9 ways we would like to see developers, players and equipment manufacturers to improve this year.
Keep free from broke-ass games
It's an unfortunate refrain at this stage, but the big games keep coming on PC with significant technical problems. Among the worst offenders in 2016: Mafia 3, disgraced 2, Deus Ex: divided humanity, Horizon of Forza 3 and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. My personal worst technical question came with one of my favorite games of the year, 2 XCOM. Performance graph in the last mission deteriorated as I pushed forward, possibly running at 15 frames per second. Just as I thought the pain was about to end, I hit a bug that has damaged my save, preventing me from loading. I had to wait for a patch to beat the game.
PC developers consider the countless different various hardware configurations, operating systems and of other variables, but these studios with the most resources and most experienced to make games for the platform have little excuse, at this stage, to have something that does not work for almost everyone at the launch. -Evan Lahti
Restore the reputation of Early Access
Like most things in life, same pancakes, Early Access may be good, but it can also be bad. Good, because many studios use it as a way to build ambitious projects with the feedback of a community. Bad, because only some devs do not use this right and some users don't address it properly. In the first case, the proliferation of fast times for games that have a community at first barely seems to indicate a larger problem: the initiative appears to represent a way for games that are not finished to arrive on the market. In other words, we are in a situation where there are too many games early access, not enough certainty that any project will be usefully supported, and this toxic combo negatively affects the studios who really want to operate (see rust, The Long Dark).
In 2017, it would be great to hear fewer projects failing early access or poorly supported, but it requires vigilance on players, we (the media) and developers. Most of the readers of PC Gamer will be well aware of what means early access, but I think that the way we report 'promises' and the 'elements' of the needs to come up with huge reserves. We must stop to declare as inevitable because nothing in game development is inevitable. I think our team is good at doing this already, but if all the outlets approached Early Access with the caution it takes, then we could shake its negative connotations. Early access needs to work on his image, in other words: he needs to reaffirm itself as a way for players to observe and interact with the development process. We must remember that Early Access is not, simply, get quick access to a playable game. It is a different beast and a very valuable when properly. -Shaun Prescott
Support the competitors in the steam
Steam, with 125 million active accounts at the last reported count of Valve, is by far the largest distributor of PC games, but he often gets treated as Steam is the platform rather than a part of it. Unlike our compatriots from the console, we are fortunate to have access to a bunch of different digital stores on PC. We have competition between origin, GOG, Itch.io, Green Man games, Amazon, and others.
Buying games directly from the developer's Web site is one of the best things you can do if you are passionate about their work. But otherwise, I think that most of us could do more to attend other online retailers, many give the steam still codes. We are doing our part by you pointing regularly to the Humble store, which supports charities. -Evan Lahti
Stop playing with the exclusive/platform wars
One of my favorite parts of the game on PC is that we don't have to deal with "platform wars". Of course, some games only the version for Windows, but if they become ultimately playable on Linux and Mac, that is good news for PC games as a whole, regardless of your personal operating system. The opening of the PC as the platform is incredibly unique in the game, where it does not matter what is in your case, as long as he can physically run the game. But we have seen the limits of this opening tested in 2016, and it's scared the crap out of me.
Suddenly players on PC are facing a war own platform between the live HTC and the Rift of Oculus, the latter using timed exclusives to the players on his side. But worse than that, shooter VR Arizona Sunshine locked briefly two game modes while they were only playable if you owned an Intel Core i7 CPU. Although these modes have planned to unlock all in March, and shields at their developer caused topic Vertigo Games lifting quickly remove the limitation - it's the first time that we have seen in the game content or playability exclusivity of specific hardware-related, and I desperately hope that this is not a sign of things to come.
Run fast, in the direction opposite of all nonsense is not exactly a PC gaming way should "improve" this year, but it is absolutely a way it should stay the same. -Tom brands
LOpen UWAs to modders
Universal applications for Microsoft Windows are not open to modding in the traditional sense of the term. Modding Durante expert says U'wa are packaged in such a way that the API calls can be intercepted, that's what "UWP specifically aims to eliminate." It is doubtful that Microsoft will double in return for their initiative and restore their enforcement frameworks underway to resemble something similar to program Win32, but at the very least, I hope for a slow draining tools that allow us to decompress and delve the U'wa. I'll even take an exclusive mod market at the moment. We just want to breathe life into the stagnation of the games (and replace each texture with Nic Cage).
Without modding, game ecosystems depend entirely on the release of the developer, but development is expensive and games is often left at the door as soon as they stop making money. I am particularly concerned is Gears of War 4.
It is an excellent port, both evolutionary and wonderful, but without tweaks and player created maps, I'm afraid that it will struggle to cope with the demand of players who can turn to the police no end of creatives, niche mods available in other games. When I want a game to come to the PC, it is not just a matter of convenience, I'll happily play on a console if it is more comfortable there. But a PC version involves using the biggest strengths of the platform: graphic power and opening. -James Davenport
Learn to love these thankless roles
"Get on the payload" is a meme in the community thus it's-funny-but-I'm-actually-crying Overwatch: in a tale as old as time, some players are blissfully ignoring the objective of the game hunting kills more. It reminds me of play Halo on PC a decade ago: I would often be the only member of my team sitting back at the base in a CTF match, waiting to defend the opposing team's flag. Offense is more fun than the care of the flag. Kills himself is more fun that keeps the payload. Not much changed, but I still hope that the best players and intelligent game design, can improve the frequency of the cooperation of the right team.
I think that Blizzard did a great job in Overwatch encouraging people to play the roles of support such as pity and Lucio. They are pleased to support and active and minimized the importance of your kill/death ratio. I would like to see more developers to work new ideas in their multiplayer designs that encourage playing the goal and do these thankless roles more exciting for everyone. I want to see more hardcore shooters of Battlefield and Overwatch Reapers try a new way to play and think right. It's fun. Why I have not tried this before? And behold, the dream of the true online multiplayer game team was reborn. -Wes Fernandes
Find better ways to preserve the dying games with online features
PlanetSide was closed by Daybreak Games year after 13 years of service. In a few weeks, West servers of lineage will undergo the same treatment. And just like that, years of history of the crucial PC game will disappear, the waste left to be picked up by passionate looking pirates, as is the case with PlanetSide, construct emulators of private servers. Video games have a conservation problem, and it will only be worse.
As more games are built on foundations online only, certainly more in the history of the game will begin to form. While this old Diablo 2 disc will always be there, ready for a trip on the road to nostalgia, Diablo 3 very probably won't - unless Blizzard allows you to play offline or hackers bypass. It is sad when time internet historians such as Jason Scott say developers 'flight to work is the future of the history of the video game. But he's not wrong unless companies start to do more to preserve their games, which continually history will be in the hands of thieves and pirates.
In 2017, I'd love to see publishers and developers to do more to ensure that their games can be appreciated forever - even if they stopped making money ages ago. Daybreak games made a great first step in sanctioning Everquest private server project 1999 in 2015, but there is much more that could be done. I do not pretend that the developers just take a game source code upwards in line after it is closed, but to find more creative ways to ensure that everyone benefits. Wurm Online developers did exactly that in 2015, for example, by releasing their MMOS on Steam as a standalone player to make their own private servers. There is no reason why older MMOS and other online games only should not follow suit so that future generations can appreciate how video games still to go. -Steven Messner
The same screen Coop
This is a selfish request: give us more local co-op games on PC. Most PC players probably have two joysticks, but after binging on Overcooked last year, we are hungry for more of this kind. Such, the category of steam is mainly populated by a few different shooters from the top down and various Lego games. -Evan Lahti
Treat workers better
Big game publishers like entrepreneurs. They can pay them less than employees, they do not have to give them benefits, and they can lay off easily when the contracts up. As this details history of the polygon, a contractor could put in as much work as any employee, and if expected to do all the things employees, but without the benefits of a stable job. And those who cannot find full-time work may suffer from a well-documented culture that encourages excessive unpaid overtime. Rather than realistic budgets and deadlines, employees can expect to work 12 hours or more per day during crunches.
I suspect, as SAG-AFTRA, as EA, Activision and the other companies involved don't want none of their other employee's ideas on what part of the billions they are due. Residue "opens a Pandora's box to share the prosperity," said the Union representative and actor Jennifer Hale, who was quoted in this story at THE time.
I want games that we celebrate to reward people who made them, because when we give our game of the year, we give them not to investors and business leaders. He is the host contract which was loose after production finished and will not see another dime that I care. The industry will be better and make better games if the population that actually is given fair. -Tyler Wilde
