Desktop gaming in the next 5 years

think im gunna see how next console is from sony or eggbox :p

if it has keyboard and mouse support i may just buy one of those instead as 99 percent of games are made for consoles and even play properly on consoles.

yes graphics are worse but if most are gunna be console games what the hell lets grab a pad :eek::p
 
arknor said:
laptops never had much of an impact on desktop gaming, so i dont see how tablets can hope to really
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I guess the difference is that laptops are basically nothing more than a small desktop PC, whereas the modern trend towards proper mobile devices (i.e. those you can fit in your pocket/handbag) sees us getting a lot of genuinely different devices.

For example the vast majority of laptops run Windows, whereas for mobile devices this isn't the case due to iOS and Android having significant market share. Desktop gaming is massively focussed around Windows development, which works on both desktops and laptops. So people buying laptops doesn't limit their market much in the publisher's eyes (obviously modern AAA titles like BF3 will struggle on the majority of laptops but in general terms desktop/laptop gaming is the same). But if in 5 years fewer households having Windows-based devices that will undoubtedly have an impact on the desktop gaming market.

I don't think it will kill off desktop gaming within 5 years, certainly not especially as productivity applications like Office and currently very much entrenched in the Windows market. But as cloud-based services start to take off I can see a situation where people move more towards tablet devices, probably hybrid affairs that can be hooked up to peripherals like input devices (keyboards/mice/game controllers), bigger screens (HDTV) etc.

The irony is, in the future the closest thing to desktop gaming as we've traditionally known it could be some future version of the Xbox!
 
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Desktops will still be here in 5 years tablets should be very worried as laptops by then will be closer to desktops. Who on earth would pay a lot of money for a tablet when its inferior to a decent laptop now anyway!
 
For certain genres a tablet can be just as good if not better than a pc. I'm thinking of point and click adventures like the Broken Sword games for example. PC games will always be around, though increasingly niche. Interesting the Blizzard's next game Titan will come to consoles too I think, as will the new Diablo.
 
arknor said:
lol dont be silly....

maybe in 5 years a tablet will be able to output to a large screen tv at grpahics and resolution that matchs the xbox360....

cutting edge will still be desktop pcs because everything has to start big before its made small enough to fit inside a mobile device, even gaming laptops are huge, get hot and arent really an alterantive to a nice desktop for most serious gamers
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kristmace said:
I agree with arknor. Pcs will always be the cutting edge of technology. It's going to be a niche market compared to comsoles and tablets which are so mainstream, but it'll never die out.
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This!!

I refuse to play any game on laptop or tablet :mad:

If there are no desktops, there won't be PC cases which are still in big demand.

I actually hope tablets die out
 
AWPC said:
Desktops will still be here in 5 years tablets should be very worried as laptops by then will be closer to desktops. Who on earth would pay a lot of money for a tablet when its inferior to a decent laptop now anyway!
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Exactly. Why get a tablet when you could have an ultrabook that is the same/similar size with more power and a real keyboard?
 
Tablets are here to stay but will happily co-exist. I love my iPad for Internet and browsing forums such as this one. But I like my pc and consoles for gaming too (yes I've a ps3 and xbox360 and pc). I like the tinkerability of the pc platform and what you can do to games like Skyrim. This can't be replicated on other platforms.
 
AWPC said:
in 5 years tablets should be very worried as laptops by then will be closer to desktops. Who on earth would pay a lot of money for a tablet when its inferior to a decent laptop now anyway!
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I think you are underestimating the importance of non-technical facets to some people. Laptops are already, and have always been superior to tablets in terms of processing power, but that hasn't prevented people buying tablets.

Here are some reasons why tablets are popular, and these are reasons that will still be relevant no matter how 'close to desktops' laptops become:

-Greater portability, you can put a tablet in a handbag, small ruckset pocket etc. Mobiles fit in your pocket.
-Much better battery life
-Less overhead if you just want to quickly check something - swipe to unlock and you have your answer in a matter of seconds, no waiting for a laptop to boot / resume

The fact is, tablets and desktops address different markets. I have a desktop PC, a laptop, a tablet, a smart phone and three game consoles.

Desktop: Proper gaming, Office, general internet usage
Laptop: Don't use this much to be fair, take it away sometimes, mostly it is used by my wife for studying. If it wasn't for her I probably wouldn't have one.
Tablet: For surfing on the sofa, checking emails / social networking, take it away on holiday usually (GPS/maps etc very useful)
Smartphone: Highly portable device that lets me do basic internet stuff like email, looking up train times etc from anywhere with a mobile signal. As good as a tablet if it weren't for the lousy screen size.
Consoles: For playing console-exclusive titles like Gran Turismo 5 and 'party gaming' like Guitar Hero, Wii Sports etc

To be honest, pretty much the only reason I still have a desktop PC is for gaming, a laptop hooked up to a Monitor, mouse and keyboard is just as good for everything else (that's what I use at work). But in the future, say 15 years time, who know what the PC gaming market will look like.
 
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The_Baron said:
PC games will always be around, though increasingly niche.
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Which pauses an interesting problem! How can you have a niche market with games costing millions of dollars? What would be the point of PCs if producing big games on the platform (exclusively or not) could not be sustained? It's already happening, A lot of the time PC's are just an afterthought, and neglected, and PC exclusives are rare.

In any case, there will always be PCs, and Microsoft... So PC gaming will never die out. But will people be bored of dropping over a couple of grand on a top of the range machine only to have a marginally better experience than on consoles?

IMO, economically, I'm not so sure. But having the entire 'enthusiast' market die out due to a lack of interest from the game publishers would be a nightmare, especially for OcUK :).
 
olivier renault said:
Which pauses an interesting problem! How can you have a niche market with games costing millions of dollars? What would be the point of PCs if producing big games on the platform (exclusively or not) could not be sustained? It's already happening, A lot of the time PC's are just an afterthought, and neglected, and PC exclusives are rare.

In any case, there will always be PCs, and Microsoft... So PC gaming will never die out. But will people be bored of dropping over a couple of grand on a top of the range machine only to have a marginally better experience than on consoles?

IMO, economically, I'm not so sure. But having the entire 'enthusiast' market die out due to a lack of interest from the game publishers would be a nightmare, especially for OcUK :).
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PC exclusives are rare? LOL. Ok ok so AAA PC exclusives are rare but thats because PC doesn't have a single big company behind it throwing money at devs to bribe them into making exclusives that would otherwise be easily made multi-platform.
 
Hopefully with the release of the next consoles we may see a different pattern in games developers whereas they develop for the PC and port it to the consoles.
 
I don't know where this 'increasingly niche' nonsense is coming from.
PC gaming had it's best year on record in 2011, and 'Indie gaming' is driving even more growth.

Let's take a quick look at the releases in this dying sector from 2011:
Portal 2 (4 million units sold), Skyrim (4 million+), Minecraft (4,867,042 as of right now), Arkham City (2 million), Battlefield 3 (Fastest-selling game of all time...)
Better rush it to intensive care!

It's the same argument that Hollywood uses when moaning about piracy. Simultaneously claiming that their industry is being destroyed while posting all-time-record profits.
 
So if there isn't a "single big company behind it throwing money at devs to bribe them into making exclusives", surely that makes it much less attractive to publishers/devs to make PC-exclusive titles? As a publisher, your priority is making money, so the reason is irrelevant, all you care about is your bottom line. It doesn't matter how good the PC is from a technical perspective if the market for PC-exlusives isn't there.
 
Apart from MMOs (and sims, but that's a niche market inside a niche market)? They are rare (comparatively) because you get poor returns compare to consoles.

I love PC gaming, and long it may live. At the moment, it is healthy. Next gen consoles don't look that ground-braking, and don't seem to want to encroach on the PC market.
 
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HangTime said:
So if there isn't a "single big company behind it throwing money at devs to bribe them into making exclusives", surely that makes it much less attractive to publishers/devs to make PC-exclusive titles? As a publisher, your priority is making money, so the reason is irrelevant, all you care about is your bottom line. It doesn't matter how good the PC is from a technical perspective if the market for PC-exlusives isn't there.
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olivier renault said:
Apart from MMOs (and sims, but that's a niche market inside a niche market)? They are rare because you get poor returns compare to consoles.
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A multi platform game is surely going to make more money than an exclusive? I don't know what kind of money Sony and Microsoft throw at devs to attract them. So MMOs, RTSs, Sims and all the Indie games that are PC exclusive don't count? Minecraft doesn't count?
 
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