Vista will help gaming "grow up" - Ken Levine

By Tom Bramwell Published 16 March, 2007

And he's not on about graphics.

Being able to use DirectX 10 might sound like most obvious benefit of developing for Windows Vista, but BioShock lead designer Ken Levine has a different take on what makes the operating system so important to gamers and the industry at large.

"The best thing about DX10 and Vista for me is not better graphics," he told Eurogamer, in an interview due to be published next week. "It's the push Microsoft is making to make PC games easier for the user to buy, install and understand."

"The new rating system for system requirements is going to go a long way to broaden our market. PC gaming needs to grow up in this regard, and Vista is a great start."

Levine was referring to the way that Vista allows users to see at-a-glance how well a game will perform on their system. Vista also introduces "Games Explorer", which allows for much easier management of game software and related save games. A PC version of Xbox Live - "Game for Windows - LIVE" - is set to be introduced in Europe on 18th May, bringing with it a unified cross-platform profile and friends list, along with Xbox 360's popular "gamerscore" system.

BioShock - one of 2007's most anticipated titles - is in development for PC (under the "Games for Windows" umbrella brand) and Xbox 360, and is due out this August. Check back next week for the full Levine interview, where he also basically propositions us, which is slightly disconcerting but we're still sort of up for it.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (38) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • rodpad #1 5 years ago

    Bag o shite.

  • itamae #2 5 years ago

    He's talking about Vista as if consoles never happened...

  • jellyhead #3 5 years ago

    Thus it begins, the spin and hype and fud and bullpuckey.
    *sigh*

  • UncleLou #4 5 years ago

    I want a video of the interview, because Levine has the creepiest voice ever.

    And itamae, have you actually read the article? ;p

  • Fubdub #5 5 years ago

    I'm probably overly negative, but I think it's the unwanted solution to a problem few people have. It might convert a few 'console' people, but I think it will alienate long time PC players more.

    Paid for unified online service is one of things I have the feeling made PC owners scornful of Xbox (I don't play online myself, so I really have no opinion) and the games explorer to me is almost patronizing. The rating systems seems idiotic, surely some games would need at good graphics card, but might not be heavily dependent on RAM, or vice versa, how is that going to be reflected?

    Anyway, as I said, I might be overly negative, but I really don't see it as something that will do much good, and I certainly don't see it as growing up, more lowering the standards to level of the idiots.
    Edited by Fubdub at 16/03/07 @ 11:06

  • mkreku #6 5 years ago

    No amount of hype seems to make me want Vista instead of XP.

    And I used to hate XP when it arrived.. Weird.

  • skillian #7 5 years ago

    Anyone who has found PC gaming too complicated will have jumped ship to consoles a long time ago.

    Making things simpler and more standardised normally goes hand in hand with less flexibility and less user control. That's why this whole system doesn't really appeal to me.
    Edited by skillian at 16/03/07 @ 11:13

  • bushwod #8 5 years ago

    @Fubdub

    "ore lowering the standards to level of the idiots."

    Exactly, it sounds like they are trying to make PC gaming more accesable beyond the hard core gamers who actually know how to use their computer.

    As long as it's optional I don't see how it can be a bad thing to make life easier for Mrs Smith to install her Sims 2 or whatever. And the intergrated friends list sounds like a great idea.

    However I am suspicious the whole thing is just being done to stick it to the mac users.

  • SBfistfun #9 5 years ago

    Load of horsehit.

    If you cant figure out if your pc can run games, what's the point in having a simple sytem to tell you how well it will run? These people wont have the knowledge to upgrade anything.

    Completely pointless.

  • SeesThroughAll #10 5 years ago

    Bullcrap.

  • Fubdub #11 5 years ago

    The thing is, it doesn't sound like it will optional in the long term, it sounds suspiciously like something that will become the standard over time.

  • Overlush #12 5 years ago

    As someone whose been out of PC gaming for 4 years AS A DIRECT RESULT of all the faffing around, patching, tweaking, upgrading and general hair-pulling involved with PC gaming, I welcome this new philosophy.

    EDIT: Before I get branded a PC noob or something: I'm an IT Teacher who'd been playing games on PCs for an age before I gave up. I CAN fix issues and get things running, but IMHO when I'm trying to RELAX, why should I have to?
    Edited by Overlush at 16/03/07 @ 11:43

  • reality_cheque #13 5 years ago

    I'm the same as you Overlush (except I work in support rather than teach, so there's no fucking way I'm dicking around fixing my own PC when I get home), plus this has loads of benefits for parents. It's not for hardcore gamers imo.

  • Xerx3s #14 5 years ago

    +1 I know a lot about machines and computers as well as it is my job territory but when I come home, I just want to kick off my shoes and relax. I used to be all tech but now I can't be arsed when I come home. The only thing remotely work related that I spend my time on is coding leet new things to see what I can do.

    I don't want to work in my free time as well.

  • SBfistfun #15 5 years ago

    As long as I can still decide which servers to connect to without any bollocks matchmaking getting in the way it doesn't bother me, I just won't use it.

    Just let people have the choice and there will be no problem.

  • Fubdub #16 5 years ago

    I agree, if you can ignore all the crap (including the computer rating thing) it's fine, I just fear it won't be an option eventually.

    I think what really annoyed me was the growing up bit.
    Edited by Fubdub at 16/03/07 @ 12:04

  • Bezzy #17 5 years ago

    "Growing up" as in "not having to be autistically obsessive about hardware and tweaking". Sounds about right to me.

  • linksdad #18 5 years ago

    Levine was referring to the way that Vista allows users to see at-a-glance how well a game will perform on their system

    A bit like minimum specs? If so this will actually tell you nothing, redering itself useless.

    Games explorer? A bit like a filter for Start menu, All programs? Unless you are truly cluttered or play over 20 games at the same time another useless feature.

    I generally have a couple or three games going on at a time and then when I am done I very rarely go back to them, and I suspect most people in the world do pretty much the same.

  • RexRunti #19 5 years ago

    OK, I've been a PC gamer for decades and I'm also a console gamer, I can see arguments for this not actually bringing that much extra but some of the posters think this is the worst thing to happen to PC gaming ever... why?

    Also is this MS pushing DirectX10 with Vista not just like pushing DirectX1 with 95?

  • orakio #20 5 years ago

    I have no real complaints about Vista up till now. Gaming is flawless as well for me

  • loeffe #21 5 years ago

    Vista will help gaming "grow up" because only grown ups can afford the 50$ Live Gold for Windows subscription fee.

  • skillian #22 5 years ago

    When mods are pushed out because they don't have a proper performance rating, when paying fees becomes the norm to play online, when servers die off because they don't connect with 360 users, when playing PC games becomes indistinguishable from playing console games, when games only get "Games for Windows" certification when they can offer downloadable content for "small fees" - this is when I will start worrying.

    Paranoia? Maybe, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is the state of PC gaming in 5 years time.

    It is the beginning of taking control of games away from independent game makers and consumers, and giving it to Microsoft. This is the main appeal of console games (and I can appreciate that), but it's the antithesis of PC gaming. It sucks.

  • tancredo #23 5 years ago

    As I understand it, PC gaming is still free of charge. They will use a Live silver account and still be able to play with other PC gamers for free
    PC gamers only have to pay 50$ if they want to play cross platform with 360 gamers (getting a gold account in the process)

    For 360 gamers, the cross platform is an added bonus as live players are already paying for the gold service.

    I do not see how Vista can become a problem. A gamer is always free to use wehatever options available. They are not forcing us to use anything, just giving different options to different type of gamers.

  • skillian #24 5 years ago

    They are not forcing us to use anything, just giving different options to different type of gamers.

    But when you start having to use certain standards to get "Games for Windows" certification, other ways of doing things get left behind.

    Suddenly you realise that those "options" you used to have a few years ago just aren't available anymore, because everyone is doing things the way Microsoft wants them to.

    Some people think that's a good thing because it makes a PC more like a console, some think it's a bad thing because it makes a PC more like a console.

  • yagisencho #25 5 years ago

    I've a feeling that the same people complaining about Vista 'dumbing down' PC gaming are the ones who enjoyed editing autoexec.bat files in DOS days. In other words, a vanishingly small subset of the gaming public.

  • skillian #26 5 years ago

    Yeah, it couldn't possibly be for the reasons we have tried to explain here, or countless other places. :/

    /wouldn't know what to do with an autoexec.bat file if it jumped up and snipped my mouse cord.

  • bicky316 #27 5 years ago

    To me the "dicking about" is half the fun :D

  • GitSomE_UK #28 5 years ago

    Ken Levine receives manilla envelope stuffed with MS cash shocker!!!

  • Bezzy #29 5 years ago

    "To me the "dicking about" is half the fun :D"

    Hehe. If dicking about with PC settings is as enjoyable as the game itself, man, games really have to do better, don't they? :D

  • fawe3 #30 5 years ago

    To Overlush, you must be a ass of a IT teacher if you manage to get your pc to need patching and fixing and stuff.

  • zendragon #31 5 years ago

    Just Microsoft trying to control games for pc. Completely!
    Push out opengl, force gamepad etc from xbox...



    Personally, I don't need any more dumbing down. Some times are ok as long as I can ignore or turn them off, like press ok ten times just so you can see c:\, autorestore, autoupdate, always on antivirus and all that useless, annoying, and resource intensive crap.



    Does anyone see in the future a hybrid xbox/pc? All microsoft?!



  • mustardkid #32 5 years ago

    if yr pc needs dicking about with to run games you prolly need a new pc

    other than checking periodically for new catlyst drivers i can't recall ever having to dick about and to be honest ive usually finished most games before the patch comes out and generally with no major issues.

    also steam renders the patching process virtually invisible for the games that use it

    so whats the big fuss?

  • frag.uk #33 5 years ago

    If there was any kind of gaming that needed to grow up, it would be consoles actually.

  • Feanor #34 5 years ago

    How so?

  • YourMessageHere #35 5 years ago

    I approve of the rating system in theory but MS will control it, so naturally hardware less than ideal for running Vista on will be made to score artificially low. But, Jesus, if you can't install a bit of software, you have no business owning a PC. Your standard system, you put the disc in and an autorun box appears with a big button labelled "install". You press this. Not rocket science.

    Remember, this is a proprietary system. The ONLY reason for a proprietary system is control. What's optional today will likely become mandatory over time. MS will throw money at retail to only stock Games For Windows PC titles, and before you know it all non-indie PC games will need to pass MS "quality tests" or something, prices will go through the roof and games will plummet in complexity in order to allow MS to shoehorn them onto XBox too.

  • TheBard #36 5 years ago

    Vista is the reason I recently bought a Mac.

    And I'm no Newbie, I used to work as a software developer on C# and ASP.net, was product specialist for the Microsoft Commerce Server and I am a fully certified Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, XP, Server, Advanced Server, 2003 and SQL Server administrator.

    I tested the MSDN (developer network) Version of Windows Vista for two days and thought to myself, if this is the future of Windows, I don't want to be a part of it.

    Then I bought a 15,4" MacBook Pro and would never go back.

    I still use my Xbox 360 for gaming, though.

    (and Windows XP in a BootCamp dual boot configuration with Parallels)

  • Genji #37 5 years ago

    "I certainly don't see it as growing up, more lowering the standards to level of the idiots."

    Wow... I wonder who needs to do the growing up here.

    Maybe the streamlining of the PC "dicking around" process is threatening that little superiority complex you have there!
    Edited by Genji at 18/03/07 @ 01:11

  • Meho #38 5 years ago

    The thing is, Windows has not been nearly perfect in terms of backwards compatibility so far. There are tons of classic games I can name that need serious dicking around to have them run on my current rig. I am pretty worried that Vista will multiply this problem by ten...