can pc even come close to being considered part of the console race?

[Aiden Rebirth]

well I don't think the pc is a console, so should we consider it a contender? also should we take games on the 360 and pc out of the exclusive title catagory or what?

EDIT: had to rephrase this it made no sense in retrospect

 

[Joeshie]

well I don't think the pc is a console so should we consider it a contender and take games on the 360 and pc out of the exclusive title catorgy or what?

Wat?

 

[Mr.Pandah]

Umm, it doesn't need to be considered part of some petty console race because it is already far superior to the consoles. Not that I don't enjoy my console games, but god damn we've had so many threads like this and at this point I just flat out say it without doing some stupid pros and cons list.

 

[Fenring]

I'm gonna say no. PC's are sold primarily as business things. Consoles are not. It would mess up the 'console' sales charts.

 

[SeaCalMaster]

I agree with what has been said. Also, PCs aren't released in conveniently delineated generations like consoles; they have a wider range of abilities, and so it would be impossible to compare them to consoles.

 

[hebdomad]

No... PCs get newer and better hardware on the market every six months, consoles last for six or seven years! The PS2 is still kicking! and because of the money issues the world is having the next consoles wont be out until 2015-ish.

Developing PC games means you need to test on tons of different types and combinations of hardware, consoles you only need to test one, or very limited, set of hardware

Within three years of that race, you will start to see a third platform that will compete with consoles: nettop HTPCs for under $300-400 which do play PC games with the use of ePCI-Express video cards. This will provide an easy way to standardize scaling for games for PC game developers (not that it's very difficult to begin with). Inexpensive upgrades will cycle in every two years or so.

I have heard of this, though to be cost effective they will need to have 'built in' video cards much like laptops.

Although I don't think making the PC more like a console would sit well with the hard core PC audience. Since part of the culture of PC gaming is also building their machines, adding neons, massive fans, huge GPUs, and over clocking it all eta.

I do however believe that to compete with the concole market, they do need to set a common standard in terms of hardware, instead of making games for 'machines that don't exist yet'... Though this would be near impossible with making a machine that just played games...

 

[Aiden Rebirth]

Actually, this is off topic so I'm going to move this to a new thread!

how is this off-topic? consoles/p.c's are just as much apart of gaming discussion as the games.

 

[Fightgarr]

I don't think they are. While the consoles appear to be biting at each others shins trying to get a leg up on the others, PC seems to watch passively, while racking up a robust gaming selection. Its not part of the console race because PC gaming isn't about selling PCs, if the games do well its not because people buy PCs, its because its a good game.

 

[Dastardos]

No PCs are vastly superior to consoles in terms of technology. They are being updated every 6-12 months where consoles are only updated every 4 years or so.

 

[Aiden Rebirth]

hm i debate some of the responses.

With the next generation, consoles won't even be competing with each other in the mainstream market. It will be primarily a race against nettop HTPCs for those who don't game but need something to serve up media and stuff for their HDTV and video game consoles for those who do game (along with serving up media and stuff for their HDTV).

Within three years of that race, you will start to see a third platform that will compete with consoles: nettop HTPCs for under $300-400 which do play PC games with the use of ePCI-Express video cards. This will provide an easy way to standardize scaling for games for PC game developers (not that it's very difficult to begin with). Inexpensive upgrades will cycle in every two years or so.

Consoles, eventually reaching the point of where the CPU really won't do much anymore AND the their underpowered internal GPUs can't keep up with the resolution/visual wars, will also follow suit with upgradeable GPUs using some proprietary variant of the ePCI-Express port and bus. Upgrades will also follow the same scheme as nettops (except they will be far more expensive due to inherent lack of competition among that hardware submarket).

I don't think this is coming that soon but one day.

No PCs are vastly superior to consoles in terms of technology. They are being updated every 6-12 months where consoles are only updated every 4 years or so.

so why do games look fairly the same, and also we do not judge a generation buy graphics power, other wise the wii would be last gen. sorry fan boys but it's true, it is only a little better than xbox 1 in graphics.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I see PC's as being completely seperate from the console market. Totally different beast.

 

[Radelaide]

The few games which might "look fairly the same" are the ones which are rendered at half to 1/4 to even almost 1/6 times the resolution compared to PC games.

Trust me, you can get a ghetto ass hooptie PC to play Crysis at very high at 1024*600.

It might run it on 1024x600, but how much does it chug along?

Personally, I think that the time and effort that it takes to make upgrade a PC every 6 months doesn't make it something fun. It makes it choir.

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

well I don't think the pc is a console, so should we consider it a contender? also should we take games on the 360 and pc out of the exclusive title catagory or what?

EDIT: had to rephrase this it made no sense in retrospect

Absolutely not, the console peasants are never allowed to mingle with us of the PC-gaming master race.

 

[Wolvaroo]

Personally, I think that the time and effort that it takes to make upgrade a PC every 6 months doesn't make it something fun. It makes it choir.

last time I checked replacing a computer part was a simple as unplugging the old one then popping the new one in. Heck you can even let windows download a driver automatically if that extra step is the deal breaker.

It'd also take a few simultaneous PC upgradings for the screws and thunks to have harmony comparable to a "choir".

 

[Copter400]

I really hate the term 'console race'. It conjures up images of people urging their respective consoles to run down a track while they sit inert.

Try not to think of it as a 'console'. Think of it as a platform, just like all the other devices on market. And if you don't, what are you going to do? Disregard it as part of the market?

 

[Huey1000]

Why is this even open for discussion? A console IS a PC, a different kind of PC. iPods, cell phones, PDAs, they all use the same order of operation as a PC, they just do it in different methods. A PC or a laptop is sort of like a mix of a 360, iPod, cell phone, And blue-ray... and you can even do your good boy homework on it too. Now I'm not an expert in macroeconomics, but I think the reason why a new generation of PC is born every six months is because new more advanced parts are made every few months, and PCs are easily upgradeable, consoles are not. Thus, Microsoft and Sony will not invest in releasing a new product every six months to compete with PC, the general public won't be able to afford it, and that would cost Microsoft and Sony a shit load of green. Unless consumers recycle their old consoles to help make cheaper consoles; could you imagine that! The new Xbox 420, now on sale at $19.99... well maybe not that cheap, but that would also require some macro-industrialization, which won't really be a problem in the western market; actually it could even help today's market, but that's another topic.