Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 10 June 2008 08:25
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
So, until the inevitable (in my mind at least) availability of the keyboard/mouse controller for console gaming, we are somewhat restricted in game types to try out between hardware owners. Both Halo 2 and ShadowRun are shooters by enlarge, but a good racing game or co-op puzzle game would not be out of the question.
Universe at War: Earth Assault released a patch this month to enable cross platform play in 1 vs 1 form of the real time strategy game. I haven’t tried it myself, but I imagine PC players would have the edge in this contest.
Microsoft provided the tools for developers to utilise this feature, with engines meeting the certification standards able to tout cross platform connectivity. Epic Games have such certification build into Unreal Engine 3, utilized by many AAA titles.
But why bother? Is the gaming public clambering for such a feature? I don’t think so. Gaming is still somewhat contained in silos. Online gaming on the internet is the domain of desktop PC’s whilst the PlayStation Network and Microsoft LIVE takes care of the bulk of console connectivity.
And folks seem happy enough with their hardware and online experience of choice. So long as an adequate population is there to compete with, does it matter what platform they are using? Not really, if anything it is a negative. There is something warm and comforting, especially at the console level, of knowing that your opponents are using the same hardware and level of software that you are. Apart from network connection quality, there is a level playground to romp upon.
