PC gaming really is in a bad way atm

KNiVES said:
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I agree completely. From a business stand point it would be crazy for a company to release a PC game just for the PC and not for the consoles as this is were the real money is.

For me consoles aren't a bad a alternative to PC gaming as it once was as most can do exactly what a PC can do now anyway (internet, voice comms, official mods, patches, high resolution etc) as well as a few things they can't (split screen, large screen gaming etc).

PC still has some merit though and games like Civilization and STALKER keep me away from the consoles for a limited time at least. But I can see the day when PC gaming will be marginalized even more but I don't think it will be that sad as long as everything we love about the PC gets integrated into the current and next gen consoles.
 
I have a nice setup'd PC - E6600 @ 3.1 gig, 2 gigs RAM, X1900XT -and I only really play FSX on my PC ...

most of my gaming is on my XBOX 360 -by far.

For instance GRAW2 - the graphics on the 360 version would make my PC cry - genuinely. I'd be scrabbling around tweaking grass draw distance etc etc - wheras on the 360 I can just enjoy it.

I sit there thinking - I don't think my PC coulod handle the grass, bloom, high res, AA, graphics detail, then I look in the top left corner - to see my team-mates first person view being displayed too ... eek !

Mark.
 
pcs own eggboxs and ps3 before we start the pc vs console trolling.They had a upper hand a few months ago but now pc has better graphics and cpus.The only thing is we dont have the fooooking games to show what we can do.If crysis is a stinker might aswell join the console bragade.
 
I recently bought a PS3 + late last year an X360 and several games for both. Reasons being the cost was better VFM than a SLI 800GTX setup (I only need a gfx card as the rest of my system is still fast).

PC gaming is still way ahead of PS3 + X360 as they only seem to be able to do DX9 level gfx and the level design + lack of Ram means low res textures and small level design to allow for the streaming load from disc which is unavoidable.

Problem is that the PC market is struggling with game sales due to piracy and very lazy development causing lack of interest as you should not need an 8800gtx or similar to run a well coded game as the PC has many resources you can use over a console like more ram + hard drive. Most people feel that a 360 or PS3 is a better buy than a £400 gfx card and they are right for the short term win but like always the PC pulls ahead again as it is a modular platform.

The best way for PC games sales to increase is for the devs to properly optimize for the PC & spend longer removing bugs in the Q&A process. I cannot see it getting better anytime soon however and for the next year or so a lot of games will be console ports.

Another is for Nvidia/ATI to have their own game studios as after all that is what drives card sales (not benchmarks).

I think that there is no easy fix as history shows us that when a platform loses dev support it gradually fades away. The PC will never die as it is meeting consoles in the middle even now but without better high end game support Nvidia/ATI may as well develop but not release so many cards because the supply outweights the demand.
 
Welll...let me add my two pence.

I have both a PC and xbox 360.

I was brought up on consoles tho (with the exception of a bbc and a speccy)I owned a nes/Amstrad/snes/megadrive/N64/ps1 and aps2(yes all my paperound money went on gaming), and have been a pc gamer for almost 10 years.

However since owning a PC I only really play pc games now, even tho I bought a 360 for christmas.

Why you ask?

Well it comes down to one thing and one thing only, accesability. What I mean is in terms of controlling the game you are playing, IMO over all the years and console gaming the PC is far far superior to actually controllling the game you are playing. A console is relatively useless in comparison. Consoles are much much more arcadey and will always be due to the fact they use a relatively substandard control system to the pc. The only disclaimer I feel to this is the Wii and judging by its popularity I would think that this is the sole rreason for its success - its accesability -anyone can pick it up and immediately feel at home due to its motion movement system -intuitive.

In a similar vein, everyone or nearly everyone owns a pc and can use a mouse and a keyboard -therefore the interface is much more accesable. now hand someone a 360 controller and it is an absolute mess, with buttons on shoulder two anoalogue sticks and a dpad as well as four other buttons. I hate it completely and with a passion which is why I hardly play it and in some regards wish I never bought it.

I played gears of war today and thought, this game could be great if only I didnt have to use a xbox360 controller. I will never use a controller in this fashion anywhere in my life except gaming. A pc system however I use everyday therefore I am at home using a mouse and keyboard.

Is the PC market dying? Not at all at the moment, However if a "console" was made incorporating a universal keyboard and mouse system that can use the same peripherals for pc then maybe pc gamers should be worried...but wouldnt people then opt for a pc rather than a "pc interface" console?

PC gamers should have nothing to worry about, the interface is what makes a console really successful- no amount of gadgets and widgets, next gen graphics whizz shizz the whole shabang, will save it. Try incorporating shortcuts, free movement without arcade control sticks, macros, editing and modding all into a control pad. PC Games will be around as long as people use PC's.

As an aside we are reaching the limits of what is capable graphically fast (think films and movies from the mid 90's onwards, the gains in CGI have not been huge). With photorealism round the corner there is nowhere else to go. Gameplay and accesibility will rein - this is the home of pc gaming.
 
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The games I'm looking forwards to are:

Tomb Raider Anniversary
Unreal Tournament 3
Bioshock
Crysis
Half Life 2 : Episode 2
 
XtAsY said:
The games I'm looking forwards to are:

Tomb Raider Anniversary
Unreal Tournament 3
Bioshock
Crysis
Half Life 2 : Episode 2
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All of which will be on consoles with the exception of Crysis.
 
I did work in a well known high street video game shop for a few years (poor me) and to be honest the main reason people dont buy pc games anymore is because they take too much effort,

The main reason people gave for prefering consoles was the fact that you just popped it in the machine and it worked,

if a mother buys a child a pc game she has to sit there and download new drivers, install it, and everything else,

If she buys a console game, she can put the disk in and go for a bath,

The child who is playing with the console plays for so long that he doesnt need to think about his fingers to move his super-hero anymore, and when he hears about pc games, the sheer ammount of keys on a keyboard confuse the hell out of him,

Once people feel confortable with something it is near impossible to change their minds
 
It is swings and roundabouts. New consoles come out and blow away whats on a PC, new consoles then age and the PC races into the lead again until such times as the next gen of consoles come out.

Im pretty amazed that its not taken that long this time after the PS3 and 360 releases for PC's to jump back in front again, when Crysis and UT2007 come out, the PC is going to be ahead by a far stretch again.
 
Both versions will have pros and cons but the difference is one will cost A LOT more to play.
 
At what cost will the pc version be superior though another £400 gfx card to do it justice, pc gaming is just too pricey now a days specially as you buy a card for that price then 6 months time its worth buttons.

There has been no game on the pc that has kept me hooked for the past year and a half they just bore me, stalker says it all for me all the delays and its still pants.
 
WTH are you all on about. You don't need anything like a £400 graphics card to play top games at high res with all the eye-candy on. Try half that at £200 for a res of 1600x1040, am 8800GTS will be perfectly fine for anything you throw at it.

Also keep an eye on Left 4 Dead as its shaping up to be a real stonking co-op game.
 
playworker said:
My biggest gripe is the number of games being released which should be good but instead turn out to be massively disappointing.

Oblivion: Actually built my new PC for this and what do I get? A **** console port, can't believe the UI is as bad as it is and it even has options for the analogue sticks on the 360 controller left in the menu :mad: Yes the mod community have done a fantastic job rectifying the situation but frankly - WTF. Also used to CTD regularly although it only seems to do that on exit now.

NWN2: After the disappointment of Oblivion I thought this might be a decent game... WRONG! Runs like an absolute dog for some reason and it isn't even that pretty, no traveling either just a map with icons to click on - it's not 1993 you know! BG2 was massively better.

ArmA: OFP with slightly updated graphics and a worse campaign.

It's like there's no innovation left any more - bring on Spawn. Take that UFO: whatevermajig game - utter rubbish, if I want to play Xcom then I'll fire up DOSBox and play it, by all means be inspired by a classic game like Xcom but don't recreate the exact game just with slightly better graphics *grrrrr*

Friday rant anyone? :D
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High expectations and then huge disappointment. I have not even bothered finishing Oblivion, NW2, Gothic 3, Vanguard. The games I have been surprised by due to having no expectations are STALKER and LOTRO. Even by normal winter standards the last 2 years have been appalling for the number of releases. I would love to see historic data for release dates of games over the past seven years and I am fairly certain there has been a drop.
 
Would not be so bad if it took about 3 hours to complete a game nowadays. Or if they stopped releasing "Part games", expecting to cash in on expansion packs. All they want to do is rip us off. Getting tired of PC gaming in particluar. It aint gonna get any better.

Cant wait to get Crysis and spend three days and 2 patches to get it running good. ;)
 
PC gaming is still better in my opinion. Keyboard and mouse gives much better control in FPS's, the visuals are better with good hardware, the online communities for games are better, mod communities are better, the games themselves are cheaper and the whole gaming experience I think is more immersive and enjoyable when you are properly sitting down at your monitor rather than lazing around in front of a TV with a joy pad.

EDIT - I'm only thinking of getting a 360 to play Gears of War and that's it. PC's usually get the better games first, Doom 3, Half Life 2 and FarCry all came out on PC first and it was quite a while before they winded up on the Xbox. Itll be the same story with games like Crysis and UT3 I bet, and theyll be better on PC anyway.
 
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Good games are in all round decline, it isn't anything to do wit PCs in particular.

When a new Gen of consoles come out they have a sight advantage as they have a bit of direct10 wizardry in them etc.

Gears of War and Crackdown are very good and i enjoy them very much on my 360. As soon as these engines come out on PC it will blow them away.

while consoles are slightly better than PCs at the moment they have to last 5 years lol. Imagine what a PC will do in 5 years!! 5 years is a damn long time.
 
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