From what i've heard FEZ won't be coming to the PC because "Phil Fish wanted to emulate the retro console experience"? Has anyone heard this dude say this? i would like to play FEZ but i'm not buying any XBLA games for fear of them being obsolete when the next console rolls around.

The thing that bugs me is, if this is the case, how pretentious are you as a game designer where your reason for excluding it from platforms because it doesn't emulate that retro feeling? Like back in the old days when we downloaded our video games onto our consoles from the internet? My computer is hooked up to a TV, i have a 360 controller hooked up to it, How is that experience any different from the console experience?

Really i'm wondering if any of you have heard anything about the notion of why FEZ won't be coming to PC? Is this thing i heard, from one of the Rev3 gaming shows, true or is it something else Phil has said that's being taken out of context?

Either way it's kind of a bummer i'll never get to play FEZ as i like the art style, but the idea behind why it's not coming to PC, if true, really kinda disgusts me.

Is this the fist instance of "hipster douche baggery" in gaming design or am i over reacting?

I read an article in March saying that he was open to the idea of PC and PSN versions. Has he said anything since?

And your first quote sounds like it was taken out of context.

Just like Alan Wake's "This is a couch experience", I'm going to guess that Microsoft have a timed exclusive and it'll be on PC by the end of the year.

@selbie: @SoyBob:

I hope so, i tried to look for the source quote at Rev3Games on YouTube but couldn't find what i was looking for.

Either way, i'd love to check out FEZ and hopefully this is either a misunderstanding or, if true, Phil will come to his senses.

I bet by the time it comes out, it'll be a Windows 8 exclusive, like Pinball FX2.

It'll come to PC, wait 6 months for the exclusivity deal with xbox to run out. It's a no-brainer, porting doesn't take much effort. If anything you won't read anything about a PC version because they want people to get the Xbox one now - just like Limbo and Braid snuck onto PC much later.

GREED!

But on a more serious note: MS "owns" his game until their exclusivity period is up.

@WilltheMagicAsian said:

I bet by the time it comes out, it'll be a Windows 8 exclusive, like Pinball FX2.

Ugh, it'll be Halo 2 all over again D:

Is Fish the guy that pretty much insulted every Japanese game developer?

@mordukai: I hear that quote was taken out of context but yeah, that's the guy.

@mordukai said:

Is Fish the guy that pretty much insulted every Japanese game developer?

Yes, whilst making a game that's a cross between echochrome, paper mario and Cave Story.

@9cupsoftea: wow, i never thought of it that way, that is kinda shitty then.

Although I have it on 360, I would pay again for a PC version so that I'm assured that I will be able to play it again far into the future. This will be a timeless classic to me.

@mordukai said:

Is Fish the guy that pretty much insulted every Japanese game developer?

Huh. Guess I can safely never buy any of this guy's games ever.

French Canadian, why am I not surprised. I remember when I used to play MAG those guys were the worst to get into a squad with. As soon as they heard English they would try kicking you out of the match. Anyways, looking over some of his choice words just makes me not wanting to support him at all. What's up with indie devs and over inflated egos.

@mordukai said:

French Canadian, why am I not surprised. I remember when I used to play MAG those guys were the worst to get into a squad with. As soon as they heard English they would try kicking you out of the match. Anyways, looking over some of his choice words just makes me not wanting to support him at all. What's up with indie devs and over inflated egos.

Like this one?

Fuck no! It's just Phil Fish

For what it's worth, there are puzzles in Fez that rely on something few PC users use/have. Of course, there are already alternate puzzles for a certain type of puzzles in the game - so they could do something like that, I guess.

@selbie said:

I read an article in March saying that he was open to the idea of PC and PSN versions. Has he said anything since?

And your first quote sounds like it was taken out of context.

Something Phil Fish said was taken out of context, that has never happened before.

@Mnemoidian said:

For what it's worth, there are puzzles in Fez that rely on something few PC users use/have. Of course, there are already alternate puzzles for a certain type of puzzles in the game - so they could do something like that, I guess.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

What most PC players don't have is Force Feedback. The puzzles with alternative solutions need you to read a QR-code.

Yea I was thinking about that. He could have a different hint of sorts be present instead of what was described in the spoiler block. For people like me who will have a pc 360 controller handy with a dongle, he can sense this with a code check and not show the alternative hint to keep his original puzzle intact. Other than that thankfully there's only a few cases like this and it isn't impossible to find a satisfactory alternative for a PC version should it happen.

@GunslingerPanda said:

@mordukai said:

Is Fish the guy that pretty much insulted every Japanese game developer?

Huh. Guess I can safely never buy any of this guy's games ever.

You're missing out simply because you don't agree with his personal views or the way he chose to express them (all according to one single quote that very well may have been taken way out of context).

Made by an asshole or not, Fez is a great and refreshing game.

is Fez going to be Summer of Arcade? haven't really been paying any attention. but if so, that is your explanation.

@damnable_fiend said:

is Fez going to be Summer of Arcade? haven't really been paying any attention. but if so, that is your explanation.

No, it's already out. Unless they add already released games, but I thought it was always new titles.

It's his game. If Renee and him only want to put it on Xbox then that's their decision. The world doesn't revolve around you, mate.

But yeah, a Steam version would be cool. You just sound whiny. =\

@Robo said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

@mordukai said:

Is Fish the guy that pretty much insulted every Japanese game developer?

Huh. Guess I can safely never buy any of this guy's games ever.

You're missing out simply because you don't agree with his personal views or the way he chose to express them (all according to one single quote that very well may have been taken way out of context).

Made by an asshole or not, Fez is a great and refreshing game.

Fez is also a team effort. While Fish is the most visible member of the team, he didn't do the programming, the music, the sound design or the animation.

@Robo said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

@mordukai said:

Is Fish the guy that pretty much insulted every Japanese game developer?

Huh. Guess I can safely never buy any of this guy's games ever.

You're missing out simply because you don't agree with his personal views or the way he chose to express them (all according to one single quote that very well may have been taken way out of context).

Made by an asshole or not, Fez is a great and refreshing game.

Seems like everything the guy says always gets taken out of context. I really don't think there's any context to what he says anyways. I think the guy is just an old fashion ass hole who thinks his shit doesn't stink. Frankly after looking over some his other views I really don't think I'll be supporting him either. Personally I find it funny and ironic Fish keeps criticizing modern gaming but yet he chooses to go to bed with Microsoft.

@Skald said:

@Robo said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

@mordukai said:

Is Fish the guy that pretty much insulted every Japanese game developer?

Huh. Guess I can safely never buy any of this guy's games ever.

You're missing out simply because you don't agree with his personal views or the way he chose to express them (all according to one single quote that very well may have been taken way out of context).

Made by an asshole or not, Fez is a great and refreshing game.

Fez is also a team effort. While Fish is the most visible member of the team, he didn't do the programming, the music, the sound design or the animation.

So what the fuck did he do? Made the sandwiches? LOL...I kid I kid.

Phil and his crew had trouble releasing this for Xbox, asking them to port it to PS3/PC will be determined by sales and only sales. Whatever he says doesn't really matter, business is business.

I thought Keiji Inafune's take on Phil's comment was interesting:

"There was a Canadian guy who appeared in a documentary film and did a Q&A afterwards. And a Japanese person asked what he thought of Japanese games, and he said he thought they sucked. That’s what’s necessary," Inafune told Wired. "It’s very severe, but very honest. Unless Japanese people feel embarrassed from the experience of getting harsh comments, saying [new games] could have been better is not an opinion they would take seriously. When they’re embarrassed and they feel obliged to change, it would make a difference."

...At least more interesting then everyone ripping him apart for giving a frank assessment of the state of Japanese games.

Could he have put it better? Sure. But if game design on the inside is anything like any other art or entertainment, that sort of frank assessment is faaaaaaaar more common than you might think, trust me. Albeit generally not in a public venue where you're supposed to have your "professional" pants on.

To me, what he lacks in tact he absolutely makes up for in his work.

I imagine PSN is off the table with this being a Microsoft Studios game. I think it'd be crazy for it not to come to PC. XNA already runs on PC and from what I hear devs who bring XBLA/PSN to Steam have been doing much better on that side lately. That may not be necessary for a high profile game like this, but it seems very much worth doing.

@wmaustin55: thanks, Paul Christoforo for the thorough psychological analysis...

...

@Robo: I even agreed on his take on modern Japanese games until @9cupsoftea pointed out that his game is basically an accumulation of three modern developed Japanese games. As far as his statement on Japanese games i feel it was more towards their market focus towards western civilization, much in the same way the American mainstream business practices can roll over development until it's products are stale and bland, second guessing the wants of the masses, rather then running with personal focus, will kill any creative project.

It's not that Japanese developed games are bad it's more that the ones being advertised to us are bad...ya gotta dig deeper for the good shit, just like any creative medium to rise in popularity.

I think they deserve to earn a little money first before trying to port it. Ideological whys don't matter. Whys change to suit business reasons. Look at Super Meat Boy, that turned out fine in the wash. Three platforms out of five ain't bad.

Since the thread is already half off topic, I think McWhertor's article on the controversy is about the best there is for telling all sides. Lots of the first articles were never updated past March 6th and have pretty lousy sourcing. McWhertor at least echos several things I've heard from Patrick, and those two are who I expect the raw dish from.

I also like BAshcraft's analysesfrom the Japanese side and I think the final two paragraphs here (similar to @Robo's quote) should be the final word on the matter, because it's just not that big a deal that some indie kid shot his mouth off, while sitting on a panel of indie kids who like to shoot their mouths off. Now this: kotaku.com/5901590/the-sad-story-of-a-japanese-gaming-legend-who-pretends-war-crimes-never-happened should put all that trite bullshit in perspective. I would really like to see Patrick take an editorial stance on character judgement.

Cause either Phil Fish is a dildo, or MS is making him act that way.

Last I heard, he said that they are waiting to see how Fez sells before they do anything with other platforms. I honestly can't see this game selling crazy amounts though - while it's amazing, it's kind of complicated and it's not just something you can pick up and play. Multiple times so far I've had to break out the pen and paper and write down things I see on walls, etc in order to progress. That's just not how gaming is these days and the vast majority won't appreciate it.

EDIT: As of April 17 at 00:00, the game has 41831 players in total. I'm assuming this is a very accurate number of sales, since you need to be online to buy and download the game and then usually at some point during playing you are signed in and are automatically registered in the leaderboards.

So if the sales for first day were around 20,000, and then 3 full days after that it has 20,000 more, I can see this game maxing out at around 100,000 - 120,000 total. The amount of sales from here on out will just get smaller and smaller. Think maybe that will be enough to warrant a PC release? Compared to other XBLA games which have been ported to other platforms, this doesn't seem like it's doing too good.

@xyzygy: I'm actually curious as to how XBLA games are selling lately. Am i the only one who doesn't want to buy XBLA games until i hear how they will be treated with the next generation of hardware? Is the introduction to releasing XBLA games on Fridays a sign of something? shoveling out as much games as they can before the new generation is announced? or just trying to increase income from the downloadable market?

@xyzygy said:

Multiple times so far I've had to break out the pen and paper and write down things I see on walls, etc in order to progress. That's just not how gaming is these days and the vast majority won't appreciate it.

Isn't that the point though?

Maybe it's because a huge number of people who use the PC for games are huge fucking pirates, and it's worthless to even bother

@Fallen189 said:

Maybe it's because a huge number of people who use the PC for games are huge fucking pirates, and it's worthless to even bother

You mean like when Team Meat brought out SMB on PC and it sold more copies in one day than the whole 3-4 months it'd been on XBLA, or the time when Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII did the exact same thing?

I don't like being told how to play my games. Guess what? I'm going to be playing Fez on my 360 using the same controller and same TV as I would on my PC. Same with Alan Wake, and I had to wait years for that to come to PC before they decided that I am allowed to sit and view their game on whatever I damn well please.

@Fallen189:

But that is a completely untrue statement. Games on PC sell fine and they don't even need to be multi-player focused or be marketed all over the place. A game like Fez would sell great on steam thanks to all the great buzz it had over the years. Just because people pirate games it doesn't mean that other people don't buy them and even here in Russia where piracy has been the only viable option for decades people start to go out of their way to buy games legally. It is all a matter of convenience and the game being interesting be it by other people talking about it or it looking good in some obvious way. Please don't say absolute things like that. It never leads to anything good.

Also speaking on topic I'm pretty sure a few years back I've read on the development blog that it will come out on XBLA first with PC version coming down the line. It's a shame it is this way but it's not a deal breaker for me.

@AlexW00d: Because 2 fringe cases outweigh the entire piracy movement on the PC

@Fallen189 said:

@AlexW00d: Because 2 fringe cases outweigh the entire piracy movement on the PC

What do you mean fringe cases?

Alan Wake was profitable after 16 hours of being on steam.

I could chuck a load more in to this too, but Steam doesn't release sales figures, and I can't be bothered to Google. But my point is, you're very, very wrong.

@Sin4profit said:

i'm not buying any XBLA games for fear of them being obsolete when the next console rolls around.

Lol.

"Hey, Mitch, do you want this apple?"

"No, because eventually it will be a core."

Often part of the exclusivity deal is that you are not even allowed to talk about the deal. So if you are asked a direct question you have to either lie or hedge it.

If it comes out on the PC, I'll probably buy it a 2nd time.

@Mnemoidian said:

For what it's worth, there are puzzles in Fez that rely on something few PC users use/have. Of course, there are already alternate puzzles for a certain type of puzzles in the game - so they could do something like that, I guess.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

What most PC players don't have is Force Feedback. The puzzles with alternative solutions need you to read a QR-code.

What are you talking about, PC gamers just need to modify the Cuecat to scan QR codes and they're set.

You know what maybey we should have some secret kick starter to get someone to make a pc port and well all by the Xbox version and convert it ?

@Fallen189 said:

@AlexW00d: Because 2 fringe cases outweigh the entire piracy movement on the PC

Lulzor, bad troll is bad and doesn't follow gaming to see the masses of PC games release with rapid follow-up stories about how well it went (eg Alan Wake, Dear Ester in Feb this year).

I think Valve have a few words for you about paying PC customers and the masses of money there is there. Piracy is a service issue.

I actually want to play it, but i cant..grrrrrrrr

I'm sure he wants money, don't worry.

I'm also waiting for a PC version. I'm getting sick of buying a game on XBLA then 6 months later coming out on Steam with DLC included, extra features and bug fixes for half the price.