After the sell out by companies like Lucas Arts who have been supported by the PC community since PCs began , it is great to see that a software house demonstrate loyalty to it's fan base. Free? I couldn't believe it when I saw it: you can bet your bottom dollar that no other company, and certainly not the like of EA, Lucas Arts etc, would have done this. Added to the fact that this is quite simply one of the best RPGs I've played (even taking into account some of the technical difficulties) I'm just hoping that CD Projekt have something in the pipeline to top the Witcher. The PC gaming arena, especially the RPG genre has been in dire need of an original and immersive game for a number of years. Not since the Baldur's Gate series of games has there been a game with real depth. I've played all the real classics going all the way back to Ultima, Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder: these games all had one thing in common - they had ground breaking game play for their time and they were addictive. Oh, and they took a bit longer than two days to play! That perhaps is my biggest criticism of many of the newer games (especially console games) that you fork out £40-£50 for a new title and it's finished in a couple of days. It was great to play The Witcher and have a storyline and game world that had depth. 8)Is the PC format dying: No....but in my opinion it's going through a definite lull. When you hear comments like '....PC only has 60% of the gaming market' ( ???) Most industries would give their eye teeth to have such a major share! And when you think about it that means that the likes of the PlayStation, Wii and Xbox only have 40% combined it puts things in perspective. It's like the economy: if 'experts' talk a recession often enough people eventually believe it. I think the PC format has suffered the same kind of negative vibe by console oriented companies. Companies like CD Projekt will help revive the PC gaming market - it may give other software houses a kick up the backside that they need to think of their PC customer base a little more rather than ripping them off with ported, poorly converted versions of console games. At least I hope so.Like many on this post I will support CD Projekt by spending my money on their games if they continue to produce quality like The Witcher...
eace: