You do realise that consoles have been not doing FPS for a very long time too right? And that the variety of games on a console is not only massive, but genres like the sandbox and driving simulator are borderline exclusive to the format? Think of all the games last year that did not come out on PC. Most of them were not FPS.Xzi said:Simply put: consoles have caused games to be dumbed down over the generations. If I wanted to do nothing but spend twenty hours pulling a trigger to cause loud noises, I'd go to a gun range. What a concept, eh? PC gamers discovered the greatness of FPS games in the nineties. We were ready to move on ten years ago. But unfortunately, soccer moms, frat boys, and children under ten all decided to pick that time to get into gaming and ruin it for the rest of us.
But truthfully, we also just plain enjoy watching console gamers squirm when they realize the limitations of their chosen platform. Always a riot.
Actually that sums up my thoughts quite nicely.Candidus said:Actually, as a PC gamer, I'd like to take this opportunity to represent those among PC gamers who recognise what an average developer Valve is. They haven't produced a decent FPS since the original Half Life, and that's not a classic because it's not any good by the standards of today.Chibz said:Also, try to avoid saying anything less than glowingly positive about Valve (or Blizzard) in front of PC gamers. PC gamers are notorious for vicious fanboyism of these two companies. Give 'em a break, this is all they've really got left.
Steam is an invasive, fat, clunky, buggy, unwelcome squatter of an experience. The prices are ludicrous, and I resent not being able to access CD installed games like Dark Messiah without first starting up Steam. I have it installed for Dawn of War, nothing else. (£30 for Chaos Rising or £16 at Play.com on release day? What a tough decision!)
However, to say that Valve and Blizzard are all we have left is a bit vicious-console-fanboy of you. You're overlooking Stardock and Arenanet among others; on PC this year, I have to find money for Tera Online, Guild Wars 2, W40K Online, The Witcher 2, the first Civ5 expansion and Shogun 2. None of these games are coming to console and none of those games are being developed by Blizzard or Valve. Heart of the Swarm is Blizzard, but I don't mention that because I reckon that'll be a 2012 release.
I'd like to say thank you. I rarely see reasonable PC gamers when valve or Blizzard are brought up.Candidus said:Actually, as a PC gamer, I'd like to take this opportunity to represent those among PC gamers who recognise what an average developer Valve is. They haven't produced a decent FPS since the original Half Life, and that's not a classic because it's not any good by the standards of today.
First of all, I'm actually not a console fanboy. If anything I'm an arcade-fanboy who is left without arcades to game in.Candidus said:However, to say that Valve and Blizzard are all we have left is a bit vicious-console-fanboy of you. You're overlooking Stardock and Arenanet among others; on PC this year, I have to find money for Tera Online, Guild Wars 2, W40K Online, The Witcher 2, the first Civ5 expansion and Shogun 2. None of these games are coming to console and none of those games are being developed by Blizzard or Valve. Heart of the Swarm is Blizzard, but I don't mention that because I reckon that'll be a 2012 release.
This is just from my perspective, but I deeply loathe gaming using a keyboard. The keyboard is just... Awful. It's not designed for gaming and it shows. Very, very horribly. There needs to be SOME substitute for the keybard.Vrach said:The reason I prefer my PC is mouse and keyboard.
Although I must say you're wrong. PC gaming is being further and further marginalized, and console sales are only going up. I saw this before when the 'cades started shutting down in massive numbers. It's nothing new.Ultratwinkie said:Funny, the trend was that consoles DIED then the PC replaced it. However the model the consoles are using now isn't sustainable in a long term sense. In a sense consoles HAD a golden age already, in fact they had 2.
Your opinion is noted, and I disagree. I used to be a PC gamer, and spent three solid years playing EverQuest as much as I could, and played as many shooters as I could get my hands on... but I have since switched over to consoles. I started playing Halo at a buddies house, and I was hooked. Honestly, I started my home gaming experience with a little console known as the Atari 2600 waaaaay back in the day. But ever since Halo, I do all my serious gaming on my console. I honestly only play Urban Rivals on my PC, nowadays.Xzi said:Simply put: consoles have caused games to be dumbed down over the generations. If I wanted to do nothing but spend twenty hours pulling a trigger to cause loud noises, I'd go to a gun range. What a concept, eh? PC gamers discovered the greatness of FPS games in the nineties. We were ready to move on ten years ago. But unfortunately, soccer moms, frat boys, and children under ten all decided to pick that time to get into gaming and ruin it for the rest of us.
But truthfully, we also just plain enjoy watching console gamers squirm when they realize the limitations of their chosen platform. Always a riot.
Well Spoken Sir.Ultratwinkie said:Then steam, WoW, etc are zombies then?Chibz said:Although I must say you're wrong. PC gaming is being further and further marginalized, and console sales are only going up. I saw this before when the 'cades started shutting down in massive numbers. It's nothing new.Ultratwinkie said:Funny, the trend was that consoles DIED then the PC replaced it. However the model the consoles are using now isn't sustainable in a long term sense. In a sense consoles HAD a golden age already, in fact they had 2.
1. "PC IS DYING!" becomes a popular phrase in the expanding console bubble.
2. Console crash of the 80s is caused from the console bubble bursting.
3. Consoles come back. "PC IS DYING!" becomes a popular phrase again.
4. PC regains popularity and sales. Macs jump into the arena. The computer platform stronger than ever.
Let me put it to you this way. The death of the PC means the death of technical progress itself not to mention it will destroy the console market too.
Compare Dragon Age to Baldur's Gate, or Modern Warfare to CoD2. The visuals, physics, level design, writing (in most cases) and innovation have all worked out for the better, thanks to the money made by developers and publishers. You might think there is no such thing as innovation today, but that's bunk. Minecraft is arguably the biggest, most important thing to happen to gamers in 2010, and that was an indie game. And innovation was hardly rampant five or ten years ago either. Remember the ridiculous amount of WW2 shooters and platforming games floating around at that time? I know I do.Ultratwinkie said:From what perspective? You don't specify.Super Toast said:Explain to me then why the quality of games keeps getting higher.Ultratwinkie said:Wow. Flawed logic. More money made does not make a better game. I can make millions selling a product but that doesn't mean i spend more money on the next product. The cheaper it is, the better it is for me. Companies don't get oodles of money on one project to spend it all on "their dream".Super Toast said:Fixed for you. You can thank me later.Xzi said:Translation: Increased the amount of money going into developers and publishers pockets, therefore increasing the quality of games with each passing year.Super Toast said:Consoles have simply made gaming more accessible and mainstream.
The irony. Oh god, the irony.Krylock said:One thing that i always did notice is that the PC gamers are usually the ones to start the whole war. It almost seems like they get enjoyment out of starting pointless arguments and debates.
Believe it or not, but it's not the consoles that are the problem. It's the kind of games that consoles have resulted in that is the problem. Console games are typically aimed at the lowest common denominator with bad UI and simplified structures.Paragon Fury said:It because PC gamers had for the longest time built themselves up in a nice little, secure bubble where they actually were superior in most ways to any current-day console. Right around the time of N64 - PS1 Era, they sensed a looming threat to their preferred gaming system. They still had most points up on consoles, but they saw a change coming.
Again, it's not consoles that are the problem. It's the games. Halo 2 did indeed herald a bad time. It heralded a time of bad ports, bad writing, uninspired level design, regenerating health, checkpoint based progress and bloody space marines. Though I can live with space marines.Paragon Fury said:And then Halo 2 and the advent of Xbox Live happened. And the 2 of the 4 biggest advantages, shooters and multiplayer, suddenly got shotgunned by a man in green armor, and PC gaming started its meltdown.
What do we want? I for one want good games. That's about it. Good games are not what is most common on consoles. I do have about 30 games for PS3 and 360, but none of them are spectacular. I find myself returning to my PC when I want something awesome to play.Paragon Fury said:It only went downhill from there; it became (and still is becoming) increasingly more profitable to develop for consoles than for PCs. And for a while it was really to get all sorts of crazy ideas for games green-lit on consoles, while PC gamers remained rather staunch in what they wanted.
This is a joke, yes? Oblivion was a great story? If it's not a joke then it's emblematic of the lowered expectations and the aim for the lowest denominator. Oblivion is a bland and mediocre game compared to Morrowind. It's simplified, has a horrible UI, decent graphics, bad animation, bad writing, quest markers, radar and a lot of hand holding. It is the archetype of the kind of games I see as the problem with consoles.Paragon Fury said:And then another key element of PC gaming's reign got taken away from them; great stories. When things like Jade Empire, Oblivion, etc. started showing up on consoles, something that traditionally been the realm of PC gaming was again lost to consoles.
I don't understand this point? Surely you mean that the gap is widening. My crummy PC has better graphics than my PS3 and 360 at this point. I think the question is: why on earth would anyone settle for 30 fps? I mean, come on, it's a terrible framerate. It might do okay on console because of the low resolution of both the game and the HD tv, but when playing on a PC it just feels so bad and stuttery.Paragon Fury said:And now, the final thing which PC gamers hold desperately to is becoming less and less relevant, and thats scary for them. Their technological superiority has long been the cornerstone to their arguments, but now that gap is shrinking, and they are faced with a gaming world where not many people really give fuck that their PC rigs can run Crysis 2 with 8x Anti-Aliasing at max settings at 60FPS.
Hell, if anyone wants to play on a controller, more power to them.Paragon Fury said:While PC gaming still has the RTS and MMO market on lockdown, I wouldn't hold my breath for them for long; you know that some ambitious developer out there is looking to make them a big hit out on consoles too, in order to lap up some of that delicious, recurring MMO and RTS money.