Zero Punctuation: Exclusives Showdown

[Shjade]

I swear I remember "The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race" was meant to ironic. However, it seem to have instead been one of those strange moments like when The Onion predicts the future.

I'd say it's less, "oh look, the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race actually happened" and more, "oh look, the next gen consoles committed suicide."

PC gamers aren't special, they're just not being dragged out back to where the poisoned Kool Aid is being served.

Pretty much this. It's not that PC gaming is so great, it's more that all the advantages console gaming used to have over PC gaming are being systematically stripped away.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

Personally I think "Glorious PC Gaming Master Race" is a joke with a bit of truth. It's always annoying when someone goes full arrogant fanboy mode, but the PC does generally offer a lot more features variety, games and raw horsepower, at the cost of difficult optimization and debugging because of all the possible rig combinations, and convenience since you need to download a lot of third party software (that may or may not conflict what you've already installed or require infrastructure you need to install beforehand) before your full feature suite is complete. And then you can worry about maintaining and updating everything.

Fundamentally I don't think there's much of a difference between console gamers and PC gamers tho.

 

[Crimsonmonkeywar]

I'd say it's less, "oh look, the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race actually happened" and more, "oh look, the next gen consoles committed suicide."

Well, that's certainly a logical conclusion to draw from the new consoles having record launch sales, while PC sales are continuing to decline. Sure.

Declining? Please do link me to your quote, because last I checked it was a multi-billion dollar platform with Steam alone reporting more concurrent users than consoles as well as an online userbase only surpassed by Sony, but please. Do show.

The games industry is healthy all around, interest just migrates.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I have to say I'm impressed with Yahtzee, with the singing here and his GTA5 ludonarrative-blah-dee-blah poem, he's really pushing himself outside his comfort zone. It takes quite a bit of effort for introverted people to act in a showy manner.

I enjoyed this and I respect the effort that went into it.

 

[Crimsonmonkeywar]

PC gamers aren't special

You try telling them that. I realize most people who play on PC aren't complete fuckwits, but the ones who self-identify as PC gamers, and the ones who are vocal about it are probably part of the most annoying demographic within gaming today.

OT: Meh, i'm still not done with all the games i bought for my PS3 yet and what with the hardware issues seen around the PS4 that's probably a good thing. Didn't get the PS3 until well into its cycle and probably won't get a PS4 until next summer. Until then i've got my PS3 and laptop to carry me over. Oh, and that lovely 3DS too.

Most? really, I self identify as a PC gamer, because that's were I primarily play games. I also own a PSP, PS3, and DS, and I plan to get a WiiU(for monster hunter) and a Vita. I assure you your comment is as ignorant and bashful as the very people you proclaim to be against

'most', I don't understand how statements like these get made so often.

 

[WhitbyDragon]

I want Yahtzee to sing more, overlaying your own harmonies must be tricky. Loved this episode!

(would be PC master race but with my machine it's more like PC can occasionally run it if it's optimised well and has options I can reduce to the bottom)

 

[blackrave]

I liked how the numbers kept just overlapping. Seems so bloody lazy, I love it.

Because it really doesn't matter
At the end of the day PC has adaptability, consoles has not
So who cares which console won, they all lost after all
Now excuse me, I need to go and jerk off to watch that video again

 

[Crimsonmonkeywar]

I want Yahtzee to sing more, overlaying your own harmonies must be tricky. Loved this episode!

(would be PC master race but with my machine it's more like PC can occasionally run it if it's optimised well and has options I can reduce to the bottom)

That's how my first 'gaming' PC was, a hand'me'down from a friend. Lets just say I got familiar with the "classics" real quick haha.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

PC gamers aren't special

You try telling them that. I realize most people who play on PC aren't complete fuckwits, but the ones who self-identify as PC gamers, and the ones who are vocal about it are probably part of the most annoying demographic within gaming today.

OT: Meh, i'm still not done with all the games i bought for my PS3 yet and what with the hardware issues seen around the PS4 that's probably a good thing. Didn't get the PS3 until well into its cycle and probably won't get a PS4 until next summer. Until then i've got my PS3 and laptop to carry me over. Oh, and that lovely 3DS too.

Most? really, I self identify as a PC gamer, because that's were I primarily play games. I also own a PSP, PS3, and DS, and I plan to get a WiiU(for monster hunter) and a Vita. I assure you your comment is as ignorant and bashful as the very people you proclaim to be against

'most', I don't understand how statements like these get made so often.

Most of them aren't was what i said. Negative. Meaning i am of the impression that the majority of people on PC are actually decent human beings. If you want to call that ignorant then by all means go ahead.

 

[DoctorObviously]

Enough with the autistic jokes please.

 

[Ken_J]

Or you can, I don't know. Play the Wii U

 

[C14N]

For some reason, I feel weirdly satisfied that the first Christmas game season to finally get the next generation truly started is also the worst Christmas game season in years. None of the 3 consoles yet have a big "must buy" game on them yet. Just look at the Metascores of the exclusives on each one. The X1 was banking on Dead Rising 3 (78), Killer Instinct (73) and Ryse (60) while the PS4 was going to give Killzone Shadow Fall (74) and Knack (56). Maybe this means the critics are starting to take their scores a little more seriously rather than handing out token 9s and 10s periodically. The Wii U has a little more going for it right now but Wind Waker is still just a re-release that I already own and Mario 3D Land looks like it's most of its value is in local multiplayer.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

At this point, the only reason I want a next-gen console is so I can play Destiny. And I'm getting really worried that Destiny isn't worth $460.

 

[xPixelatedx]

If you'll excuse me, I'll go back to playing the best exclusive of the year: Super Mario 3D World.

The best exclusive of this year was clearly Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Well it was implied I meant out of the three consoles, that is what the video was about.

Silly people and their stationary gaming devices.

I love my 3DSXL, but I still prefer playing on my giant TV with surround-sound in my 'comfy as hell' waffle chair next to my minifridge.

 

[Gorrath]

I'd say it's less, "oh look, the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race actually happened" and more, "oh look, the next gen consoles committed suicide."

Well, that's certainly a logical conclusion to draw from the new consoles having record launch sales, while PC sales are continuing to decline. Sure.

Given that PCs are used for far more than gaming, your comparison there is hogwash. PC sales have declined because many people who used pcs for light apps like social networking can now do so much more readily on mobile devices. People are buying more PCs than ever, it's just that many of those "PCs" are in the form of a "phone" or "tablet". With the massive boom in PC game sales, which is the actual metric we would use to track pc gaming growth or decline, it can hardly be said that pc gaming is declining.

 

[DTWolfwood]

welcome back to the glorious PC master Race! XD lol

 

[Crazycat690]

If you'll excuse me, I'll go back to playing the best exclusive of the year: Super Mario 3D World.

That's a funny way of spelling "The Last of Us"

 

[Something Amyss]

Cool, a special. Not sure about the singing (don't give up your day job Yahtzee!) but I'm glad the PS4 won, so that's good.

I think the Doctor Who riff makes up for any lack of training or talent.

 

[mysecondlife]

So, PS4? I have a PC workstation that I refuse to download any games on, and I don't have the time to brag on the internet that I play on PC.

 

[-Dragmire-]

snip

seeing as I put 500usd into a rig 3 years ago, have yet to up grade it, and have yet to feel then need to do so, allow me to call your comments tarters. It maybe be an annoying statement, but ignoring the 'exclusive' aspect of games. There is 'zero' that consoles have over PC's, even price point. Save the plug and play aspect, that is, if Steam OS, SteamMachines, and Mantle don't work.

This is coming from someone who spent 20+ years before that only on consoles. I do want a WiiU, but as of this moment everything is done better on the PC, MS and Sony need that killer AP that's going to force PC gamers to buy one....GTA5 got a lot of PC gamers to temporary migrate to consoles and then stay for the exclusives they missed to keep them playing even longer.

That has nothing to do with snootiness, its a fact. Consoles have plug and play and your friends, but what sells them are exclusives. Trust me when I say that going from 1080p, 60fps, AA, SSAO, GL, Steam, and the multitask and modability ability games and the OS, and a whole bunch more. Is not something you want to give up unless it's a damn good reason.

Keep in mind that your rig that you haven't had to upgrade in 3 years doesn't seem very impressive when compared to the last console generation's 7+ year lifespan.

There's quite a bit to be said about the consumer's comfort and perception of the products they use. Your list of 1080p, 60fps, AA, SSAO and GL goes from something the average consumer knows and understands(though limited, 1080p means squat to a lot of people but they know it's better than 480, 720 etc.. the more 'p' the better) to areas where people have no understanding of and feel the bar for learning is too high.

Both PCs and the consoles are complex machines but consoles have a far more restricted environment with what you can do with it. This works to it's benefit because it requires so little for the consumer to understand as well as creates the perception that little can go wrong with the machine. It seems odd but there are many people that absolutely hate looking at system requirements and feel it's an unnecessary hassle when they want to play a new game.

The barrier of entry to understand enough hardware and software lingo isn't as high as most imagine it to be but their absolute belief that it's an impenetrable miasma of complicated tech speak has defeated them before any attempt has been made.

Oh, and just to cover this, I know consoles have many problems themselves and are starting to inherit a few from PC (updates) but I'm focusing on public perception.