A Quick Trip To Any Store Shows That PC Gaming Is Dying...

It's clearly not dying. Just because it looks scarce in a few places doesn't mean that every retailer that stocks PC games has diminished. In my area, all the Gamestops have at least a wall full of relatively recent PC games and another shelf for relatively older games.

Keep this in mind, a few incidents do not speak for all of them.

 

I think a good solution would be for game makers to make pc games that are offline multiplayer. IE plug in a few joy sticks and play the game like a console.
Not too hard.

 

To be fair, I liked playing FFXI on my PS2 a lot more than I did on my PC. Controller + Keyboard > Mouse + Keyboard for that one, IMO.

 

Well one thing I really hate about consoles and I own a 360 myself is those horrible frame drops. We are talking GTA IV that is nearly unplayable due to the massive framedrops. Gears of War 360 has issues where the framerate drops considerly when lots of explosions at once are on the screen. Not to mention the game only runs in 30 fps and cannot maintain steady framerates. I look forward to Gears of War 2 however I have my doubts about the performance of the game. Gears of War PC has never crashed on me, nor is it unplayable. A few tweaks fixed the stuttering and especially running the game in Win XP.

To me this looks like the console hardware is actually struggling. Look up some videos of Far Cry 2 on the 360 it struggles with the framerate when lots are happening on the screen at once. Actually it only needs one huge explosion and the framerate drops. To me as a PC gamer this is unbearable.

1. You can´t do anything about it, no options to turn down some settings nor any option to drop the resolution a notch.

2. I pay a hell of a lot of money for one console game that to me ruin the whole "console" experience of smooth gameplay when the **** game struggles with the framerate.

3. My PC´s has not these issues and will never have since I can upgrade my PC from a steady base I am on. I bought a high end laptop that will last me for a good while especially with SLI.

4. Fact is my old XPS M170 even lasts me today, hooking it up to an HDTV and play in 1280x720p is a piece of a cake and runs Gears of War much much smoother than my 360, same with all other multiplats. Crysis tweaked by me Medium settings runs at that res beatifully.

Yep it sure is fun to own a console too, though mostly for my kids I have confess. These bollocks of PC gaming is dying why not just shut up who is so worried that they have to post PC gaming is dying in the first place? To me it sounds like console fanboys want the PC to die, which will never happen only in your dreams.

 

Steam is the way of the future!!!

 

Actually why is there more and more "PC gaming is dying" threads along with the PS3 is sooo pooooowerful!!!! annyoing threads popping up more and more here? These thread starters can make a thread in the gamespot System Wars forum instead where they can debate with other console fanboys who don´t know a jack about how expensive a PC is nor how inferior a console actually is to a gaming PC, gaming laptop.

 

Please make next thread called "Lexus is dieng because Honda is cheaper" or "Restaurants is dieng because cooking food at home is cheaper" or "mac is dieng because PC is cheaper"

These are just some ideas how you can continue to create more troll threads.

 

Well if you look at the list I compiled, there's no fewer than 40 high quality titles due to release in the next six months or so.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=282705

Granted many are common with consoles, but either way, there's no sign of PC games dying.

Perhaps some stores don't stock as many PC games as others, but PC's are here to stay. As long as they are here, there will be games. Just nature of us geeky humans.

LOL @ Magnus72 for "OLD M1730" with SLI 8800m GT's

 

Old XPS M170, I have one of those too Not my "new" XPS M1730

 

Oh, thought it was a typo because I saw the M1730 in your sig.

 

PC gaming dying? What are you smoking?

 

How can PC gaming die when the consoles revert back to basically being PCs?

 

This just doesn't make any sense.
Consoles have the features as media computer, but they are far from being a computer.


PC gaming will get it's own share : MMORPG's / FPS / Multiplatform games what are ported from console games.
Console gaming will get pretty much everything else.

 

except RTS/Wargames Except a few, one or two. However they are basically unplayable on console.

 

I work with a guy that is constantly ribbing me about my choice of PC over Mac and Playing games on PC rather than consoles. He owns a PS3 and an XBox.

A little bit of irony yesterday as he informed me that he was going to install Windows via boot-camp so that he could install Steam and buy the orange box. Somewhat shocked I asked him why. Simply put, he wanted to experience the updates, mods and achievements for the HL2 series.

Until console platforms catch up to the level of online distribution and support/upgrades PC gaming will never die.

Valve, like other game producers, have embraced the creativity of their end users and allow them to alter portions of their products. For instance, there is a mod going around the TF2 servers right now in which the sentries takes on the voices of the sentries from Portal. "I see you." Bet you won't see that on the XBox any time soon.

Consoles are effectively 2 years behind the technology curve when they are first introduced. There is no way on a mass production scale that they can compete with CPU/GPU's that are being produced when their systems come to market. True that you will probably pay more for that technology. But a PC/Mac does far more than any console on the market these days.

I read another post in this thread praising Blu-Ray and the fact that your PS3 has one. Big deal. Just another in a long line of media formats that have been rolling out since vinyl LP's. Soon enough Blu-Ray will be replaced with Flash Memory. On that day we shall dance a happy dance since we won't be able to scratch any more **** CD's!!!

 

Media centric sure, but they have only evolved closer and closer to being PCs after each generation. They're just really crappy PCs. The PS3 is the shining example of this. And the Xbox was the example of it's day. They even had parts that can be found in a PC. (G70 GPU derivative in PS3 and SATA HDDs in PS3 and 360). Eventually people will be demanding more and more features after each generation, until they circle around back to being PCs. Hardware upgrades will probably be offered too lol The only thing they won't have is the portability of a laptop (but the portable game systems will eventually get there!).

 

Good points mobius, I agree with you they want to become PC´s. Next "gen" will definitely have keyboard and mouse don´t you think? This itself would definitely turn them into a crappy PC. However I don´t think Microsoft and Sony want to go there anytime soon. Since the only thing left for them then would be to provide upgradable GPU´s and CPU´s and the answer is definitive a PC.

Sure there is keyboard and mouse today on the consoles but how many games can you actually play them with. Also you have to buy them separately. They are just circling themselves and will eventually turn into a really crappy PC because that is what they are no matter what console players think about the oh so powerful and yet unreleased unleashed power of the Cell! Hype. I wrote PS3 since I hate Sony´s hyping every single time they release a new console and it can´t live up to it´s expectations. Doesn´t anyone remember the hilarious statement Sony made when PS2 was going to be released? Let me rephrase it "PS2 is a super computer that will replace all PC´s at home" Something like that along those lines.

 

Asking what is better console or PC is, essentially, like asking
what is better PC or unapgradeable, outdated PC without keyboard and mouse.

Blueray is useless, you can just download HD movies directly to your harddrive, which by the way would be much cheaper alternative, because
you are essentially eliminating the cost of blue ray disk, which is expansive,
packaging, and transport, which is high due to gas, and retailers usually tend to rip people off big time by charging them 30% more than online sources; downloading HD movies also has the benefit of taking up less space in 1 TB USB harddrive rather than a stack of disks.

Some people say that they like to physically own movies, but that's just stupid to pay more for plastic package and printed image, but the actual product, which is a movie, is the same.

 

I'd say console is excellent for causal gaming. But PC is definitely great for all gaming.

The only problem I have with PC gaming is the need for yearly or bi-yearly upgrade (not so much the cost but the hassle) to ensure a smooth experience with the latest games.

 

I find it very interesting that if PC gaming is dying, why are some console games being ported to the PC, especially Japanese games, whereas the Japanese are FAR more console gamers than PC gamers?

Examples include Lost Planet, Devil May Cry 4 and Dynasty Warriors 6.

And I really do love the modding capabilities that PC gaming brings you vs. consoles. But its nice that consoles now are getting DLC for games to extend their value and the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 has mod support as well.

 

All Sony's consoles have lived up the hype.
Sony Playstation sold 103 million consoles.
Sony Playstation 2 sold 141 million consoles.
Sony Playstation Portable sold 41 million consoles.
Sony Playstation 3 sold 15 million consoles. (It's still quite new)

Sony has always had a big % of marketing, be it HDTV's, cellphones, digital cameras, consoles, mp3-players..they do quality products and they live up very much everything Sony has said about them, just because you don't know any of this doesn't mean you should flame it.

 

This argument comes up all too often.

PC gaming is not dying in the least, it is growing greatly.

There may not be many PC games in store because of online services that make PC gaming easier, steam etc.. Also, in most game stores the majority of games on the rack are used console titles. They don't profit the developer.

The argument of price is nonexistant these days. An 8600GT for around $50 these days can run anything in the console's limited 1280x720 resolution. An 8800GT 512MB for around $110-$130 USD can run EVERYTHING maxed out in 1080P smoothly, even crysis (on XP). You can build a desktop these days with about $400 that can run everything maxed out in 1080P. Something the consoles cannot offer.

Consoles are there for the mainstream, who just want to put in a game, play it, and be done, PC are for people who want to enjoy the game to the fullest in whatever way they choose. You also do not need to update your video card every year. the 8800GTS from 2006 is still capable of running every game out there maxed out very smoothly and in 1080P. Consoles are a fad, much like Ipods, cellphones, and so on, you want one because everyone else has one, and when you do spend the money on one you will defend your purchase by critisizing everyone else who disses it, or doesn't have one because you spent money on it. When PC gamers say that thier PC can do more, is more entertaining and just all around better, of course it's natural the console owners will step up and defend thier purchase, and on that reason these threads and topics will never end.

This thread's title is typical,

A Quick Trip To Any Store Shows That PC Gaming Is Dying...
Yet downloading steam would show that PC gaming is thriving...
I personally never buy boxed copies anymore unless I have to..

 

What does sales have to do with the hyping I wrote? I meant technical hype just like I said. Read again if you have a difficulty with it. I said the PS2 was supposed to be a supercomputer they said the same with PS3 with the overhyped Cell CPU that essentially would save the world. What have we seen from the Cell so far? Nothing better looking than anything the 360 can accomplish. But PS3 fans will say "Just you wait when the Cell will unleash it´s power"

Well if they will ever unleash that power I think it´s time for that now, so far I have not seen anything impressive on neither console actually. PC gaming will never die, they started to talk about this when the NES hit the market. Every single time people bring up the "Piracy". Well you guess what look at how much GTA IV was pirated on the 360 when released, it´s hilarious.

Sony will overhype their PS4 too, just you wait I never heard Microsoft overhype their 360. However Microsoft knows what they are doing. They have built a great piece of hardware if you outlook it´s flaws with the GPU overheating, aka RROD. Which by the way is easily solvable by just applying AS5 to the GPU and heatsink if you know how to open it up

Also they don´t work against the developers this is why we see the multiplats looks and runs better on the 360 than the PS3.

 

Realize that the point of this thread is whether or not PC gaming is dying or not. I think it's obvious enough that it isn't.

 

Thank you! This is such a pointless argument.

 

How long will it take to download a movie from the internet in 1080P? Rather walk down to the local shop grab it on disc and be watching within the hour.

 

Well I have to say that the PC defenders in this thread give good arguments, but they are only that good because it's 2-3 years later than the release of the newest consoles. Back in the day I was happy that I got to play these games in all their glory for just 400 bucks... You wouldn't be able to get that bang for your bucks for a PC back then, a GPU that outrun the xbox360 was way too expensive.
I can't say the same these days though, an ATI 4850 + Quad 6600 does the trick tremendously, and it will last you longer.

 

Well, I'm an avid gamer, and I've just sold my gaming desktop and bought a notebook as it never got used. The notebook is games capable but not even close to the desktop. The reason? PC gaming may not be dying, it may well even be growing, but consoles are growing a lot faster.

Why? They're easier to use (true plug and play). To get up and running on my XBox360 took less than 20 minutes, thats including getting online. When I turn it on it's always reasy to go. I don't have to hope there aren't driver conflicts or crashes (nope, never had a game crash on the XBox).

Plus I can get almost every game I can buy for the PC I can get on a console.

 

Just my $.02...

I have been playing PC games since the dawn of the Commodore 64 (I know, I just dated myself). PC games have (at least to me) always seemed to be better than their console counterparts. I have spent MANY enjoyable hours with PC games, as opposed to console games. It took YEARS to get the technology to save your progress on a console game! Recently, consoles have caught up a little and are nearly computers themselves. Not to tick anyone off, as this is just my idle observation, it seems to me that eventually all the consoles will evolve into PC's anyway.

 

You're about to get flamed but I agree with you... those are the advantages of consoles over PC's.

On the other hand, PC has a short list of advantages over consoles that true hardcore gamers would never surrender for a console: Keyboard & Mouse, Graphics Capability, Upgradable.

With every new consoles release it really shakes things up as the graphics capabilities of these new consoles approach that of a PC. Looking back, IIRC, Xbox360 had more graphics processing power than anything available to the PC GPU market for several weeks until the latest GPU's from Nvidia were released. The PS3 also has some very enviable hardware as well. This shouldn't surprise us as these consoles are literally made up of PC hardware.

If Sony or Microsoft figures out how to release their next generation consoles with keyboard and mouse controls, allows for some ability to overclock, allows for some means of upgradability, then I can see PC gaming dying off. But until then, PC's offer more discerning gamers they gaming they want and keeps my wife and kid occupied on the Wii.

 

In my hometown and now here in Louisville, the GameStops and Best Buys have tons of PC games. The GameStops I've been too have dedicated shelving for 75+ PC games.

 

a console with a keyboard and mouse... hmmm, in other words a PC with a custom OS connected to the tv?

 

its called linux and using a 42" tv screen for your computer........and i thought i wasn't using a console

 

Pretty much, the only difference between them now is the controllers.

 

To be honest, I think consoles have lost sight of what made them appealing in the first place: an inexpensive gaming machine with lots of unique, simple to play games.

They try too hard to compete with PC when they should be unique in their own right. Console gaming to me has always been a social venue. It's real easy to play with two or more players simultanesously on the same box.

I loved my Atari 2600, Intellivision, and Nintendo 64. Those "back to basics" games are what make console gaming so much fun. Simple to learn and play but FUN!

The Wii got it right I think. I was quite skeptic about the Wii initially and laughed at the Wiimote when it was introduced. After playing numerous times with my nieces and nephews, though, it was a lot of fun. The graphic hardware is much less than the X360 or PS3, but they work for what you use it for. Plus it's significantly less expensive.

What X360 got right is Xbox Live Arcade. It offers a plethora of unique and simple games that can be played quickly and with many other players. It's a shame that 90% of my xbox time is spent playing these games that would run on a machine with a quarter of the power. Heck, most would probably run on my Eee PC, about 1/10 the size and weight.

The only thing I see going for the PS3 is that it is an inexpensive Blu-Ray player. But that benefit is lessening weekly. Standalone BR players are quickly dropping in price, and I don't see anything else about the PS3 that sets it apart from the X360.

 

isnt it true also that windows 7 OS will have an xbox emulator built in? i think consoles and PC will merge and make....a PC lol

 

I don't think it's dying.

 

Just going to chime in here and point out that survey was done on 2000 game developers. 70% where working on pc gaming title, where as only 43% of those surveyed where working on gaming titles.

http://www.marke****ch.com/news/sto...1E15FD-5B53-4463-959F-77320C04F39A}&dist=hppr

I have no idea with how this compares 5 years ago, but I can tell you that based on those figures pc gaming is leagues ahead of consoles games. PC gaming has 50% more developers backing it then all consoles put together.

 

PC Gaming will never die. It will have its ups and downs, but it will never die and never fade. All the console "supporters" like Akuma can go and enjoy their PS3s, 360s, etc. Us "fanboys" will continue enjoy gaming on our PCs.

 

I don't know about dying or not, but it's fairly clear why consoles and their games do so well. It's tied to the reason those blasted Sims games are in Top 10 sellers for the PC month after month after year after year. It's not what you would call PC 'gamers' who buy those - it's the everyman/woman/kid who has a computer and might want to do something with it other than work every now and again. Those games are ideal for the non-gamer who just wants to play something.

There's a large section of the console consumer market that is the same. These people want to just play a game, not take the time and effort to learn about what to get first. Thus, consoles are perfect - buy a 360 and you know that every game made you can buy for it can run on it. No more time, thought or effort needed. It's trivial to take almost any computer, spend a small amount on a new graphics card and install it, but it's more than absolutely no effort at all. Plus, even for those of us keeping track of such things, it's hard to choose the right graphics card for what we want to play, that will last long enough but isn't too power-hungry. Consoles are the ultra-convenient all-in-one package. PCs for gaming require some thought and choice, and thus don't suit people who want to do and know nothing about gaming except where to put the disk and which button to push to start. Most of us are enthusiasts, whether we have enthusiast-level PCs or not.

I think it's the same reason stores are saturated with console games; - although usually cheaper, and often quicker if you pre-order, you have to know something to order a game over the Net. Which again doesn't suit those who want to just GAME and GAME NOW.

So, all that explained quite simply, I hope PC gaming doesn't die. It can be the minority of games released for all I care, as long as they keep releasing games like F.E.A.R, Crysis, Command and Conquer, Civilization IV, Europa Universalis, Diablo, Starcraft and Portal then I'm not fussed. Fewer games per year could be good for the PC, if it means they're all the quality of the aforementioned examples.

 

360's Xenos had more processing power than any GPU at the time? Apparently someone didn't know the 7800GTX was released in October of 2005, and the Xbox 360 launched in November of the same year. The PS3 does use a derivative of this same GPU die, but the GTX is an 8 Vertex Shader: 24 Pixel Shader: 24 Texture Mapping Unit: 16 Render Output Processor configuration GPU. The PS3's version is supposedly 8:24:20:8. Whatever the case the GTX is on par with the 360, especially at higher resolutions, where having double the ROPs will benefit, as well as more texture units, while the 360 is effectively stuck at 720p based rendering most of the time. The 360's only real advantage is the sheer efficiency of being a (and the first production use) unified shader GPU. Don't get me wrong, the Xenos is a great piece of work, but against graphics hardware built for PCs purely, it kind of misses on some marks.

 

The rapid advancement of technology means there will always be something coming from a PC game that the most recent console can't do. While console lifecycle lasts at least 4 to 6 years, technology doesn't stand still until their next revisions.

I'll call 'good game' on PC gaming, when a new console is released every year, containing the latest tech.

 

Yeah if we take an example, my old laptop with a go 7800GTX runs Gears of War without a sweat maxed out at 1280x800 and without any framedrops, running at 40 fps. Meanwhile my 360 struggles with Gears of War in some scenarios my laptop don´t. I bought that laptop at the same time the 360 was released and it plays multiplats better than my 360 Just an example, the Xenos isn´t anything special, sure it was the first unified GPU.

 

i think crysis warhead will be one of the few games made to take advantage of all the PC power very efficiently, its the ports that make PC gaming look bad. if devs focused more on PC games like they do for consoles, games will look/run way better than they do today, i mean look at lost planet or even crysis 1......crysis warhead will look better than crysis and require less hardware power

 

Sorry but thats not always true. Crysis made PC gaming look bad to me and a lot of others when they came to see it running, and thats not a port. Sure it looks fantastic, but thats only half the battle. The game was buggy as hell and felt rushed, even the patch failed to address all the issues. Combine that with the fact that it wouldn't even run smoothly on my brothers 8800Ultra, let alone my 8800GT SLI rig. There have been games that look just as good on the consoles (See Assasins Creed in 1080p on the PS3) that have had no such issues.

 

Just to clarify! THE PS3 DOES NOT RUN GAMES IN 1080P, IT UPSCALES THEM

There are a FEW select games which do run in 1080P, and here is a list of them. While some games like MGS4 were ran in 1080P, which was awesome cause it was a very visually pleasing, especially for a console, most are actually upscaled to 1080i, which is half the resolution, flashed, so it is half the work for the GPU.

 

Whoa! I never said it ran in 1080p, only that It looks better when DISPLAYED in 1080p than Crysis on ANY rig I've come across (btw I do know that the PS3 upscales...)

My point is that Assasins Creed (to my mind) looks better than the overhyped tat that was Crysis.

 

no no im not upset, god forbid eh I just have seena few post claiming the PS3 runs things at 1080P , like COD4, when it doesnt. Would just like to make that clear. I have a PS3, I wish it could do that. Only on Blu Ray though...

Also I have noticed every store in Canada I have been to that sells games has a very small PC department.

 

I wonder if the Xbox forums have a "Will my system run this?" thread.

 

PC gaming is dying slowly. It will die eventually. Its mostly the performance issues. U can get awsome graphics from a $400ps3 or 360. If you want the same kinna level of graphics on the PC u need to spend $5000. Most games are not optimized for pc as why spend time optimizing when people can spend another $5000 to upgrade their pc and they game will run fine then. The games for console have to be optimized properly as there is only one config. PC gaming needs to get a nice kick in the ***. Looks like FarCry2 will be one of them but they are relasing it for the consoles as well. Crysis and EA is one the reasons people switch to consoles. I mean even $10,000 have trouble running it maxed out. Mercenaries 2 engine is messed up too. We ll have to wait for the Fallout3. all in all, if developers dont start putting effort into serious optimization then consoles will take over in just couple of years. Especially if u can play UT3 in 1080p on a ps3 with a keyboard and a mouse.