Microsoft: Please Take Money to Make Windows 8 Games

[Greg Tito]

Microsoft: Please Take Money to Make Windows 8 Games

The PC software conglomerate wants more independent developers to flock to its new OS.

Windows 8 is kind of a problem. The last operating system was a great update to the maligned Vista, but Microsoft desperately wants to compete with the touchscreen ease of Apple's flagship iOS. Windows 8 is optimized for such screen touching, but unfortunately it comes along with terribly restrictive certification process and ignores the fact that most Windows users don't give a damn about touching the screen. We like the PC platform because of the accuracy of the mouse and keyboard, damn it. Game developers Valve's Gabe Newell [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118846-Notch-Windows-8-Could-Be-Very-Very-Bad-for-Indies] have come out against Windows 8, but Microsoft is still trying to court smaller development outfits to make games on the platform. The carrot dangled in front of the independent game designer? Well, money, in the form of the Windows 8 "Power Up" Game Apps Competition which will award prizes to the best game designed on Windows 8 in the UK submitted between now and December 14th.

One first place winner will receive a free PR campaign, a trailer worth 4,000 pounds, a £500 gift card, some mentorship sessions and a free phone, while second place earns £250 Visa Gift card and the phone. "The prize structure has been developed around the strategy of supporting the indie game space in the UK and fostering a vibrant and successful industry by giving developers and their titles the best chance of success through profile and discoverability," said the announcement. Also, discoverability is totally a word.

What depresses me about Microsoft's plan for Windows 8 is that it seems to blindly chase its chief competitor's success. Apple products are great because they know what they are designed to do and do those things well. Microsoft still has an incredible market share, but the initiative to ape Apple with the touchscreen interface of Windows 8 and the certification of games creating a wall between developers and the customer alienates the exact people who prefer PC. The whole reason the PC is a great tool is because Windows has allowed a mostly open platform for any software maker or hardware manufacturer to use.

Take that away, and you might as well buy a Mac. *shudder*

Source: Microsoft [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/uk_faculty_connection/archive/2012/11/06/windows-8-power-up-game-apps-competition-amp-imagine-cup.aspx]

Permalink

 

[gigastar]

Wait if W8 allows for M+K support then why is it a problem if it has touchscreen optimisations?

And has MS been taking certification a little too far lately? We hear terrible things about Xbox Live already, i cant think of good things happening if they brought it to PC as a whole as well.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Been saying this for months. Sacrificing what brought many of your customers to you so you can become an inherently inferior version of your competitor is not going to help your business. At all

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Oh, & as far as trying to emulate iOS: aren't they losing market share to Android these days anyway?

(Android, btw, is an open platform)

 

[Krat Arona]

I'll keep my Win7 thanks... Shame they've got such a hard-on about locking out non-certified programs, sounds like an interesting platform otherwise.

 

[Bigsmith]

Oh wow, yet another report that is aimed to try and shoot Windows 8 down.

Yeah, we get it some people don't like Windows 8.

Meanwhile some of us actually do and are getting really sick and tired of the attitudes of people who probably haven't even used it.

 

[gardian06]

was I the only one who read the title as Microsoft want to take money to make Windows 8 games?

OT: that is a pretty distinct prize tiers they have there
1st prize: 4500 pounds in advertising, and gift cards
2nd prize: 250 pounds in gift cards
3rd prize: ... a hug

 

[mxfox408]

Windows 8 will go down in the fail windows os folders, joining windows 98 first edition, Windows melinium edition, and windows vista.

 

[Xanthious]

Yeah count me among the "Thanks but no thanks. I'll stick with Windows 7" crowd. Windows 8 looks like it's going to be a hot mess. I prefer Windows for my PC (or at least did), Android for my phone (Galaxy S3 FTW), and have a new iPad for . . . . well if I'm being honest I have an iPad that serves as a really expensive bathroom book because about the only use it gets is when I read the news/comics on the crapper.

 

[gardian06]

Oh wow, yet another report that is aimed to try and shoot Windows 8 down.

Yeah, we get it some people don't like Windows 8.

Meanwhile some of us actually do and are getting really sick and tired of the attitudes of people who probably haven't even used it.

actually I have used it, and I like the majority of the experience, up until the certification process that I am just waiting for to become a tyrannical choke chain on the OS, and will keep my Win7 until Microsoft apologizes in Win9, or SP1-2 when they remove the tyranny similar to what Apple imposes, or I will try my damnedest to learn Linux

 

[frizzlebyte]

Oh wow, yet another report that is aimed to try and shoot Windows 8 down.

Yeah, we get it some people don't like Windows 8.

Meanwhile some of us actually do and are getting really sick and tired of the attitudes of people who probably haven't even used it.

I've been wondering what the benefits of upgrading would be, since my primary PC is a desktop. So, why do you like Windows 8? And no, I'm not being snarky. I'd like to know because I'd be willing to replace my Windows 7 Pro upgrade with a full system builder version of Windows 8 if it isn't going to break 2/3rds of my current stuff.

OT: MS enticing developers over to Windows 8? That sounds like a great PR campaign, actually. Although I suspect that much of the impetus behind it is that they are scared of all the negative press.

 

[Alandoril]

Wouldn't they be better of giving the £4k to the developers rather than making a flashy trailer?

Or perhaps this is a hint at why big games companies fail...bloated marketing budgets and overpaid PR departments.

 

[Baldr]

I got sick of Apple's ridiculous certification system. I spent 3 days trying to upload a game to the iTunes store. It finally got through without errors, it like a major headache. We've moved on to Windows phones, which take 15 minutes to upload an XAP and images. Our next game was slated to be a Windows 8 release, but another (non-game) project sidelined that for a couple months.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Windows 8 is optimized for such screen touching, but unfortunately it comes along with terribly restrictive certification process and ignores the fact that most Windows don't give a damn about touch the screen.

Which is why you can make it look exactly like Win7, but make it function better than Win7, with a few mouseclicks. The "omg it uses tiles, what a fail" argument has been thrown around the forums already, and been shot down repeatedly by people actually using Win8.

 

[Nihlus2]

Yaaay... 2nd place gets a Vista gift card... because that version was so beloved and adored by everyone.

 

[Rainforce]

[...]and ignores the fact that most Windows [users] don't give a damn about touch the screen.

seems like you missed something.

On-Topic:
I loathe how every fucking OS tries to be more like apple's.
I mean, it doesn't stop at windows 8, even ubuntu now has a sidebar with big fancy icons and shader effects on every window.
WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR PEOPLE TO MAKE/SELL A PC WITHOUT A SHINY INTERFACE MADE SOLELY AROUND THE CONCEPT OF ATTRACTING PEOPLE'S (shortlived) ATTENTION.

AAARGH /rage

well..."every OS wastes your time, from the desktop to the lap...~"

 

[Slash2x]

Who said Linux? Oh wait that was Gabe... Glad I already switched over to Ubuntu...

 

[Candidus]

"most Windows don't give a damn about touch the screen."
"buy an Mac."

Is the editor okay? I'm just surprised those got in under the radar. First one's a bigun.

On topic. Not interested in Windows 8. At best, I'd be paying for a bunch of touch OS systems that I don't want and would immediately disable. At worst, it'll destabilize X, Y or Z, and I'll have broken something that didn't need fixing.

I don't see the point in this so-called upgrade at all.

 

[Robert Dytmire]

I've been developing on Win OS since Win 3.11...

Windows 8 / App Store is the OS/2 Warp for this generation. A nice OS that does not have enough market share to win.