Didn't moviebob do a big picture on this topic, pc gameing as in sitting in a chair is dieing, but pic games are not, because the pc is going moble and with that, you can game anywhere you can take it.
Poll: PC Gaming Future?
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I think testing and optimizing for PC isn't testing each and every PC configuration under the sun. They pick a few common setups and the lowest end minimum requirement/recommended and test those. Then they deal with any other problems that crop up after the game is released. Which usually isn't much since most PCs these days have pretty similar setups. Not like the old days when there were 7 different graphic card manufacturers and 10 different sound card makers.AD-Stu said:
I really how first you perpetuate with genuine hyperbole one of the biggest myths of PC gaming and then call yourself an avid PC gamer so to be honest I am assuming this a bit of a troll/flame bait topic but whatever not much else is happening.
Also feel free to skip this as it will be long.
First off no it is not dying nor will it die in the near future. If you would have a look around you would realise that console have become more like PCs with every passing generation that they will eventually just become gaming rigs with fixed hardware thus making them redundant.
Desktops may be decreasing in prominence but even then they will always exist. People are always talking about trying to centralise media well you know what the desktop already has that done for you and has done for years I mean you can even hook it up to a TV or use a Monitor depending on room size. All that into consideration and for serious people desktops will always be used as it is just more power no ifs, ands or buts.
PC gaming is evolving to include other things but not be dominated by them. Stuff like Facebook "games"(there are some real ones if you look) and Tablet gaming which is an extension of mobile gaming and this isn't even including Laptops. Sure my laptop is not great but it gets the job done. Dawn of War 2 Retribution may be on the lowest of the low settings but the load times are also low along with decent FPS. Nothing to complain about. That is part of PC gaming the ability to be flexible and up scale and down scale things but this does lead to other problems like troubleshooting I can live with that.
PCs are cheaper in the long run. The games are cheaper and you only have to upgrade once in a gen to keep up with modern standard of gaming. Sure you can upgrade more but it is unneeded. The costs of games on PC are ridiculously lower than console games so if you are a serious gamer you are probably cost wise better off with a PC. Say if you spent 1,000 of your currency($/?/£) at the start of this gen(I will be working with ?t) you will not have to have upgraded your PC. Even then very few people do this from scratch and this would have included monitor and OS. If you really want to run everything at max then you will need an upgrade my old PC was half that price and it can still do low settings so an optimised purpose built PC would still be hitting around mid settings.
This is also taking an average of 5 new games(first hand) a year which is about 3/4 of my new purchase average.
Ok so that is at max ?1,000 on a PC. Xbox cost ?350ish at launch and if you want to play Live that is roughly ?50*6 years which is another ?300. Then by serious gamer you buy a fair bit of games that is new games Xbox games where I am used to be ?70+ new so I'll assume an average of ?60(As games are now around 50-45). 5*60*6=1,800 over 6 years on games. While on PC new games can be anywhere between ?50(Cod) and ?25(my collectors Edition of DoW2 Ret) so we'll take average and rounded up price of ?40. 5*40*6=1,200 so on games alone and disregarding XBL that is ?600 saved. This isn't including buy a new Xbox which for me was needed.
Xbox in total with a standard(non hd tv) is 350+300+ 600 surplus on game cost=1,250. Add on 200 if you want to include HD tv as the comp does include a monitor and OS.
Now I will not included Wii as that is cheaper and since many don't consider it a "real" console and lack of games I will omit it but say that the Wii does work out cheaper than PC by a bit around 200ish but this depends entirely on how many peripherals you buy.
PS 3 was ?500 at launch and games have averaged at about ?60 maybe a bit less I don't own a PS3 I have a 360 and PC so as far as know games were 60 at launch and are now around 50ish. So 55*5*6= 1650. So 500+450 surplus = 950 and this is once again not including HD TV(add 200) peripherals and I don't know anyone who hasn't bought at least 1 extra controller or some sort of peripheral. So PS 3 is slightly cheaper in this scenario but in reality it is equal.
Now I know I have made assumptions in that if you go into a crusade over them I won't reply to you. I am adding in the cost of HD TV although done separately as that computer includes a lot of unnecessary costs as well like monitor and casing as everyone has a PC(not so much on HD TV) so most parts are then anyway. All that needs changed to bring it up to gaming standard is Video Card and Ram and maybe a CPU change and a small possible change of Motherboard or PSU but your computer would need to be quite old for that to be required.
All that being said on price consoles do have advantages on price as the are low cost in short and low cost if you buy a few games. In reality the only cost advantage either has is entirely dependant on how many games you buy and neither is a truly better system.
On input devices well the PC always has the advantage as anything a console can do in this department a PC can do. No one can complain about keyboard and mouse when you can plug in any controller into a PC all you might need is something to pick up a wireless signal.
Piracy is something we can't quantify and say either is worse. On PC we have much closer to the real figures than consoles as people who pirate on PC tend to get off their asses and find their own torrents and cracks. Console pirates get someone else to crack a console which they do not use for online play(usually) and then buy games from that person. So every time a console game is pirated that can be sold 100s or 1,000s of more times for that one download while this does not tend to happen on PC as there is no market for it. Even taking that into consider this is pure speculation.
Sure we have the Witcher dev saying his game is pirated 4.5 mil times but we also have console games leaked before launch and PC version if you follow Escapist news and Microsoft saying they banned 1mil xboxes for being pirate consoles. That is shocking when you consider that it is thought and believed that most pirating happens offline on consoles. So if that is a minority of the pirates the true scale seems a lot similar to PC games.
Em yeah I think that's me done for the night.
Also feel free to skip this as it will be long.
First off no it is not dying nor will it die in the near future. If you would have a look around you would realise that console have become more like PCs with every passing generation that they will eventually just become gaming rigs with fixed hardware thus making them redundant.
Desktops may be decreasing in prominence but even then they will always exist. People are always talking about trying to centralise media well you know what the desktop already has that done for you and has done for years I mean you can even hook it up to a TV or use a Monitor depending on room size. All that into consideration and for serious people desktops will always be used as it is just more power no ifs, ands or buts.
PC gaming is evolving to include other things but not be dominated by them. Stuff like Facebook "games"(there are some real ones if you look) and Tablet gaming which is an extension of mobile gaming and this isn't even including Laptops. Sure my laptop is not great but it gets the job done. Dawn of War 2 Retribution may be on the lowest of the low settings but the load times are also low along with decent FPS. Nothing to complain about. That is part of PC gaming the ability to be flexible and up scale and down scale things but this does lead to other problems like troubleshooting I can live with that.
PCs are cheaper in the long run. The games are cheaper and you only have to upgrade once in a gen to keep up with modern standard of gaming. Sure you can upgrade more but it is unneeded. The costs of games on PC are ridiculously lower than console games so if you are a serious gamer you are probably cost wise better off with a PC. Say if you spent 1,000 of your currency($/?/£) at the start of this gen(I will be working with ?t) you will not have to have upgraded your PC. Even then very few people do this from scratch and this would have included monitor and OS. If you really want to run everything at max then you will need an upgrade my old PC was half that price and it can still do low settings so an optimised purpose built PC would still be hitting around mid settings.
This is also taking an average of 5 new games(first hand) a year which is about 3/4 of my new purchase average.
Ok so that is at max ?1,000 on a PC. Xbox cost ?350ish at launch and if you want to play Live that is roughly ?50*6 years which is another ?300. Then by serious gamer you buy a fair bit of games that is new games Xbox games where I am used to be ?70+ new so I'll assume an average of ?60(As games are now around 50-45). 5*60*6=1,800 over 6 years on games. While on PC new games can be anywhere between ?50(Cod) and ?25(my collectors Edition of DoW2 Ret) so we'll take average and rounded up price of ?40. 5*40*6=1,200 so on games alone and disregarding XBL that is ?600 saved. This isn't including buy a new Xbox which for me was needed.
Xbox in total with a standard(non hd tv) is 350+300+ 600 surplus on game cost=1,250. Add on 200 if you want to include HD tv as the comp does include a monitor and OS.
Now I will not included Wii as that is cheaper and since many don't consider it a "real" console and lack of games I will omit it but say that the Wii does work out cheaper than PC by a bit around 200ish but this depends entirely on how many peripherals you buy.
PS 3 was ?500 at launch and games have averaged at about ?60 maybe a bit less I don't own a PS3 I have a 360 and PC so as far as know games were 60 at launch and are now around 50ish. So 55*5*6= 1650. So 500+450 surplus = 950 and this is once again not including HD TV(add 200) peripherals and I don't know anyone who hasn't bought at least 1 extra controller or some sort of peripheral. So PS 3 is slightly cheaper in this scenario but in reality it is equal.
Now I know I have made assumptions in that if you go into a crusade over them I won't reply to you. I am adding in the cost of HD TV although done separately as that computer includes a lot of unnecessary costs as well like monitor and casing as everyone has a PC(not so much on HD TV) so most parts are then anyway. All that needs changed to bring it up to gaming standard is Video Card and Ram and maybe a CPU change and a small possible change of Motherboard or PSU but your computer would need to be quite old for that to be required.
All that being said on price consoles do have advantages on price as the are low cost in short and low cost if you buy a few games. In reality the only cost advantage either has is entirely dependant on how many games you buy and neither is a truly better system.
On input devices well the PC always has the advantage as anything a console can do in this department a PC can do. No one can complain about keyboard and mouse when you can plug in any controller into a PC all you might need is something to pick up a wireless signal.
Piracy is something we can't quantify and say either is worse. On PC we have much closer to the real figures than consoles as people who pirate on PC tend to get off their asses and find their own torrents and cracks. Console pirates get someone else to crack a console which they do not use for online play(usually) and then buy games from that person. So every time a console game is pirated that can be sold 100s or 1,000s of more times for that one download while this does not tend to happen on PC as there is no market for it. Even taking that into consider this is pure speculation.
Sure we have the Witcher dev saying his game is pirated 4.5 mil times but we also have console games leaked before launch and PC version if you follow Escapist news and Microsoft saying they banned 1mil xboxes for being pirate consoles. That is shocking when you consider that it is thought and believed that most pirating happens offline on consoles. So if that is a minority of the pirates the true scale seems a lot similar to PC games.
Em yeah I think that's me done for the night.
You're on the Escapist sometimes we forget what a joke is you might need to specify if it something that some people try as an argument.theheroofaction said:
Console cycles are too long.
The technology in them becomes stagnant too quickly.
Games advance at a faster rate and have to hold themselves back, in a sense.
PC gaming, however, evolves alongside the games, some times faster then they do.
Given that when the current generation of consoles came out they were priced at around $800 for a PS3, you will now have, for the first time, price parity between the two. You can pick up a good PC for that much money these days that will leave you with a solid platform to improve upon. A console cannot do that.
Sure, a console will be able to play everything in its cycle, but there are many holes in that logic, just look at Skyrim on the PS3. The console should be able to handle the game, that is what consumers have paid for, and yet it just can't.
In my mind, what we see as console gaming is under threat. The XBoxs, Wiis and PS3s of today are a dying breed with perhaps another cycle, maybe two, left in them. After that, it is anyone's guess. I believe that "portable" gaming will probably take the lead as the highest grossing/medium with the largest audience, but until those things reach power parity with a desktop, when they can handle games of the same scope and size, I don't think PC gaming is under any threat.
The technology in them becomes stagnant too quickly.
Games advance at a faster rate and have to hold themselves back, in a sense.
PC gaming, however, evolves alongside the games, some times faster then they do.
Given that when the current generation of consoles came out they were priced at around $800 for a PS3, you will now have, for the first time, price parity between the two. You can pick up a good PC for that much money these days that will leave you with a solid platform to improve upon. A console cannot do that.
Sure, a console will be able to play everything in its cycle, but there are many holes in that logic, just look at Skyrim on the PS3. The console should be able to handle the game, that is what consumers have paid for, and yet it just can't.
In my mind, what we see as console gaming is under threat. The XBoxs, Wiis and PS3s of today are a dying breed with perhaps another cycle, maybe two, left in them. After that, it is anyone's guess. I believe that "portable" gaming will probably take the lead as the highest grossing/medium with the largest audience, but until those things reach power parity with a desktop, when they can handle games of the same scope and size, I don't think PC gaming is under any threat.
Console gaming actually will probably be blended with PC gaming given that the next Xbox is going to have windows 8 on it. I'm hoping for consoles with modules that you can upgrade as time goes on (Ram, video card, wireless card, HDD etc) so consoles can be made more affordable by adding what the user wants rather than a bunch of junk that never gets used.
The only thing is while that would be great in theory I don't think it would ever work in practise as if you look console hdds more specifically the xbox ones and compare their prices to others on PC they are way overpriced.Snotnarok said:
Because then everyone would be forced to play on inferior hardware, and some great styles of games that don't survive on other platforms would die out, and the overall quality of games could quite possible degrade further as gaming is focused more on the 'casual' audience, and more and more is sacrificed to make games casual.Twilight_guy said:
You seem to be implying that the PC is the old tech, whilst consoles and mobiles are the new tech. It is the opposite. My PC is built from technology developed this year, last year, and the year before that that I bought and put together. Consoles are 6 year old tech. Mobiles run on new technology, but it is weaker than PC technology as it has to be made small enough to fit into a handheld device, and not generate a ton of heat.
Though yes, if PC gaming dies I would try to get into other gaming. I probably wouldn't be able to, I tried consoles and hated them and they are the closest to PC at the moment, but there would be alternatives. Hell, I could even get a life if it happened (/sarcasm, I'll never get a life)
Yep, people don't seem to understand that PC gaming is alive and strong, its just not the centre of attention for everyone in the world, nor every developer in the world.
Eh, I don't find there is too much wrong with being elitist, so long as you're not a snob about it. Some people would say that me saying PCs are new hardware and consoles are old as being elitist. I doubt that it is, but either way I'm not saying that consoles are shit because of that, I'm just saying PCs have better specs and are able to do more things.
But yes, everyone who makes these threads like these should be playing games instead of whining about how that game they should be playing shouldn't exist because PC gaming is dying. Far more 'productive' use of time. Now, off to my games.
I don't think PC gaming is going anywhere. I do think it's changing, though. The days of the average PC gamer owning a (ideally self-built) tower are ending, I think. PC games just aren't as demanding anymore. You can get by pretty well with a half-decent laptop these days.
I sort of see a reversal happening. Consoles have usually been more associated with casual gaming, and PC gaming with the hardcore end of things. I think that will reverse. As PC gaming becomes more accessible (in great part due to hardware being less of a big deal), I think it will increasingly become the default choice for most people. They already have computers, and the chances of their computers being good for gaming is increasing constantly. Compare that to consoles, which are still basically dedicated gaming machines... you have to be more into gaming to buy a console than you have to be to install a game on the computer you already own.
Just a guess, of course
I sort of see a reversal happening. Consoles have usually been more associated with casual gaming, and PC gaming with the hardcore end of things. I think that will reverse. As PC gaming becomes more accessible (in great part due to hardware being less of a big deal), I think it will increasingly become the default choice for most people. They already have computers, and the chances of their computers being good for gaming is increasing constantly. Compare that to consoles, which are still basically dedicated gaming machines... you have to be more into gaming to buy a console than you have to be to install a game on the computer you already own.
Just a guess, of course
It will be less popular in the mainstream market, but it will remain.
Some day, consoles will become closer to pcs... with limited functionality and less bang for your buck. When that day comes, pc will rise to the forefront again.
Some day, consoles will become closer to pcs... with limited functionality and less bang for your buck. When that day comes, pc will rise to the forefront again.
My knee-jerk (extra emphases on jerk (ha, ha jerk)) response as I read:Joccaren said:
You not allow to sell your opinion as fact calling one inferior hardware is not a valid statement to make. You can compare the specs and take facts from that but I'll just retort that you can't predict the future and thus you don't know how PCs and consoles will stack up in 10 years or 5 years or 15 years or however long the OP is looking.
Prove to me that consoles apply to a casual audience. Define casual. Tell me that the 13 year old jerk on X-box live are casuals. I think you're wrong.
I'm not implying anything about the physical age of the technology so much as pointing out that the idea that consoles are killing the PC is wrong because Consoles have been around for just as long as neither has died yet thus one market cannot be slowly killing the other unless its a process so so that it takes decades in which case, judging form the current PC market, you won't have to worry about it in your lifetime.
I have an undying boiling hatred for elitists. It stems from my great displeasure at fanboys. Also, technically saying one is better is saying the other is inferior by default. If one is good then the other must be less good.
Anyways, Be sure not to conflate specs with overall quality or significance since there is more to games and systems then raw numbers.
PC gaming is IN NO way in danger. You can talk all you want about how processor tech is slowing, but consoles are on the verge of losing out to iPhones. The bottom line is, consoles are the only ones losing here. Tech will get smaller, but a 8 year refresh cycle is going to lose out two a 1 year refresh cycle any day, especially when in some cases faster refresh cycles on apple and some android devices are beating out console refresh cycles on generation to generation advances. It just depends on which way the market goes- with consoles at their current size being beaten by multi-function mobiles, and consoles being inferior to multi-function desktop devices. I expect the most immediate danger for PCs is that in a faltering console market, microsoft (assuming windows phone stays as non-relevant as it is now) tries to move their PC gamers to their console. I could go on about controller scheme superiority and independent development, but there is really no need to.
There are lots of ways to prove that PCs are superior gaming devices. Is it people saying that X users are worse then Y users that you have a problem with?Twilight_guy said:
The only people claim this are people who haven't built a PC. There are videos of monkeys putting in Video Card and what not it isn't that hard and also no one ever says upgrades require every two weeks. That is a myth. Upgrading would be just as hard either way as you would have to open up the console/PC and change the parts.Snotnarok said:
The only difficult things are making sure you get the right RAM and putting in the Heatsink but even that isn't too bad. I mean there are whole websites and many people on this site who will help you make it.
I believe consoles will merge with portable devices and PC's will continue to be a platform on their own as it is simple logic that more space means more power.
Or the other choice, consoles will merge with PC's.
In any case I believe the power of the PC will be preserved.
It worked the first time I booted it and has been working since.
Or the other choice, consoles will merge with PC's.
In any case I believe the power of the PC will be preserved.
Really, I built my computer last month and it was very easy. Had never done it before, had no idea how all the different parts looked and all it took was a video guide, the motherboard manual and six hours of time.
It worked the first time I booted it and has been working since.
With each new generation of Consoles, They are become less like a machine just for gaming, and more like a multi-media platform. Which is precisely what a PC is. In addition to that, Live streaming and cloud gaming is becoming more and more prominent. Like On-live and Steam.
As it stands, PC's can do all of these things at maximum potential. So what's to worry about?
Consoles have never been able to catch up to PC's so they have to evolve into something similar.
A box that lets you play games, watch movies (either through Netflix, Disc Mediums, or Downloads), TV, internet access, photo/video sharing..etc etc. Guess what...that's a computer.
Consoles, in classic format, are on their way out. It's inevitable. It's Progress.
As it stands, PC's can do all of these things at maximum potential. So what's to worry about?
Consoles have never been able to catch up to PC's so they have to evolve into something similar.
A box that lets you play games, watch movies (either through Netflix, Disc Mediums, or Downloads), TV, internet access, photo/video sharing..etc etc. Guess what...that's a computer.
Consoles, in classic format, are on their way out. It's inevitable. It's Progress.
half the references are based on rumors that dont have actual hard data and the damn wikipedia source was flagged for 1. not meeting wikipedia's quality standards 2. not being factually accurate 3. containing raw unverified dataUltratwinkie said:
like why bother doing the extra uneeded work if ur gonna half ass it anyway.. damn kids