<html>
<body>
<font size=3><br>
Been a heck of a week. Thanks all for your input.<br>
If you look at the gaming console situation, and the new<br>
upcoming consoles, they are basically sealed PC's.<br>
The large difference between a Tivo (or DVR) and a<br>
gaming console is almost blurred.. Except a DVR is<br>
kind of like an ASIC is to a CPU. Specific purpose, vs<br>
general computing.<br><br>
The new Sony and XBox will have graphics processors that<br>
are where PC's were and many stand now. (4 Way pipeline<br>
GPU's).<br><br>
However, the PC gaming will always be ahead. We now have<br>
16way pipelining with the new sets of GPU's from NVidia, and<br>
ATI. Yea, they are expensive, but a niche market for those
that<br>
can't lay out $500 for a GPU card at this point, is the
PCI-Express.<br>
(I read a review where a $135 Geforce 6600 x 2, on SLI exceeded<br>
the frame rates of the single 6800 Ultra.) But in reality these
prices<br>
will come down. The irony is that the Motherboard tests for
SLI<br>
MB's had to be at Low resolution for most tests. At higher
resolution<br>
the GPU takes almost all of the processing, and the CPU is sitting<br>
there darn near idle. That is a void gaming developers have
been<br>
waiting for. When CPU's were 2 way pipelined, 80% of the CPU<br>
was busy doing processing and the remaining pipelines, T&L, and<br>
Rasterization. 4 way moved it all on chip. 16 way is
awesome.<br><br>
PC's are complex to maintain. Consoles are plug and play. That is<br>
the key IMHO. As the Consoles move more towards PC's and<br>
move on to Broadband, real hackers (not crackers of course) will<br>
welcome the new arrival with all the things a PC is subject to.<br><br>
All the weaknesses they can find. The first to do so wins the
glory<br>
of taking down a MS network of XBoxes, etc.<br><br>
One thing that does concern me..... If there was no 16 way GPU's<br>
and I had to stay where I am now with my 3 systems with Geforce FX<br>
5950's, It would not be terrible. But as long as there is the
"next best<br>
thing every 2 years, we upgrade... Many over-clock and tweak the
new<br>
16way GPU's, just because they can and want every little FPS they<br>
can get. It all helps drive the industry in many ways.<br><br>
The central question: If WOW and Matrix-Online come out for the
new<br>
consoles with 4Way pipeline GPU's, and 40GB Disks in them, self<br>
contained, will most families be happy with that quality level?<br>
Well, it is a huge step up in graphics quality from the current
older<br>
XBox and PS2.<br><br>
For the console market, this may indeed be a huge win. Will
we<br>
ever see Console and PC based integration? Many
questions...<br><br>
I do notice when I go to EBGames, now owned by Gamestop, which<br>
stated out as Babbage, the PC games are treated like the Classical<br>
and BigBand era section in a music store. <br><br>
I see, as the point made, that next gen consoles will also have
impact<br>
on the PC gaming community. How much? IMHO, I would tent to<br>
think that those that have PC gaming will have both. Those that
have only consoles<br>
will upgrade and still have consoles, and market share may increase from
those<br>
that have nothing, which I think will not reduce the PC Gaming
pool.<br><br>
Massive Online Gaming is directly sucking from the PC Genres.<br>
But I think that market is in flux. I saw an ad in PCGamer for an<br>
MOM game due out, with NO fees. Control of cheating and<br>
licensing will be through steam. People hate it, but they know<br>
everyone on-line purchased the game. But no monthly fee.<br><br>
This seems to coincide with the return of many clan members<br>
that I lost to WOW and Matrix. They still play the MOM games,<br>
but they are back playing COD:UO.<br><br>
We also have upcoming: BF2, COD2, and Day of Defeat Source<br>
which has a huge following. The DOD ladders are doing better<br>
than the COD/COD:UO, but it is a mod of the Valve HalfLife
engine.<br><br>
Funny thing is they almost all look alike ;-) I hope they all go
over<br>
big...<br><br>
Thanks to the many that shared their experiences and ideas.<br>
I think this list has some of the best people I have come to<br>
admire.<br><br>
Md<br><br>
<br>
At 06:41 AM 5/26/2005, you wrote:<br><br>
</font><blockquote type=cite class=cite cite><font face="arial" size=2 color="#000080">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.<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2 color="#000080">---------------------------------------<br>
Chris Adams<br>
GameSwitch Ltd.<br>
<a href="http://www.gameswitch.co.uk">www.gameswitch.co.uk</a><br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="arial" size=2 color="#000080">(0871) 218 GAME<br>
</font><font face="arial" size=1 color="#000080">+44 (0)871 218
4263<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="tahoma" size=2>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b>From:</b> |PxR| TazAnimal
[<a href="mailto:tazanimal@rifleteam.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:tazanimal@rifleteam.com</a>]
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 26 May 2005 03:37<br>
<b>To:</b> cod@icculus.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [cod] IS COD and other FPS's DEAD? On topic and off
topic unfortunately!<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3> <br>
</font><br>
<font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080">Mark:<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080"> In my personal
experience, the FPS "Genre" has never gotten it right.
The discrepancy between<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080">players systems and
internet connections causes lag which makes the game hard to play
on<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080">an even level.
However, I would still be playing COD and / or COD:UO even with the
"lag" issues<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080">IF the cheating
community was not ruining the experience for me. No matter what
PunkBuster has done<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080">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.<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3> <br>
</font><br>
<font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080">TazAnimal<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080">Brett Stinson<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080"><a href="mailto:tazanimal@rifleteam.com">tazanimal@rifleteam.com</a>
<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3 color="#000080"> <br>
</font>
<dl><br>
<dd><font face="tahoma" size=2>-----Original Message-----<br>
<dd>From:</b> Mark J. DeFilippis
[<a href="mailto:defilm@acm.org" eudora="autourl">mailto:defilm@acm.org</a>]<br>
<dd>Sent:</b> Wednesday, May 25, 2005 9:00 PM<br>
<dd>To:</b> cod@icculus.org<br>
<dd>Subject:</b> [cod] IS COD and other FPS's DEAD? On topic and off
topic unfortunately!<br>
</font><font size=3><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><br>
<dd>As much as I have seen the traffic on this list drop, I am also
seeing the ladders at leagues<br>
<dd>drop as well. At it's peak, the COD HQ 4x4 ladder had 235 clans, of
which probably 150+ were active.<br>
<dd>Now, it has 30, perhaps 12 are active. Similar drop in
TDM.<br><br>
<dd>The COD:UO ladders are not doing much better. It also does not
seem to be limited to COD.<br>
<dd>Noticed the same for UT2004, and even Counter Strike has been
impacted.<br><br>
<dd>Friends are closing up clans left and right, and people I know that
own server leasing companies<br>
<dd>are consolidating as they lose people. Even one of the cheapest
guys out there, like ET.<br><br>
<dd>Supply and Demand? I don't think there is much. There are
diehards that are excited about<br>
<dd>BF2 and COD2 coming out. I am. SO that should bring back
life again!<br><br>
<dd>I don't think so. I think, and have predicted that the FPS
Genre is going the way of<br>
<dd>the Combat Flight Sim. If UBI had released LOMAC (Lock-on) had
come out when that<br>
<dd>genre was hot, that small Russian team would have been wealthy.
Instead, it is a great<br>
<dd>sim, the best I have seen to date IMHO (A FX5950 would get down to
9fps at times), and<br>
<dd>the newer 6800 during the same demo code run still only hits
43fps! But it would have been<br>
<dd>huge, had the video card technology been what it is.<br><br>
<dd>Where are all the clans going? Why are their members leaving?
Look at the ranks<br>
<dd>of World of WarCraft, Final Fantasy, Matrix On-line.... Massive
On-line Gaming.<br><br>
<dd>If COD2 was going to be a MMO game, with Borgs, Trolls, and Flying
Faeries<br>
<dd>we could put lead in to, it might have a chance. ;-) I wrote
some pretty<br>
<dd>recent editorials to PCGamer, and submitted this observation as an
article to<br>
<dd>them for publication. They have contacted me back, and I am still
talking with<br>
<dd>their people. It is clear I am not the only one to notice the
trend. My communications<br>
<dd>with TWL's admins, and competition managers I have come to know I
don't think<br>
<dd>want to see it, but they notice the dips in ranks.<br><br>
<dd>I became friendly with many clan founders over the past 2 years while
running {TRv},<br>
<dd>and several were multi-gaming. COD, COD:UO, BF1942, BFDC, UT2004,
SOF2, with<br>
<dd>25 active players, and over 100 on their rosters that were active on
their servers<br>
<dd>and played via rotation via sign-up. Shut down last week.
Large healthy clans<br>
<dd>here one day. WOW comes out, and a month later, gone.<br><br>
<dd>Matrix was a DOA. WOW seems to have brought it back to life.
<br><br>
<dd>I can take the death of gaming perhaps, but not the Genre. At
43, I grew up in the Atari<br>
<dd>era as a 18+teenager, my early years were Mainframes, PDP11, Byte mag
was 12 pages long<br>
<dd>and carried the ads for Imsai 8080, and Altair systems. 8KB
Ram. First multiplayer game<br>
<dd>was StarTrek on a Dec Vax at work. SO the Atari era was great.
<br><br>
<dd>I would hate to see the death of the Genre. I didn't like
"Scott Adams" text adventures<br>
<dd>back in the Era of TRS-80's and Atari, and I don't like the current
Genre, which is where<br>
<dd>I feel WOW, and Matrix-On-line.<br><br>
<dd>If somewhere COD:UO, and BF2 became RPG's and FPS's, where did WOW
become<br>
<dd>a MMO RPG Adventure and 3rd person shooter.<br><br>
<dd>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<br>
<dd>they say you never forget it....<br><br>
<dd>Over the years through COD, and UO, I have come to know and respect
many of you for many<br>
<dd>reasons, some of which includes knowledge and opinions. Please take a
moment if you have some thoughts, to share them.<br><br>
<dd>PCGamer did not turn my article down, they said they would get back
to me with commentary<br>
<dd>on content, and I provided some "food for
thought"...<br><br>
<dd>I sure would love to be wrong.<br><br>
<br>
<dd>Best Regards<br><br>
<dd>Mark D<br><br>
<br><br>
</font>
<dd><tt><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2>S1,-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></tt><br>
<dd><tt>Mark J. DeFilippis, Ph. D
EE
defilm@acm.org</tt><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2><br>
</font>
<dd><tt>
defilm@ieee.org</tt><font face="Courier New, Courier" size=2><br>
</font></blockquote>
</dl><tt>S1-------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
Mark J. DeFilippis, Ph. D
EE
defilm@acm.org<br>
defilm@ieee.org<br><br>
<br>
</body>
</html>