The Big Picture: PC Gaming Is Dead - Long Live PC Gaming!

shadowmagus

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Feb 2, 2011
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*grabs popcorn*

Wow Bob. You just called PC gaming dead on one of the biggest PC gaming hipster forums I know of, save reddit. Oh this is flame war is going to be of epic proportions.
 

templar1138a

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Dec 1, 2010
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This was a great episode. I grew up gaming on PCs, and not because my parents wouldn't get me a console; It was because I didn't WANT a console. Seriously, the side-scrollers of the SNES and the Sega Saturn didn't appeal to me in the slightest. It wasn't until the N64 and Ocarina of Time that I started console gaming.

I think another reason PC gaming is dying is because it isn't practical anymore. Computers are expensive, especially if you want to update enough to keep your graphics up to snuff with game requirements. I've had the same laptop for four and a half years. Between that, the fact that its performance degraded due to a system crash that required me to reinstall the operating system, and that it no longer can detect the CD/DVD drive, I decided to get an Xbox 360 towards the end of 2009.

Console gaming is preferable at this point because new consoles are only generated once per decade. If a game is released for a console, you KNOW your system will be up to snuff. Plus the Xbox is from Microsoft, so a number of games I would have wanted to play on a PC are going to be released on it.
 

CpnChaos

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Sep 20, 2010
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I can't wait to play those new-fangled "cybernetic-eyeball games"!

Yeah, this episode will probably cause some arguments (see doctoral thesis at #32), but I will agree with him. Heck, I'm surprised he didn't mention piracy as another factor for the decline for the PC.

At least, that's why I would want to avoid it.
 

alchmstlva

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Jul 23, 2010
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I honestly don't think PC gaming is dead yet. I think the only reason why PC is less popular than consoles is the need to constantly upgrade the hardware. But by no means is the PC "dead". It's just at a slow point.
 

dunnace

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Oct 10, 2008
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Oh yeah, PC gaming is dying, definitely.

*Opens steam, plays Mafia 2, eagerly awaits Portal 2, contemplates getting Shogun 2.*

You're right, there is no need for this device anymore.

*Decides to install the Oddworld games again, laughs heartily at the latest from TellTale*

Quite simply nobody supports the platform anymore.

*Asks brother how he's getting on with Dragon Age 2, discuss their excitement for the upcoming Witcher 2*
 

ZombieGenesis

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Apr 15, 2009
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Woodsey said:
...

That's why PC sales are up then. Why Steam continues to gain more users and money. Why motion controls are being put on the PC anyway (of course, plenty of the "hardcore" console gamers also moan to death about motion controls - and whilst Kinect has sold massively well, I'm pretty sure actual game sales for it are fairly pitiful). Not that motion controls are as accurate as a mouse and keyboard anyway. The whole Facebook thing is a DIFFERENT MARKET.

This video is a little bizarre. You're right, why would you keep all those things at a hub in your house, when you could buy 300 different appliances that all only do a few functions of it? Oh, wait...

And last time I checked, I'm pretty sure laptops were counted as PCs.

Oh, and if you installed IE and Office on a 360, you would have a basic PC. You're not rendering your old one useless, you're just building a slightly more limited one.
You touched on something I think really needs to be stressed in this kind of debate.

PC's are at the highest point they have ever been in history. More people own them now than ever have, they perform more functions now than have ever been done, and thanks to Steam the pc gaming market is actually the largest it's been since... forever as far as I know.
So to say that the computer is dead is pretty flawed. More reasonable to say that other appliances are becoming advanced enough to perform cerain PC functions- like web and email on phones for example.

Consoles though are a pretty bad contender for this. Sure, you can hook up a keyboard to a console, and IF the software (ie. Microsoft Word) ever became available you'd certainly be able to use it.
But... where would you keep the keyboard? On your lap? Awkward and uncomfortable, so a table would be a better idea. What about the screen? If you're sitting on a sofa and your television is across from you, you're not even going to be able to read what you're typing properly. You'd need to be close enough to the screen to practically use a word processing software. Congradulations, you're sitting at a computer.

Lastly, Laptops. When I say "PCs are at their peak" I mostly refer to laptops, because as we all know, masses of people own these. Your mum now likely owns one. Hell even my grandparents have one now, that wouldn't have happened a decade ago.

There are just some things that can't be argued against- and the fact that laptops and PCs have never been stronger is one of them. Now, PC GAMING, that's a different matter as attention has most definately switched over to consoles. But the PC as a machine? Laptops as a feature of every day life? That's not going anywhere.

Just something to think about.
 

binvjoh

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Sep 27, 2010
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I really don't know what to say.

I'm not angry and I'm not happy either.
What happends to PC gaming, or gaming general for that matter, during the next generation seems pretty much up in the air to me.

Thank you, Bob, you made my brain start working.
 

Sakurazaki1023

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Feb 15, 2010
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Saippua said:
Who uses a tablet? "Tablets" are just iPads and iPads are just laptops without a keyboard except less powerfull.
I'm typing on a Hybrid Tablet right now (a Fujitsu Lifebook T-series to be exact). It functions as a normal laptop, but has the capabilities of a tablet (except the screen is sensor based instead of a touch screen). It's required by my college's engineering program because of the ability to take notes, draw schematics, and annotate documents without needing a tablet attachment. It's by no means a gaming laptop, but it's powerful enough to play Crysis if I wanted to (and plenty powerful enough to play iPad games). Because of the amount of computing power needed for the tablet functions and 3D modeling software that I use, it's actually a pretty powerful machine when not in tablet mode.
 

Monsterfurby

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Mar 7, 2008
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PC game development is still the starting point for most one-person game programmers/designers. Because of the difficulty of developing for consoles (the company I work for does that, so believe you me when I tell you things can get difficult when hardware compatibility issues as you have in PC development get replaced by big-company-politics in console development), without an active indie PC game development community, many developments on consoles would not be happening.

Food for thought.
 

Void(null)

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Dec 10, 2008
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icame said:
Desktop PC's are certainly going away...but laptops aren't. Can't really see myself using a tablet for game design software >.>
Show me a laptop or mobile device with the power of a GTX 580?

Can gaming be done on portable devices? Certainly!
Can it be done with greater fidelity on a desktop for less cost? Absolutely!
 

Marudas

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Jul 8, 2010
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I laughed pretty hard when he said "Internet Explorer". I think I'll leave this debate alone, but what the last few episodes of this show (and the little article between Yahtzee/Extracredits/Bob) has proven to me, its that Bob should try to avoid discussing topics aside from comics, movies and television. It doesn't seem to go over well.
 

Zer0Saber

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Aug 20, 2008
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without PCs how will people store terabytes of porn, can you get utorrent on a tablet, and how will i burn blu-ray disks? (keep in mind I consider a laptop a PC, I don't get Bob's differentiation they can both do the same things.)
 

Wodan

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Feb 8, 2010
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O wow... I usually ignore "the big picture" but the bait was just too good to be left alone. Man I sure wish I just stayed away. Why do you even have a show like this bob? Anyone off the street could make better intellectual arguments than you. You contradict yourself left and right all over. PC's are dead but PC gaming is flourishing? Did you hear yourself when you were recording this? I get what your trying to get at, but I am sorry your wrong and your a fool for trying to hijack the "PC GAMING IS DEAD" phrase to try and convey your idea that PC's as we know it are dieing. Almost like terrible sensational reporting that a certain news outlet likes to abuse. I can go on longer, but I will stop here so I don't crit everyone with a wall of text larger than the one to keep the Mongolians out. Thanks again for reminding me to stay far away from anything you do.
 

SilverUchiha

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Dec 25, 2008
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I have yet to see FPS done right with the new motion controls. Wii has had several years to do it and Metroid Prime 3 was the only good use of FPS controls for wii. Maybe Kinect and Move can prove me wrong in the coming years, but until such time, PC is where I'm at for all my FPS games.
 

Vampire cat

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Apr 21, 2010
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I hold on to PC over any console for a few reasons still:

1. Choice, the massive amount of software available to a PC. No console yet comes close, and seeing as the PC is also most compatible with a huge selection of games, I chose the PC. It has everything, I don't need to have a PS3 AND a laptop because the PS3 can't do all the tasks I need it to. It's so much more comfortable to have everything in one place, and until I can do that on another platform I'm extremely unlikely to cross over (that naturally depends on what happens to the various platforms in the future).

2. Upgradable hardware and software. It's relatively easy to upgrade any PC, with even just a limited amount of knowledge, like what I have. I'm not skilled, I most likely couldn't answer any of the questions a somewhat learned person in the art of PC would ask me, but anyone can learn to upgrade basically any part of a PC in the matter of minutes. Meanwhile, other platforms don't allow this. Being "bound" to one hardware setting may be good for compatibility, but that also means you HAVE to wait for the new machine in the series to come along, and then pay the full price, rather than just toss in a small sum in upgrades for your PC and be able to run whatever piece of software you needed the upgrade for.

3. Full choice between keyboard/mouse, Joystick or most other controllers. Most games now will allow you to chose between using the keyboard/mouse setting or another alternative control unit like for example the xbox controller, which I prefer for many games over the keyboard. You can have all these alternatives on hand and get playing at any time... Meanwhile, your unable to use a keyboard/joystick for games on the PS3 and xbox, as far as I'm aware (and btw, if I was to get one of those consoles, it would be the PS3), though something may have happened that I have missed. I feel I need the choice to enjoy my games to the fullest.

That being said, I would love if the console could offer me those 3 things. If they could, I'd be there instantly. Sitting in the couch and doing stuff on a big screen would be great, but there's just too many things I would miss by crossing over right now. And I know the whole "needing a separate laptop" isn't a big deal for most, but it is to me. I have an almost obsessive need to have everything in one place, and in a very particular way of order.

Steam too, I LOVE having all my games at one place, I've almost completely stopped going to the store to buy a game, I basically do it all online... It means no covers, no discs, all my games in one very neat and very tidy place.
 

Rylot

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May 14, 2010
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Am I the only one who was more offended that he still uses Internet Explorer than the attempted flame war?



OT: Yeah! 1,000th post!...Am I... Am I Popular yet?
 

DeaconSawyer

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Aug 19, 2010
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I disagree sole based on the fact that PCs have better graphics, and Steam saw a huge percentage increase in sales for the last few quarters.

As for the death of the PC, in some respects you are right, in others you are very wrong. Most people who have computer based jobs, which is and increasing number in this day in age, has a PC. I doubt you would see a whole lot of Photoshop being done on the iPad. Just saying
 

New Troll

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Mar 26, 2009
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Personal home computers are not dying. They're just being attached to big screen TVs instead of old-school computer monitors. And yes, some PCs are going more travel-friendly, but usually still get used about the same way as desktops most the time.

Also never forget about work. Still going to be awhile before all job markets become portable friendly, and even longer before all work computers stop accidentally getting games on them.

And casual gaming still has the hugest market on PC. Why? Because all those people who thought "computers are hard and expensive" are now finally giving them a shot and instead are claiming "consoles and portable devices are hard and expensive."