Gaming on Vista : Pro’s & Con’s

[anandk]

".....And finally a set of Pros and Cons about gaming on Vista:

PRO’s.

1. Hardware compatibility with Xbox 360 controllers. WOW!! Also on the way is a wireless dongle which will also give support the headset, steering wheel, controller, etc. This is specially a cool feature for those who already own an Xbox system.
2. Cross platform support with Xbox 360. This feature though not highlighted much in the upcoming titles, will allow for cross platform gaming and communication.
3. With the recent press release, we can be sure that Microsoft is committed towards Vista for Gaming. The games coming up, prove that.
4. DX10. You can hate it now, but you have to accept the fact that DX10 is very much pushing up the ante as far as graphics is concerned. Screenshots are testimony to that. Also for an extra WOW, lookup the official trailer of the game ‘Crysis’ set to release soon , which is SURE to keep you spell bound by the sheer quality of in-game graphics.
5. Parental Controls over games. Now whether this should be considered a 'Pro' or a 'Con" is debatable. Vista allows parents to allow or to block individual games, set time limits, etc. Time for kids to get smarter!
6. Launch saved games directly. Microsoft has its own ways of adding the ‘WOW effect’ and this feature is one of those. A nice addition.
7. Better multi-player functionality. Vista improves on this aspect of gaming and multi-player gaming is now really much smoother, without hitches.
8. Games Explorer. Keeps track of all the games on the system. A bit buggy currently. Let’s hope that Microsoft fixes it in the SP1 for Vista.

CON’s.
1. Compatibility problems. This is one of the main problems plaguing Windows Vista. Support for old hardware and software is lacking. So some games refuse to work, even in compatibility mode.
2. Hardware availability. Let’s face it, the amount of graphics hardware available for DX10 currently is very less and though this will change over a period of time, it is currently a major deterrent for heavy gamers to move to Vista.
3. Lack of titles. With most of the industry adopting the wait and watch strategy, has meant that there are hardly any titles available which actually harness the actual capability of DX10.
4. High Cost. Vista has high basic requirements, due to which playing games on Vista requires up-to-date and powerful hardware which is costly.
5. Shortcuts. Most of the gamers would rather prefer to have the shortcut of frequently played games on their desktop. Restricting this is an unwanted feature which can be rather irritating. "

an extract of a guest article from winvistaclub's guestzone (http://www.winvistaclub.com/4.html)

comments sincerly welcome :-)

[iMav]

gaming on vista in simple terms ... sux as compared to xp ;)

[eggman]

gaming on vista in simple terms ... sux as compared to xp ;) sadl but true:(

[freshseasons]

Dono why ? But when people moved from win 98 to Win Xp there weren't much compatibility issues.
With Vista its altogether different ball Game. Its almost other OS platform i feel.

[anandk]

i dont know anythibg about gaming. but ya i know these views... mind adding giving me more on y it sux...concretely i mean... can add it to the writeup ;-)

[iMav]

well for starters the games lag more, because vista takes up most of the resources it leaves the games wanting more and yeah thats about it .... most wanted on xp runs smooth and i mean really smooth with decent graphic settings where as mw on vista pauses, lags and everything even with everything set to lowest :x :(

[Third Eye]

Yeah gaming on vista sux

[faraaz]

Dono why ? But when people moved from win 98 to Win Xp there weren't much compatibility issues.

Well...that's because XP was halfway decent and didn't suck donkey balls...unlike Vista...

[Gigacore]

but cant say vista sux, nope we cant.

[allwyndlima]

LOL! Give it a break people.The OS is only in it's nascent stages & since at launch a large number of OS have their own sceptical issues Vista is no exception.When XP was first launched people complained from earth to moon about it's game compatibility issues & also a lot of software related issues but heck it became a norm later on right.I remember when I had got so used to Windows 98's simple GUI,swicthing to XP was like an unknown territory.Also those fancy menus,automatic updates,firewall protections etc seemed all too much to digest at start.But as & when we began to realise it's true advantages over 98 we ported across to it.

Keeping the same thing in mind,Vista needs time to grow.When I got my new rig it came with Vista Ultimate.Used it for a day or so & removed it the very next day & reverted to XP.But I'd still give it a shot once DX10 titles become pre-dominant & compatibility issues will be fixed.Until then can't really yank out "sucks" & "rocks" chants.;)

[iMav]

the guy asked abt gaming on vista now we told him :roll:

[adithyagenius]

You forgot the biggest con. No EAX

[anandk]

^ so tell me a little more about EAX and y its a 'con' !

[Charan]

^ so tell me a little more about EAX and y its a 'con' !


EAX® is a collection of powerful, innovative audio technologies designed by Creative's world-class audio scientists to bring true interactive 3D audio to PC gaming. The sophisticated environment effects of EAX provide a greater sense of realism to the gaming experience, and enhance the overall enjoyment of the player. The additional audio cues provided by EAX can also give gamers a competitive advantage in multiplayer games, enabling the early detection of the enemy. It's therefore no surprise that EAX is well established as the premier choice for interactive 3D audio for games.

EAX was first introduced in 1998, and since then has been under continuous development with new cutting-edge technology being added to its set of features. When the Sound Blaster Audigy series was launched, a new generation of EAX was released and branded as EAX ADVANCED HD to call out the high-definition audio features that offer dramatically increased 3D audio performance and functionality.

The EAX ADVANCED HD Game Audio Library give you total audio immersion in PC gaming. It delivers superior audio fidelity and rich environment effects for an unsurpassed digital entertainment experience. It is the defacto audio standard for powering the next generation of cutting-edge PC games.

Link (http://www.soundblaster.com/eax/abouteax/)

[rakeshishere]

5. Shortcuts. Most of the gamers would rather prefer to have the shortcut of frequently played games on their desktop. Restricting this is an unwanted feature which can be rather irritating. "


But,I like the idea of Vista Game Explorer and also the ESRB Ratings given to Games( which are vista compatible);)

[iMav]

it even downloads ... dvd/cd covers which is rather cool ...

[shantanu]

i see more pro's then con's :D:D

[iMav]

the con is with the performance ... ;) and if it doesnt perform no other pro makes the difference

[allwyndlima]

^Care to elaborate a bit more mate.What exactly are we benchmarking in terms of "performance" out here?

[faraaz]

@allwyndlima: Easy, frame rates...at the moment, not many DX10 games are out, and the DX9 games that I am seeing are all having 10-15% less performance on a computer running Vista as against the same computer running XP.

So this, exactly, is the benchmark for performance out there.

[Harvik780]

Oh my god no eax.Damn vista.My brother just bought P5N32-E sli which has supreme fx sound card.

[shantanu]

just coz of no eax you damn vista... ?? well Vista Gives great sound with audigy 4, the sound clarity is way better then XP itself... :p

[Harvik780]

just coz of no eax you damn vista... ?? well Vista Gives great sound with audigy 4, the sound clarity is way better then XP itself... :p
So u think Microsoft even left creative labs behind in their sound clarity.I don't think that microsoft's sound sub system in vista is anywhere close to eax 4.0 advanced HD.They can never be close to sound software and processing experts.

[allwyndlima]

@allwyndlima: Easy, frame rates...at the moment, not many DX10 games are out, and the DX9 games that I am seeing are all having 10-15% less performance on a computer running Vista as against the same computer running XP.

So this, exactly, is the benchmark for performance out there.Like you yourself said "at the moment".Plus neither ATI or Nvidia have optimised their drivers for Vista.Given that at this point it might not have the dire need to shift to Vista but let a few DX10 titles start rolling in & then we could judge as to who the real deal is.It's only been a few months since it's release & coming to a conclusion as far as performance is concerned out of the picture.

[shantanu]

hwy buddy~ Wanna take things to wrong side and flames.. no probs.. well go on.. but let me tell you before you make your own perceptions that this is not the way to going on with things.. i am myself using Creative SB audigy and that supports EAX 4.0 HD but the sound which i experience in XP and the one in Vista are very different from each other.. the clarity in Vista is way better than XP .. this is what i meant and i think you must be knowing that XP is also a M$ product.. isnt it.. so better watch out before making your own perceptions... first read care fully and then write... i said better then XP ..

[iMav]

the clarity in Vista is way better than XP .. agreed

[adithyagenius]

hwy buddy~ Wanna take things to wrong side and flames.. no probs.. well go on.. but let me tell you before you make your own perceptions that this is not the way to going on with things.. i am myself using Creative SB audigy and that supports EAX 4.0 HD but the sound which i experience in XP and the one in Vista are very different from each other.. the clarity in Vista is way better than XP .. this is what i meant and i think you must be knowing that XP is also a M$ product.. isnt it.. so better watch out before making your own perceptions... first read care fully and then write... i said better then XP ..

How can there be better clarity when there is no EAX? EAX is for games and not music and movies. Maybe movies and movies sound better. I could tell no difference. But when it comes to games, they are simply unplayable. Try to play games like san andreas, F.E.A.R etc in Vista. I tried playing F.E.A.R in vista. When I was shooting walls and doors it sound like I was throwing rocks at walls and doors. When I checked sound option, EAX was greyed out and defaulted to stereo output. Only certain games have 5.1 support like HL2 & CSS because they use software instead of EAX to do sound. But thats causing stuttering in the game. Without EAX its difficult to tell direction of sound. For me, most of the games are unplayable in vista because of lack of backward compatiblity with games.

[shantanu]

hey thats ok buddy! but you are just telling me the story of the movie AANKHEN as you play games with closed eyes and game just becomes unplayable due to sound.. my god.. this is the lamest excuse i have ever heard ...

just think.. well i am not saying that there should be NO EAX support.. indeed their should be .. but it does not sound like games become unplayable and all.. just think what you are saying,, VISTA IS BAD coz of no eax and i am bllind playing games ,, i shoot at enemies by hearing to sound.. wow.. great...

[cynosure]

i shoot at enemies by hearing to sound.. wow.. great...
Then how do you play FPS strategic games?? You might not be playing these games, they are playable only when sound is good enough so one can know the direction of sound and make a guess where the enemy is located. I have not played the latest games but in Deus Ex: The conspiracy, one needs to take help from visual awa from sound to complete the game as stealthly as possible. Otherwise you always have the option to go in God mode + u/l ammo and shoot anybody on sight.

[faraaz]

You can certainly play games on Vista without EAX...but here's the rub...when XP SP2 already HAS EAX, why the hell would you want to play games on Vista?? There aren't any DX10 games out yet either!! Unless you play Pinball for sh!ts and giggles...I dunno...you sound suspiciously like a Vista fanboy mate...

[iMav]

what do u expect hes a mvp :D

[shantanu]

hey man imav.. its not the MVP stuff.. but yes i do like Vista very much... infact i love it from the RC stage.. the BEta was horrible tough.. :D

well you all can see that in every post of mine i said that i am not saying there should be no EAX support.. indeed there should be... but its not that much compulsary as said by some people.. i have played Dues-ex and all the games (most of them) like hitman series and all and yes EAX plays a imp. role in that.. but it does not mean that i cant play without EAX, indeed i can..

Vista currently does not support EAX, but it will as the EAX versions get updated.. or more in the cases when Creative labs gives the support for EAX in Vista.. right now EAX 4 does not comes up with DX 10 requirments to be fullfilled,, thats why Vista do not gives support to EAX.. in some time it will be there...

[iMav]

well the thing is most of the this is not compatible this is not there comments are bogus and irrelevant coz even though MS came out with beta versions for all developers to code their softwares accordingly, a lot of them didnt for ex intel (their 865 series doesnt come with vista drivers update) so its actually not MS at fault but anti-MS people dont see that they will not see the fact that adobe sued MS for having pdf support but will say why doesnt vista come with inbuilt pdf support .... same is the case to a gr8 extent with eax, so dont worry these anti-MS guys will keep on repeating the same thing ... i have some experience in dealing with such guys :D

[shantanu]

well the thing is most of the this is not compatible this is not there comments are bogus and irrelevant coz even though MS came out with beta versions for all developers to code their softwares accordingly, a lot of them didnt for ex intel (their 865 series doesnt come with vista drivers update) so its actually not MS at fault but anti-MS people dont see that they will not see the fact that adobe sued MS for having pdf support but will say why doesnt vista come with inbuilt pdf support .... same is the case to a gr8 extent with eax, so dont worry these anti-MS guys will keep on repeating the same thing ... i have some experience in dealing with such guys :D

yeah ! i remember .. now... :D:D:D:D

[anandk]

thanx guys for all ur views and inputs. will be considering these for updating the article :-)

[shantanu]

sorry ! for bumping in again.. well i installed FEAR today in vista.. and get it playing..now the first thing i checked was the EAX.. well well my all options are shown on and even i can change them.. and i am hearing FULL EAX sound in vista...

i dont know the reason why one or two of you guys didnt hear the EAX sound.. maybe coz your CArd does not support eax.. maybe ... :p

[adithyagenius]

sorry ! for bumping in again.. well i installed FEAR today in vista.. and get it playing..now the first thing i checked was the EAX.. well well my all options are shown on and even i can change them.. and i am hearing FULL EAX sound in vista...

i dont know the reason why one or two of you guys didnt hear the EAX sound.. maybe coz your CArd does not support eax.. maybe ... :p
Did you install Creative Alchemy? I thought creative alchemy was only for sound blaster Xfi series.

I don't know why you got so pissed off if I felt that EAX was an essential part of immersive experience. I played deus ex using Rs45 headphones. I finished HL2 on stereo speakers. But some games like HL2 (especially lost coast) and F.E.A.R the special feel is lost without 5.1 surround sound.

Edit - Just fund out that alchemy for audigy is released but its not free

[shantanu]

i did not install alcehmy or anything.. i have only installed the game and played it right away... i just wanted to make sure the EAX settings and they were all just like XP..

and mee too playing with phillips Head phones on... and WOW what a sound.. :D

and also used my 5.1 setup for EAX sound... and its great sound with EAX

[Harvik780]

Well microsoft and other sound developers are surely working on projects to help make sound in games for vista better.

[anandk]

good 2 hear that shantanu :-)