Game Stash: The Death of PC Gaming

[octafish]

Don't sweat it, while there is still an Eastern Europe there will still be wacky and imaginative (and overly ambitious) PC exclusives. Re: hardware compatability I'd just like to mention Fallout 3, though to be fair they couldn't get that running smoothly on the consoles either. As I always say, when I can run Photoshop on a console, I'll buy that console, until then, octafish is a PC exclusive.

 

[Treblaine]

Like I said, the indie scene will survive on PC because that's one of the few markets in which it's viable. Of course, Live Arcade, PSN, and WiiWare are slowly changing that, but that's another story. My point is that the PC used to be the focus for huge blockbuster efforts, and now it's only a home for indie games and console ports.

But STILL console ports are better on PC than on their original console. Why play at 720p and 30fps when you can easily play at 1080p and 60fps? Why settle for P2P multiplayer when you can have user-run dedicated servers?

And who is to say if it is a port from console-to- PC or if it is actually the other way around, and the consoles are just getting a neutered version to bulk up the publishers bottom line. Call of Duty started as PC exclusive and in this modern game development of simultaneous co-development across PC, PS3 and 360... who is to say if one is a port or another?

Even Modern Warfare 2, to spite missing so many PC-standard features it's best played on PC.

 

[matrix3509]

Its situations like Steve is describing that make me thank God for companies like Blizzard. They have never forgotten their roots and who made them successful to begin with, unlike so many other developers.

Hell, even Bioware, though they have moved to consoles somewhat, have not forgotten their roots, they still make first rate games for the PC and even give you incentive to buy for the PC, unlike other developers who just release some shitty port, with bugs out the ass, and horrible controls.

 

[BboyTeddyBear]

there will be a never ending cycle. The way i see it is that you'll always have some group decide to make a game for the pc. let's make a scenario. the first group will be called group A. They make a game they go AAA with it, they get published by big company like Activision. Now say the sequel is coming up, but Activision wants to move it more towards console and pressures you from doing anything otherwise. so group A is now primarily for console. Now group B see's a lacking for PC love and starts to build games for PC. and then launches under the indie flag. and the cycle continues.

I feel there's always going to be people who will develop on the PC because that is how we program. We don't program on the Ps3 or the Xbox360 or the Wii. we program on the PC first. True maybe the games made for PC aren't all going to be AAA, but then you'll get some company saying "oh look...a bunch of gamers waiting and not having consoles" and then marketing goes back because there's an untapped market.

Where there's space 'stuffs' will flow. In this case where there's a market whether dead or not there will be games or 'stuffs' going in that direction

(sorry for grammar and what not)

 

[sosolidshoe]

Sadly, I think PC gaming IS in serious danger at the moment. Look at how many good games will be released by the end of this year on the PC, and then consider how many of those are just direct ports of console titles(which works sometimes and not others), then consider how many will have abusive DRM schemes or no mod support. That should give you an idea how little developers value the PC market at the moment(I believe this is mostly down to the industry beginning to swallow their own bullshit about piracy, frankly).

Indie games are great, and they can be really fun to play, but I've yet to have the kind of experience playing an indie game that I can have with a pro-developed game. I'm not even talking about modern AAA blockbusters either; I've still not played an indie game which can even come close to Baldur's Gate, or the original Battlefield. I don't think it's through lack of talent, simply lack of resources.

What PC gaming, and indie development in particular needs, is a modern, fully open source development toolkit and graphics engine. Something that rivals the pro devkits, with say a two year timelag in capability. Without that, I can't see indie games reaching the same level of quality and presentation even of games from a decade ago.

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

If PC gaming ever died out I know a few series that would die out because there is no way in hell they would ever be playable on a console. The Total War series and the Hearts of Iron series just off the top of my head. Imagine playing Napoleon Total War on the xbox 360. It would be worse then Justin Bieber mixed with Twilight.

World of Warcraft on any console would also be a hilarious and excruciating experience.

OT: The ironic about all this when I think about my country is that in the 80s and early 90s, although consoles of he time were "hot shit" everybody saw PC as the god of the gaming platforms. Boys in my school would even say that you were nothing of a gamer if you didnt own a PC by the age of 12.
And who are now the ocnsole gamers who have their PC/laptop/mac in a corner just to check on mail and the casual net surfing, if not covered in dust and outdated by years? Men in their late twenties to early 40s, the same who worshipped PCs in a distant past as the supreme ruler of videogames now turned their back on it as an useless and worthless platform.

But the question persists, who is to "blame" for this shift, the consumers or the developers?! Something around the middle and late 90s happening with the 32/64 bit consoles release that I am personally yet to fully understand.

Pcs wont die, even if good PC gaming dies. The day consoles will do the same as PCs they will no longer be consoles but actually PCs.

 

[Skizle]

To me the biggest problem wiht PC gaming is the cost. Its easy for someone to drop $300-$400 for a console, but for a PC we are talking a minimum of $600+. That right there is a deal killer for most people. I put a grand into mine and that really hurt me, but it was well worth it in the end. Not many people would say otherwise

Pcs wont die, even if good PC gaming dies. The day consoles will do the same as PCs they will no longer be consoles but actually PCs.

Consoles are PC. Compair the specs of a PS3 or 360 and they just as good as some of the Pc people play on. Consoles are just computers with a shitty OS in reality.

 

[Sebenko]

Consoles are PC. Compair the specs of a PS3 or 360 and they just as good as some of the Pc people play on. Consoles are just computers with a shitty OS in reality.

And old hardware. Give it a few years and we might see some stuff moving back to PC as the hardware gets older. Not sure why, buy we can all cling to hope, right?

I just hope Starcraft II gets some serious sales. I'm gonna buy it. Have you seen what's being done with mods already? and the game isn't even out!

 

[Bloodstain]

And on ANY system it is NOT HARD AT ALL to find the good games. Novices are novices, I know, but they aren't MORONS. They can use the internet, there are SO MANY resources to help them find the best games, you can't go 5 paces on the internet without finding some one's opinion, a top 10 list, some article on great games, Yahtzee has given so much advice on games.

Still, these are only games that most people like. What about niche games one could like? For example, someone loves solving puzzles and riddles and reading books.
What would you recommend?

The perfect games for this person would be the URU/MYST series. It provides challenging puzzles while providing an astonishing atmosphere.

However, I doubt you'd find these games on many "top 10" lists, because there aren't that many who like such games.
"Top 10" lists are good for mainstream players, but if you're new to gaming and want something unusual, you won't find it quickly.

Or have you ever heard of URU: Ages beyond MYST?

 

[deahamlet]

I wish game developers would use the strength a pc has to offer akin to Dragon Age. That game is so much better with a bar of action/spell/items slots using a mouse than the ridiculous controller. I feel like RPGs have dumbed down on consoles just because you're limited to 4 action buttons. Just look at Fable series, the spells become a joke with their system. sigh

I got a pc gaming tower just for RPGs. A lot more options even if they're older games.

 

[DTWolfwood]

nice one. Im thinking the day they perfect RTS and MMOs on the console, the PC might take a bigger dive in the market. But i'm pretty sated that a console controller will never have enough buttons to make an RTS feel right on console, at least in my foreseeable future.

 

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

"The open hardware environment means driver and compatibility issues, which can be very frustrating at the end of a long day when you just want to sit down and unwind with your favorite game."

If this happens to you, I'd guess you're on a mac. The only issues I've ever experienced were when I knew I had an inferior laptop and I just wanted to see if the orange box would run on it. Or when I was 8 and bought a game for windows 95 that I couldn't even run on my 3.1. Problem solved after taking it to a friend's.

You see, here´s the consoles advantage; With a console you don´t have to wonder whether game X will run or not. You don´t have to come up with alternate solutions, like taking the game to friend´s, to play the damn thing. Console is convenient, because all you need to do to play a game is to turn on the console (and naturally put in a game), and that convenience can be a major deciding factor, if the potential buyer isn´t really that tech savvy (as an average consumer isn´t).

Of course, a rigid structure like that comes with its own set of flaws, like aging. PC is easier to keep up-to-date. whereas a console is stuck with its system until a newer consoles comes along, and that usually takes time.

 

[SultanP]

Now, I'm not sure if you meant something else than that it has only been released on PC, when you called The Sims the king of PC exclusives, but I'll be damned if I know what it could be.
So I figured I'd point out that both The Sims [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/strategy/sims/index.html], The Sims 2 [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/strategy/thesims2/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames%3Btitle%3B1], and some addons have been released on console, and that I had a mobile phone with The Sims on it once. Can't remember what number that was, but yeah...

 

[Pendragon9]

Well, I can see PC gaming getting a revival, but I'd never turn completely to the PC for my gaming needs.

It can't do everything, despite the rabid barking of the PC community.

 

[mrwoo112]

"The open hardware environment means driver and compatibility issues, which can be very frustrating at the end of a long day when you just want to sit down and unwind with your favorite game."

If this happens to you, I'd guess you're on a mac. The only issues I've ever experienced were when I knew I had an inferior laptop and I just wanted to see if the orange box would run on it. Or when I was 8 and bought a game for windows 95 that I couldn't even run on my 3.1. Problem solved after taking it to a friend's.

You see, here´s the consoles advantage; With a console you don´t have to wonder whether game X will run or not. You don´t have to come up with alternate solutions, like taking the game to friend´s, to play the damn thing. Console is convenient, because all you need to do to play a game is to turn on the console (and naturally put in a game), and that convenience can be a major deciding factor, if the potential buyer isn´t really that tech savvy (as an average consumer isn´t).

Of course, a rigid structure like that comes with its own set of flaws, like aging. PC is easier to keep up-to-date. whereas a console is stuck with its system until a newer consoles comes along, and that usually takes time.

I can see your point, and what you say is true. But it?s not as bad as everyone puts it. I would say 90% of all games i buy work first try. The other 10% (Like metro 2033) don't and you have to poke a few times with a stick to get going and that?s the games all the console players hear about.

Its not like every time I buy a game I have to recode the thing to get it to go.

 

[craddoke]

Consoles are stripped down PCs dedicated to a single function, gaming. EBook readers are stripped down tablets dedicated to a single function, reading. EBook readers will almost certainly be wiped-out by multi-function tablets like the iPad/iPhone/Android device. Consoles are decimating the multi-function PC (although I agree that they'll never deliver a killing blow). To me, the console/PC situation looks like the more anomalous one and I can't decide if the reason for this inversion of commonsense is marketing, publisher greed, historical factors, consumers' cost-benefit analyses, or zombie virus.

 

[Steve Butts]

Now, I'm not sure if you meant something else than that it has only been released on PC, when you called The Sims the king of PC exclusives, but I'll be damned if I know what it could be.
So I figured I'd point out that both The Sims [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/strategy/sims/index.html], The Sims 2 [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/strategy/thesims2/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames%3Btitle%3B1], and some addons have been released on console, and that I had a mobile phone with The Sims on it once. Can't remember what number that was, but yeah...

I called The Sims the king of mainstream success on the PC. It's far and away the best-selling and quite possibly the most recognizable series the PC has ever seen.

 

[SultanP]

Now, I'm not sure if you meant something else than that it has only been released on PC, when you called The Sims the king of PC exclusives, but I'll be damned if I know what it could be.
So I figured I'd point out that both The Sims [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/strategy/sims/index.html], The Sims 2 [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/strategy/thesims2/index.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssimilargames&tag=similargames%3Btitle%3B1], and some addons have been released on console, and that I had a mobile phone with The Sims on it once. Can't remember what number that was, but yeah...

I called The Sims the king of mainstream success on the PC. It's far and away the best-selling and quite possibly the most recognizable series the PC has ever seen.

mainstream successes exclusive to the PC

top of page 2. Guess, I just read that part differently.

Anyway, you would be right in crowning The Sims the king, I think. It certainly did a lot to introduce new people to gaming, mainly younger women, I believe, but even people who had no interest in running the daily lives of their Sims were still having fun with a great house building game, and it let lots of people unleash their more sadistic sides and torture their sims by leaving them in pools without ladders, or rooms without doors. That's broad market appeal right there.