Why is PC gaming "dead"?

[Navarone9942]

Pc gaming is not dead, its just that more people want to buy a console, go home, plug it in, play. Not buy a motherboard, buy a gfx card, buy RAM, buy an HDD... etc

Someone get the picture!

Yessir!

You've made my day with this, its got UPLINK on it, one of the best games ever made!!!

 

[Ace of Spades]

PC gaming is dead to me because it involves more troubleshooting than playing.

but troubleshooting is the fun part
(sorry, im one of those people that regularly opens up my computer, takes it apart, and puts it back together, even if it is acting fine, seriously, im about ready to start building a new computer so i have something to do cuz i have upgraded my current one to near perfection, that, and i need a server)

It's people like you that PC gaming was designed for. Since I am not very well versed in how a computer works, troubleshooting either means clumsily tweaking things until something happens or asking my brother for help, neither of which I enjoy.

 

[RaikuFA]

its mainly pc gamings attitude towards new people. asking which OS the best? youre the devil incarnate in a pc gamers eyes. it turns off a lot of newer pc gamers. thus making them stay to console

 

[imperialreign]

Oh I agree you can't blame the market or the devs for issues in hardware. I just view it as one reason why PC gaming is struggling against the console market. If your console game needs to be updated, or your console's OS needs an update the system takes care of it almost automatically, while most driver update systems are nowhere near automatic, or if they are they're resource hogs. For many gamers, however, it's a matter of simplicity. Put disc in tray = game ready to go on a console, whereas on a PC it's a more complicated process, especially given how few people think to keep their drivers updated. Update systems like Steam's auto-updater help, that's for sure.

I don't think that PC gaming is dying. I think it is becoming more focused on the genres it does better than consoles. The issues I raised with PC games was more to say that if they could come up with intuitive ways to fix said issues, ways that didn't effectively punish the consumer for choosing the platform, that PC gaming would experience a resurgence.

What really amuses me is the PC gamers here who deride consoles as "crap" and expect them to die off soon. I for one have a gaming PC and an Xbox. I love both of them. Certain games are better on consoles than desktops. Certain games are better on desktops than consoles. One platform is not inherently better than the other; they're just different. Maintaining otherwise makes you eerily similar to the Xbox and PS3 fanboys who rant endlessly over which minuscule difference between their consoles makes the one infinitely better than the other.

I agree with all that as well. I'm not one to deride consoles as being better or worse than PCs. They defi have their place in the market. The PC industry does need to address the update issue, though. MS has taken a step further with WIN Update checking out for hardware driver updates - but, again, it's not fool-proof. Most hardware driver updates are listed as "optional," so the user still needs to go in, select them, and hit 'install.' Occasionally, the driver update that WIN flags doesn't work properly with your system, either, and rolling back can become a hassle . . . but, I think the market is very slowly crawling in the right direction. It just needs guidance, lol.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of them. They're alright for most games, but I'm a heavy FPS player, and I simply can't get over the bridge from mouse+keyboard to a gamepad . . . it just doesn't feel natural. I guess 25 years of FPS on PC has done that to me

What irks me, though, are a lot of the un-informed arguements that are typically thrown around by console fanbois. Such as some points I've already addressed in my last couple of posts.

 

[ActionDan]

Jesus christ these Trolls are crawling out of the woodwork this season.

 

[Ace of Spades]

PC gaming is dead to me because it involves more troubleshooting than playing.

So clearly, you stopped playing PC games back in 1996.

Nope, I stopped playing in 2006, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I got a game breaking error with every game I bought, whether it be from Steam or otherwise. I never get windows detailing how the setup failed to initialize or how the process encountered an unspecified error and needs to close on anything except the PC.

 

[lacktheknack]

PC gaming is dead to me because it involves more troubleshooting than playing.

So clearly, you stopped playing PC games back in 1996.

Nope, I stopped playing in 2006, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I got a game breaking error with every game I bought, whether it be from Steam or otherwise. I never get windows detailing how the setup failed to initialize or how the process encountered an unspecified error and needs to close on anything except the PC.

And I never get that with a PC. The only logical conclusion is that your computer was badly built/configured. Sorry about that.

 

[lacktheknack]

Because frankly my video card can go fuck itself.

Spend seventy dollars on a better video card?

 

[Ace of Spades]

PC gaming is dead to me because it involves more troubleshooting than playing.

So clearly, you stopped playing PC games back in 1996.

Nope, I stopped playing in 2006, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I got a game breaking error with every game I bought, whether it be from Steam or otherwise. I never get windows detailing how the setup failed to initialize or how the process encountered an unspecified error and needs to close on anything except the PC.

And I never get that with a PC. The only logical conclusion is that your computer was badly built/configured. Sorry about that.

That's fine. If things work for you, then good for you, you'll have a lot more fun with the PC than I ever did.

 

[lacktheknack]

And many of the games had (superior) console ports.

I'm sorry, but two =/= many.

(And personally, I'd maintain that none of the ports are superior.)

 

[darkcommanderq]

Someone get the picture!

You know the one.

It's not dead, but it is smaller than console gaming. Big whoop. So consoles are the main focus of developers and publishers now. PC gaming is alive & well. Just not the primary market.

PC gaming is the primary market for indi game developers. Just check out steams selection of indi games. Its huge, and they are cheap.

 

[imperialreign]

And many of the games had (superior) console ports.

This is how to spot bullshit, though most in here probably already did, a superior console port is like a Unicorn, Leprechauns or Santa Clause, meaning that they all don't exist.

D62, again your quotes bring wisdom to a community

BTW, how's it goin man? Haven't seen ya around the Zone is a while . . .

 

[tautologico]

It is dead in the same sense that the bicycle industry is dead since the invention of the car.
Sure cars (consoles) make more money, have the bigger companies, than bikes (PC), but that doesn't mean that it's dead.

That's a good comparison, I would be more into PC gaming only for the amount of troubleshooting that is required. But once you get past it I'm sure its well worth it, I thoroughly enjoyed my COD2 days.

I would agree about "more troubleshooting needed" 10 years ago, but today? This PC I'm using right now was bought 3 years ago, it never had a single problem, and it runs all the games I throw at it. Windows versions are pretty stable and things work better. Of course you can run into problems, same as an XBox RRODing or any other console defect.

OT: I have owned consoles of all previous generations, except the current one. I don't live in the US, and console games are expensive here. Sometimes I think about buying a current-gen console. Then I see that 80-90% of the console games I want to play I can buy for the PC for one tenth of the price I'd pay for the console version (thanks to Steam sales). Plus there are so many good games I couldn't play on consoles, it's just not worth it.

It's not the bigger market right now, but it's not dying.

 

[nothingdeletemeplease]

I don't think PC gaming is dead. Actually in the last 2 years pc gaming has picked up a lot for me. And it keeps getting stronger.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

but, at the same time, some PC enthusiasts view the industry is leading itself more towards "consolozation," mostly due to how the big manufacturers (namely AMD and Intel) are moving more and more towards integrated systems . . . bigger and better onboard video and audio, mostly, are pushing in that direction. If Intel ever gets out Larrabe, and if AMD's Fusion take off, we'll see the PC industry quickly start moving in that direction.

I wouldn't get too excited about the integrated systems yet. At the moment AMD's Fusion is strictly low end aimed at mostly at laptops, netbooks and low end systems that only need multimedia playback rather than gaming graphics. Essentially they're shifting their integrated GPU chipsets from mobo based to CPU die set based - combining the lower ends of both their lines of GPUs and CPUs into a single unit, and looks to affect their (M) class ('mobility' - laptops and so on) products most of all. AMD have no intention in the near future to phase out their Phenom II and Radeon lines in favour of Fusion integrated units.

Intel, OTOH, are aiming for much higher spec machines and the cpu component part of their integrated chip die appear to be the most robust processing units Intel have kicked out so far... unfortunately Intel still haven't cut a deal with nVidia on GPU chipsets so the launch (code-named Sandy Bridge) models for their integrated units will be horrendously subpar where graphics processing is concerned.

nVidia seem quite comfortable to sit the integrated unit experiment out for the time being and with good reason - Intel haven't offered them enough money to make it worth their while yet. As long as AMD keeps the Fusion line aimed at low end systems and not leveraging their CPU lines into the battle for supremacy in mid-range and enthusiast level GPUs the market is still very much focused on discrete GPU cards, meaning Intel needs nVidia more than nVidia needs Intel where Intel's integrated unit line is concerned.

Personally I see the new integrated units as having very little impact on gaming, PC or otherwise, in the immediate future. What could change that is the next generation of consoles because by the time they drop the integrated unit will be more mature and console manufacturers will be quite interested in a single unit that offers a robust CPU and a high level GPU for several reasons. At the same time a console integrated unit doesn't constitute a threat to the discrete GPU sales (important to both nVidia and AMD).


As for PC gaming dying - won't happen as long as there are PCs.

 

[[.redacted]]

It isn't, it's still more than alive and kicking.

Millions of people still play, would you consider a nation with tens of millions of inhabitants to be dead?

 

[Xealeon]

PC gaming is dead to me because it involves more troubleshooting than playing.

you're doing it wrong

 

[tikalal]

I used to be a console gamer who thought that it was just easier and better to play on a console but when I got my first gaming PC for Starcraft 2 I realised that it's actually a better experience imo.

 

[omicron1]

PC gaming is good at a variety of things:
* Indie games are much easier to launch on PC. No dev kit, no running things by MS or Sony, and no 50mb size cap. Just release over the Internet, or on Steam, and Bob's your uncle.
* Steam, Gamer's Gate, etc. provide developers with lower cost-of-entry points for publishing, and higher percentages of the profits than official publishers do.
* Publishers should like it because they don't have to pay MS or Sony the typical gratuities.
* I'd say used game sales are as great a problem for consoles as piracy is for PCs.
* Nobody needs a top-of-the-line computer for gaming anymore. The most taxing game in recent memory is probably Metro 2033, and it runs just fine (medium settings, but it looks great!) on my 2-year-old middle-of-the-road laptop.
* MMOs and social gaming obviously have no competition from consoles. The price of entry is "having a PC," generally speaking, and pretty much any old computer will work.
* RTS, TBS, pretty much any strategy game and most deeper RPGs, are at a serious disadvantage on consoles.
* Modding is pretty much available only on PC.
* It's possible to play modern games for only $400 nowadays. A bargain-bin PC and a last-generation graphics card, and you're set. And with games mostly stagnated at the graphical level of the last hardware generation, you'll be able to keep playing pretty much anything you want for years!
* Based on recent sales figures, PCs are responsible for more than half the total reported revenue (with digital distribution notoriously difficult to count). The remainder is divided between consoles and mobile platforms, and the console section is divided between Sony, MS, and Nintendo.
* The price of entry for the consumer is much lower on the software front. A new game will cost you $60 on consoles; aside from arrogant publishers like Activision and Ubisoft, most new games on PC cost at most $50, and "niche" titles generally start at $40 and go down from there. And then there's Steam sales - a huge backlog of games from recent years, available for a pittance, all in one place!
* Niche experiences are much more readily available. Gamer's Gate has "euro" games that you can't get anywhere else (White Gold: War in Paradise, to name one), Good Old Games has various classic titles from years far past, Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress and similar are all available online, and Paradox churns out strategy game after esoteric RPG after strategy game.


So, really, the only people who are really at a disadvantage on PC are the triple-A game publishers making FPS after FPS, and not noticing the surging tides of RTSs, RPGs, and other more complex genres emerging on the PC. (Paradox Interactive is largely responsible for this)

The last couple of years (2008-09), it's seemed like PC gaming was suffering - but 2010 was good for us, and going into 2011, it looks like PC gaming is swelling mightily. We're not dying - we're not even infirm. We're seeing a record-breaking surge of new life!

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

And many of the games had (superior) console ports.

This is how to spot bullshit, though most in here probably already did, a superior console port is like a Unicorn, Leprechauns or Santa Clause, meaning that they all don't exist.

Maybe Chibz is confusing 'port' with 'version'?

I've seen several games where the console version is superior but that's because the game was made for consoles and ported to PC (apparently by retarded monkeys). Never seen a PC native game ported to console and the console version be the superior one.

Hell, it's not like PC gamers don't often ***** that PC ports are hamfisted.