Epic Exec Wants Consoles to Catch Up to PCs

[Jake Martinez]

The problem is, the highest of high end PC's are around $5000 and no console could ever afford to go near that price point. The developers of PC's can always push hardware and graphics in ways consoles couldn't dream of because high end PC's are used in fields that need that stuff that isn't just for video games.

For $5000, I can get at least 3 high-end PCs and monitors for them.

Where the hell do you buy your PC parts? Unless you are buying crap like Alienware, of course.

Sorry, that is not what I have.

That is what Totalbiscuit, who says he has to have that monster for his undisclosed job, has.

for 5 grand i'm sure he has either ordered right from a manufacturer (i have a mid range workstation that my company paid about 5 grand for simply for the service options) or he has a DIY with a bunch of SSD's, because my home computer (i7 cpu, 2x6800 ati, 16 gb ram, 320 gb ssd, 8 tb raid) only cost about 2000 and I paid through the nose (live in Australia)

Maybe he does a lot of video editing??? (He does have his own youtube channel), that would require a lot of SSD storage....which would be AWESOME.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

F*ck graphics, Sony and Microsoft need to really improve their online services, i.e some form of cross platform connectivity, preferably Steam support.

 

[AlexLoxate]

Yeah, this is pretty much a familiar story. PCs get new hardware much more frequently than consoles. Still, the longer the hardware is out there, the more chance there is for the developers to get use to it. Imagine whole console generations released annually.

PCs are indeed more powerful, but I can't help but feel that the resources are rarely used in the best possible way.


Also this:

F*ck graphics, Sony and Microsoft need to really improve their online services, i.e some form of cross platform connectivity, preferably Steam support.

They can gloat all they want about how they've brought UFC and ESPN to Xbox Live, but they have to face the fact that more game related services are needed.

 

[themerrygambit]

This is probably the most accurate PC gaming statement made to date. While consoles are nice and all PC gaming will always have a firm foothold in the industry.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

The problem is, the highest of high end PC's are around $5000 and no console could ever afford to go near that price point. The developers of PC's can always push hardware and graphics in ways consoles couldn't dream of because high end PC's are used in fields that need that stuff that isn't just for video games.

For $5000, I can get at least 3 high-end PCs and monitors for them.

Where the hell do you buy your PC parts? Unless you are buying crap like Alienware, of course.

Sorry, that is not what I have.

That is what Totalbiscuit, who says he has to have that monster for his undisclosed job, has.

for 5 grand i'm sure he has either ordered right from a manufacturer (i have a mid range workstation that my company paid about 5 grand for simply for the service options) or he has a DIY with a bunch of SSD's, because my home computer (i7 cpu, 2x6800 ati, 16 gb ram, 320 gb ssd, 8 tb raid) only cost about 2000 and I paid through the nose (live in Australia)

Maybe he does a lot of video editing??? (He does have his own youtube channel), that would require a lot of SSD storage....which would be AWESOME.

I guess, I don't know.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Third cloud gaming you mean like steam.

Nope. The true cloud would store everything there. There would be no 'local copy' or playing in offline mode. Your box would be a dumb terminal attached to the cloud. While I don't doubt valve is trying to position it's self for the future thankfully we are not there yet.

So more like web based gaming.

More like "lag based gaming" if you don't have premium internet.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

(i have a mid range workstation that my company paid about 5 grand for simply for the service options)

A purpose built graphics/animation workstation can easy hit $5k and beyond if you're not bolting together a hybrid. Going with workstation/server parts instead of desktop parts adds up, especially when you start adding in the price of workstation GPUs and a metric fuckton of RAM.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

idTech spent around two years to optimize Rage so that the consoles could support huge environments and run at 60FPS. Optimizing a modern game for 6 year old hardware drives up cost as well. New DX11 features like tessellation and new texture compressing algorithms actually lower the hassle of making good-looking games.

Yep. When people blather on about how consoles don't need a new gen because certain developers are still pushing the envelope with what can be achieved they're ignoring the added costs this puts on game development, in both time and money. Pushing something to the very limits of available resources takes a lot of trial and error, balancing compromises and long, long hours of using every trick in the book when you're not outright making new tricks to write up. Even the developers that are currently pushing the envelope would probably like to save themselves a couple of months and several million dollars.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

I HUGELY disagree. What the industry needs now is finding ways to lower the cost of making games, not new ways to increase production cost. Lower cost is good for everyone, lower prices for the gamer, more room to take risk for the developer, and less at stake for the publisher.

Yeah, well all the people who say a game is horrid if the graphics are up to Crysis-level ruined that. All they care about is graphics, which requires more power, and cost more...

And up, this is coming from Epic? The same Epic with the anti-PC pro-360 Cliffy B? Maybe you should tell him that and not us. Also tell him how all his beloved 360 games are getting pirated months before their release date, so his "we left the PC because of pirates" excuse doesn't work anymore...

 

[Nurb]

I'm a PC gamer, but seeing this just makes me wonder how much money I'd have to spend to get that quality of picture at 50-60 FPS. A game or engine that makes the more expensive current gen cards struggle at max settings doesn't seem as worth it to me, especially by the time people could afford midrange DX10 cards, the DX11 came out which wasn't supported. I'd like to play games without needing a video card that doubles as a space heater

 

[Kadamon]

Because the PS3 was just too cheap. Honestly, it's starting to reach a gap where the money to buy a console and it's games is about equal to BUYING A GOOD COMPUTER. Except I don't throw out my computer every few years.

 

[TestSubject4]

I've seen a few posts on here about how slow the processor stats and how small an amount of RAM consoles have. This is a pretty weak argument, This Generations Consoles (and the next) don't require all of the power and Memory a PC needs because they don't have a Huge lumbering OS to deal with in the background running all the other shit needed to keep them going (only running set Hardware and features etc.) Yes they cannot be upgraded and do require throwing eventually, but the reality is not a hell of a lot of people to go to the trouble of getting a knowledge of how computers work and what the hell all the numbers and stats mean. Choosing between a lot of parts like video cards, sound cards, processors, motherboards and so on is just not going to appeal at all.

Consoles have brought gaming to masses and are going to stick around for while, (side note: People claiming Phones are going to kill consoles... Lol, that is all)

 

[JeanLuc761]

Ironically, your PC has an even shorter lifespan than a console, because you have to keep buying shit for it.

Not completely accurate. It's been 3 years since my last upgrade and it was 5 years before that. My last upgrade was because my PC was far below the current generation, and my next upgrade will be when the same thing happens to the next generation.

If you build your PC properly, it is perfectly feasible to get a good 3-6 years between upgrades, depending on how much you're able to spend and how up to date you want to be.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Epic's Mark Rein wants console manufactures to add a lot more power to the next generation of consoles. He thinks that gaming PCs have "shot past" consoles, and hopes to see the gap close a little when the next wave of hardware arrives.

Seriously? He only just worked that out? My 2-3 year old PC hardware is magnitudes more powerful than any current gen console. A current GTX 580 would out-perform 5 PS3s and 5 360s combined. Current consoles are long overdue for retirement, having held gaming development back a good 2+ years already.

The tragedy though is that the only games available for PC now are indie games, low-overhead MMOs and console ports. I can't even bear to think about the UI for Skyrim, it's too painful.

Saying that, at this point it's probably worth waiting a year or so for new hardware. Windows 8, DX12 and nVidia/ATi's next hardware platform are worth waiting for. I'd rather wait and benefit after that point. Any console released in the next year will be behind-the-technological curve by the end of 2012. At least if it's built on the next gen of tech it will last a good deal longer. Another tragedy is that Skyrim will also be "last gen" after barely more than a year of its release :-(

 

[n19h7m4r3]

Ironically, your PC has an even shorter lifespan than a console, because you have to keep buying shit for it.

Where do you get this info from?!

I have about 5 years between my new pc builds and not ONE has ever been a High end system except for my current one. Which I also use for lots of programming, after effects and editing.

Jeez my friend still has an old Athlon 64, Dual-core system with a 4870 512MB ( His old 8800GTX 320mb died last year) and 2gb ddr2 644mhz.

Yet he played crysis, crysis 2, the witcher 2 very easily. He's only looking to upgrade again now and his budget is ?500, which will easily get him a new system since he can keep the HDDs, chassis, PSU, mouse+keyboard, speakers, monitor and graphics card.

People seriously need to stop with all this crap about them being outdated so quickly or that they cost over 1000 for the high end system.

Unless you buy overpriced under-performing OEM systems you're fine in the long run.

 

[YunikoYokai5]

See this console vs PC war...annoys me.

PCs and consoles have their own advantages. I haven't upgraded my 8-9 year old PC because 1) it was too expensive for me back then to upgrade (being a high school student) and 2) since money has been more available to me, my pc is now so old (Still single core processor) I need to buy a new PC because no new hardware is compatible with it...which will cost me more than what my console cost me.

Consoles are easier for me. Heck, I'm still using my Gamecube with no problems and my PS2 is kicking along nicely (since my PS3 is one of those PS3s which is picky about PS1 games). I prefer consoles because I find gamepads easier to use (and I know you can use them on PCs, but I have no idea where you can buy adapters in the UK), you don't need to cough up every 5-6 years for new parts, graphics mean very little to me, I still play gameboy colour games and PS1 games, and the workability of consoles doesn't mean I'm looking at the back of the box trying to remember my PCs specs because I KNOW it will work on my console.

 

[FallenMessiah88]

Well, graphics aren't everything. There is so much more to a game than just how pretty it looks. Sure its always exciting to see what technology can accomplish in terms of graphics, but it shoudln't be the ONE thing defining whether a game is good.

As for the whole: "Don't forget every game that's ultimately built is built on a PC. PCs are always going to be the tools through which all games get made"

Well duh! I seriously doubt that you are going to find that many console gamers, who seriously believe that games can be made on anything else than a PC.

Why bother? PC's are just going to shoot past consoles again in a matter of months. Why not simply make games for PC and forget all about consoles?

Microsoft and Sony make money on consoles and they want you to buy them. It doesn't mean it's a good idea to do that. Consoles are exactly what's killing gaming. Think about it. This motion control crap came from consoles, advertisements in games came from consoles, exclusive pre-orders and payed DLC came from consoles. Everything we hate about gaming today happened because this generation of consoles made gaming mainstream. And what's even worse, they are slowly preparing us for cloud gaming!

I can't even imagine what kind of shit they'll come up with for the next generation of consoles. But whatever it is it won't be good. Of course it will be advertized as the best thing since sliced bread and a lot of people will fall for that. Just so they can squeeze even more money out of people who are already paying too much. Most games are not worth $60 anyway, and you shouldn't have to pay to be able to play your games online (Xbox Live) when you already bought your multiplayer game for $60!

No, consoles will not die nor SHOULD they die. That should only happen once the market (i.e. the consumers) stops playing on consoles altogether, or when it becomes too unprofitable a business for the manufacturers.

To me, what's killing gaming is not the developers, the publishers or the industry itself. Its the community. Im tired of this stupid platform war. Im tired of this whole "GLORIOUS PC GAMING MASTER RACE" and "DIRTY CONSOLE PEASANTS" business. Mostly because I've been having this discussion everyday, for the better part of a year now and im just TIRED of it!

Sorry for my little rant there, just needed to get that out of my system.