Are We Entering The New PC Golden Age?

[Starbird]

I realized something tonight.

For the first time ever, I have no urge whatsoever to buy a next gen console. In previous generations, there were always one or two release titles that blew my socks off and made me go out and buy one, and generally I could at least expect to be somewhat ahead of all but the most insane gaming rigs for a bit. Heck, last generation was good enough that I had both a Ps3 and a 360, which is the first generation where this happened to me since 16bit.

This generation...it didn't happen. Not only can my 780ti rig play games at higher resolutions/settings and at better framerates than consoles can - it can do this now, not in a year's time!

I don't mind consoles. I quite like console gaming (although I am one of those nutters that has always felt more at home in all games - even fighters - on a keyboard (blame One Must Fall 2097).

I don't think that graphics make the game, but they are a limiting factor more often than not for new titles.

On top of this, by being a PC gamer I have access to online play without monthly subscriptions to services, significantly cheaper games (at least here in Japan) and frequently exclusive titles that simply aren't available on consoles.

On the other hand - nearly every console game that I have any interest in is also coming out on PC.

I wonder what happened? Have consoles hit a point where they simply cannot be price efficient and powerful? Has the industry realized that piracy on consoles is just as crazy as on PC? Or are we just going through a good patch at present.

Still, I am happy and hopeful that I won't feel the need to buy a new console for a while yet - at least until God of War 5 comes out.

Thoughts?

 

[TheGamerElite33]

PC golden age has been always with better exclusive, superior multiplats etc
plus this new gen i dont think anything on console is worth it especially when games like MGS5 is also coming to PC.

 

[ninja666]

Wait a few years till the current gen's consoles full potential is discovered and more titles are released. They've only been out for about 9-10 months.

 

[Starbird]

Wait a few years till the current gen's consoles full potential is discovered and more titles are released. They've only been out for about 9-10 months.

Do you really think it's going to happen like that though. The Ps2/Xbox/Ps3 and 360 were a lot stronger proportionally to PCs when they were released, at least in my mind - and they had a strong list of exclusives both released and upcoming this long after release.

I'm not hoping they fail or anything - competition is a good thing. But I am saying that right now...it feels especially good to be a PC gamer .

 

[Erttheking]

To be honest, I've never really "believed" in golden ages. When people talk about golden age I find that they're talking about the past 90% of the time and a certain amount of nostalgia is playing a factor there. So are things pretty good now? Yes. But I'm not calling it a golden age.

 

[Starbird]

To be honest, I've never really "believed" in golden ages. When people talk about golden age I find that they're talking about the past 90% of the time and a certain amount of nostalgia is playing a factor there. So are things pretty good now? Yes. But I'm not calling it a golden age.

Eh, it's just a term for a prolonged period where things were really good in some facet of ...well, something .

 

[Erttheking]

To be honest, I've never really "believed" in golden ages. When people talk about golden age I find that they're talking about the past 90% of the time and a certain amount of nostalgia is playing a factor there. So are things pretty good now? Yes. But I'm not calling it a golden age.

Eh, it's just a term for a prolonged period where things were really good in some facet of ...well, something .

True, but I can't help but always feel like we talk about how good these prolonged periods are after they've come and gone. They're only golden ages because we look back fondly on them.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I don't think you can really call an unbroken record of increasing success a Golden Age if there's never been a decline. PC Gaming from 1990 onwards has never had a major downfall. It has just grown exponentially.

 

[shrekfan246]

Wait a few years till the current gen's consoles full potential is discovered and more titles are released. They've only been out for about 9-10 months.

Do you really think it's going to happen like that though. The Ps2/Xbox/Ps3 and 360 were a lot stronger proportionally to PCs when they were released, at least in my mind - and they had a strong list of exclusives both released and upcoming this long after release.

"Upcoming", maybe, but most certainly not already released during the same time period. And besides, I think ninja666's point was more that the absolute best games on a system typically don't come out until developers actually have a grip on how to develop for that system. Some of the best PS2 games were released after the Xbox 360 (and in some cases PS3) were already on the market, for instance.

Anyway, personally I'd have to say no. But that's because I've been inundated by the amount of sheer tripe that's been getting put out on Steam over the past year or so. The new consoles are floundering at the moment, but that's mostly because they're just getting ports of games that were released one to three years ago, and everything else is still stuck in the "mediocre launch release" bracket of game quality. It especially doesn't help when developers are making games for the PS3/Xbox 360 and Xbox One/PS4.

 

[sanquin]

I don't think there will be a 'pc golden age' any time soon. Any golden age for gaming for that matter. Why? Look at all the shit the big developers are pushing on us. Imo, a 'golden age' should be at that thing's peak, not at just 'a good period of time'.

 

[Tayh]

I think the newest Golden Age of PC gaming kicked off when kickstarter became popular.
Suddenly, people were able to support and receive the games they wanted, not just those who corporate thought gamers would like.

 

[The Lunatic]

It appears to me that, developers are now paying a lot more attention to the PC as a platform, and more enthusiast are joining the platform after having grown tired of the consoles.

And that seems like a good thing, overall.

Competition is never a bad thing. And a platform which is significantly different from the consoles, yet capable of competing is exactly what the industry needs.

 

[Morgoth780]

I'm going to go with no. Why? PC gaming hasn't gotten much better since the last couple of years since the Xbox 360/PS3 generation (except hardware getting more powerful and cheaper).

It's more just a case of the PS4 and Xbox One being two of the worst consoles released in recent memory.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

ive thought that ever since steam hit it big, a bit curious since not long ago PC gaming was "dead" (and to those claims credits, it was probably at its lowest)

i dont have anything agaisnt consoles tough, everyone can play on whatever they like, and i can see some of the appeal, but PC is cheaper for me and overall more entertaining

I don't think you can really call an unbroken record of increasing success a Golden Age if there's never been a decline. PC Gaming from 1990 onwards has never had a major downfall. It has just grown exponentially.

i dont agree, a few years back, PC was really having a hard time, AAA studios were turning their backs on it

I'm going to go with no. Why? PC gaming hasn't gotten much better since the last couple of years since the Xbox 360/PS3 generation (except hardware getting more powerful and cheaper).

It's more just a case of the PS4 and Xbox One being two of the worst consoles released in recent memory.

i dont think they are THAT bad, well atleast not the PS4

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Wait a few years till the current gen's consoles full potential is discovered and more titles are released. They've only been out for about 9-10 months.

Do you really think it's going to happen like that though. The Ps2/Xbox/Ps3 and 360 were a lot stronger proportionally to PCs when they were released, at least in my mind - and they had a strong list of exclusives both released and upcoming this long after release.

"Upcoming", maybe, but most certainly not already released during the same time period. And besides, I think ninja666's point was more that the absolute best games on a system typically don't come out until developers actually have a grip on how to develop for that system. Some of the best PS2 games were released after the Xbox 360 (and in some cases PS3) were already on the market, for instance.

Anyway, personally I'd have to say no. But that's because I've been inundated by the amount of sheer tripe that's been getting put out on Steam over the past year or so. The new consoles are floundering at the moment, but that's mostly because they're just getting ports of games that were released one to three years ago, and everything else is still stuck in the "mediocre launch release" bracket of game quality. It especially doesn't help when developers are making games for the PS3/Xbox 360 and Xbox One/PS4.

im not sure if the devs will need to "grip on how to develop for that system", both the PS4 and Xbox One have a x86 architecture, not too different from PC, and everyone knows how to program on PC, this is not like the old days of "blast processing" and "cell power", theres no weird ass architecture to learn

which on one hand can lead to a bit of stagnation, but on the other, it means we will get far less shitty ports and broken games near a console's launch, remember how bad PS3 ports used to be?

 

[shrekfan246]

Wait a few years till the current gen's consoles full potential is discovered and more titles are released. They've only been out for about 9-10 months.

Do you really think it's going to happen like that though. The Ps2/Xbox/Ps3 and 360 were a lot stronger proportionally to PCs when they were released, at least in my mind - and they had a strong list of exclusives both released and upcoming this long after release.

"Upcoming", maybe, but most certainly not already released during the same time period. And besides, I think ninja666's point was more that the absolute best games on a system typically don't come out until developers actually have a grip on how to develop for that system. Some of the best PS2 games were released after the Xbox 360 (and in some cases PS3) were already on the market, for instance.

Anyway, personally I'd have to say no. But that's because I've been inundated by the amount of sheer tripe that's been getting put out on Steam over the past year or so. The new consoles are floundering at the moment, but that's mostly because they're just getting ports of games that were released one to three years ago, and everything else is still stuck in the "mediocre launch release" bracket of game quality. It especially doesn't help when developers are making games for the PS3/Xbox 360 and Xbox One/PS4.

im not sure if the devs will need to "grip on how to develop for that system", both the PS4 and Xbox One have a x86 architecture, not too different from PC, and everyone knows how to program on PC, this is not like the old days of "blast processing" and "cell power", theres no weird ass architecture to learn

which on one hand can lead to a bit of stagnation, and on the other, it means we will get far less shitty ports and broken games near a console's launch, remember how bad PS3 ports used to be?

And yet, as we've seen so far developers are still having significant difficulty with porting games between the systems... Watch Dogs and Dead Rising 3, for example.

While it's true that the architecture is all very similar now, a lot of developers weren't spending a lot of time developing for PC in the first place. And even if they were, they still used to be using three completely different kits and now they have two more entirely new and different ones to work with. Their similarities to PC architecture doesn't make them any less new to people who were used to developing for the Xbox 360 or PS3. And, while this is supposition on my part, right now AAA games are probably still being developed in the same exact ways they had to be for the Xbox 360/PS3, which means that most of the time and resources are being pumped into one version of the game and the others are going to be slightly lacking because of it.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Wait a few years till the current gen's consoles full potential is discovered and more titles are released. They've only been out for about 9-10 months.

Do you really think it's going to happen like that though. The Ps2/Xbox/Ps3 and 360 were a lot stronger proportionally to PCs when they were released, at least in my mind - and they had a strong list of exclusives both released and upcoming this long after release.

"Upcoming", maybe, but most certainly not already released during the same time period. And besides, I think ninja666's point was more that the absolute best games on a system typically don't come out until developers actually have a grip on how to develop for that system. Some of the best PS2 games were released after the Xbox 360 (and in some cases PS3) were already on the market, for instance.

Anyway, personally I'd have to say no. But that's because I've been inundated by the amount of sheer tripe that's been getting put out on Steam over the past year or so. The new consoles are floundering at the moment, but that's mostly because they're just getting ports of games that were released one to three years ago, and everything else is still stuck in the "mediocre launch release" bracket of game quality. It especially doesn't help when developers are making games for the PS3/Xbox 360 and Xbox One/PS4.

im not sure if the devs will need to "grip on how to develop for that system", both the PS4 and Xbox One have a x86 architecture, not too different from PC, and everyone knows how to program on PC, this is not like the old days of "blast processing" and "cell power", theres no weird ass architecture to learn

which on one hand can lead to a bit of stagnation, and on the other, it means we will get far less shitty ports and broken games near a console's launch, remember how bad PS3 ports used to be?

And yet, as we've seen so far developers are still having significant difficulty with porting games between the systems... Watch Dogs and Dead Rising 3, for example.

While it's true that the architecture is all very similar now, a lot of developers weren't spending a lot of time developing for PC in the first place. And even if they were, they still used to be using three completely different kits and now they have two more entirely new and different ones to work with. Their similarities to PC architecture doesn't make them any less new to people who were used to developing for the Xbox 360 or PS3. And, while this is supposition on my part, right now AAA games are probably still being developed in the same exact ways they had to be for the Xbox 360/PS3, which means that most of the time and resources are being pumped into one version of the game and the others are going to be slightly lacking because of it.

i was actually talking about ports accross consoles but regarding PC ports, they seem to be better than previous ports, and hell atleast now PC gets a port of almost everything

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I don't really believe in "golden ages", they just remind me of small pockets of nostalgia with rose tinted glasses that some choose to force on themselves to make their choices seem better compared to what wasn't chosen.

I'm only on PC at the moment I'll say I'm not having a fun time, I dislike having 3 sets of DRM, dislike having tripe shoved on Steam, dislike finding less servers for my games to play, dislike having shit every day on most multiplayers like everyone came from COD, always insulting each other and acting like children. I also don't have amazing amounts of money and haven't for a while now so I'm not able to throw a lot for upgrades and in turn it leaves me in a proper rut and I dislike that, like a lot, it makes me just want to grab a console and game because I know it will run from the box without many issues, most of what I've had are issues, installations, running the damn games, having frame skips, bugs and incomplete games etc.

This doesn't feel like a golden age to me at all, it feels like a sack of shit and I know someone's going to play the "Oh tell me what's wrong and I'll try to advise you on how to feel better and be wrong at the same time".

I'm actually quite glad that if I get enough money saved before years end that I'll finally get that Wii U, Bayonetta 1+2 and anything else that catches my eye, be able to play it without crap surrounding it and people too.

 

[Rozalia1]

Irritating... Sorry thought this was another Diesel thread for a second there.

Why does the opening posts of these type of threads always go straight to power? You want a "powerhouse" console than go grab a Jaguar and see how much benefit that musters. Oh and before you mention (as it always happens in these sort of threads) "but Xbone is said to be a supercomputer and isn't"...its kayfabe buddy. Big Show was billed at 500lb for most of his career, Jaguar being the world's first 64 bit machine that sort of thing.

Its about the games simply put and Nintendo and Sony can easily deliver those with their own studios, and the assured exclusive Japanese third party support.

It appears to me that, developers are now paying a lot more attention to the PC as a platform, and more enthusiast are joining the platform after having grown tired of the consoles.

And that seems like a good thing, overall.

Competition is never a bad thing. And a platform which is significantly different from the consoles, yet capable of competing is exactly what the industry needs.

Really going need a citation on this claim that "developers" have grown tired of consoles. Sounds like pure tripe to me, but if you can mosey up evidence of this epidemic than I'll listen.

 

[black_knight1337]

I don't think it's so much a golden age for PC gaming but rather that the new consoles and their line-ups are rather lackluster. There's only been one exclusive announced so for that's actually got me interested (Sunset Overdrive) and even then, with how the XB1's 'exclusives' have been going it will probably end up on PC anyway.

Wait a few years till the current gen's consoles full potential is discovered

Is there really anything to discover though? With previous generations of consoles they've had fancy tech or have just been outright powerful but now, they're just rather low end PCs with a custom OS stuck on them. Naturally there'll be some optimisations but I really don't think we'll get anywhere near the gains that we've seen previously.