PC Gaming Dead?
- Thread starter Toekiller
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 26 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 1,852
- Location
- Tonbridge, Kent
As i've just said on the site;
Worst Xmas ever, isnt including the amount of money made from MMO subscribers or that made from downloading games.
I think stopping the creation of games on the PC would kill the modding community and maybe the future of computer games. As game modders over time often go on to make real games (Counterstrike anyone?).
Consoles will simply evolve into all-purpose family entertainment units. Its the consoles future that looks bleak, its beginning to lose its identity. In a few generations time it will be nothing more than a modern day Hifi that plays games.
My PC has lasted me 3 years the same as a console, I can still play all games a decent resolution and detail. Eye candy is nice but what’s the point if it’s boring to play.
Consoles are popular cos they can be used by idiots and there are far too many idiots with lots of pocket money and willing parents. That’s why game companies are switching to Consoles cos of the money, not because they are superior.
As for EA churning out the same PC games i think you'll find there are more console game clones.
Oh and one more thing;
The big difference between console and PC games, you cant add new content (Maps, characters etc) with console games. Although with an Xbox360 HD it might be possible. I think its the ability to customise most PC games, their superior online capabilities (Custom maps, servers etc) that really make the difference.
Worst Xmas ever, isnt including the amount of money made from MMO subscribers or that made from downloading games.
I think stopping the creation of games on the PC would kill the modding community and maybe the future of computer games. As game modders over time often go on to make real games (Counterstrike anyone?).
Consoles will simply evolve into all-purpose family entertainment units. Its the consoles future that looks bleak, its beginning to lose its identity. In a few generations time it will be nothing more than a modern day Hifi that plays games.
My PC has lasted me 3 years the same as a console, I can still play all games a decent resolution and detail. Eye candy is nice but what’s the point if it’s boring to play.
Consoles are popular cos they can be used by idiots and there are far too many idiots with lots of pocket money and willing parents. That’s why game companies are switching to Consoles cos of the money, not because they are superior.
As for EA churning out the same PC games i think you'll find there are more console game clones.
Oh and one more thing;
The big difference between console and PC games, you cant add new content (Maps, characters etc) with console games. Although with an Xbox360 HD it might be possible. I think its the ability to customise most PC games, their superior online capabilities (Custom maps, servers etc) that really make the difference.
Piracy hurt the PC for a while so games sales suffered when almost every title had a no disc patch within a few days (or even pre-release date) on the net. In the last year newer protections like Starforce 3.7 & TAGES have made it very hard for the casual gamer to circumvent. This alone would have been enough for some publishers/devs to give up.
However, all is not lost as MS/Intel/AMD/Nvidia/ATI do not charge royalty fees for any games released whereas on the consoles the fees can be as high as 25% per title which reduces their profit margin.
Nvidia with their TWIMTBP marketing campaign & MS with their upcoming promotion of XP & Vista as a gaming platform (to dent Sonys PS3 sales no doubt) should help get more interest in the platform as well.
On a console almost all games of all genres look & feel the same after a while.
The PC has so many unique titles because it has many different controller options & the more powerful hardware makes some titles viable only on the PC due to the limited console hardware. Moding is another area where the PC is unmatched.
Any PC from the last 2-3 years with only a DX8 level gfx card still looks comparable to the Xbox360 when viewed on a TV. Their is huge potential for PC gaming to grow again as the low end cards Nvidia & ATI make now would enable older PC's to run new games which look better than the Xbox360 or any other next gen console. Whether this will happen or not is hard to gauge as most people just wanna game and not mess around with upgrades.
Time will tell but after a poor 2005 I think the PC will have some strong titles this year. Next gen ports to the PC will give a boost as will the amount of time many games have been in development to take advantage of DX9 features.
However, all is not lost as MS/Intel/AMD/Nvidia/ATI do not charge royalty fees for any games released whereas on the consoles the fees can be as high as 25% per title which reduces their profit margin.
Nvidia with their TWIMTBP marketing campaign & MS with their upcoming promotion of XP & Vista as a gaming platform (to dent Sonys PS3 sales no doubt) should help get more interest in the platform as well.
On a console almost all games of all genres look & feel the same after a while.
The PC has so many unique titles because it has many different controller options & the more powerful hardware makes some titles viable only on the PC due to the limited console hardware. Moding is another area where the PC is unmatched.
Any PC from the last 2-3 years with only a DX8 level gfx card still looks comparable to the Xbox360 when viewed on a TV. Their is huge potential for PC gaming to grow again as the low end cards Nvidia & ATI make now would enable older PC's to run new games which look better than the Xbox360 or any other next gen console. Whether this will happen or not is hard to gauge as most people just wanna game and not mess around with upgrades.
Time will tell but after a poor 2005 I think the PC will have some strong titles this year. Next gen ports to the PC will give a boost as will the amount of time many games have been in development to take advantage of DX9 features.
Well i dont think PC Gaming is dying but it is certainly feeling the squeeze from the console games in terms of actual retail space. I could be wrong but console game sales usually outstrip the pc game market by far. But i dont think it is dying, just that it has a smaller slice of the pie which is the overall gaming market.
I walked into a major brand pc-game/console game retailer on the high street recently. The pc game shelf was glutted with MMORPGS, FPS, RTS and the usual film-tie ins. Was very hard pressed to find anything different. It used to be the case where you could search through the games and they would be different...now its all the same. It felt like that the retailer was only pandering to the 'public' or the higher marketed dull, bland vanilla games and left anything that was diverse, niche or original by the wayside.
Have you also noticed that game shelf-life is a lot shorter? Usually its only about 6 months before a game is marked down and then if it isnt selling great it disappears and good luck if you find it again.
I ended up not buying anything and just went home and bought a few games online (arcanum, arx fatalis and restricted area all for 20ish quid)
I walked into a major brand pc-game/console game retailer on the high street recently. The pc game shelf was glutted with MMORPGS, FPS, RTS and the usual film-tie ins. Was very hard pressed to find anything different. It used to be the case where you could search through the games and they would be different...now its all the same. It felt like that the retailer was only pandering to the 'public' or the higher marketed dull, bland vanilla games and left anything that was diverse, niche or original by the wayside.
Have you also noticed that game shelf-life is a lot shorter? Usually its only about 6 months before a game is marked down and then if it isnt selling great it disappears and good luck if you find it again.
I ended up not buying anything and just went home and bought a few games online (arcanum, arx fatalis and restricted area all for 20ish quid)
well i love my pc for gaming thats all i use it for and the odd web surfing.
It doesnt really bother me having to upgrade it so often apart from the increase of graphics card prices.
I own a ps2, gamcube xbox and the ds and i only play about 1-2 hours a week between all of them.
Most of my time is taken up with pc gaming i currently play:
css
cod2
bf2
guildwars
Ive got all the top games as well and played through them many times and enjoyed them just as much playing through them the first time.
I think 2006 will be an amazing year for pc gaming look at these beauties:
Oblivion elder scrolls
hl2 aftermath
sin episodes
wow burning crusade
spore
ut2007
alan wake
hellgate london
prey
stalker
supreme commander
empire at war
rise and fall
rise of legends
warhammer mark of choas
bioshock
splinter cell 4
quake wars
And thats off the top of my head, im currently waiting with my wallet for the 24th so i can buy the 1900xtx to play these games.
Im sure im not the only pc gamer hardcore fan.....reveal yourselves
It doesnt really bother me having to upgrade it so often apart from the increase of graphics card prices.
I own a ps2, gamcube xbox and the ds and i only play about 1-2 hours a week between all of them.
Most of my time is taken up with pc gaming i currently play:
css
cod2
bf2
guildwars
Ive got all the top games as well and played through them many times and enjoyed them just as much playing through them the first time.
I think 2006 will be an amazing year for pc gaming look at these beauties:
Oblivion elder scrolls
hl2 aftermath
sin episodes
wow burning crusade
spore
ut2007
alan wake
hellgate london
prey
stalker
supreme commander
empire at war
rise and fall
rise of legends
warhammer mark of choas
bioshock
splinter cell 4
quake wars
And thats off the top of my head, im currently waiting with my wallet for the 24th so i can buy the 1900xtx to play these games.
Im sure im not the only pc gamer hardcore fan.....reveal yourselves
Associate
- Joined
- 26 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 1,852
- Location
- Tonbridge, Kent
Your forgetting Duke Nukem Forever - if it ever comes out
Play loads of WOW, pretty new game...
My system is a little outdated... P4 2.0, 1gig ram, rad 9700pro, don't think i've done much to it performance wise since i added 512mb of ram about 2 years ago...
So in the time my friends have gone PSone->PS2->Xbox->Xbox 360 i've kept my PC, that makes it's lifecycle quite a bit more than any console...
Just goes to show you can play the latest game without having to pay £300+ for the latest console to do it on!
A 2.8gig cpu in 2002?! affordable?! yea right...
My system is a little outdated... P4 2.0, 1gig ram, rad 9700pro, don't think i've done much to it performance wise since i added 512mb of ram about 2 years ago...
So in the time my friends have gone PSone->PS2->Xbox->Xbox 360 i've kept my PC, that makes it's lifecycle quite a bit more than any console...
Just goes to show you can play the latest game without having to pay £300+ for the latest console to do it on!
A 2.8gig cpu in 2002?! affordable?! yea right...
Associate
- Joined
- 30 Oct 2005
- Posts
- 351
Seems ironic that, way,,,way back I thought pc games eh they will never take off, me and my amiga are coool, then i bought a 486 
PC games are here to stay in my opinion.
PC games are here to stay in my opinion.
Associate
- Joined
- 24 May 2003
- Posts
- 1,429
- Location
- UK
I also used to have an Amiga, in fact it was an Amiga 1200 and I can even remember the Workbench operating system but it's going back a few years! 
I used to use it for games back then and can remember some of the classics.
Anyway, I also think that PC gaming is here to stay and I will carry on supporting it when my finances can afford it!
I used to use it for games back then and can remember some of the classics.
Anyway, I also think that PC gaming is here to stay and I will carry on supporting it when my finances can afford it!
PC's are more than just 'being in the game' though. I like meddling with stuff, I don't like 'out of the box solutions'
Remember the first time you built your first PC for gaming, trawling the net to work out what you needed, and then selecting all the components, putting it together etc, then theres the tweaking........I enjoy it. It takes 2 mins to buy a Console, you dont even need to understand the ins and outs
Then theres all the free custom maps, skins, established multiplayer community
Can you imagine some guys doing something like Red Orchestra mod for a console, with no paycheque, nah. Theres soo many people involved with PC Gaming that put hours and hours into websites, forums, tweak guides, mods, tips etc, and for free LOL
Playing games is escapism, my time, I like to retreat to upstairs, away from the damn living room which I can do any night of the year, I can't play the PS2 I have if my wifes watching tv, by the same token Im not having a 28" widescreen tv in the spare bedroom
When it comes to the controller v mouse/kbrd debate - If you played CS:S online with a controller you'd be re-spawning every 5 secs, you'd get anhialated even by average joe
Then theres the sheer depth of HL2, only a PC does it justice, a game so immense and involving and clever as this would be lost on the majority of the Console masses,
Now theres talk of Microsoft rumours of having to bring out an external Blue-Ray drive that the 360 should have had from day 1, obviously to thwart those who have been holding out for the PS3, why didn't they wait until the Blue-Ray standards had been ratified ? Because they were happy to release an unfinished hardware product before xmas 2005 to milk the xmas market and get a foot in the door before the PS3 arrives,
The 360 isn't just a sub £300 option, to get th best out of it you need an LCD with a damn fine cable. That's more than Ive spent on my PC in over 2 years
Remember the first time you built your first PC for gaming, trawling the net to work out what you needed, and then selecting all the components, putting it together etc, then theres the tweaking........I enjoy it. It takes 2 mins to buy a Console, you dont even need to understand the ins and outs
Then theres all the free custom maps, skins, established multiplayer community
Can you imagine some guys doing something like Red Orchestra mod for a console, with no paycheque, nah. Theres soo many people involved with PC Gaming that put hours and hours into websites, forums, tweak guides, mods, tips etc, and for free LOL
Playing games is escapism, my time, I like to retreat to upstairs, away from the damn living room which I can do any night of the year, I can't play the PS2 I have if my wifes watching tv, by the same token Im not having a 28" widescreen tv in the spare bedroom
When it comes to the controller v mouse/kbrd debate - If you played CS:S online with a controller you'd be re-spawning every 5 secs, you'd get anhialated even by average joe
Then theres the sheer depth of HL2, only a PC does it justice, a game so immense and involving and clever as this would be lost on the majority of the Console masses,
Now theres talk of Microsoft rumours of having to bring out an external Blue-Ray drive that the 360 should have had from day 1, obviously to thwart those who have been holding out for the PS3, why didn't they wait until the Blue-Ray standards had been ratified ? Because they were happy to release an unfinished hardware product before xmas 2005 to milk the xmas market and get a foot in the door before the PS3 arrives,
The 360 isn't just a sub £300 option, to get th best out of it you need an LCD with a damn fine cable. That's more than Ive spent on my PC in over 2 years
Keyboards and mice are far better than a controller, ill never make the switch to console gaming unless they start using keyboards and mice as standard. theres something else about PC gaming that just makes them FAR more enjoyable than console games too, and its for this reason ill never switch
Well, unless games become more original.......
Im currently buying more games on my DS than I am on my PC
The main reason being originality.
Im hoping for a resurgance in "Home-Brew" games on the PC... much like the stuff which kept the 8-bit scene alive.
Stuff like New Star Soccer 3 gets my vote.
Although piracy is probably out of hand, the fact we get "Console Ports" doesnt help.
Im currently buying more games on my DS than I am on my PC
The main reason being originality.
Im hoping for a resurgance in "Home-Brew" games on the PC... much like the stuff which kept the 8-bit scene alive.
Stuff like New Star Soccer 3 gets my vote.
Flammy said:
Although piracy is probably out of hand, the fact we get "Console Ports" doesnt help.
Last edited:
Consoles are becoming more and more like PC's anyway, and I personally dont think thats a good thing. I mean keyboards and mice for consoles..wtf? You cant use a keyboard/mouse properly without sitting at a desk anyway right? Might as well just stick to my PC for gaming if thats the future. "Consoles" jeez....keep it simple! One of the best things about my old PS2 is being able to chill out on the sofa with a joypad - no bloody kb/mouse or external DVD drives thnx.
As for PC gaming dead? Well I duno. Admittedly there is a lot of unoriginal crap released these days, but its the same with consoles really. Theres nothing out on the xbox360 right now that makes me want to jump up and buy one along with a 900 quid HDTV. But its early days I suppose.
As for PC gaming dead? Well I duno. Admittedly there is a lot of unoriginal crap released these days, but its the same with consoles really. Theres nothing out on the xbox360 right now that makes me want to jump up and buy one along with a 900 quid HDTV. But its early days I suppose.
Soldato
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 13,081
pc gaming will always be the best.
what are consoles doing...trying to be more like a pc... why dont microsoft go the whole way and just put windows on xbox...
what are consoles doing...trying to be more like a pc... why dont microsoft go the whole way and just put windows on xbox...
Soldato
- Joined
- 12 Apr 2004
- Posts
- 11,788
- Location
- Somewhere
As I'm sure has probably been mentioned at some point in this thread (too late and can't be bothered to read the whole lot), the better consoles become, the more like PCs they will become, until the two are virtually indestinguishable. Consoles were originally supposed to be dedicated gaming platforms, but they seem to be taking on more and more features. What people don't realise is that we already have this. It's called a PC!
At the end of the day, the only real difference between a so called "console" and a PC, will be that consoles will have unified architecture, which is obviously a big benefit for developers.
At the end of the day, the only real difference between a so called "console" and a PC, will be that consoles will have unified architecture, which is obviously a big benefit for developers.
No excuse for piracy but why o why do publishers insist on using lame protection schemes which have already been cracked (securom & safedisc are the 2 most popular and both were well and truly beaten years ago yet they still persist). Doom3 was on the net due to an internal leak before it even hit the shops so no wonder it did not sell well!Flammy said:
Ubisoft have the right idea. Starforce 3.6 & higher are still unbroken as they encrypt 100's of game files (not just dll's).
If every publisher uses Starforce they increase sales dramatically as you cannot make a copy of the disc either so casual piracy is thwarted.
