IronMit said:
yo pc gamers.... if I build a gaming PC for like £500 now (shopping around for parts-not in a hurry)..will it become obsolete quickly/need upgrading 6months into the next console cycle?
Is the optimum time (price wise) build a PC linked to the console cycle?
That would really depend on what you built. A pre-built machine at that price would probably become obsolete within a couple of years, picking your parts and having a PC store assemble it for you, or assembling it yourself, and it could potentially last the next 8 - dependent on what the next gen brings out, what parts you are able to buy and for what price.
The optimum time to build a PC, IMO, is probably a few months after the start of a console cycle. You know what consoles are capable of, you know what your PC will need to be able to do for the next 8 years, and PC parts only ever drop in price whilst a new console, if the previous generation is anything to go by, will be as expensive if not more so than a new PC, dependent on where you live.
If you need help with choosing parts, make a thread on these forums and you'll get a fair bit of help. There are a few PC gamers here that enjoy the hardware side of things almost as much as the gaming itself [Well, maybe not but I do, and others have as much if not more knowledge in certain areas than me, so hey.].
Hero in a half shell said:
Does no one understand the whole point of "We need the next generation of consoles to come out NOW!"
Of course their market is shrinking and loosing out to PC games, because if games are made for them the developers end up getting limited by their crap user specs, whereas PCs can handle loads more content, calculations, better internet connectivity etc.
If you look at the Dreamcast's game sales they've never been worse. Does that mean that all consoles are dead? No, it means there are better games being made for more powerful alternative machines.
Hordes of developers have ended up announcing they were coming back to focus on PC releases in the past year or two, (some with their tails between their legs) because the consoles were to restricting on their game designs. Would these people have done that if there was a more powerful console to create games for? No.
What's killing console game sales are the outdated tech. Release the PS4, the Xbox Loop, the Wiiwhatever and sales will rocket back up to perfectly viable and profitable levels.
The point is he trying to make is yes, console sales will increase with the new cycle - temporarily - meanwhilst PC sales are just constantly going up. "Console game sales wax and wane with hardware cycles, but the PC market has seen growth year over year".
Even if a new console cycle is released, it will just cause a temporary increase to console sales, whilst also lowering the barrier to entry for PC gaming as if you're going to buy a new console, why not buy a new PC for the same price but with more power. Some people will have reasons to hold onto console gaming, others will decide not to bother and to join the so called Master Race instead, allowing them more control over their experience, and providing both a useful utility upgrade, and a gaming upgrade.
Whether this will come to pass or not still waits to be seen, but if the PC playerbase just constantly grows, whilst the console playerbase grows then shrinks, then grows, then shrinks, the future seems likely to favour the PC as a platform.
