:tazanimal at rifleteam.com]
>Sent: 26 May 2005 03:37
>To: cod at icculus.org
>Subject: RE: [cod] IS COD and other FPS's DEAD? On topic and off topic
>unfortunately!
>
>
>
>Mark:
>
> In my personal experience, the FPS "Genre" has never gotten it
> right. The discrepancy between
>
>players systems and internet connections causes lag which makes the game
>hard to play on
>
>an even level. However, I would still be playing COD and / or COD:UO even
>with the "lag" issues
>
>IF the cheating community was not ruining the experience for me. No
>matter what PunkBuster has done
>
>in COD and UO, there are still cheats that can get around PB. And for me,
>playing games cheat free is the only way I enjoy playing.
>
>
>
>TazAnimal
>
>Brett Stinson
>
><mailto:tazanimal at rifleteam.com>tazanimal at rifleteam.com
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark J. DeFilippis [mailto:defilm at acm.org]
>Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 9:00 PM
>To: cod at icculus.org
>Subject: [cod] IS COD and other FPS's DEAD? On topic and off topic
>unfortunately!
>
>
>As much as I have seen the traffic on this list drop, I am also seeing the
>ladders at leagues
>drop as well. At it's peak, the COD HQ 4x4 ladder had 235 clans, of which
>probably 150+ were active.
>Now, it has 30, perhaps 12 are active. Similar drop in TDM.
>
>The COD:UO ladders are not doing much better. It also does not seem to be
>limited to COD.
>Noticed the same for UT2004, and even Counter Strike has been impacted.
>
>Friends are closing up clans left and right, and people I know that own
>server leasing companies
>are consolidating as they lose people. Even one of the cheapest guys out
>there, like ET.
>
>Supply and Demand? I don't think there is much. There are diehards that
>are excited about
>BF2 and COD2 coming out. I am. SO that should bring back life again!
>
>I don't think so. I think, and have predicted that the FPS Genre is going
>the way of
>the Combat Flight Sim. If UBI had released LOMAC (Lock-on) had come out
>when that
>genre was hot, that small Russian team would have been wealthy. Instead,
>it is a great
>sim, the best I have seen to date IMHO (A FX5950 would get down to 9fps at
>times), and
>the newer 6800 during the same demo code run still only hits 43fps! But
>it would have been
>huge, had the video card technology been what it is.
>
>Where are all the clans going? Why are their members leaving? Look at the
>ranks
>of World of WarCraft, Final Fantasy, Matrix On-line.... Massive On-line
>Gaming.
>
>If COD2 was going to be a MMO game, with Borgs, Trolls, and Flying Faeries
>we could put lead in to, it might have a chance. ;-) I wrote some pretty
>recent editorials to PCGamer, and submitted this observation as an article to
>them for publication. They have contacted me back, and I am still talking with
>their people. It is clear I am not the only one to notice the trend. My
>communications
>with TWL's admins, and competition managers I have come to know I don't think
>want to see it, but they notice the dips in ranks.
>
>I became friendly with many clan founders over the past 2 years while
>running {TRv},
>and several were multi-gaming. COD, COD:UO, BF1942, BFDC, UT2004, SOF2, with
>25 active players, and over 100 on their rosters that were active on their
>servers
>and played via rotation via sign-up. Shut down last week. Large healthy
>clans
>here one day. WOW comes out, and a month later, gone.
>
>Matrix was a DOA. WOW seems to have brought it back to life.
>
>I can take the death of gaming perhaps, but not the Genre. At 43, I grew
>up in the Atari
>era as a 18+teenager, my early years were Mainframes, PDP11, Byte mag was
>12 pages long
>and carried the ads for Imsai 8080, and Altair systems. 8KB Ram. First
>multiplayer game
>was StarTrek on a Dec Vax at work. SO the Atari era was great.
>
>I would hate to see the death of the Genre. I didn't like "Scott Adams"
>text adventures
>back in the Era of TRS-80's and Atari, and I don't like the current Genre,
>which is where
>I feel WOW, and Matrix-On-line.
>
>If somewhere COD:UO, and BF2 became RPG's and FPS's, where did WOW become
>a MMO RPG Adventure and 3rd person shooter.
>
>I know there are many on this list that have gaming server companies. I
>sure would like someone elses' view of what we are seeing. The calm is
>eerie, and I hear that "Death rattle", that once you hear it
>they say you never forget it....
>
>Over the years through COD, and UO, I have come to know and respect many
>of you for many
>reasons, some of which includes knowledge and opinions. Please take a
>moment if you have some thoughts, to share them.
>
>PCGamer did not turn my article down, they said they would get back to me
>with commentary
>on content, and I provided some "food for thought"...
>
>I sure would love to be wrong.
>
>
>Best Regards
>
>Mark D
>
>
>
>S1,-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Mark J. DeFilippis, Ph. D EE defilm at acm.org
> defilm at ieee.org
S1-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark J. DeFilippis, Ph. D EE defilm at acm.org
defilm at ieee.org
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