EA-DICE Frostbite Titles in 2013 Will Require 64-bit Windows

[FordGT90Concept]

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
more than 35% of gamer's computers are running 32-bit Windows. Nevermind all those gamers that never install Steam because they play strictly The Sims (from what I've seen, the majority are 3 GiB equipped laptops running 32-bit Windows).

IDK ive only had issues with anything that is 16bit primarily and that being games. other than that no issues

Try running a 64-bit application on a 32-bit operating system. EA is going to lose a lot of potential customers by not offering a 32-bit option--a lot more than they'll gain from switching to 64-bit (virtually none--who is going to buy a game just because it is 64-bit?). EA, of all the publishers, should know that people want their purchased software to work above everything else.

 

[eidairaman1]

Well its expected to not work because an OS is not forwards compatible in the bit code. Only backwards. Its just like trying to run 32 bit apps on a 16 bit os n 16 bit apps on an 8 bit os etc etc. Its about time they moved fwd because potential is hindered by using 32 bit code to write programs. Weve had consumer 64bit cpus almost 10 years now its time to completely move code to 64 bit.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
more than 35% of gamer's computers are running 32-bit Windows. Nevermind all those gamers that never install Steam because they play strictly The Sims (from what I've seen, the majority are 3 GiB equipped laptops running 32-bit Windows).



Try running a 64-bit application on a 32-bit operating system. EA is going to lose a lot of potential customers by not offering a 32-bit option--a lot more than they'll gain from switching to 64-bit (virtually none--who is going to buy a game just because it is 64-bit?). EA, of all the publishers, should know that people want their purchased software to work above everything else.

 

[remixedcat]

This seems like a good idea and all but I think it's mostly a PR move for EA... They need to fix way more issues then this....

 

[Dippyskoodlez]

Try running a 64-bit application on a 32-bit operating system. EA is going to lose a lot of potential customers by not offering a 32-bit option--a lot more than they'll gain from switching to 64-bit (virtually none--who is going to buy a game just because it is 64-bit?). EA, of all the publishers, should know that people want their purchased software to work above everything else.

Once again, confirming apples 32-64 bit transition model is utterly genuis.

Really wish M$ would just kill 32 bit already. They have a severe dead horse beating issue they need to take out back and shoot in the head.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I don't call dictatorships genius. I call them brutal.

 

[Mussels]

when over 60% of users now are running windows 64 bit (according to steam), then its a safe bet for a game maker to make a game for that in 1-2 years time. the numbers are only increasing.


what they want is a PC exclusive that makes them stand out as having the most advanced game tech - the best visuals and performance, and a game they can market as using all of the ram your hardware has (seriously, anyone else find it daft to have a 3GB video card, 12/16GB of system ram, and be capped at 2 or at best 4GB of address space?)


this will work out well for them, because the community itself will just tell everyone to upgrade to 64 bit, just like they did with their high end GPU's and CPU's.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Really wish M$ would just kill 32 bit already. They have a severe dead horse beating issue they need to take out back and shoot in the head.

not possible.

Despite what you may think, there are still a lot of legacy hardware floating about that dont have x64 compatibilty. killing 32bit would mean that small businesses will suffer because they need to fork out money for upgrades.

the transition from x32 to x64 has been real slow. but things are slowly changing for the better.

 

[Mussels]

not possible.

Despite what you may think, there are still a lot of legacy hardware floating about that dont have x64 compatibilty. killing 32bit would mean that small businesses will suffer because they need to fork out money for upgrades.

the transition from x32 to x64 has been real slow. but things are slowly changing for the better.

if no new 32 bit OS's were released, win 7 would last those businesses a decade or more. long enough for their apps to be updated. two days ago i upgraded my work machines from windows 98 (first edition 98, too)

 

[eidairaman1]

not possible.

Despite what you may think, there are still a lot of legacy hardware floating about that dont have x64 compatibilty. killing 32bit would mean that small businesses will suffer because they need to fork out money for upgrades.

the transition from x32 to x64 has been real slow. but things are slowly changing for the better.

I have legacy hardware myself but trouble is no drivers for the Signature rig to get the right potential out of it

 

[xenocide]

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
more than 35% of gamer's computers are running 32-bit Windows. Nevermind all those gamers that never install Steam because they play strictly The Sims (from what I've seen, the majority are 3 GiB equipped laptops running 32-bit Windows).

People who play just The Sims aren't going to be buying Frostbite powered games, so it's a non-issue. Notice that DICE is the one that said this, since when has DICE made games that were marketed towards the same kind of people who only start up The Sims a couple times a week? A transition to x64 is unavoidable, and continuing to support it is just prolonging the problem. Almost all Computers come with 4GB+ RAM these days anyway, so having a 32-bit OS just doesn't make sense anymore.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2 which is confirmed to be using Frostbite 2 has a broad appeal that could lure a lot of gamers from The Sims market; moreover, the game could likely be made to run on 32-bit easily. I wouldn't be surprised if EA forces DICE to support 32-bit because, as I stated before, 64-bit only isn't going to help EA's bottom line. DICE may want to drop 32-bit support but I can't see EA agreeing with that yet.

 

[newtekie1]

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2 which is confirmed to be using Frostbite 2 has a broad appeal that could lure a lot of gamers from The Sims market; moreover, the game could likely be made to run on 32-bit easily. I wouldn't be surprised if EA forces DICE to support 32-bit because, as I stated before, 64-bit only isn't going to help EA's bottom line. DICE may want to drop 32-bit support but I can't see EA agreeing with that yet.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2 isn't being developed by EA-DICE, so it doesn't apply here. It is just EA-DICE titles that will require 64-bit, not every Frostbite 2 title made by EA.

But besides that, the game industry should move away from 32-bit. I haven't seen a system sold with gaming as a main purpose that was still using a 32-bit OS. Yes, there are pre-builts that still come with 32-bit Windows installed, but they are also using onboard graphics. People are willing to upgrade components or even their entire computer just for a game, and we want to argue that upgrading their OS isn't worth while?!

And, as you pointed out, 1/3 of the market uses 32-bit at this point. They are the minority. Progress shouldn't be held back because of the minority.

 

[Frick]

And, as you pointed out, 1/3 of the market uses 32-bit at this point. They are the minority. Progress shouldn't be held back because of the minority.

How many are there in that 1/3? Quite many I imagine.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I don't see where they list how many people took the survey. That's pretty ridiculous they don't say.

 

[Mussels]

How many are there in that 1/3? Quite many I imagine.

and how many of that 1/3, have low end hardware, mostly OEM machines? i'd bet most of them.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

if no new 32 bit OS's were released, win 7 would last those businesses a decade or more. long enough for their apps to be updated. two days ago i upgraded my work machines from windows 98 (first edition 98, too)

Speak for yourself.... I still know business that are still using Win 98SE, Win 2000 & Win XP

so the saying goes....If it aint broke. dont fix it. but of course their whole network could be a lot more efficient, reliable, more secure and possibly more productive if they upgraded both their hardware and software.

 

[Raw]

64bit?
I want 128bit.

 

[Mussels]

64bit?
I want 128bit.

for what purpose? or do you not actually understand the difference, and just get excited by bigger numbers?

 

[Kreij]

for what purpose? or do you not actually understand the difference, and just get excited by bigger numbers?

Who doesn't want quadruple precision floating point number accuracy and access to 3.4x10^38 bytes of RAM?

 

[newtekie1]

and how many of that 1/3, have low end hardware, mostly OEM machines? i'd bet most of them.

A very good point, just going over their video card survey, about 15% have integrated or totally bottom of the barrel video cards that would never even touch a EA-DICE Frostbite title.

Not to mention 15% are still running XP, which EA-DICE has already given the boot when they stopped supporting DX9. So the actual percentage that are getting to boot by the 64-bit decision is more like 20%.

 

[Raw]

for what purpose? or do you not actually understand the difference, and just get excited by bigger numbers?

I'm j/k'ing pal, j/k'ing.

 

[btarunr]

64bit?
I want 128bit.

You'll need it when 4096 TB of RAM becomes not enough (limits of EM64T and AMD64).

 

[Disparia]

Damn, those of us on quad Xeon/Opteron are already a quarter to the limit!

 

[FordGT90Concept]

You'll need it when 4096 TB of RAM becomes not enough (limits of EM64T and AMD64).

No, no. x86-64 processors today (excepting enterprise) have 40-bit (1.099 TB) or 48-bit (281.474 TB) memory addressing capabilities. As more RAM becomes common place, they'll increase that number up to 64-bit which is 18.446 EB (exabyte). I think an extension to x86-64 could happen sooner, rather than later, to add more registers and standardized, specialized instructions (better compete with ARM). 128-bit memory addressing won't happen for a long time.

Who doesn't want quadruple precision floating point number accuracy and access to 3.4x10^38 bytes of RAM?

We already got 128-bit floating point decimals (.NET Framework calls it Decimal).

I struggle to find a use for 32 GiB RAM, nevermind that-to-the-38th-power RAM.

 

[librin.so.1]

I struggle to find a use for 32 GiB RAM, nevermind that-to-the-38th-power RAM.

You, maybe. Those who want to build a supercomputer with all the memory in one address-space, might find 40-bit addressing a bit of a problem.