Why all the talk of PC gaming dying?

I agree. I believe that PC gaming is going through a "revolution" per say. Parts are getting cheaper, more customization is become available on the software and hardware side, and great games are coming back. My theory is that both PC and console gameing are great, and are good depending on what one is looking for. RTS and Shooters remain the best on PC, but when it comes to driving, fighting, and sports games, the console has control of that area. And there is the cross of those as well, i.e. SupCom for console, decent amount of sports on PC. Since I love racers, shooters, and RTS, the best thing for me is to add a PS3 to my notebook gaming experience.

 

PC gaming is fine.. in fact PC and console have always been two different markets (with some crossover)

Consoles are used to make great "party games" where detailed involvement, good plotlines and longterm investment into the game are more of a punchline than a realistic thought. Consoles games are generally designed for low-attention-span gaming. Console games are designed for gamers that are too drunk/stoned/high or perhaps just not in the mood to think...

Computer games are designed for the thinker and involve detailed plots, longterm investment and the willingness to tinker with everything to get higher quality and better games.

Note this has absolutely nothing to do with the hardware which could do either. (the PC hardware is easier to upgrade, but good programmers can do miracles with a set piece of hardware if they don't have to guess.)

Oh, and the piracy thing... what rock have you been hiding under if you believe that console software cannot be pirated?

 

Eh... true to an extent, but too extreme. Consoles have plenty of games that require thought and games with involving storylines, and PCs have their fair share of Serious Sams and Zumas. It can be easy to forget that each generation of consoles has many thousands of titles and some of PC gaming's biggest success stories have included a virtual dollhouse and a pretty hypercard stack (Sims and Myst).

Each format has their strengths to be sure, but the reality is that you can find what you want no matter what format you're on if you look hard enough (with fighting games and RTSes being the lone exceptions).

As for piracy, consoles are in a unique position in that they generally require some sort of modification, either through software or (usually) hardware, for it to be possible, and this barrier of entry is generally too high for your average person (the Dreamcast was a big exception). PC games are far easier to pirate and don't really require anything beyond knowledge of where to find them. Combine this with the higher than average technical knowledge of avid PC gamers and... well, it's an unfortunate combination that leads to the invasive DRM we have today.

 

Note my original post mentioned the crossover...

Note the thought processes of the two markets has more to do with marketing strategy than anything else.
The "console" is just a feature-locked computer designed for gaming.


Note that if PC gaming were to ever die, those gamers would start applying themselves to the console market.

This would include the less-scrupulous ones who will never pay for ANY piece of software.

The result would be console games being pirated just as often and just as well as PC games. Game developers do NOT have the resources the game crackers do. They have schedules and have to pay their employees... the game crackers have quite literally infinite time and infinite workers if they want something bad enough.

DRM is just the result of some VERY stupid people who think they can even slow the cracking process. It's like shooting at ghosts... you are only hitting the people you don't want to hit!

 

Kernal, as much as I am amused with your point about not thinking much for consoles, and it is somewhat true, I do agree with Seth. Games like Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Hitman and others actually require a good amount of thinking and patience. Of course, if I come home plastered and want some quick action, there nothing better than hoping on a console and getting some frags out of the way.

 

I know, I just think there's more than you implied. Honestly, both formats seems to push stories equally at this point, and they both fail miserably at it in the same ways (I have yet to find a videogame story that manages to top your average bargain bin fantasy or sci-fi novel, but that's just my opinion).

As for piracy, the crackers are equally talented on both sides, it's the consumer level ease of use that matters here, and soldering on a mod chip is significantly more difficult for your average user than what PC piracy requires. Yes, console piracy would rise, but still not to the degree that PC piracy currently exists. It's just one of the benefits, from the developer's perspective, of the extremely controlled, closed system your average console has.

 

Well as for story... games like Fallout and Fallout2 have movie-worthy plotlines and in many ways are so powerful and wide-reaching that a movie cannot possibly get everything in...

A book? well let's be real here... no game can ever compete with the imagination of a human... it just isn't fair.

Most of the games like splinter cell and metal gear only have pseudo-plotlines to give you an excuse to shoot things. IMHO the "want it now" effect of society has produced people who cannot recognize a plotline past a certain length and consoles and movies are now catering to that mindset.

Hey, I like a good "made-up" reason to shoot things too... and I like my guilty pleasures like movies based on console games where the point is a hot babe in a tight outfit shooting things... and frankly that's how I feel playing a console game. Half of me is not engaged and I know it never will be.

I loved the original DOOM, but quite frankly many of today's shooters have just a touch over that level and they now call it "plotline".
We went from "ugly badguy, shoot" to "not-so-ugly and is your stepbrother - shoot him anyway" and we call it plotline?

Compared to the likes of Fallout and Fallout2, where plotline, moral choices in a immoral world, and your actions shaping the world your character lived in; most console games just cannot even claim to be on the same playing field.

Note, I said "most".

 

Hey I grew up with PC. I began with Atari ST, then Amiga 500, Amiga 1200 then moving up to PC´s during the 386/486 days. I build my own desktop computers. That said I have lots of experience with computers and software in general. When I said I haven´t had any problems with any game I meant exactly that I have always solved any problem and got the game up running.

What I think Kernal meant with Drunk/Stoned/High people is that you need no brains to just push a button and start up the game. With PC´s it´s the other way around, at least what non PC people think that it is so hard to start up the computer and start up the game with just two mouse clicks

It is exactly games like Splinter Cell that you want to play on a computer. I can´t even believe they have FPS games on consoles with a controller. I mean seriously in some games you can´t even turn off the auto aiming help.

Bad Company as I said before would look far more better displayed at a higher res and with AA on namely on PC. The best part of Bad Company is actually the sound effects, these are among the best I have heard in a game.

Crysis definitely gets more fun if you can put the eye candy to the max. You just awe the graphics running around. I really look forward to Far Cry 2 now that in my opinion is not far away from Crysis graphics.

 

I agree with Magnus. I own a PS3 and 360, but find my only use for them is Nascar, Madden, and NCAA. Other than that, I had the occasional shooter. (MGS4, GoW, etc.) There is something about the connection you get with a PC. With a console, you push a button, get pass the GUI, and play. With a computer, you feel the power beneath your fingers. The control much better, and much more responsive.

I too cannot wait for FarCry 2. The preview in PCG said the "World Clock" is a fantastic addition. That is real non-linear play.

 

Farcry 2 will have better Graphics, and will definatly run better, seeing how the first Farcry scaled. (a mid range runs it at Top settings and it still looks great even compared to some newest games) also depending on the rig that ran it first time on 1600x1080 i think with very high which had an E6600 and a 8800GTS 640mb, and it ran fantastic, so i think the performance will be very nice, but i dont like the flipping leaves idea, it'll put way too much strain when doing forest fights and stuff

 

brainer I think you can definitely optimize Far Cry 2 just as you can optimize Crysis. So maybe there is just a simple little "switch" in an cfg file called FlipLeaves = 1

Yeah KGann hit the nail spot on. It is actually you feel how powerful the rig you sit at is I can never feel that with a console. To me consolites are just lazy bastards laying in the sofa with big beer bellys eating popcorn and chips too lazy to just turn on the console, in this case the 360 which you can turn on with the controller Maybe that was a little extreme

 

My problem with the consoles is the Exclusives... man i really wanted to play MGS4 since i played all other MGS's but nothing can be done, i would have died if DMC4 wasnt coming for the PC, but Capcom always saves me day

 

Agreed with both Brainer and Magnus.

Exclusives were the reason I had to own the consoles. I realize the Wii is neat, but having no kids, none of the exclusives really get my juices going.

And the whole "laziness" factor is a problem. I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoy being able to play Madden on my couch... but come on, you can't just get up an turn it on?

 

i went from console to pc. playing games online on pc has a lot less lag since they have dedicated servers.

 

the only other gaming systems i will ever own from now on are handhelds, like psp, pc gaming is needed for me now because i need 60fps...i mean look at gears of war on xbox..runs at 30fps with some dips below that also....yuck

 

yeah rainbow six vegas 2 and mass effect also has some serious framerate issues on 360. it's why i decided to buy them on PC even tho I already owned them for xbox.

 

..... and 7 pages later?

 

u wanna see the worst framerate issues ever? Play phantasy star universe for the 360...during battle it goes below 20 it seems, bad porting. I was also sad to see burnout for ps3 running at only like 30 frames...they need to bring that game to pc. GRID runs great...but its impossible to get 60fps+ during the japanese races at night in Shibuya...wayy too many reflections

 

Yeah I agree with HaloGod they push the consoles too far now. They put in more and more effects the consoles can´t handle. I can´t stand to just sit and watch a 360 game dip way below 30 frames per second aka GTA IV without being able to fix it by adjusting some sliders or whatnot.

I also noticed Gears of War has frame rate problems that´s why I got it for PC instead.

Rockstar should release GTA IV right away for PC so I can play it smoothly. The 360 version is a joke to all consolites considering what peformance it has.

 

I rented GTA IV for the 360, but bought it for the PS3. It seems to run better, and look better on the PS3. But, I can't see myself buying it again for the PC. I unlocked all the way to the 3rd island, and quit. It just gets monotonous.

 

yeah definitely saw 360 being pushed to its hardware limitations when cod4 and halo 3 were developed in less than 720p resolution (something like 1024 x 640) and you can definitely tell on an hdtv!

Then to add framerate issues on almost all of the newer games, makes you think maybe in another year or two at most that the next big console might be announced.

 

on saturday whan i was returning home on a 13 hours flight i read the gamer's mag and the edge mag. Them both saying that the PC game industries isn't dieing it's just going into another age.
You can wasily see that there weren't as much sim games as we have today. Nor did they have really popolar mmorpgs e.g. a really classic one-runescape, it's designed on flash and it's pushed the limits of flash to the edge. And another example WoW, would you like to play WoW on a 360 or Ps3??
Or stragetegy games: the simple fact is that it's easier to play RTSs on PC simply of the might invention of the mouse. (so what's the point putting halo wars on 360 excutive??!?!?!?!?!?!??!0
Or Fps: you get auto aim in consouls, well mostly you do. (why on earth halo3 360 excetive???)

 

i thought i was the only guy with that issue xD

 

Eh... no. The Fallout games (and Planescape for that matter) are certainly a cut above most game stories, but they're still pulp fiction derivatives when push comes to shove. They've got better stories than, say, I Know Who Killed Me, but they're still big fish in a small pond. And I say this as someone who adores the Fallout games (the first more than the second).

Besides, it's not as though consoles don't have their own story-driven RPGs as well. They're silly and cliched, but no more so than PC RPGs... they just tend to draw from a different pool of cliches. I can't really claim to have been captivated by the plots of either genre for years, simply because they're almost universally poorly written compared to other media.

Besides...

I agree with you here, but I'll add another caveat: most PC games can't claim to be in the same playing field as Fallout 1 and 2, either. This isn't exactly a shining endorsement of PC gaming as it is an example of how far ahead of the game the Fallout series was and is. Hell, even the people who created the series haven't managed to recapture the magic since.

What genres are we talking about here? Because there's absolutely no way 3D action games like Devil May Cry, platformers, racing games, fighting games, or any other genre born around a controller plays better with a KB+M setup. These genres are awkward at best and unplayable at worst when you try to cram them on a keyboard. KB+M is, naturally, better at genres that were born around the control scheme, like FPS and RTS, but it's hardly better across the board. It's all about having the right tool for the right job... if you're going to play Battlefield you'll get slaughtered with anything except a KB+M, but if you're going to play Devil May Cry 4 a controller is the only realistic option.

 

you know the best thing of the PC is you can plug anything to it.. a Controler, a wheel, Joystick, and soon enough a toaster, so Action games like DMC4 can be well played on PCs, there are 10$ controllers on Ebay..

 

I think that pc gaming will get stronger sooner, because the average age of a typical gamer is increasing and also almost everyone needs a computer or laptop to work so they have the equipment but because of price their hardware isnt top of the line.

I think the only problem comes in is that game developers are always making games that push the hardware boundries further and further and this limits their player database.

Look at games that dont have steep requirements are hugely successful, World of Warcraft and the Sims. As soon as this eye candy fever wears off (I think it will soon) then I think PC gaming will thrive even more.

EDIT: I think consoles are hugely popular because people dont have to worry about keeping up with system requirements as everything is standardized, if PC games can do something in that line, I think the market will explode

 

And you can use KB+M on a PS3 (hell, you could use it on the Dreamcast). What's your point? It's not as though there isn't a massive, thriving industry of console peripherals either. Besides, if you're going to use a controller on a PC it's no longer any different, control-wise, from a console, which negates the whole "PCs control better" thing that I was replying to.

The fact is that a PC comes with KM+M, and a console comes with a controller, and as such that's what the vast majority of games for each platform are designed for. Companies generally shy away from designing games with the assumption that customers will have to buy more accessories to play them because it limits the willing consumer base, unless it's an accessory that's interesting in and of itself like the Guitar Hero guitar. When was the last time you saw a PC game outside of a niche release that required a joystick?

 

New Blizzard games and eventually Half Life 3 could save PC gaming alone.

 

Very true, HL3 is going to be the PC savior, keeping the requirements low AND awesome Graphics, and most importantly, unmatched experience

 

i thought the hl2 episodes were esentially hl3.

 

Valve and Blizzard seem to be two of the few companies to be thriving (ie, making money hand over fist) in the current PC gaming market. They're also both heavily focused on polish, solid gameplay, streamlined interfaces and massively scalable engines that look nice even on older computers thanks to solid art design.

In short, they combine all of the best aspects of PC gaming while having none of the worst. We need more companies like them.

(as an aside, I recently picked up Sins of a Solar Empire. Now THIS is what I like to see in PC gaming!)

 

Valve and Blizzard share one major trait-

Scalable, and fantastic engines.