The State of PC gaming

[Griffolion]

-snip-

Hey there.

In short, PC gaming is thriving and has never enjoyed such a prosperous time as it ever has done. Take a look at Steam, GoG and, yes, even Origin, and look at the amount of brilliant titles available to PC's world wide. Sure, it battles with the likes of ridiculous DRM systems, but these things are mere blemishes on an otherwise brilliant canvas painting of gaming.

There are a number of people who say PC gaming is dying. The thing is, people have been saying this for the last 2 decades. So I'm quite happy with PC gaming "dying" if dying is the state of affairs PC gaming is in to let us enjoy the fantastic titles (from AAA to indie) we do. So yeah, seriously, it can "die" all it wants.

Also, on the topic of money, yes in many cases it is a heavier financial burden than consoles. I think consoles are great, by the way, I own a PS3 myself alongside my gaming PC. However, a 720P capable machine is do-able in under £400. Plus, building a PC doesn't require half the technical skill some elitists would have you believe. It's actually just a very adult version of Mechano, and can indeed provide a great sense of joy and accomplishment.

So yeah, PC gaming is prospering. May it long continue to prosper, and may we always enjoy what it has to offer alongside its console cousins.

 

[Britishfan]

I've always been a PC gamer, and have over time converted/re-converted console gamers. This is for a handful of reasons.

Firstly, cost; It makes more sense for me to splash out a little extra on a laptop(which I need anyway) and get one with adequate specs than to buy a cheap laptop and then buy a console. Laptops are also considerably more portable than consoles. Additionally in the UK PC games have always been cheaper than the console equivalent, usually by £5-10 but sometimes as much as £15. In recent years Steam Sales have only made price comparisons facile.

Secondly, controls; I have always maintained that a mouse an a keyboard is the best control system, especially once you are used to it. I have always found that gamers using a mouse are better shots than gamers using joysticks, and I would hate to attempt a Strategy game with a console controller; there's a reason something like the Total War series is PC exclusive.

Thirdly, Steam; Is there anything that I can say that hasn't already been said? It's an amazing service. It has however put off part of the older generation, who don't understand it, and with an increasing number of titles forcing players to use Steam (eg. Total War) this is a problem. My father, for example, hasn't bought a new title since 2008.

An additional thought; shitty ports. There are too many half-assed ports out there from console to PC. There is no excuse for these and yet devs continue to do it. The controls for PC version of the Assassins Creed series were just dismal and the in-game instructions for them were still laid out as if it was on a console.

So err.... yeah that's my 2 cents on PC gaming. Kinda rambly and ranty but meh.

 

[The White Hunter]

Snip

Welcome to The Escapist, mind the mods don't bite (mind the low content rule), and be wary of Jojo's assassination attempts.

OT: I think PC gaming is becoming more accessible thanks to various digital distribution services and improvements in hardware compatibility. Games are generally more well optimised and it's just easier to dive into PC gaming than it used to be when I was a teenager.

I personally prefer to play single player shooters and RTS games on the PC due to the controls being just plain better for those types of games.

On consoles I like my platformers, multiplayer shooters (I like the fact everyone has the same hardware and hacking is much rarer, plus my friends are all console gamers), anything with racing, sandboxes, etc.

Although I do play console exclusives, there's no need to limit yourself to one system, there are too many great games to be angry all the time, as the Happy Nerd said.

 

[The White Hunter]

in my opinion pc gaming is only going to get better . the concept of having a dedicated console to play games will die off in 5-10 years. pc will become the prominent platform. i agree that pc gaming really suffered due to xbox 360 and ps3.

In 5-10 years the market will be av ery different place indeed but I doubt dedicated PC gaming will be the only one, consoles wills till exist so long as they have a much lower entry cost and there are people who remain either ignorant on PC's or simply don't desire to build a PC.

Unless low-cost, fixed-system PC's become much more prominent, which is something no PC enthusiast will ever willingly adopt, then consoles are still gonna be knocking around in 5 or 10 years.

Thought that console market may have different manufacturers and format providers, with Sony making continuously idiotic business decisions and Microsoft messing up in all kinds of crazy new ways, and the market will shift as PC gaming is made more accessible by digital distribution, but I have large reservations on it ever becoming THE dominant format.

This ignoring browser games, f2p facebook games, things like that, I'm only talking about gaming enthusiast stuff here.

 

[The White Hunter]

The only problem I have with PC Gaming is when this pops up

If you're not made by the company that owns this program, I should not be seeing you!

That thing pisses me off to be honest.

Why can't I play Mark of the NInja without booting Steam up to eat up my limited system resources? (my PC, it is shit.).

 

[The White Hunter]

Secondly, controls; I have always maintained that a mouse an a keyboard is the best control system, especially once you are used to it. I have always found that gamers using a mouse are better shots than gamers using joysticks, and I would hate to attempt a Strategy game with a console controller; there's a reason something like the Total War series is PC exclusive.

This always comes up in these discussions and while I agree that the mouse and keyboard are definately superior inputs for a first person shooter (or third person shooter, not shmups though, and motion pointers are excellent for shooters when implemented well) and RTS games, the mouse and keyboard is not the definitive input system for all games.

Arcade fighters, hack n slash, platformers (my god do not even attempt Sonic Generations with a keyboard...), sidescrollers, and even action RPG's often are best played with controllers. Though with RPG's it's variable, whilst I prefer to play Dragon Age with a controller, you can bet your ass my keyboard is covered in hotkeys for it and in some instances where a game should be better with a mouse and keyboard, I'm looking at Skyrim here, the terrible UI is built to work with a controller with a mouse as an after thought.

The greatest advantage of PC in terms of control is no the mouse and keyboard, rather it is that you can use the best input for the task at hand, with keybinding programs and increasing compatibility with different inputs the freedom is easily one of the best features of PC gaming.

 

[The White Hunter]

The only problem I have with PC Gaming is when this pops up

If you're not made by the company that owns this program, I should not be seeing you!

That thing pisses me off to be honest.

Why can't I play Mark of the NInja without booting Steam up to eat up my limited system resources? (my PC, it is shit.).

I don't even have Steam installed.

And this is the reason why, despite it's fans screaming that it isn't, Steam is in fact DRM

I have steam with a small library of games on it, but it is definately DRM and there are some nasty downsides to Steam.
Contrary to what people may believe Valve is not the gaming messiah.

I always enjoy the arguments that Valve's steam-box-fixed-system-that-isn't-a-console-despite-being-a-console of myth, will come from the heavens to the console market and vanquish all competitors, because Valve totally knows exactly what it is doing in a market it has never participated in.

Also, they need to count to 3, or that Steambox thing won't be around for more than 10 years.

 

[The White Hunter]

It's pretty good (solely because of mods and GOG) except for the massive amounts of piracy that put devs off of making games for PC/a barebones port.

Also- NO JRPGS!!! Seriously, apart from The Last Remnant the only JRPGs on PC I have are ones that I emulate.

I really would argue if the amount of piracy on the PC is so much bigger then on the consoles. It is not really harder, either there is always someone who can prepare the console for pirated games or you could go by internet videos. A used console is even less of an entry barrier to piracy in console gaming then PC because there you still have to shill out at least 400$ for a decent PC that can run all the games.

I can only talk from my subjective viewpoint (and thus it holds no mreit) but it would take me less time to get a cracked console and pirated games right now that it would take me to download a 4gb game and nearly everyone I know who plays games on the XBox360 has a cracked one.

On Topic:

This whole 'PC gaming is dying' is such bullshit. It goes through trends - of course sales go down when a new generation of consoles start because by that point people are more willing to jump on that and fancy new tech. The further the generation goes on the more people start viewing PC gaming as the cheaper alternative. Just look at it, we have a 'Steal' deal von MS: 450$ for XBox360 and Kinect or the better hard drive (and a subscription to Live). For 450$ people can build a gaming rig capable of playing nearly everything and you save money on games (I don't even talk sales, here most PC games are 10-20? cheaper from the go. DmC 40? PC, 60? console).

Right now the generation is about done, while console struggle and pretend to be HD PC has HD, has the better graphics, better gameplay, better everything. Unless it is a shit port I am not limited by FoV, I can customize my control peripherals to my liking and with setting I can improve about everything. But it is nothing unexpected. PC hardware evolved, consoles are still 2005/2006 tech.

There are some genres that are lackluster on the PC, I give you that. jRPGs are something that PC gaming lacks, decent fighters are rare. But overall right now PC has the better experience in about every aspect possible.

Just out before some smart hat is going to quote me: I don't think of you as inferiour because you prefer consoles. You gaming on consoles is as valid as me gaming on PC - I am just stating obvious facts that neither judge our habits nor give anyone the justification to behave as an asshole towards people who just have different preferences. There are many valid reasons to prefer console gaming to PC gaming - doesn't change the fact that consoles are fucking old tech by now, the point I tried to make.

Very well said indeed my good fellow, you are correct.

For those of us of working age with reasonable incomes it's silly to argue whwther a console is better than a PC or vice-versa, why?

Each has benefits and I, for one, have the room and money to sustain all of them. Need a TV with more inputs mind.

 

[FFP2]

I can only talk from my subjective viewpoint (and thus it holds no mreit) but it would take me less time to get a cracked console and pirated games right now that it would take me to download a 4gb game and nearly everyone I know who plays games on the XBox360 has a cracked one.

I could never risk that though. There's way too much iffy stuff and it's not worth the effort plus MS and Sony can lock your console... PC, not so much.

The Witcher 2 sold 1 million on PC and was pirated around 5 million times... that would put off any dev.

If they have DRM it affects the legit customer. If they don't then they get the shit pirated out of 'em. That's why PC gaming isn't what it used to be.

 

[Edl01]

I didn't used to like PC gaming much, but with Steam now PC gaming is so much easier and the amount of indie games and the improved graphics is just icing on the cake.

Plus you also need to notice that with the Xbox you need to pay to access all of the stuff it has like youtube, while I don't on the PC as it works as both. Even with Xbox and PS3 adding all this extra stuff too their consoles they are still a long way off having as much stuff as a PC.


Edit: Haha! In the episode Bob complained that microsoft milks Halo too much. And yet later in the same video praises Nintendo and Mario. You know? Despite the fact Mario is being milked so much more! This is why I don't respect Bob, he is so blind to the obvious due to his nostalgia.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Well, with crap like always-online DRM, Origin spyware, and Steam not really checking what it releases, the immediate future looks kinda uncertain, but the medium will persevere, as it always has.

 

[The White Hunter]

The only problem I have with PC Gaming is when this pops up

If you're not made by the company that owns this program, I should not be seeing you!

That thing pisses me off to be honest.

Why can't I play Mark of the NInja without booting Steam up to eat up my limited system resources? (my PC, it is shit.).

I don't even have Steam installed.

And this is the reason why, despite it's fans screaming that it isn't, Steam is in fact DRM

I have steam with a small library of games on it, but it is definately DRM and there are some nasty downsides to Steam.
Contrary to what people may believe Valve is not the gaming messiah.

I always enjoy the arguments that Valve's steam-box-fixed-system-that-isn't-a-console-despite-being-a-console of myth, will come from the heavens to the console market and vanquish all competitors, because Valve totally knows exactly what it is doing in a market it has never participated in.

Also, they need to count to 3, or that Steambox thing won't be around for more than 10 years.

Oh I disagree. I think the Steambox WILL release in the next two years... in beta. It'll stay in beta for half a decade before finally seeing an official release.

Because if there's one thing Valve loves more than taking their sweet old time, it's Beta.

Ah that is true, I don't see it being a huge success either way. Console gamers don't care, PC enthusiasts seem to think people are gonna buy it, though PC enthusiasts are still gonna just build their rigs rather than buy a fixed system.

To me it's market is what I refer to as the Village Shop market.

While we're having a dig at Valve; I really don't like Half-Life 2.

 

[The White Hunter]

Never been better. This is the first console gen I've skipped, and I can count on one hand the games I regret not being able to play. (For the record: Journey, MGS4, Xenoblade, Last Story. Though I may yet get a used PS3 if Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls are good.)

Just a friendly word of advice but if you ever want to play the Wii games you mentioned I'd advise doing it now, I can't speak for the last story as I'm yet to try graba copy and it's fairly new anyway, but Xenoblade is starting to demand higher-than-retail prices at auction.

 

[2fish]

I would say healthy and growing with some bad ports. Many good indie titles, sites like gog.com to bring us the old games we love and the sales are getting better as everyone now wants to outdo steam. I feel like it is games overall that are letting me down, not the systems they are on.


Also:

 

[Something Amyss]

The state? Ohio!

FOOL!

...It's obviously Freedonia.

With PCs becoming more like consoles and consoles becoming more like PCs, I think we'll probably see a happy fusion somewhere down the line. I don't count the upcoming "Steambox" per se.

 

[Something Amyss]

I have steam with a small library of games on it, but it is definately DRM and there are some nasty downsides to Steam.
Contrary to what people may believe Valve is not the gaming messiah.

This won't end well. RUN! I'll cover you!

I agree that Steam is not the end-all and Valve isn't a messiah. Unfortunately, Gabe figured out the Apple process. You build it as a lifestyle, not a product, and you can be as big of a monster as you want. People will still flock to you.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

PC gaming is a shadow of what it used to be. There are practically zero exclusives any more for one thing. All that we get now are console ports designed for 7 year old £200 hardware platforms, which my rig can outperform by a factor of 10, yet cannot take advantage of any of my extra RAM, processing power or pixel pushing graphics card. Maps are pathetically small, with frequent load screens. Most of the time, the menus and even the title screen (Press A to Continue) are copied wholesale. Borderlands is a perfect example of how shoddy a UI you get from a lazy console to PC port.

The only other games we get are indie games, probably the final year projects of game development students. None of this is to say that there aren't good games which happen to be available on PC. Just that we are getting the scraps from the console table, along with bullshit achievement nonsense, crappy textures, shitty controls, tiny maps and almost no support. Consoles have ruined PC gaming more than piracy ever did. Not even to mention the kind of DRM and always-on bullshit from Blizzard, Ubi and others.

The only things the PC has in its favour now are MMOs and RTSs and to be honest they're not great selling points.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

The only light in the tunnel for PC gaming is Kickstarter. I suspect that will be the future of PC gaming as crowd-funding brings to gamers actual good PC games which Ubi, EA, Activision and the rest can't be arsed to make anymore, instead giving us UE3 bland shooter after bland shooter, all designed for "mass market appeal". Fuck the mass market, give me back my niche games.

 

[The White Hunter]

I have steam with a small library of games on it, but it is definately DRM and there are some nasty downsides to Steam.
Contrary to what people may believe Valve is not the gaming messiah.

This won't end well. RUN! I'll cover you!

I agree that Steam is not the end-all and Valve isn't a messiah. Unfortunately, Gabe figured out the Apple process. You build it as a lifestyle, not a product, and you can be as big of a monster as you want. People will still flock to you.

I shall never flee! I ate the Mera-Mera no Mi, the flames have no effect on me!

Yeah that's pretty much it, I have no real issue with Steam but there are a lot of people out there for whom Steam is the be all and end all of gaming. Yeah they have good sales, but outside of that Steam isn't really anything special, and if you read it's terms and conditions there's some nice evil stuff there to be seen, like the fact that if they shut your account down for whatever reason your games are gone.

I can safely say I've never paid more than £15 for a Steam game and never will, if I'm gonna pre-order or buy brand-new outside of a steam sale I'm gonna buy a physical copy (surprisingly it can be cheaper) and you can bet your ass I'm checking green man gaming first, and even gog and amazon I'll check for PC games.

 

[The White Hunter]

The only problem I have with PC Gaming is when this pops up

If you're not made by the company that owns this program, I should not be seeing you!

That thing pisses me off to be honest.

Why can't I play Mark of the NInja without booting Steam up to eat up my limited system resources? (my PC, it is shit.).

I don't even have Steam installed.

And this is the reason why, despite it's fans screaming that it isn't, Steam is in fact DRM

I have steam with a small library of games on it, but it is definately DRM and there are some nasty downsides to Steam.
Contrary to what people may believe Valve is not the gaming messiah.

I always enjoy the arguments that Valve's steam-box-fixed-system-that-isn't-a-console-despite-being-a-console of myth, will come from the heavens to the console market and vanquish all competitors, because Valve totally knows exactly what it is doing in a market it has never participated in.

Also, they need to count to 3, or that Steambox thing won't be around for more than 10 years.

Oh I disagree. I think the Steambox WILL release in the next two years... in beta. It'll stay in beta for half a decade before finally seeing an official release.

Because if there's one thing Valve loves more than taking their sweet old time, it's Beta.

Ah that is true, I don't see it being a huge success either way. Console gamers don't care, PC enthusiasts seem to think people are gonna buy it, though PC enthusiasts are still gonna just build their rigs rather than buy a fixed system.

To me it's market is what I refer to as the Village Shop market.

While we're having a dig at Valve; I really don't like Half-Life 2.

While we're taking digs at Valve and throwing firecrackers down a fanboy hole, I really hated Team Fortress 2

I hate Team Fortress 2. I played it for a while, and y'know it didn't really seem all that different from the vast majority of multiplayer shooters out there. It just had a prettier aesthetic. At the end of it it was still a hollow cycle of spawn/kill/die and the chat was still full of toss pots arguing over who's mother was fattest.