Brain Hood

Chief designer of the game ensures that DICE made special efforts for the PC version.

Slowly and gradually, it is expected that the eventual demise of Microsoft Windows XP operating system. Even the developers of PC games have slowly started to move to DirectX 11 instead of staying with Windows XP with DirectX 9. Now with the new year together, the players were thinking about whether the upcoming PC games would be compatible with Windows XP or not. There have been many rumors about whether future PC games would be exclusive or not.

DICE had clarified on July 31 that Battlefield 3 game for PC platform will not run on Windows XP and won’t support Direct 9 APIs. DICE Sweden’s rendering architect Johan Andersson had shared the update via Twitter, the micro-blogging service.

David Goldfarb, lead designer and writer at DICE for Battlefield 3, clarified via Twitter: it (BF3) will not be exclusive. We are putting special effort into the pc version, even for us, it’s extraordinary. So anticipate the game to be released for Sony PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as well.

Electronic Arts DICE Sweden studio is undertaking the development of Battlefield 3 on the Frostbite 2 engine that supports DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 APIs. Though Andersson doesn’t dismiss Windows XP as the gaming platform, it’s a gentle reminder to update your operating system with Windows 7 to enjoy the best graphics and game physics. In the Twitter update Andersson said:

“Frostbite 2 is primarily developed for DX11. XP & DX9 is _not_ supported, 64-bit OS is recommended.”

Game developer had submitted a new game engine Frostbite SIGGRAPH 2.0 percent in May 2010. Retired players use 64-bit version of Windows 7 is the 4 GB of DDR3 RAM and a powerful graphics card would be eager to get their hands on Battlefield 3 beta. But the super-perfectionist DICE takes its sweet time and publisher EA plans to release the game in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

By bringing advanced social media features, Valve has done wonders job for the PC gaming community. However, with Microsoft aiming to take a piece of the PC gaming pie developers is worried that the PC community will become splintered.

Currently Steam is the biggest player in the PC gaming scene. Microsoft has been attempting to build up its own PC gaming platform – Games for Windows. However, it hasn’t been all that successful with the company focusing more on the Xbox 360.

The company did reveal that there is a renewed support for the Games for Windows platform with Microsoft dropping the subscription fee and announcing big games such as Fable III for the PC.

According to CVG, Gearbox has urged both Valve and Microsoft to make games compatible across platforms. Currently if a gamer picks up a title on Steam and a friend buys the same game on Games for Windows, there is a good chance both can’t play together.

This is because Steam has its own version of “friends list” and Games for Windows uses its “Live” friends list. However there have been some games that support Gamespy so gamers can play across platforms.

Steve Gibson, head of marketing at Gearbox stated that these companies are “building silos” which will “hurt the PC industry.” Gearbox is currently ramping up for the release of Duke Nuken: Forever.

Right now we’re like ‘Please, work together’,” he said. “Our big concern right now is that these silos are being built. Everybody’s separating out and it’s really… as a developer who just wants gamers to be able to play games together, it’s frustrating right now. Things like that are hurting the PC industry for gamers. This is frustrating for everybody right now.

Gibson is absolutely right as it also impedes sales across the PC in general. Gibson urges all PC gamers to complain about this to Valve and Microsoft.

Unfortunately, it’s probably all business Valve and Microsoft. Valve probably feels no need to be compatible with Pc Games for Windows, while Microsoft would probably jump at the chance.

Game companies have been trying to make a good retro gangster game for consoles for quite some time.
The idea makes sense. Gangster movies have been popular since nearly the beginning of film, and the lifestyle has been romanticized.
The “Grand Theft Auto” series shows that solid gangster games are possible.
But when the game is set in the first half of the 20th century, the games just aren’t very memorable.
2K Games has now taken another crack at the genre with the release of “Mafia II,” a sequel to the 2002 PC game that was later ported to the Xbox and PlayStation 2. The PC version of the game was very good, delivering an epic mobster game with depth. The console versions of the game were terrible. Perhaps it was asking too much to port the computer version to those two systems, which were limited by technology at the time.
However, technology no longer limits developers in this current console era. We’ve seen that with “Grand Theft Auto IV” and “Red Dead Redemption.”
Despite fewer technological restrictions this time around, “Mafia II” still falls short of the promise exhibited by its PC predecessor.
“Mafia II” is the story of Vito Scaletta, who emigrated from Sicily with his family as a child, and his life in the crime world of the fictional Empire Bay.
“Mafia II” is clearly influenced by mobster movies, but that isn’t a bad thing. There are some pretty darn good gangster flicks out there. Scaletta joins the army as an escape from a crime a la Michael Corleone in “The Godfather.”
The cut scenes and cinematics are the highlight of the game, although they do fall into the cliché mob movie category. If you’ve seen it in a gangster flick, then it probably has found its way into this game.
But while the cut scenes are well done, the rest of the game falls short.
Gameplay is a mess. The game relies on a cover system for battles, but that cover doesn’t always provide protection. and the controls aren’t the easiest to use.
The worst part of the game, however, are its limitations. Don’t buy this game if you’re expecting an open-world game. You can travel throughout Empire Bay, and you can visit various businesses to shop for clothes and weapons. But there are no side missions. There is only one mission at a time, and it works to advance the story.
The developers should have decided to make a sandbox game or not, rather than going halfway. You can’t offer some elements of a sandbox game and then restrict the options heavily.
It makes for an uneven game, and “Mafia II” is certainly uneven.

The computer and video game industry added nearly $5 billion to the U.S. economy in 2009, according to a new study released today by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The study also found that the entertainment software industry’s real annual growth rate from 2005 to 2009 exceeded 10 percent, more than seven times the growth rate of the U.S. economy as a whole. The computer and video game industry directly employs more than 32,000 individuals, a number that has increased by nearly nine percent annually since 2005. Industry employees earn an average annual compensation of $89,781.

California remains the largest employer of computer and video game personnel in the nation, providing more than $2.6 billion in direct and indirect compensation to Californians last year. Entertainment software companies in the Golden State added approximately $2.1 billion to the state’s economy and grew by a real annual rate of 11.4 percent from 2005 to 2009, compared to a period of negative growth for California’s overall economy.