[GDN] GameRanger only just expanded to the PC in November 2008. What took so long?

[SK] You’re absolutely right, it should have stepped in sooner. PC gaming has suffered with mediocre online services for too long.

Serious problems that make online gaming a hassle have been ignored. You want to have fun when you play online, not screw around with network issues. This is one of the factors that has made console gaming seem easier, a unified system for online that just works. I figured after all this time that something on the PC would have eventuated, but sadly the major players had been happy maintaining the status quo.

I had been toying with the idea of expanding and then with the transition of Macs to Intel processors, the decision was even easier.

I wanted to take the time to do it right and to make sure the entrance to the PC market was not a half-hearted attempt, but a truly best of class online gaming service from the start. From user feedback so far, it looks like I’ve surpassed that goal.

[GDN] I’m a huge proponent of cross-platform gaming and GameRanger supports 27 games at present in this regard. How is GameRanger helping to promote this type of play?

[SK] For starters, there are a few more compatible games (mostly FPS) that still need to be added to the PC version of GameRanger which will boost the options a little.

Middleware licensing issues have been a big deal for Mac game developers; creating a barrier to the Mac versions of games being compatible. While there are still some other technical issues they need to resolve, I’m hoping that having GameRanger on both sides will encourage them to work through these challenges in the future. There’s certainly a lot of demand from the users for cross-platform compatibility.