I'm a gamer, first and foremost. I play games because they're fun, and could really give a hoot about what platform I'm playing them on, but I have primarily been a PC gamer until recently. I recently had a discussion with a friend that led me to this line of thought. Please realize that I'm not flaming the PC here, I'm just honestly curious as to what people's opinions are on the current state of PC gaming.
Whenever a new generation of consoles is released, PC gaming always goes into a funk for a bit. When it takes a two thousand dollar system just to match what the new consoles can do, many gamers leave their PCs and head for the console of their choice. Many don't. Hardcore players of first person shooters, real time strategy games, and MMORPGs are rarely tempted, because the PC has always done these genres so much better than the consoles do.
What traditionally revives the PC's role in gaming is graphics. Eventually the consoles' once groundbreaking graphics begin to look dated, and even a midrange PC can deliver graphics that make the consoles look awful...especially as consoles were always limited to standard definition televisions where PCs were displaying on high definition monitors.
But times have changed. The graphic capabilities of today's consoles are impressive, capable of delivering mouth-watering graphics at 1080p...and speaking of 1080p, that's another change in the gaming landscape. More and more people have a large HDTV in their living room, and some are finding it more enjoyable to play on the couch on a big screen than cooped up in an office chair in front of a tiny monitor.
With development cycles taking a year (usually two), and costs averaging around 10 million dollars...will graphics be the PC's savior again? Can they get much better without massively increasing development time and cost? There's a theory about "good enough"...when a technology reaches a level that is good enough for the average consumer, they become disinclined to spend more on newer technology for an incremental increase. I believe that we are at a "good enough" point in graphics right now...and if not now, then certainly by the next generation of consoles.
First person shooters are no longer the sole purview of the PC. Modern consoles deliver graphics and multiplayer that equals and in some cases surpasses most PC shooters. The only remaining strengths of the PC in this arena are the control scheme (WASD + mouse), and the mod community. Considering the mod community has largely been rendered irrelevant by companies hiring the creators of popular mods and then selling the once-free mods for profit, and the enormous time commitment involved to make a quality mod on current games, is this still a factor?
The PC is still the only viable choice for real time strategy games. Consoles just cannot compete as these games are too complex to accurately control with a gamepad. However, making a keyboard and mouse accessory would remove this obstacle, as well as rendering the FPS control scheme debate moot. The PS3, I believe, already offers a mouse and keyboad that can be used with UT3.
MMOs will, for the foreseeable future, remain on PCs due to control issues and the fact that you do not need a cutting edge PC to play an MMO. MMOs that require expensive PCs fail.
More and more developers are jumping ship and heading to consoles. Easier to program for and for the most part, better sales. There was only one PC title I was interested in this holiday season, which is completely unheard of for me. Bad network code that makes getting a multiplayer match going (unfortunately this is pretty much standard unless the game is primarily focused towards multiplayer), DRM and rootkits are also driving people away from the PC as their gaming platform of choice.
So if the graphics can't get a whole lot better, the gamers are shifting to the living room, and the developers are shifting towards consoles, what is going to bring back the PC this time?
Whenever a new generation of consoles is released, PC gaming always goes into a funk for a bit. When it takes a two thousand dollar system just to match what the new consoles can do, many gamers leave their PCs and head for the console of their choice. Many don't. Hardcore players of first person shooters, real time strategy games, and MMORPGs are rarely tempted, because the PC has always done these genres so much better than the consoles do.
What traditionally revives the PC's role in gaming is graphics. Eventually the consoles' once groundbreaking graphics begin to look dated, and even a midrange PC can deliver graphics that make the consoles look awful...especially as consoles were always limited to standard definition televisions where PCs were displaying on high definition monitors.
But times have changed. The graphic capabilities of today's consoles are impressive, capable of delivering mouth-watering graphics at 1080p...and speaking of 1080p, that's another change in the gaming landscape. More and more people have a large HDTV in their living room, and some are finding it more enjoyable to play on the couch on a big screen than cooped up in an office chair in front of a tiny monitor.
With development cycles taking a year (usually two), and costs averaging around 10 million dollars...will graphics be the PC's savior again? Can they get much better without massively increasing development time and cost? There's a theory about "good enough"...when a technology reaches a level that is good enough for the average consumer, they become disinclined to spend more on newer technology for an incremental increase. I believe that we are at a "good enough" point in graphics right now...and if not now, then certainly by the next generation of consoles.
First person shooters are no longer the sole purview of the PC. Modern consoles deliver graphics and multiplayer that equals and in some cases surpasses most PC shooters. The only remaining strengths of the PC in this arena are the control scheme (WASD + mouse), and the mod community. Considering the mod community has largely been rendered irrelevant by companies hiring the creators of popular mods and then selling the once-free mods for profit, and the enormous time commitment involved to make a quality mod on current games, is this still a factor?
The PC is still the only viable choice for real time strategy games. Consoles just cannot compete as these games are too complex to accurately control with a gamepad. However, making a keyboard and mouse accessory would remove this obstacle, as well as rendering the FPS control scheme debate moot. The PS3, I believe, already offers a mouse and keyboad that can be used with UT3.
MMOs will, for the foreseeable future, remain on PCs due to control issues and the fact that you do not need a cutting edge PC to play an MMO. MMOs that require expensive PCs fail.
More and more developers are jumping ship and heading to consoles. Easier to program for and for the most part, better sales. There was only one PC title I was interested in this holiday season, which is completely unheard of for me. Bad network code that makes getting a multiplayer match going (unfortunately this is pretty much standard unless the game is primarily focused towards multiplayer), DRM and rootkits are also driving people away from the PC as their gaming platform of choice.
So if the graphics can't get a whole lot better, the gamers are shifting to the living room, and the developers are shifting towards consoles, what is going to bring back the PC this time?
stop making clone games. Yes wow was probably one of the best pc games ever but clones are just that and never recreate the same magic.
Comment