By Nathan Grayson on January 11th, 2013 at 2:00 pm.
Sometimes, I wonder what I’d be if all my superfluous life fluff were stripped away, and I was left with my barest essentials. Would I end up a lover? A fighter? A frozen, naked coward? It’s tough to say, but I quite like Skulls of the Shogun‘s (extremely literal) supposition. Stripped of my skin, muscles, eyeballs, and blood, I’d be a samurai. A skeleton samurai. Fighting for vengeance and honor, using all the tactical knowledge still bouncing around in my half-rotted undead brain. Happily, I’ll soon have the chance to live that flesh-free dream, seeing as Skulls of the Shogun’s coming out at the end of the month.
Admittedly, there’s a chance all won’t be well when Skulls launches on January 30th. It is, after all, silent servant of the oh-so-tyrannical feudal lord that is Windows 8. This humble machine I’m currently word-beaming at you from, for instance, will be sadly unable to parse Skulls’ arbitrary brand of voodoo magic.
On the other hand, that opens the door to cross-platform multiplayer across PC, Xbox, phone, and tablet, which is quite the range of interconnected electronic rectangles. So, as ever, there are ups and downs – though I’m not sure this particular end justifies the means. But then, anything could happen. I suppose we’ll see.
Argh, I do so want to play this one, though. What if I just replaced my desktop background with a picture of some colorful squares and pried the seven key off my keyboard? Do you think that’d fool Skulls into running? Because it’s the best idea I’ve got at this point.
11/01/2013 at 14:11 pakoito says:
I checked last night with them on Twitter: W8, WP8, XBLA and W8RT only.
11/01/2013 at 15:25 Trithne says:
Well that’s just shooting yourself in the knee. Windows 8′s adoption rate is terrible, and Windows phones lag far behind too. Is an exclusivity deal (I assume there was money transfers involved) really worth carving an order of magnitude off your potential buyer base?
EDIT: Oh, I see XBLA in there. I guess the XBox install base is pretty big, but how much of it is the target demographic for this?
11/01/2013 at 17:00 Malibu Stacey says:
The Xbox 360 user base could be in the billions for all it matters if no one buys the game on the platform.
Super Meat Boy on PC out sold the Xbox 360 in half the time -> http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/03/01/super-meat-boy-pc-sold-more-in-two-weeks-than-xboxs-total-sales/
In any other situation I would wish a fledgling indie developer good luck with their first release but this Windows 8 exclusivity reeks of Microsofts grubby paws.
12/01/2013 at 12:15 TormDK says:
I would encourage you to check Steam’s hardware survey. 7% of Steam’s user base is running Windows 8, which has only been available for consumers for just over two months.
Not too shabby, and thats just Steam..
60 million Windows 8 licenses has been sold thus far, meeting the sales rate of Windows 7.
It’s certainly not as bleak as some users on the Internet would paint it.
11/01/2013 at 14:11 Kid_A says:
Give it a week and someone will have worked out how to force the YARRRR’d version into running on W7, at which point Microsoft will tearfully explain that piracy is killing the PC so they’re cancelling the Age of Empires 4 game by a reformed Ensemble Studios and that the planned port of all the Halo games we never got is also dead. But please, please, for the love of God, buy our shiny new Windows.
11/01/2013 at 14:18 mrmalodor says:
LOL W8.
11/01/2013 at 14:27 rustybroomhandle says:
i’m w8ing but what 4?
11/01/2013 at 15:03 Darth_Pingu says:
‘Someone 2 come up with 1 reason.
… And good luck to next replier.
11/01/2013 at 15:11 Bhazor says:
Xbox cross compatibility for 1.
11/01/2013 at 15:13 JFS says:
Zero chance for further puns.
11/01/2013 at 15:26 hitnrun says:
Your prediction is a negative one and unlikely to prove true.
11/01/2013 at 15:40 Darth_Pingu says:
That’s a double negative, because I meant dividing by 2!
11/01/2013 at 16:21 Xocrates says:
There would still be half a chance of one.
I don’t see why you 3 have to be so negative about this.
11/01/2013 at 16:35 Darth_Pingu says:
Look, one out of four could do it!
11/01/2013 at 16:49 mr.black says:
They’re barking up a wrong 3…
11/01/2013 at 17:07 Malibu Stacey says:
Sometimes pun threads are hilarious and still relevant to the post. This is not one of those.
11/01/2013 at 14:27 Cinnamon says:
Windows 8 is so cool that you would be a fool not to buy it. A fool!
Just kidding. I don’t own any of those devices. But the lack of any single player modes in the promotion is a big turn off for me anyway.
11/01/2013 at 14:35 whatisvalis says:
Platform / OS exclusive restrictions are always disappointing , but win 8 is really solid and surprisingly nice to use.
11/01/2013 at 14:59 pakoito says:
Sorry but no. And I like MS products and do develop for them. It works for phones/tablets, not for a desktop. It throws 25 years of UX and UI design and returns to MSDOS-like applications.
11/01/2013 at 15:10 Bhazor says:
…. no it doesn’t.
The UI is still the same but with a hugely improved search function replacing the old unintuitive start bar. My only complaint is that it automatically adds multiple icons to the metro bar so it looks cluttered in the 0.5 seconds when I first log on before I switch to good old desktop mode.
11/01/2013 at 15:45 mrmalodor says:
The start menu is very intuitive and I use it to this day. Perhaps your problem was…you.
11/01/2013 at 15:50 Bhazor says:
It listed only a couple of the files in each folder, it often emitted folders, it was poorly organised with some programs listed under developer name instead of publisher and the whole thing was just a big bloated grey mess.
Real men use the folder browser or search by name.
11/01/2013 at 17:06 yapper says:
Real men use COMMAND LINE.
Only joking. Not overly keen on the start menu but the folder browser to me seems like a much more annoying option.
11/01/2013 at 17:40 Didero says:
It’s pretty easy to change the locations and names of Star Menu folders though.
The one thing that kinda annoys me in Windows 7′s start menu (and I guess it was in XP too) is that it sorts the loose icons above the subfolders. And I can never remember if the program I’m looking for has its own subfolder, or if it’s just the one icon. (I hope I explained that understandably)
It’s probably as much my fault as Microsoft’s, but it’s still annoying.
11/01/2013 at 15:54 Hoaxfish says:
Didn’t win7 have exactly the same search function?
As a user, the main issues I have in Metro are the loss of the Taskbar (showing the time/date, running programs, all without looking away from your current program, or even a key press), and the full-screen apps. The UI conventions are a little flat, and the features minimal (I often try right-clicking on things expecting more options, but without even a cursory response).
I do like the sidebar option with metro items, so I can isolate to-do lists etc, while I work on the desktop.
There is a sizeable loss in functionality in Metro on a desktop, especially when larger screen or multiple screens have so much space to use. I’ve even tried out touch on those all-in-one machines, but the size of their screens makes touch-gestures more effort than they’re worth (especially if they’re sat at arms length on a desk).
Touch-screen laptops honestly seem the best experience for Win8. The closeness of the screen means it’s easy to swipe, etc, and simple builds on the pre-existing trade of ergonomics against portability. A laptop’s keyboard obviously provides “proper work” tools for typing, and the general size provides enough space for USB ports. Touch-pad/mouse nubs aren’t exactly competitive, so the whole thing “works” well enough. However, Win8 on a non-touch laptop is probably the worst experience as without the screen or a proper mouse for fast motion the Metro UI is incredible laborious to move around.
The whole thing is of course fairly schizophrenic, conventions on the desktop are completely ignore by Metro (and many of the default Metro apps are stuffed full of “helpful” adverts). If anything, the decades of internet has let most people experience different UI without horribly breaking any understanding, and even MS’s new Metro-style website works pretty well, so I’m a bit surprised by the lack of any real meaning in a lot of the Metro “usability”.
The idea of livetiles was quite appealing to me initially, but having tried using them I find myself either going straight to a desktop browser for proper information and usability (e.g. tabs) or ignoring whatever information they’re trying to impart. At best they’re the new Vista “gadgets”.
As a buyer, I find the whole marketplace lock-in quite off-putting.
Of course, there’re better places to moan about this yet again.
11/01/2013 at 16:28 whatisvalis says:
It just takes a little time to customise, but it’s a lot snappier and easier to navigate than 7. My start screen is blank, I only ever go there when searching for an app, maybe i’ll get into tiles at a later date. Everything I use on a daily basis is pinned to my taskbar, and I avoid using any native 8 apps.
11/01/2013 at 14:42 eclipse mattaru says:
I really, really love the art style in this, I would buy it for that alone; but quite frankly I hope this stupid decision blows up in their faces and they don’t sell shit. It pisses me off to no end. Windows 8 my f’ing ass.
11/01/2013 at 14:48 salejemaster says:
SADFACE
11/01/2013 at 15:12 TouchMyBox says:
If a game releases on Windows 8, but nobody’s around to buy it…
Did it ever really come out?
11/01/2013 at 16:29 Hunchback says:
Philosophy question of the year… :P
11/01/2013 at 15:23 Slinkyboy says:
Fuck M$. They won’t support Win7 and looks as if it never belonged to them. Fucking pricks
11/01/2013 at 17:23 derbefrier says:
What does this have to do with Microsoft? The developers chose this route so perhaps you should be saying Fuck the developers.
I however am enjoying windows 8 . I don’t know if I will get this game but I have yet to find a reason for all this hate. Ignorance seems to be the biggest factor though.
11/01/2013 at 15:34 Hoaxfish says:
As I understand it, they’re already feeling slightly restricted in the MS market/app store, and the lack of cross-platform mixing: http://www.polygon.com/2012/12/31/3759010/skulls-of-the-shogun-devs-cross-platform-purchase-promotion-microsoft
11/01/2013 at 16:06 PC-GAMER-4LIFE says:
This has been know about for ages you need to buy a licence for each Win 8 device you own so if you were foolish enough to buy all 4 it would mean buying the same game 4 times 1 for each device! No wonder MS did not support this 1 licence for all devices model but it just shows you how short sighted MS has become who really thought at the exec level within MS this licence model was a good idea!
11/01/2013 at 16:19 Hoaxfish says:
Oh, I know it’s “general knowledge”, but a bit like XBox charging for Fez’s patch-certification, it seems like they weren’t quite as aware of how it would manifest as a problem (given how that article seems to have been published a while after they had already said they knew of those limits)
11/01/2013 at 16:55 Malibu Stacey says:
And yet SteamPlay is a thing and works across 3 different operating systems. Who would’ve thought Microsoft would be way behind the curve with regards to digital distribution?
11/01/2013 at 15:41 PC-GAMER-4LIFE says:
Game looks pretty crappy anyway. Pacman Championship DX Edition came out 9th Jan another Win 8 only title but that is actually a lot of fun & very playable its probably never ever going to come to Win 7 especially now Phil Harrison is calling the shots that means more of this Win 8 only garbage. Pacman is so good I am very tempted to buy Win 8 just to play that!
MS are going to become more & more irrelevant with this forced OS tactic it will just mean less not more sales of these games as most are obviously tied to a Win 8 only clause.
11/01/2013 at 16:06 Mrs Columbo says:
Pardon my french, but I don’t give a flying fanny-fart about “cross-platform multiplayer across PC, Xbox, phone, and tablet. “
11/01/2013 at 17:05 Malibu Stacey says:
Especially when if you wanted to play this cross-platform multiplayer from your Windows 8 PC, Xbox 360, Windows 8 phone and/or Windows 8 tablet you’d need to re-buy the game on each device because Microsoft.
11/01/2013 at 16:58 Hilden2000 says:
Too bad TF2 already has samurai hats, they would’ve made a killing on steam with a pre-order hat offer.
11/01/2013 at 17:40 Kitsuninc says:
Windows 8 is out? I could have sworn it was in beta or something. Not that I care much, there’s a good chance I’ll migrate to Linux before 8.
11/01/2013 at 18:41 Hoaxfish says:
Win8 fully popped for ordinary shoppers (aka the last to know) just before the end of 2012 in November, though was available to businesses etc around October.
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