PC Gaming dying ?

[Raven]

With the console gaming industry currently enjoying a massive boom period which it looks like sustaining thanks to fierce competition between two major console conglomerates and one console having huge success with the masses of families amongst the majority of the general public. My question is, is the PC gaming platform despite being the most powerful technological powerhouse in any era, dying due to piracy, major console migration and an over reliance on MMO's and increasingly over zealous security measures in games ?

While I don't think PC gaming will ever die, and while I do think that there will always be that one game on the PC which shows it's technical superiority over anything on the consoles, such as Crysis right now just as an example....I do think PC gaming is in a definite state of flux considering hardware sales compared to the definite slump of PC gaming currently. Alot of this is down to console's current boom period in that quite simply consoles is where the money is at right now and so alot of developers are focusing on them. Piracy is another issue, not because of the people downloading games and using no cd cracks, because that has always been an issue and it's never stopped them before.....but it is an issue because now we are seeing more and more developers putting in crazy security elements into their games which always seem to be cracked and worked around within days and only prove to actually promote piracy instead of preventing it because this security causes nothing but trouble and problems for the users who purchased the games legitamately....Bioshock and Mass Effect are two prime examples of this recent trend.

Unfortunately for the forseeable future I can see the current climate of PC gaming being sustained because console's popularity will be sustained. However I can also see a big increase in subscription based MMO games. World of Warcraft is already established and also with the new Football Manager Live coming out soon, this trend is already being set in motion. Classic adventure games like Grim Fandango and Monkey Island are as good as dead and with it went the golden age of PC gaming.

It's just ironic that we are talking about the death of the PC gaming industry as console's are becoming more and more like PC's themselves.

Don't get me wrong I do not think that consoles will ever be able to compete with the PC as an all round general purpose machine. And while there is always console emulation to consider when talking about the PC platform as technology grows bigger and more powerful.....I just think current PC gaming is in a slump that it will never break free from while ever console's are enjoying massive success. I mean to illustrate my point when was the last genuinely awesome release of a PC game exclusive and what was it called ? Conversely how many times do shoddy half assed console ports get chucked on the PC with very little new content or optimisations to take advantage of the more powerful host ? Too many times.

[DrKahn]

these days pc's are only for mmorpgs/strategy games...and think about it, why would you want to play on a pc anymore? theres long installs, incompatibility issues (vista/xp), bugs and crashes, useless protection etc etc. but with a console you just pop the dvd in and your good to go!

[Raven]

That's true, but there is more to it aswell....like for example with consoles you absolutely HAVE to have the disc in the drive and there is currently no choice in the matter. There is also the fact of that usually the games which come out on the PC which were originally console games the PC versions of them games are normally the superior version.

But as an all round exclusive gaming platform I think it is dying, and I think it started with the death of adventure games on the PC which led to LucasArts flooding the PC market with tons of Star Wars games instead of fresh or new good adventure games, this in turn then led to a million FPS games on the PC platform all with flashy graphics but not so good gameplay. Hence the PC exclusive gaming industry is now a saturated market....which is why we now see quite a few PC exclusive games such as Football Manager now appearing on the consoles too.

But the big question is this......despite the exclusive PC gaming platform dying - is it such a bad thing ? Because what this means is that most of the Xbox360 big hits will end up on the PC and probably vice versa wherever possible....so the PC gaming market is getting more big games instead of lots of average FPS games.

As it stands the PC market is just saturated with average FPS games and RPGs with a handful of good ones lumped together with the not so good ones....it would help if companies like LucasArts made more of their own Monkey Island or Grim Fandango adventure games but the sad fact is that despite how good them games are or were, they just didn't sell well enough but Star Wars sells like crazy despite how poor or samey alot of them are and so from a business standpoint they are doing the right thing in making more Star Wars games and turning big profits.

While ever people are buying certain games in droves, regardless of quality, the games developers will make more. If the said good adventure games sold more than they did then we would have had alot more of them games and maybe even a whole different industry for PC gaming. At the end of the day alot can be said for a great game but at the end of the day money talks and if the Star Wars name alone will guarantee sales as opposed to a fantastic game with no name value then they will make more average Star Wars games.

[bro]

love playing the medal of honour games,crysis call of duty and stuff like that,unfortuantely they are few and far between for anything decent to get

[C64]

I've always been a massive fan of PC games, especially First Person Shooters, but recently I've found myself spending much more time on my Xbox360, after you get used to the joypad controllers you can have a great time but nothing comes close to the control you have on these games when using a PC, the keyboard and mouse combination when playing FPS's is a combination made in heaven.

PC's also have the edge when it comes to graphics (as long as you're willing to upgrade you GFX card to something decent), the downside of this is the cost of a high end GFX card is more than the cost of a Xbox360!

PC online play is also excellent (mostly), Xbox Live is also an excellent service but it's not free .

3rd person games I prefer on a console, 1st Person I much prefer a PC, Adventure games I prefer to play on a PC, Racing/Sports I prefer a Console.

I prefered the early days of PC gaming to be honest, a time when arcade games were extremely rare, chart toppers were 'point and click' Adventure games and 3D sports games, platformers etc were only available on consoles and home computers.

I've also got a PS3 but it's over-rated garbage.

[fatallity]

2 things that wont let pc games die
1. mmorpg
2. shooters

[Raven]

2 things that wont let pc games die
1. mmorpg
2. shooters

Lol there are nothing but shooters and rpg games on the PC and there are only a select few which are any good. MMORPG's aren't really mainstream at all and that's including the runaway leader of that pack which is of course World Of Warcraft and even that game is hacked so pirates can play for free....and a big turn off on that genre is the fact that it's online role playing which is the total opposite of online killing and you still get the annoying idiots and cheaters and because of the subject matter their idiocy is much more far reaching and effective which ruins the game.

The real 2 things that won't let the PC gaming genre die are:

1) Constantly evolving technology and hardware sales.

2) Genuinely creative or technology pushing games exclusive to the PC.

One thing that will kill PC gaming quickly however aside from developers pissing in the wind trying to combat piracy is the constant stream of bland, formulaic, rushed shooters and rpgs.

It's basically all one big knock on effect but there's no excuse for being charged good money for uninspired, rushed games which are by and large buggy upon release....what makes it worse is the retail store refund policies being a case of you buy it, you're stuck with it!

Consequences and ramifications aside I think the future is definitely in digital distribution as opposed to retail outlets.

[ruudvandan]

removed post

[shady77]

does anyone remember the old sky channel think it was it tv.
anyhoo, i once saw a console on there, it was a pc with a stripped down version of windows xp, and it was geared towards gaming (obviously). this was in about 2002/2003, and it blew the current consoles out of the water specs wise. it never materialised for sale to the public, but this could be the way forward for pc gaming. where the ps3 is basically a linux pc, why not a console like this?
it could do all current games and any future games could be made with the exact specs of the console in mind (with variations for lower specs, much like sony do with ps3 and ps2 versions of the same game).
ive found it it was called the DISCover.
DISCover - A Console for PC Games

[asren828]

pc

what is bad about pc games is that you have to pay for expexsive graphics cards and stuff costing more than a ps3 or 360 thats what i think

[chroma]

Consoles:
Pros No nonsense compatable dedicated hardware. Even playing field due to simmilar hardware.
Cons Limited hardware in terms of control methods (no kb/mouse on a 360 is a complete turn off for any serious fps)
Limited customisability, you essentialy need to wait for map packs, addons etc.

PC's:
Pros Games are fully customisable with toolsets, you can modify textures, make enire levels or fully modify a game to suit your tastes. Content is far more diverse than console counterparts.
A wide array of hardware, i could litteraly build a device that plugs into a USB port and control a game with a groinal adaptor if i wanted.
Diverse community access and a variety of leagues to compete in.
Does more than just play vidya gaems.
The ability to build your own game entirely from scratch
Cons Hardware issues, compatibility issues, software issues.
An unlevel playing field where money generaly counts, specialised hardware costs a fortune. a dedicated rig custom built for a single game will outstrip a simple multimedia setup, framerates do actualy make a difference as does a superior resoloution and control interface.
Case in point: load up a shooter that has a sniper rifle and plug in a shitty 2 button ball mouse and run at 640x480 and try to gain a headshot.
Do the same at 1440x900 with a high dpi lazer mouse and the difference is clearly apparent your accuracy increases by orders of magnatude because your not aiming at a a coupe of hundred pixels as opposed to a single pixel.
Far easier to hack than a console counterpart.

Serious gaming will always take place on a PC over a console because the hardware is far superior than a dedicated convienence item.
having a few friends round = console.
Playing for a monatary stake = investing in the best performance equipment you can get your grubby hands on and hauling your gear to a lan.

I used to be Godlike at TFC back in the day (1998ish? when i used to actively tourney), soley because i invested in a decent 5.1 system and could hear people sneaking up behind me. i dumped even more money into building a specialised computer that only played TFC, wrote scripts for everything, bound commands and aliases and dumped a stack of cash into the fastest broadband i could lay my hands on just so i could kick the americans ass. created my own textures to improve framerate up to 200+ and highlight enemy units. modified soundpacks to time grenades, effectively time bunnyhop (a technique that increased my medic to superhuman speeds) quieten down heavy gunfire (so i could hear footsteps behind and around corners)

Pubbing with idiots on shitty computers running at 800x600 at 30fps was laughable. man i used to play for well over 8hrs a day. good times.
Nowadays i dont play anything nearly as seriously.

[sattboy]

i started off with ps2 got bored with that then i went to the pc built a gaming rig on a shoe string and it ran like a snail.then along came the ps3 and i got one was well happy till i played games .for me a lot of ps3 games have terrible jaggies as verybody knows they are a gamers nightmare and apart from that i found alot of ps3 games have a slight shimmer when moving from left to right anyway i sold ps3 ,and this time did my homework to build another gaming pc.have now built myself a cracking gaming rig that plays all the modern games very smooth graphics are brill plus i like playing with keyboard and mouse.the trouble with pc gaming its hit and miss when it comes to gaming hardware and the price.i have often thought why does'nt the industry come up with a pc solely for gaming for around say 400 qiud in direct competition with the consoles with an occasional upgrade every 4 or 5 yrs this would generate the pc gaming market again or on the other hand are gaming developers happy with the way things are right now as console games are a lot more expensive than pc games?.

[ruudvandan]

If you're willing to spend the money to build yourself a good gaming PC then it should last a few years.

What the developers need to do, however is migrate over to Linux, as this will significantly reduce the cost of a PC. It will however need an industry-wide consensus in order to work and there will have to be a transitional period of dual-boot PCs so that people can still play their old games

[chroma]

If you're willing to spend the money to build yourself a good gaming PC then it should last a few years.

What the developers need to do, however is migrate over to Linux, as this will significantly reduce the cost of a PC. It will however need an industry-wide consensus in order to work and there will have to be a transitional period of dual-boot PCs so that people can still play their old games

Making a game in Windows.
Step 1: Learn C/C++
Step 2: Learn the DirectX API
Step 3: Write a game
Step 4: Profit!
Total development time 6 months from the concept to a release candidate.

Making a game in Linux.
Step 1: Learn C/C++
Step 2: Figure out which libraries to learn to achieve different things, youll need to find one of the millions to perform graphical functions, user input, sound, networking
Step 3: read through endless obscure manpages to figure each API out.
Step 4: write a game only to find out that using STL for sound handling doesnt want to play nicely with your networking libraries, with as it happens seem to cause unspeakable conflicts with OpenGL for graphics.
Step 5: find other libraries all the whilst getting more and more obscure.
Step 6: rewrite using wierd syntax completely mutilating existing code.
Step 7: the game runs now but needs an updated library that conflicts with releases of Debian, Slackware and Ubunto
Step 8: desperately patch everything all the whilst making your code even more illegable.
Step 9: release via open source because the only library that made anything even remotely usable is tied to the GPL lisence.
Step 10: no profit and well over budget.

Development cycle here is 6 months to get up and running from concept to a sketchy alpha build only to find out you need another 18months of research and development to get to beta, maybe a release in 36 months from initial concept.

Developing software for linux is a major nightmare from a developer standpoint, theres no feasible way to compete with the windows development cycle.
Maybe if linux caught on when dos games where still around it might have stood a chance, but nowadays you need to be entirely massochistic to even contemplate a major linux development.

[Raven]

I think Linux is a nightmare to use to be perfectly honest....all that text input and stuff like that just to install some software....also the game support is really ropey aswell....better off just dual booting the latest Windows with the fastest Windows for gaming to be honest.