265: Punching the Baby Seal of PC Gaming

[wadark]

I love seeing all these people saying "the problem is you" or some variation. Implying that I need to learn how to use my PC "properly."

This wonderfully informed and helpful point of view carefully overlooked one thing: I know how to use my computer. Am I expected now to apologize because I followed the instructions that were laid out for me to install this game and was met with one problem after another?

I'm sorry, I refuse to believe that I was somehow incompetent because I placed the disk in the drive and clicked "Install".

I'm sorry that I expected some level of functionality from this process.

I'm sorry that I don't want to spend hours researching the nuances of my computer or digging through the ever-so-helpful responses that those on the internet tactfully provide for diagnosing my problem.

Typical story of a person who doesnt know much about computers, first off don't buy a dell XPS that is your first problem. Build your own gaming computer, so that you arent over charged, and dont have BIOS restrictions and a bunch of BS programs and on your pc that only slow it down. Second, (again with the dell trash) their cases have poor airflow and you probably have a bad heatsink, dust the inside of your case with compressed air and get a better cooler. Excess heat probably causes most of your lock ups in the first place. Lastly disable processes that have probably accumulated through using different programs, and use CCleaner to clean up the crap floating around on your drives. Hell, Defragmenting your drives would help too. Problem solved, you learned something and baby seals dont have to be punched.

Again, why is the first response "build your own computer"? Please, read what I'm about to type, understand it and stop being so prejudiced:

1) Building a PC is still expensive.
2) I DON'T KNOW HOW to build my own PC.
3) I don't have the time between a job, school, and a child, to learn how to build one. I barely have enough time for the hobby that I enjoy so I'm certainly not going to waste what little time I have by trying to navigate the internet labyrinth to learn what I need to know.

 

[AngelBlackChaos]

To me, the amount of money i have to put into a PC game to make it work properly, VS a Console game, makes the most sense to me.
Now some PC games, most notably the free or Trial based MMORPGs, know that you get more users, and possibly more money, if YOUR **** WORKS, at least on most PCs. Some games, like StarCraft, seem to gravitate more toward the fancier "i spent over a 1000 dollars on my PC" crowd. To me, making it to where only a few gamers can actually play your game, makes for less revenue, less satisfied customers, and less repeat customers.I want to spend what little free time i have that i want to use to play games, playing games. Not working on a year or two old pc, not waiting for a game to load, not restarting my pc for the 345th time.

 

[superbatranger]

This is probably one of the funniest articles I've read on this site, hands down. Say, Chuck, got any spare seals I can club? [sub]I kid, I kid.[/sub]

 

[duchaked]

at the end of the day, I just wanna game for fun
maybe have a few friends sitting on the couch grab a controller and game
of course, if I had to sacrifice so much blood and sweat to get a PC system to work (quite possibly/easily beyond the limits of any console) of course I would be a raging advocate for PC gaming as the superior and elite platform
but of course I still just want a system where my buddies can pick up a controller and game
but then if you love computers then...
no, no I love gaming when I'm tired at the end of the day
(bleh, my friend who's a PC gamer says my Windows 7 partition can run StarCraft II...hmmm temptation)

 

[wadark]

To me, the amount of money i have to put into a PC game to make it work properly, VS a Console game, makes the most sense to me.
Now some PC games, most notably the free or Trial based MMORPGs, know that you get more users, and possibly more money, if YOUR **** WORKS, at least on most PCs. Some games, like StarCraft, seem to gravitate more toward the fancier "i spent over a 1000 dollars on my PC" crowd. To me, making it to where only a few gamers can actually play your game, makes for less revenue, less satisfied customers, and less repeat customers.I want to spend what little free time i have that i want to use to play games, playing games. Not working on a year or two old pc, not waiting for a game to load, not restarting my pc for the 345th time.

Although I have to disagree about StarCraft (Blizzard generally seems pretty concerned about making sure their games are widely playable), you make the crucial points.

Some people out there have little free time to devote to the hobby of gaming, regardless of how much we love it. Therefore, I don't believe its so unreasonable to want to spend what little time we have actually playing the game. Not, as you say, spending hours updating a slightly older machine or constantly restarting because of unknown crashes.

I've spent a lot of time with PCs and Consoles and while consoles do generally have some problems here and there, its nothing like what you run into with PC gaming (at least in my experience).

The problem is the hardware, hands down. There are so many components for computer parts and so many manufacturers for each part, that chances are that most PCs are really "unique" in their specifics. Whereas, every single 360 is the same, every PS3 is the same. I'm not sure what the solution is, but as long as there are more headaches than there are enjoyable moments in a game, I'll keep to consoles for all but the most anticipated exclusives.

 

[The Random One]

I was going to post something but, WOW. Over 250 replies? That's more than ZP's average[footnote]Yes, I still use ZP's average number of comments as a reference point in these cases. In fact, I think I might make it into a unit of measurement. The Yahtzee. Of course for general threads you should use the decayahtzee, equivalent to 25 posts. The centiyahtzee is a thread so bad there's only one post making fun of you and the mod's post saying he'll close it. The original post only counts as half.[/footnote]. Looks like you really hit a nerve with this one!

I feel worse and worse about how with all this ease of online patches one day I'll put a disc in my console and it won't work. That'll probably be when I'll go to the PC for good.

 

[AngelBlackChaos]

To Wadark, and everyone else i suppose XD:

You will never see something to warn the consumer much either, besides the so called, "minimum requirements." You will never get a PC exclusivity, there are far too many. Same with graphics cards and the like.

To think of it simply, some PC gamers will never have a problem, not a one, because of the massive monsters their pc is. Average gamers can run the gamut from few, to spastic pc seizures due to the game. Rarely is there a modification. "Patch for HP *whatever model* users". It would be too expensive, and too time consuming.

But if the XBox360, or the PS3 have an issue. a huge majority will have that issue. Therefore, a simple patch, one that will help all users, is not only very smart of the publishers, but is considered absolutely mandatory. For PC gamers, not really. Either you buy what you need to upgrade, or fidget/scream/pray with your PC, hoping that this is the last time you have to switch settings.

 

[nofear220]

I love seeing all these people saying "the problem is you"

Because it is...

Typical story of a person who doesnt know much about computers, first off don't buy a dell XPS that is your first problem. Build your own gaming computer, so that you arent over charged, and dont have BIOS restrictions and a bunch of BS programs and on your pc that only slow it down. Second, (again with the dell trash) their cases have poor airflow and you probably have a bad heatsink, dust the inside of your case with compressed air and get a better cooler. Excess heat probably causes most of your lock ups in the first place. Lastly disable processes that have probably accumulated through using different programs, and use CCleaner to clean up the crap floating around on your drives. Hell, Defragmenting your drives would help too. Problem solved, you learned something and baby seals dont have to be punched.

Again, why is the first response "build your own computer"? Please, read what I'm about to type, understand it and stop being so prejudiced:

1) Building a PC is still expensive.
2) I DON'T KNOW HOW to build my own PC.
3) I don't have the time between a job, school, and a child, to learn how to build one. I barely have enough time for the hobby that I enjoy so I'm certainly not going to waste what little time I have by trying to navigate the internet labyrinth to learn what I need to know.

1) building a PC is less expensive then buying a prebuilt one
2) A 5 year old could do it, its not hard
3) The time you waste on the internet in one day or less you could be done your pc

 

[RelexCryo]

Punching the Baby Seal of PC Gaming

You see that cute little baby seal? Chuck Wendig wants to punch that seal in the mouth because Crysis locked up on him. Again.

Read Full Article

Dude, AWESOME Article. Here is my sob story:

I ordered and downloaded Blacklight Tango Down on Steam. Initially after installing I tried to sign in with my windows live account. The program tried to update my windows live data. I got an error message, specifically, I got OX80072751. I looked around, and found out this is the error message you get when windows live hasn't been updated. So the game couldn't update windows live...because I hadn't updated windows live. Well, I went to one of microsoft's sites, directly downloaded the current version of live, and that solved that problem. But then, when I opened the game again, and tried to log into my windows live account, again, I got another error message. this time I got OX80151911. I went to a website, specifically I went too
http://forums.gamesforwindows.com/t/785.aspx
I took his advice, ran the suggested command line in command prompt as administrator, and it still didn't work. To my knowledge I literally cannot play this game no matter how hard I try. This game simply cannot be played. The game will *not* access window lives servers no matter what I do. I can however access my windows live account outside of this game. I have also done a full system scan with Avira anti-virus premium security suite, and found no malware. Hence, the problem is apparently not with my computer. I have deleted and reinstalled the program several times. I have deleted and reinstalled games for windows live. The game still does not work.

 

[AngelBlackChaos]

1) building a PC is less expensive then buying a prebuilt one
2) A 5 year old could do it, its not hard
3) The time you waste on the internet in one day or less you could be done your pc

Show me the five year old, Apple wants to recruit him/her. And what five year old thinks about graphics cards?
Secondly, not everyone is good at electronic hardware. Its the pretentiousness like this within PC gaming communities that make it difficult for anyone to want to hang around and learn in the first place. When I show a friend how to work on something, it makes them relate to the project, and helps them enjoy the process more. Insinuating that a child that has yet to learn how most electronics work, knows how to do it, while judging said person, makes them want to spend as little time with people that act like that as possible. PC gaming needs good examples of those willing to help people, not those that simply look down distainfully below thier noses at the pc plebians.

 

[TheJwalkR]

I never understand how people can't understand how to use a computer. Whether it's someone complaining about Windows Vista being the devil's incarnate or PC games crashing all the time, it is usually due to user error.

Have a problem with the computer? The problem is you, my friend. Yes, you. Abusing your sad, innocent little PC. Oh I know you'll deny it. But somewhere, sometime ago, you went into regedit and rewired a small part of your PC's brain. You probably fiddled with some Program Files. It's like sticking a needle into your child's brain then complaining when he gets a mental illness.

Or perhaps you meandered about in the deathly corridors of Internet Porn and picked up some iSTDs. Maybe you installed an entire army of shovelware to slow your computer down. The computer did not do this to itself. It doesn't turn on while you're gone and say, "Hey! Let's get Viruses! Awwww shit yeah!"

Or perhaps you forgot to feed it fresh RAM and a new video card once in a while, because hey, games that say they're for PC should run on a PC goddammit, even if it's 5 years old.
Or is your game the one that's broken? Maybe Crysis is just a buggy piece of crap. I wouldn't know; my computer couldn't run it so I don't buy it. Perhaps that's the problem, as I said before.

I've been PC gaming for a long time, but console gaming longer. Your arguments would have been very valid in the glory days of the N64 and it's imperviousness to bullets and salsa. But times have changed and I've had more problems with my Xbox 360 than I have in the last 10 years of PC gaming. Never once has a PC decided to eat my disc and spit it out. Never once has the PC decided, "fuck this shit," and given me the triple red light middle finger.

Oh, I've experienced your problems from time to time. Crashes, slowness, etc. Usually it's my fault and I can accept that. I can go back and change it, make it work again. Hell, if the game is truly messed up, maybe the community released its own patch. Consoles? Good luck changing anything without on the software engineering team that created the thing in the first place.

Thank you Sturmdolch, because I could not have expressed my feelings about this article more eloquently than you have. My mum and sister always think that my PC and by extent Vista is plotting every move. They think it enjoys their frustration as they try and fix it. Computers are all user input, so whatever happens, you did. Also why didn't he just get GOTY edition on Steam rather than having to fuss with CDs.

Oh well, It is too bad that PC gaming is starting to die out with ignorance just as I am starting to get into it.

 

[Godhead]

See that's why I automatically close the Steam Sale window. And I'm really sorry about your troubles Chuck, if the PC works it's a great thing to have for gaming. If not then have fun with your console.


(I'm going out on a limb here, but I think somebody but a Voodoo curse on your PC. Recommended recourse: KILL IT WITH FIRE

Edit: For the record all I've ever had to do to keep my PC from dying on me is just defragmenting every week along with CCleaner and running a virus scan everyday while I'm at work.

 

[Fire Daemon]

I was playing MW2 while reading this article (multitasking for the win) and just as I finished my 360 froze. Thankfully the red rings of death didn't turn up but it was the first time that my 360 froze since I sent it away for repairs and I have a grim feeling that before 2011 is gone I will be forced to buy another one. All platforms have there failings and nearly everything that can break will eventually makes us want to punch a baby seal, it isn't just PC games that do that.

Although to be fair there are a large amount of PC games that I can't play for numerous reasons. Medieval: Total War wouldn't load the world map while it had no problem loading the battles, Fallout has started giving me troubles for no reason and so has Age of Empires 2. Other games like Deus Ex or Sins of A Solar Empire give me no problems though, which is probably the most annoying thing. An platform that will play some games but not some others are a real ***** to buy for because with every purchase you have that niggling doubt that the game will turn out to be waste of money, while with a completely broken PC or console you can buy your games without worry because you know they wont work.

 

[the_carrot]

Thank you, sir!

Again, I am to entertain, not enrage.

-- Chuck

It's funny that you say that, you've undertaken bashing the most browbeaten of platforms, the template or father of them, and attacked them publicly. You say the grass is greener somewhere else? Go there, please, I'm tired of the fucking bashing thank you. I'm tired of the twelve year olds singing the same song you just sang, and having it published is just fucking sad. I'm sorry you're having a bad time with it, but they all have problems, if you don't want to deal with it...you're going to have to figure out that they all have problems. At least with the PC there are remedies you can undertake yourself.

 

[Rad Party God]

Ouch, bad luck.

Seriusly, that Steam sale has drained almost every damn penny I had on me, and you know what? I'm bloated with the hottest games I've ever dreamed about.

Good for you for not ranting about Team Fortress 2, Valve's games (almost) always work like wonders.

Fallout 3 on the pc isn't that bad, I've already finished it a couple of times, no DLC and with DLC and I didn't had a single lockup since the very first time I played it, this is coming from someone who doesn't have the hottest hardware, but more than a decent machine to run at 360 graphics quality.

I had all kinds of configurations in machines for the past 5 years and I know the strengths and weaknesses of every machine I had in my hands, mostly weaknesses. To this very day I've never, ever had a behemoth of a machine, I mostly upgrade it when the need arises and the machine I have today is the best I had yet.

I've played on an old laptop and I played FEAR at 640x480 with EVERYTHING on low... it's nothing pretty to be sure, but that lappy-top never crashed on me and I finished the game (I recently re-bought it on Steam and finished it on my desktop rig, I had no idea how much was I missing with the graphics).

I even made Max Payne work on a P4 1.6 ghz, 128 RAM, 16 Vram and I finished the game with no single crash or luckup.

That's just bad karma.

 

[ender214]

I must say you must be down on your luck. I own a Dell XPS desktop PC. I play games on said desktop, including Fallout 3, Red Faction Guerilla, Team Fortress 2, and Left 4 Dead 2. Team Fortress 2 works perfectly, as you say. I have never had mic issues on my side dealing with Left 4 Dead 2 (I use a Logitech Clearchat Pro, fairly mid-level mic), and I can hear my friends loud and clear in multiplayer games, though occasionally some of the random games I join have people with mic issues. Red Faction Guerilla has never given me any problems except for the occasional overheat after a 4 hour run, which can generally be resolved by lowering your resolution.

Fallout 3 is a different story. For me it was a very crashprone game, especially if a glitch is active in your save games. Most glitches can be resolved using the Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch. Even then it crashed on me with some frequency, though this was likely a result of my marathon sessions on it.

I think I'll personally stick with PC gaming, though its not out of desire to hate on consoles. Its mainly because I've never figured out how anyone is supposed to aim with a f**king analogue stick.

 

[Epigone]

No draconian DRM that demands I be online at all times and sacrifice a bleating goat

See, this is your problem. You're only sacrificing one goat. The machine god demands more! That baby seal you're thinking about punching? Sacrifice it instead! I think there's something about keeping your computer inside a pentagram at all times, with a water cooling system filled entirely with a virgin's blood, too.

Just made my day. XDDDDD

 

[nofear220]

1) building a PC is less expensive then buying a prebuilt one
2) A 5 year old could do it, its not hard
3) The time you waste on the internet in one day or less you could be done your pc

Show me the five year old, Apple wants to recruit him/her. And what five year old thinks about graphics cards?
Secondly, not everyone is good at electronic hardware. Its the pretentiousness like this within PC gaming communities that make it difficult for anyone to want to hang around and learn in the first place. When I show a friend how to work on something, it makes them relate to the project, and helps them enjoy the process more. Insinuating that a child that has yet to learn how most electronics work, knows how to do it, while judging said person, makes them want to spend as little time with people that act like that as possible. PC gaming needs good examples of those willing to help people, not those that simply look down distainfully below thier noses at the pc plebians.

Well you never asked, Im not going to tell you and waste my time if you have no intention to learn it. I was putting togeather Pc's at 5, my dad taught me how, hell its made so idiot proof these days you cant even put in the ram the wrong way like you used to be able to. If you truly want to make your own gaming pc just ask me. Dont say it is impossible to learn cause no one will tell you, its because you arent asking.

 

[tek022]

To all of the above who are in a great debate here.

This is how some people are describing their console stories: 1. Buy Console, 2. Buy Game, 3. Play Game.

This is how some people are describing their PC stories: 1. Buy PC or parts to build it, 1b. Assemble PC if one bought the parts, 2. Buy Game, 3. Install Game, 4. Try to play game, but have problems, 5. Try to fix it, 6. Get mad.

This is MY PC story: 1. Buy PC, 2. Buy game, 3. Install game, 4. Play game.

This is MY console situation: 1. Buy console, 2. Buy game, 3. Game freezes, 4. Look on Google, 5. Can't fix the console, because the consumer is locked out of the software and hardware and can't fix it, 6. Try to play game again, 7. RRoD, 8. Months of time spent on getting the console fixed, 9. Get very mad.

Now I have a gaming laptop from Asus (the G60J, which was $810) and I have no problems with it. I install my games, and they run perfectly. Except for Fallout 3, which had a minor glitch. If some people have patience, like myself, you could figure out how to fix the problems. For Fallout 3, which was purchased and installed through Steam, it was a simple fix in an .ini to change some multi-core processor thing and uninstall Games for Windows Live. Google told me that. My 360 however, is a completely different story. I have gone through 3 of them, all RRoDs. My friend who owns a PS3, has gone through 2, a hardware failure of some sort.

I ask you, which is simpler? A small glitch that was fixed in about 20 minutes or months of time sending consoles back and forth from stores to manufacturers and beyond?