Looks like i would only saved about 30p by buying COD:MW2 online..
I payed £30 for it in my local high street shop...
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PC as a gaming platform may not be dying but in shops...
- Thread starter Loosecannon
- Start date
I payed £30 for it in my local high street shop...
Absolutely agree, I've just seen another Christmas go by, where I know people that have got 360's or PS3's - that will be seen as 'latest' technology, even though we all know the PC can do better.
I think there's a number of current factors at play; piracy, lower unit sales, more MMO's, and greater penetration of digital download services (including the publishers with their own strong website portals; i.e. NC Soft).
The PC has been evolving for some time. Just some have failed to see it.
I do remember being able to buy games in Boots, WH Smiths, my local independant retailer (now gone) and in Electornic Boutique - where the whole long wall was full of the old cardboard PC games (c.96-98). Stuff like DID EF games, Voodoo Cards, Quake 1/2/3, the HL1 games, Formula 1 '97 on PC - loads.
EDIT - how could I forget Champ Man 3!!!
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Man of Honour
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This basicly. Though I use online stores sometimes for retail copies of games.
Course there will always be exceptions, and MW2 being the most overpriced game in history...
Caporegime
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IT doesn't matter what people buy, the theory is more because, Valve, ID, Rave, EA etc, etc, the teams with the best developers tend to push the best games out they can with the best engines. WHen that coincides with being able to make more cash on consoles, they do, when thats simply only an option on the PC, the PC becomes the main format.
These two problems, the ONLY reason it hasn't switched back to PC's yet is DX10 being incompatible with dx9, meaning a game can't move forwards as much as people need right now because game makers can't neglect the dx9 user base as its still far larger than the dx10 user base, though with dx10 cards out for what, around 3 years now and more crucially in 6 months midrange cards would have been dx10 for 3 years, then people can start focusing on dx11 and completely ignoring dx9, or giving less of a crap about missing features in a less well developed dx9 part of the game.
THink about this, you're the single best games developer in the world, bar none, do you want to program for a console, with a controller, a x1900xt class card, and very little headroom for new features or would you prefer making something like Crysis, but the next gen Crysis engine and push the limits.
The best people in any industry want to produce the best they can, thats not a console game now or for the next couple years.
Theres also a LOT of money to be made in the PC games segment and anyone who thinks otherwise is dumb, Crysis was pretty heavily pirated, yet made a killing before it got sequels and console versions which simply increased its potential revenue 1 million games sold can easily be 25million income for a game and unless you work for a certain fat lead developer with past successes such as Duke Nukem, then a game doesn't come close to costing that to produce.
Games have barely been in shops for the past 5 years, and I haven't bought more than a couple games in store for the past decade. Why pay £10 more for a title in a store when I can get a game £10 cheaper online and get it the next morning, or if I pre-order, the day of release.
I noticed this a few months ago.
What with people being suckered into Steam deals though, it's what people have created.
Personally, I quite like the option of popping into a games store and having a browse around the titles for my favourite platform (PC). It's annoying that Game is now the only bastion of PC gaming on the highstreet these days, and even then it's hit and miss (went into Bath's Game last month...zero PC games). My local is pretty well stocked though, but the prices are now £10 more than they were 3 years ago.
What with people being suckered into Steam deals though, it's what people have created.
Personally, I quite like the option of popping into a games store and having a browse around the titles for my favourite platform (PC). It's annoying that Game is now the only bastion of PC gaming on the highstreet these days, and even then it's hit and miss (went into Bath's Game last month...zero PC games). My local is pretty well stocked though, but the prices are now £10 more than they were 3 years ago.
I was in the huge wallmart asda opposite the trafford centre yesterday. The pc gaming section was next to the PS2 section, and had the same amount of titles available!
Didn't even know they were still making ps2 titles
Didn't even know they were still making ps2 titles
Blockbuster in Ossett sell a few PC games (one of those 'twirly' stand things). Only place that sells games if I cba to go into Wakefield (apart from steam)
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I got rather upset by GAME's reduction in PC exposure. They used to have a bit of wall space, the top 10, new releases, and a hundred or so back catalogue games, plus a shelf of deals (three for a tenner, two for £15 etc). I am hoping that the reduction is due to christmas- where wall space = sales, and I have no problem with consoles being the retail bread and butter.
Steam is good, yes. I buy games on Steam. But I also always made a point of supporting retail stores. The reason being? Games being sold in both means more sales. And more sales is an incentive for developer to support the platform. These days games are big business, and if a platform starts to drop down the in the revenue reports, then it'll get dropped. I'd hate for consoles to muscle out PC retail sales, and as a result, the PC platform to start a long death. Or for PC games to become nothing more than second rate console ports. Either would be sad. Personally I'm hoping PC games claim back more wall space in the New Year, and life can return to normal.
Besides, I need somewhere to go during lunchtime.
Steam is good, yes. I buy games on Steam. But I also always made a point of supporting retail stores. The reason being? Games being sold in both means more sales. And more sales is an incentive for developer to support the platform. These days games are big business, and if a platform starts to drop down the in the revenue reports, then it'll get dropped. I'd hate for consoles to muscle out PC retail sales, and as a result, the PC platform to start a long death. Or for PC games to become nothing more than second rate console ports. Either would be sad. Personally I'm hoping PC games claim back more wall space in the New Year, and life can return to normal.
Besides, I need somewhere to go during lunchtime.
Soldato
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Amen to that. Cannot see any shops selling any games for PC, or consoles in a few years. Digital download is the way forwards.
My local Game also reduced its PC section, a few weeks back it was around 15% of the store, now its more like <5%, a 4x5ft shelf. If they want to fill countless walls with Wii shovelware that's their choice, but i haven't bothered going in there since.
So now instead of going there for some of my PC, console & handheld games, i'll buy them all elsewhere now instead, stuff em
.
I think digital distribution will overtake physical games soon, just like the music industry has done over the years. Shops like Game just shot themselves in the foot as now they loose all my custom, not just PC game sales. Granted its not much of a dent in their sales, but its something.
So now instead of going there for some of my PC, console & handheld games, i'll buy them all elsewhere now instead, stuff em
. I think digital distribution will overtake physical games soon, just like the music industry has done over the years. Shops like Game just shot themselves in the foot as now they loose all my custom, not just PC game sales. Granted its not much of a dent in their sales, but its something.
I rather suspect that digital downloads are a reaction, and not the driving force here. For a start, despite the best bleating of the hardcore PC gamers, the majority of PC gamers (and probably all gamers) are actually casual gamers, who probably only buy a couple of games a year. But the answer to the original question is pretty simple: margin. All games take about the same amount of room to stock, but the margins are far higher on the console versions/games, so of course the shop preferentially stocks them.
As to the separate issue of development, the answer is a variant of the same thing: money. If you get a higher material reward for making a game for a console (and far less whinging about the game being "buggy" when it's actually the PC owners machine at fault 80% of the time) why would you bother with the PC unless it's part of a contract? Kudos and acclaim are good, but a poor substitute for a bigger house.
M
As to the separate issue of development, the answer is a variant of the same thing: money. If you get a higher material reward for making a game for a console (and far less whinging about the game being "buggy" when it's actually the PC owners machine at fault 80% of the time) why would you bother with the PC unless it's part of a contract? Kudos and acclaim are good, but a poor substitute for a bigger house.
M
Lol I haven't gone to the shops to buy a game for over a year, I either order the DVD from GAME UK or use steam, I've used the GAME download service once
Its just easier to manage online, order and forget and it turns up at the door, one less thing to worry about
Its just easier to manage online, order and forget and it turns up at the door, one less thing to worry about
...I want to be able to buy and play a game without having to rely on the internet.
Don't mind downloading patches at a later date etc but prefer single player offline games nowadays.
Buy an actual product from a shop and install at home without needing anything other than a dvd drive
that still wins for me.last time I went to game they had quite a lot, the console get more wall space than PC these days
one I go to, has the top ten PC chart than another self a good 5 foot wide which is normally quite full, than have a savings one, the normal game 2 for £15 stuff like that, better off buying online rather than going to game or hmv etc as they seem to have more collection for PC
and boots did PC games O_O the one were I live never did
one I go to, has the top ten PC chart than another self a good 5 foot wide which is normally quite full, than have a savings one, the normal game 2 for £15 stuff like that, better off buying online rather than going to game or hmv etc as they seem to have more collection for PC
and boots did PC games O_O the one were I live never did
Yes
The most lucrative franchises are on the pc.
Not to mention it's easier to get into than consoles, as there are much less start up costs.
Yes but you're dumb enough to have bought MW2, hardly representative of the pcgaming community
It's been ages since I have bought a PC game from a shop, but I have been buying a fair few from steam so it's not down to piracy only why shops don't really support it much. Is there actually any figures to show how much piracy is actually effecting the PC game industry vs console gaming? Would be interesting to see if it is making a significant effect, but judging by the most pirated games thread, over 4 million copies of PC MW2 was pirated, that and piracy of other PC games must have an effect to shops profit from them.
Last time i went in Game they had a corner of the shop dedicated to PC games. Not as much floor space as the console games but there are 3 main consoles plus PS2 and 1 games are still sold then there are also DS, gamboy etc as well.
There was 2 big shelves with the most recent games and a separate smaller shelf with the top 10 PC games on. They also had 2 big double sided shelves with loads of cheap £5 games on.
This was about a year ago and Ive not been since so i don't know if its the same now.
There was 2 big shelves with the most recent games and a separate smaller shelf with the top 10 PC games on. They also had 2 big double sided shelves with loads of cheap £5 games on.
This was about a year ago and Ive not been since so i don't know if its the same now.