Ever wonder how many people hop online to play a real-time strategy game like, I don't know, Command & Conquer? Well, wonder no more! Talking to gamesindustry.biz, EALA studio head Sean Decker revealed that the number hovers around the 40% mark.
"The consoles have done a great job of online ... Xbox LIVE, you can collect everything you've ever done, and it's super-easy to connect," he says. Decker believes PC games need that "level of accessibility" to entice players into trying online play.
"There are very competitive people, there are people who are co-operative and want to play with their friends, there are people who are collectors who want every achievement and award ... and everybody has different things to motivate them to go online, and the question is, can you provide what that person wants?"
"So far we've provided some of those elements, but not all -- and that's what we're going to try and do," reassures Decker. And let's not forget about those who don't play RTS games online because they simply can't compete. Yeah, I'm definitely not one of them. Not a chance.
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Contest:
1:40 PM on 09.14.2009
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We already have great accessibility. It is called: free online play, and user made content.
Achievements? What happened to the good old progress bar?
And all the other things that XBL offers is available on the net. GFWL and XBL have no proper anti-cheat, and no one get's banned from GFWL, even if they cheated a lot, and got reported dozens of times. We have our own version of XBL, but Microsoft is too lazy to put enough work in it.
I suck at RTS. I'm not going to go online and get steamrolled. That's just no fun.
Xbox Live for Windows has not. Why, because not all the games adopt it. Microsoft cannot force the upper hand and charge for add-ons and Gold service. I think that is why GFWL has failed.
It works well for me in Dawn of War II though.
Oh, and when you actually know how to play at a high level, the faction are also quite unbalanced.
Red Alert 2 also had a horrible storyline tyvm.
I'm not ever paying again for one of EA's subpar RTS experience.
Actually I'd say it was Microsoft actually trying to strong arm PC gaming and charging for services that killed Windows Live.
@Jon B
@Timmeh
Yes, this is the fundamental problem with online play with RTS games is that they're typically not casual matches. You go into it and you can't simply drop out, you're in it until the end.
This is why World in Conflict has excellent play for online RTS, players can drop in and out and since bases are captured not built it allows you to drop in and still be effective.
C&C3 + Red alert 3 is bullshit...there's no strategy.