Oh, that goes without question. The place where the desktop market still dominates is the pricing. At $1, you have to sell hundreds of thousands of copies to break even on a large development.
chris
TS13
- Thread starter jjanmarine3
- Start date
Oh, that goes without question. The place where the desktop market still dominates is the pricing. At $1, you have to sell hundreds of thousands of copies to break even on a large development.
chris
Well the bottom line is that technology is advancing at such a rapid rate, that a 3 year old PC is a dinosaur compared to the PC's of today, and I am talking about middle of the road PC's compared to the "gaming" PC's of say 5 years ago. I just purchased a $500 PC a couple of months ago that blows away a $1600 PC that I bought 7 years ago. People want more graphics, better frame rates, more going on in the game, no stutters, and the only way that is obtainable is getting a PC that is capable of running the current technology. Companies can't create software today that will run with dinosaur equipment and expect to stay in business, people will not go for that. If you don't support new products by companies, and they have shrinking income, then their only avenue is to cease doing business.
And there are 100s of millions of smart phones and tablets out there. You only need a very small percentage of the market to make some good money.
Can't see the iphone pushing Trainz out on a 36'' 42'' or 50" LCD monitor either, as we would all like it to do as our eyes grow old
unless there is a massive leap in the tech area desktops will be here for at least another 10 years,
just 1 of my video cards in my desktops weights at least a third if not more of my laptop, so at the end of the day everything has a long way to go before it can match a desktop that needs a power box of 1000 or more watts to run it.
steve
unless there is a massive leap in the tech area desktops will be here for at least another 10 years,
just 1 of my video cards in my desktops weights at least a third if not more of my laptop, so at the end of the day everything has a long way to go before it can match a desktop that needs a power box of 1000 or more watts to run it.
steve
Unfortunately, N3V is silent on any future for the desktop Trainz series. Obviously they cannot say that feature xxxxx will be available on a specific date. Someone quits or becomes ill and that goes away.
But, they could issue a policy statement that they are going to support Trainz for the old unfashionable desktops. That would go a long way to dispel any rumors brought on by the continuing silence and new handheld products. Do they care, that so long as they remain silent, people will derive opinions from whatever other sources they can find. The accuracy of those opinions is not the issue. At some point N3V has to realize that new customers use forums to validate the product before a purchase. As we progress with no policy statements more and more messages will begin to appear about N3V dropping Trainz except for handheld devices, N3V dropping Trainz period or N3V is in financial trouble and the end is near. I am sure there are variations on those.
A smart vendor "manages" their customer's expectations. However, so many game/sim vendors seem to have now adopted silence that it has become the norm. The older customers remember the time when vendors worked with their customers. No More, those days are gone. New customers have grown up in this "no information" world and believe that is the way it always was and do not understand why we pester the poor vendor.
N3V is also aware that their product is pretty darn good compared to the market. RWx is a pure game and Open Rails suffers from an all volunteer organization making it unpredictable but hopeful and Run8 is still an unknown as we await more customer feedback. So, back to personal speculation with very little chance of any statements from N3V.
But, they could issue a policy statement that they are going to support Trainz for the old unfashionable desktops. That would go a long way to dispel any rumors brought on by the continuing silence and new handheld products. Do they care, that so long as they remain silent, people will derive opinions from whatever other sources they can find. The accuracy of those opinions is not the issue. At some point N3V has to realize that new customers use forums to validate the product before a purchase. As we progress with no policy statements more and more messages will begin to appear about N3V dropping Trainz except for handheld devices, N3V dropping Trainz period or N3V is in financial trouble and the end is near. I am sure there are variations on those.
A smart vendor "manages" their customer's expectations. However, so many game/sim vendors seem to have now adopted silence that it has become the norm. The older customers remember the time when vendors worked with their customers. No More, those days are gone. New customers have grown up in this "no information" world and believe that is the way it always was and do not understand why we pester the poor vendor.
N3V is also aware that their product is pretty darn good compared to the market. RWx is a pure game and Open Rails suffers from an all volunteer organization making it unpredictable but hopeful and Run8 is still an unknown as we await more customer feedback. So, back to personal speculation with very little chance of any statements from N3V.
The sales of desktops is dropping dramatically every year.
amigacooke
Well-known member
Run 8 has no scenery, no AI, relies on spotty Multiplayer to make it function, and looks terrible and one short route. Thanks, but no thanks.
amigacooke
Well-known member
You mean this one?http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?90073-TS13&p=999628#post999628
Yes the one I linked to from my post.
As noted earlier in this thread, the iOS is more than happy to do this already. What you're losing out on is not screen size, but the complexity- all the fine details such as the extra polygons on the loco, the detailed trees, and the grass alongside the track.
chris
No we're not. There is a future for the desktop Trainz series. Simple.
kind regards,
chris
As they have been ever since laptops started improving to near desktop performance. One major IT site was predicting the end of the desktop by 2010 back in 2003. There is still a large market for people who have no wish to go blind or develop new forms of RSI waggling fingers on a small screen, reports coming in already about new RSI problems due to people spending hours on these things.
Currently several sources are blaming the current economic climate for increasing the decline of sales, I shall only start worrying when I can't get the parts to build my own PC's, I only ever bought one ready made PC and that was an IBM AT which nearly bankrupt me!
Hi Everybody
RSI is not a major problem with the latest smart phones or tablet computers. We have a Samsung Galaxy tab and two iPads in the office and all of us that use them use the on-board speech software for the software commands and text writing. Speech to text software has come on in leaps and bounds over the last two years especially where smart phones and tablets are involved. the use of the keyboard is not necessary for almost all functions that you need to carry out.
It has to be said that tablet computers are great when you are out on the road and do not wish to hump around a laptop especially when travelling on the London Underground etc. However when it comes to the office then the PC is still king and I feel that they will remain that way for quite some time into the future. They are able to cope with anything that is thrown at them, keep going for years without complaint and everybody knows how to use all the functions on them without having to ask other members of staff.
We have just replaced a seven-year-old PC one with a new one simply because everything on board was outdated and it was cheaper to replace it than update it. in my view it will be the laptop that will be replaced by the tablet but the PC will remain the backbone of the office system.
Bill
RSI is not a major problem with the latest smart phones or tablet computers. We have a Samsung Galaxy tab and two iPads in the office and all of us that use them use the on-board speech software for the software commands and text writing. Speech to text software has come on in leaps and bounds over the last two years especially where smart phones and tablets are involved. the use of the keyboard is not necessary for almost all functions that you need to carry out.
It has to be said that tablet computers are great when you are out on the road and do not wish to hump around a laptop especially when travelling on the London Underground etc. However when it comes to the office then the PC is still king and I feel that they will remain that way for quite some time into the future. They are able to cope with anything that is thrown at them, keep going for years without complaint and everybody knows how to use all the functions on them without having to ask other members of staff.
We have just replaced a seven-year-old PC one with a new one simply because everything on board was outdated and it was cheaper to replace it than update it. in my view it will be the laptop that will be replaced by the tablet but the PC will remain the backbone of the office system.
Bill
Last edited:
Windwlkr, can't see Trainz community taking 4 steps backward for a new product that will not display what they are already getting better on there desktop,
if there is any new product in the way of hardware it will always have to make the customer see the performance gain or there will be no sale on the new hardware or software for that matter, and in this case Trainz
Detail is now what this TS is all about whether it be a route builder or content creature or user, if it doesn't look good they will not use it then after that it needs to perform well,
I understand N3V trying to take a greater slice of the market but in my view i believe they tried it the wrong way,
As i have stated before all you need to do is take a look at how many young people are playing games like Crysis , world at war , the list goes on and on Auran/N3V should have gone down the path of combining all there sims as addons to each other whether it was a war version addon or shipping and so on each being an addon to the main game but allowing the user to choose a single path or all paths as addons, and if you didn't wish to use an addon then don't buy it. This would make a massive multi-player game that people pay for to be involved in. never put all you eggs in the one basket,, that the golden rule and it still applies today
this would bring far wider range of people at all levels of gaming to the table, yes it would cost more but the gain would be far greater as well
steve
if there is any new product in the way of hardware it will always have to make the customer see the performance gain or there will be no sale on the new hardware or software for that matter, and in this case Trainz
Detail is now what this TS is all about whether it be a route builder or content creature or user, if it doesn't look good they will not use it then after that it needs to perform well,
I understand N3V trying to take a greater slice of the market but in my view i believe they tried it the wrong way,
As i have stated before all you need to do is take a look at how many young people are playing games like Crysis , world at war , the list goes on and on Auran/N3V should have gone down the path of combining all there sims as addons to each other whether it was a war version addon or shipping and so on each being an addon to the main game but allowing the user to choose a single path or all paths as addons, and if you didn't wish to use an addon then don't buy it. This would make a massive multi-player game that people pay for to be involved in. never put all you eggs in the one basket,, that the golden rule and it still applies today
this would bring far wider range of people at all levels of gaming to the table, yes it would cost more but the gain would be far greater as well
steve
Last edited:
This depends on how you define "the Trainz community." If you define it in terms of number of sales, then you're demonstrably wrong. If you define it in terms of "people on this forum" then you're most probably right.
That's a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing. To make a game of that nature, you need a lot of money (US$22m according to IGN.) If you invest a lot of money, you'd better be sure that you're going to make it back. If you want to make that kind of money, you're probably not going to make a train simulator- the market just isn't there.
The only sim we make is Trainz. I think you may be confused between the fact that we develop Trainz, and the fact that we publish/resell a variety of other products.
True MMOs tend to be a fair bit more expensive than other game types. WoW cost something like $60m for the initial development.
I see a lot of evidence for the increased costs, and little for the increased gains. I'm not saying it's completely impossible, but I think it's fairly clearly out of our reach.
kind regards,
chris
Windwalkr, the egg came first because chickens come from eggs, it was part of a step in evelution. From what 2 creatures the eggs came from to make the chicken your guess is as good as mine.
and i do respect your view no matter who is right or wrong the one thing remains which is to support N3V Trainz
steve
and i do respect your view no matter who is right or wrong the one thing remains which is to support N3V Trainz
steve