BioWare is well known for crafting some for the best RPGs in the business. They’re also known for their strong support of the PC platform with titles like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. The studio is currently working on the PC-only Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO. According to the company, some things will never change, as the PC is “made for gaming.”
BioWare lead writer Daniel Erickson told CVG that PC has “less restrictive” interfaces than its console counterparts.
"Every two or three years we hear the announcement of fantasy being dead, PC gaming being dead and RPGs being dead," he said. "And yet, all of the biggest games that ever come out - that set the records - are nearly always PC games, and a lot of them are fantasy games.”
"The biggest game in the world is a fantasy, PC, RPG MMO. We all know the drawbacks of PC. We all scream at our boxes and try to make stuff work. But at the same time, the interface is made for games. The mouse/keyboard interface allows so much less restriction [than consoles]. “
Erickson was keen to point out that the PC remains BioWare’s lead SKU for multi-platform development.
"There was not a question when we started Old Republic - or any of our games, for that matter - [what the lead format would be]. There's a reason the lead SKU for Dragon Age was [PC] as well. When we're developing an RPG, it's a natural place to be."
3 Comments
June 25, 2010
Why I continue to buy Bioware games and support their products.
June 25, 2010
"And yet, all of the biggest games that ever come out - that set the records - are nearly always PC games, and a lot of them are fantasy games.” Did he mean World of Warcraft? I'm genuinely curious what games he had in mind when he said that.
Anyway, PC support is all well and good, but consoles getting the lesser version isn't acceptable practice anymore. Complains about the controls for Dragon Age took me aback - it's not like BioWare are strangers to console development.
June 25, 2010
^ Which is another reason why I love Bioware so much. I ended up buying a 360 and PS3 due to a lot of developers have gone console only or very badly port a console game to PC, which is a real shame since games will always look better with maxed graphics, controls better with a mouse/keyboard and customizable with mods. With the piracy issue, 360 games are uploaded to torrent sites 2-4 weeks before it hits shelves and its very easy to pirate them. PS3 tho with its games being on BluRay is a pain in the ass (smart move by Sony, lol @ MS). I always buy good PC games and DLC's, specially if its made by Bioware.
*Edit
@ David
Works both ways tho, there are games that come out for console and then ported to PC and just runs horrible in many ways. Activision is horrible for this which is why I always play the game before I buy it. If I like the first 30-60mins I will buy it probably from Steam where I own 325 games (lol they have good package deals on an assload of game)