Vista- PC gamings saving grace or the beginning of the end?

UOcUK Poopscoop · 6 May 2006 at 22:33

Will Vista and DX10 be the shot in the arm PC gaming needs or will it just throw more people into the arms of console gaming?

I really, REALLY hate the thought of playing games with a joypad but the thought of being a "beta tester" for MS on a new O/S and the costs involved in yet another upgrade are beginning to get to even me.

The screenies of Crysis help me keep the faith a little but then I remember that just to play it will demand another upgrade again!

Bah! :mad:

BTW, this is NOT a console vs PC thread. Just wonder what everyone thinks at the moment.

I know being a PC gamer has never been cheap but it seems to be getting a bit daft lately.

And surely DX10 being Vista only is just milking the cash cow just that little too far.

UOcUK Poopscoop · 7 May 2006 at 00:10

Jokester said:
People were predicting the death of PC gaming way back in the days of 486s, if not before.

Nothings changed.

Jokester

True.

I remember the Amiga in its heyday though.

It died as a gaming platform (as a platform at all in-fact) due to the huge problems it had with piracy and the emerging console/ PC market.

Of course I am not saying that the PC will die but it is not inconceivable that it could become only a mere niche market for gaming with the big money going to the consoles.

In some small way that would actually be good as you would see a reemergence of a "home" coding scene that could actually make some innovative games.

UOcUK Poopscoop · 7 May 2006 at 09:37

Jokester said:
The difference between the Amiga/Atari ST and the Speccy/Commodore 64 before was that to the PC there was no upgrade path (or very limited in the case of the Amiga), so they were in fact no different to a console in the sense that when a new console (or home computer) came out then you ultimately ended up binning the old one.

When it comes to the PC (at least in the medium term) when you upgraded, you could still use all your old software. This is something console makers have cottoned onto with XBox -> Xbox 360 etc.

Jokester

Yes, I agree that having an upgrade path is a big distinction between the PC and the old Home Computers.

Trouble is that that very upgrade path (due to its cost) is now something that is actually putting off many people from PC gaming.

Double edged sword.

UOcUK Poopscoop · 7 May 2006 at 13:42

NokkonWud said:
I'll be buying Vista because I think it's pointless sitting behind on an older OS.

Why exactly is it pointless?

(I will no doubt buy Vista at some point too, but I am just curious about that statement.)

UOcUK Poopscoop · 8 May 2006 at 01:58

HangTime said:
I'd be quite interested to see sales figures for PC games too. I certainly haven't heard anything about them getting very low recently...

A good indication is the siting of games in retail stores.

You noticed that many retailers have the PC games at the back of the store or anywhere else that leaves room for PS2 games etc. to be at the front?

Using my analogy again, I saw the same thing happen when the good old Amiga started to wain as a gaming platform.

Its games slowly moved to less prominent positions in stores.

There is another similarity too. The Amiga was initially *the* platform that all the best games premiered on. Slowly it changed to the best games coming out on the PC and either being ported to the Amiga or simply never happening at all.

Sound a little familiar?

As I said, I don't think PC gaming will die anytime soon but how long will it be a premier platform for new, innovative games?