Topic: Gears of War for PC "inevitable" says Mark Rein

[idolminds]

Interview

Relevant bit:

Have you formally acknowledged other versions of Gears coming?

Mark Rein: Nope. It’s an Xbox 360 exclusive.


And stays that way?

Mark Rein: ’Til there’s something else. (chuckles) People ask me, “Are you going to do it on PC?” Yeah, eventually…I don’t think that’s any great secret that we would like to do it on PC, but for now it’s a 360 game. Eventually we’ll get around to a PC version. I just don’t know when.

That’s worked successfully for Halo. Halo was a big seller on PC long after it kind of peaked on the original Xbox, and they’re doing the same thing now with Halo 2. We work at the pleasure of a publisher who thinks both of those are their platforms, so I think it’s ultimately inevitable, and obviously we’re a PC company.

The big challenge is to make a game that was designed solely for the console…to take advantage of every last little corner of that console, to fill every little crack and run as many threads as we could and do as much to exploit the power of that machine, and make it run well on enough PCs to be worth releasing. That’s a challenge. UT will help us there, because Unreal Tournament 3 will be kind of our vanguard PC product, and it’s helping us get optimization on the PC. So it’s just a matter of, now, can we make Gears run on enough PCs that it’s worth selling…or do we have to wait in five years until everyone has a PC that can run it?

It’s inevitable, but it’s just not there today.

Though I don't like the insinuation that the Halo PC release worked well. 2 years after the fact and it was a poor port. Though I think Epic would do a much better job porting than what Gearbox was faced with.

Is Gears really that demanding that it could take 5 years before we see a port? I mean looking at Gears and UT3...if the platform can handle one it can handle the other. Just seems like a strange thing to say.

[scottws]

Hmmm... I don't know about this.  Certainly it's not a bad thing but Gears of War just seems like a console game.

[iPPi]

Yea, while it's good news, I wonder how it would be on the PC.

[idolminds]

Seeing as how MS is attempting to make the 360 controller the standard controller on PC, I imagine GoW would support it and play exactly the same as the 360 version.

[iPPi]

Ah yea, with a gamepad the game should be very playable.  I think a keyboard and mouse might be a little more difficult to use.

[Pugnate]

What do you guys mean?

[scottws]

Honestly I don't know how to explain it but it definitely is the kind of game that would work better on a gamepad.

[iPPi]

The way the controls were designed, it intuitively works on a gamepad.  With a keyboard and mouse, I think the cover taking and the leaning out to fire will not work too well. 

[Cobra951]

They did a terrific job in designing it for the joypad, but I think it would work fine with a good keyboard layout.  Movement doesn't benefit very much from analog input, since direction is more controlled by look.  (I.e., it's 3rd person, but behaves more like 1st person in movement.)  If you play the 360 version 1st, it might not feel right with KB/mouse.  But if PC is your 1st experience with it (and it's properly implemented) you wouldn't think you're missing something.

[Jedi]

I couldn't care less about this news, I've played it on the 360 and loved it, so this a non-factor for me.

[MysterD]

I am ready for this PC port, whenever it comes to the PC.

[Xessive]

I played it on the 360, and even though I did enjoy I could see myself enjoying it much more if I had it my PC. Beyond the controls (which is the main issue for me), when it's on my PC I have a more personal involvement with the game, and I play it more intensely.

[MysterD]

I have a PC gamepad, if they decide to do a crappy port for the KB/mouse style controls.

This is Epic, and they do know PC gaming. They can't mess up the PC controls....I don't think they would, at least....

[Xessive]

I have a PC gamepad, if they decide to do a crappy port for the KB/mouse style controls.

This is Epic, and they do know PC gaming. They can't mess up the PC controls....I don't think they would, at least....

Yeah, you're right.. Sometimes I let my skepticism get the better of me

[Quemaqua]

I second what Cobra said, and I've been an Epic fan since Tim was making the games in his parents' basement.  I have the utmost faith in their abilities.  If they bring it to PC, it will be a fantastic port.