Have Console games "lost the point"?

[Azernak0]

When I was growing up in the early and mid-Nineties, my sister and I played a lot of NES and Super NES (I am sure I am the only person this applies to). We had a computer at the time too but I honestly do not remember playing any computer games until I was about 7, and that was only because I saw my dead playing Diablo (I actually ran out of the room when he opened the door and I heard a booming "Ah, fresh meat"). No, at such a young age it was all console games.

To put it quickly: the computer was not 'meant' for games so playing games on it was not as 'ideal' as it was for the NES/Super NES. The computer was something that took a while to turn on, navigate to the game, and get it to run. To play a game of Super Mario World, I turned the console on, turned on the TV, and in that delay it was powered up and I was watching the intro screen. 15 seconds from turning it on, I was playing a level.

Today, it is still about the same though computer games have become easier as I have gotten older and the computers today are made with gaming in mind rather than an afterthought. It still requires several minutes to get into a game. Turning it on, getting on Steam, waiting for updates, I am preaching to the choir; we have all experienced this. My PS3 still takes about 10% of the time it takes to get into a game. If I only have like 10-15 minutes to play a game, I am turning on my PS3 and playing some Uncharted or something. It is still quicker.

Of course, that is kind of fading. The PS3 doesn't just start the game you have in the tray when it is loaded like every other console game before; it acts more like a PC. That "plug and play" thing is kind of dead. With Microsoft wanting the One to essentially be a computer with Steam and Sony waiting a long ass time before saying "we are not going to do that", I honestly don't see the next generation being about "plug and play." Consoles have also stayed about the same price (inflation wise) while computer prices have dropped. You can buy a laptop or a cheap PC for about the same price as a PS4 but even easier for a One.

So, have consoles lost the point of why they were popular in the first place?

 

[Lilani]

So, have consoles lost the point of why they were popular in the first place?

Because consoles and computers were radically different now from what they were in the NES/SNES era. Back in the day, consoles were ideal for gaming because they were plug-and-play. Computer games back then involved multiple floppy discs you had to load and reload all the time. And you had to wait for things to boot up and load. But the console? Stick in your cartridge, you turn the console on, and you play. And until the disc era you never had to change discs or cartridges in the middle of the game (and even then you had a LONG time between disc changes). And since USBs didn't exist back then, the more versatile and convenient controllers were also a major selling point.

Plug-and-play may be dead now, but it was certainly alive at a certain time. Isn't that sort of...obvious? What you're asking is like asking "If westerns have lost relevance, then why were they popular in the first place?" Because they were. Times change, but just because conditions are different now doesn't mean they never existed at all.

 

[sextus the crazy]

That's why I stick to handhelds for my console gaming. The 3DS is great for pick up and play, and my PSP can literally jump back to where I was like it was using savestates.

 

[Tom_green_day]

computers today are made with gaming in mind

I think I'm going to have to disagree with this. My household owns 3 normal computers. None were made with gaming in mind. I can tell this because they do not run any decent games (barely runs M&B Warband. Freezes every 5 minutes in Minecraft. Gaming PCs are build with gaming in mind, but other than that I think computers are made for work and internet and stuff.
OT: The point of consoles is to play games. PS3, PS4, 360, Xbox One, Wii and WiiU play games. I think the point is still firmly in sight.
But when I saw this topic I thought it would be just another anti-console pro-PC thread so I think OP deserves a prize and my thanks.

 

[Foolery]

The point of a console is plug and play. Those are its bread and butter functions. I think current gen consoles do this pretty well, minus updates and other shenanigans like online passes. PC gaming is a little more involved than that. Installation, maintenance, part replacement, upgrades, and so on depending on how deep into the PC rabbit hole you want to travel. Though it is much easier to get into PC gaming compared to years ago. With talk of steam boxes, I could see more people using PC. PS4 looks promising, but I want to see Sony's full hand for the console. If the majority of the experience is based around online, I'm most likely out.

Plug-and-play may be dead now, but it was certainly alive at a certain time. Isn't that sort of...obvious? What you're asking is like asking "If westerns have lost relevance, then why were they popular in the first place?" Because they were. Times change, but just because conditions are different now doesn't mean they never existed at all.

Eh. Plug and play is only dead if you're not into retro-gaming. I still have my PS2 kicking around. If I want to play The Bouncer or Final Fantasy X, all I have to do is pop in the disc.

But I get your point about westerns. Right now, films seem to be in a comic book superhero trend.

 

[GoaThief]

[And since USBs didn't exist back then, the more versatile and convenient controllers were also a major selling point t.

I disagree with much of what you say, PC gaming was pretty healthy back then especially if you look beyond DOS and Windows 3.1 to the likes of Commodore with the Amiga and C64 which were definitely plug and play. I had more varied controllers on the latter than my SNES, fight sticks, racing wheels, pads and joysticks... Alsorts. All were plug-and-play on the Amiga and the PC's COM port wasn't too much hassle to get going. Amstrad, Spectrum and all the rest flew the PC flag well before that too.

 

[Jmumbler]

I tend to find that the plug and play ideal has moved on to tablets for the most part. Alot of the games I play on my ipad (Baldurs gate, xcom, the walking dead, pirates) all I do is hit the icon and I am playing withing a min, 2 for xcom because they somehow managed to load that hole game in there.

Of course that tablet of mine never feels as good as a keyboard/controller in my hand.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I don't know about the way you're doing it but I turn on my PS3 and I get to play the game off the bat.

 

[Soopy]

The gap has closed with technological advancement. The Consoles have had to become more technical to compete and the PC's have become more accessible as technology (and perhaps more widespread understanding) has allowed things to be done automatically or simply done in an easier fashion.

There are a few points you make, that I disagree with, but they are largely irrelevant.

Consoles have lost their appeal to a point, but not because of any hardware or software short coming. I believe their shortfalls are more an issue with product development and with what the developers are wanting to do with them.

 

[Vegosiux]

computers today are made with gaming in mind

I think I'm going to have to disagree with this. My household owns 3 normal computers. None were made with gaming in mind. I can tell this because they do not run any decent games (barely runs M&B Warband. Freezes every 5 minutes in Minecraft. Gaming PCs are build with gaming in mind, but other than that I think computers are made for work and internet and stuff.
OT: The point of consoles is to play games. PS3, PS4, 360, Xbox One, Wii and WiiU play games. I think the point is still firmly in sight.
But when I saw this topic I thought it would be just another anti-console pro-PC thread so I think OP deserves a prize and my thanks.

Well, thing is, with a PC you can pick and choose the hardware, of course. A gamer will likely get a PC built with gaming in mind.

But despite the popular belief, gaming PCs actually aren't top of the line PCs when it comes to hardware. That falls on the heavy-duty workstations.

 

[lacktheknack]

But despite the popular belief, gaming PCs actually aren't top of the line PCs when it comes to hardware. That falls on the heavy-duty workstations.

This is true, although many people don't consider workstations to be "PC"s, because they're designed with stress-inducing workloads in mind rather than personal use.

Also, they're $20,000+.

Ick.

 

[AuronFtw]

Consoles are pointless now, yes. When they bridged the gap from truly "plug and play" to "plug and update the console firmware... then the kinect firmware... then the game updates... then the game's dlc updates... then re-calibrate the kinect since it lost its previous settings due to the update... then maybe play if you're still awake 30 minutes later" they completely stopped having a point.

PCs are, at the current point in time, so superior to any console in terms of actual "gaming" ability it's not even funny. Backwards compatibility? Yes. Custom mods? Yes. Emulating every console to play their games in addition to the PC's already massive library? Yes. Actual control over your machine, so you can pick what services you use and where you buy games without a single company holding the reigns on "your" console? Yes.

The only thing consoles had, back in the day, was dedicated gaming. Nobody had to worry about their console specs being up to par, nobody had to take out their n64's video card and replace it two years later because a new one came out. The game went in the machine and the machine played the game. No questions, no fuss, no delay. Computers, while still being powerful gaming machines back in that era, had all *kinds* of delay, and you had to be more or less computer-savvy (and have a lot of disposable income) to keep your PC specs up-to-date. Consoles were the clear choice for easy access, pick-up-and-play gaming.

The moment they threw that aspect out the window, without also offering all the utility and control that PCs offer, consoles became pointless. The only reason they're still alive is idiot fanbois supporting a company that outright hates them and tries its best to strip them off their consumer rights (see also: Xbone) and console-exclusive games, which, because consoles have no point in existing otherwise, is nothing more than holding a game or game series hostage.

 

[Strelok]

To put it quickly: the computer was not 'meant' for games so playing games on it was not as 'ideal' as it was for the NES/Super NES. The computer was something that took a while to turn on, navigate to the game, and get it to run. To play a game of Super Mario World, I turned the console on, turned on the TV, and in that delay it was powered up and I was watching the intro screen. 15 seconds from turning it on, I was playing a level.

Commodore 64 begs to differ, there was a lot larger library of games on the C64 and how much easier could you ask for?

READY.
LOAD "FORBIDDEN",8,1
SEARCHING FOR FORBIDDEN
LOADING
READY.
RUN

 

[Strazdas]

PC gaming was healthy back then. in fact at one point it was the dominant machine for gaming. Ever since i got my first computer i stopped playing consoles, it hooked me right in.
However, back then comptuers required knowledge to use, crashed, ect.
So consoles got popular again because while inferior machines themselves, they were easy to use. turn on, put in disc, play.
Fast forward to reality now and we got instalations, DRM, online requirements, updates and other nonesense for console games. meanwhile PC has stremalined its software and to be honest while i used to crash my machine almsot every day since im not the "Average" user, i dont even remember last time my Win7 crashed. drivers are pretty much automated now, heck, even graphic drivers have autoupdaters now. essentially PC is becoming easier to use, while remaining superiro in processing power and controls (mouse + kb > controller in everyhing but badly ported games)

But despite the popular belief, gaming PCs actually aren't top of the line PCs when it comes to hardware. That falls on the heavy-duty workstations.

This is true, although many people don't consider workstations to be "PC"s, because they're designed with stress-inducing workloads in mind rather than personal use.

Also, they're $20,000+.

Ick.

Not necessarely. For example a prahical designer would use a costum built "PC" and not an actual serverstation, however it will likely be much more powerful than an average gaming PC due to need to remder this 3d graphics as fast as possible (there is a reason rendering is done overnight).
they cont cost 20000 dollars, more like 3000 dollars and they arent real supercomputers/servers, but some professions do require you to have more power tha an average gamer.
though those are few and far between and we can ignore them as statistically irrelevant.

Eh. Plug and play is only dead if you're not into retro-gaming. I still have my PS2 kicking around. If I want to play The Bouncer or Final Fantasy X, all I have to do is pop in the disc.

So your arguing that plug and play NOW is not dead because you play old games?
the wohle point of this thread was that back then pug and play existed whine now it doesnt.
PC gaming is a little more involved than that. Installation, maintenance, part replacement, upgrades, and so on depending on how deep into the PC rabbit hole you want to travel. Though it is much easier to get into PC gaming compared to years ago. With talk of steam boxes, I could see more people using PC.[/quote]
COnsoles got isntalation too. Instalation is good, because disc reading is slow with size of current games.
maintenance.... what maintenance? needing to place it in location where it isnt covered so it wouldnt overheat? sme thing with consoles? needing copressed air to blwo out the dust once a year? same thing with consoles.
you really dont need part replacement. replacing parts will be cheaper, but unnecessary. you can just buy a pre-built PC. game with it for 5 years. then buy a new one. Uprades as in software? automated now. Hardware? see above.
Peopel chose how deep they want to go based on thier knowledge. some people actually enjoy building PCs. some just buy prebuilt and game on.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The PS3 doesn't just start the game you have in the tray when it is loaded like every other console game before

You can set the PS3 to start the disc when you boot the system.

Consoles are pointless now, yes. When they bridged the gap from truly "plug and play" to "plug and update the console firmware... then the kinect firmware... then the game updates... then the game's dlc updates... then re-calibrate the kinect since it lost its previous settings due to the update... then maybe play if you're still awake 30 minutes later" they completely stopped having a point.

The moment they threw that aspect out the window, without also offering all the utility and control that PCs offer, consoles became pointless. The only reason they're still alive is idiot fanbois supporting a company that outright hates them and tries its best to strip them off their consumer rights (see also: Xbone) and console-exclusive games, which, because consoles have no point in existing otherwise, is nothing more than holding a game or game series hostage.

Did you know you can still play a game that has an update if you sign out of Live or PSN nor do you have to update firmware either? Plus, it's not like PC games don't get patches and updates, do PCs let you get those updates magically without you having to download them? Overall it's great that consoles now let developers patch games to fix problems, I'd rather have the game fixed than not fixed. Your second mistake was getting a Kinect, why update something that's useless?

Consoles are still way more convenient than PCs. I'm a PC nerd and I don't put up with playing PC games. You always run into some fucking issue where it takes you like an hour or so of googling to find the person on some random forum who has your exact problem and found a fix like editing something in say an INI file. It's just not worth the extra graphics for me when I can just pop in the game on a console and start playing. Then to get my DualShock controller to play a PC game, I had to download some Japanese drivers because there's no official drivers and then I have to remap the controls before I can play. Plus, you always have to update your video drivers on PC. I'd rather spend my free time playing said game than spending time to get a game to work the way I want it (even if that entails trying to find just the right combination of in-game graphical settings). I'm the type of person that will tweak something to optimize it as much as possible so I don't care to PC game. And, your console is placed close to your TV so you can easily hook it up to your surround sound system and you can game from your couch or recliner. There's always more console exclusives that I care about than PC exclusives as I don't even care for the genres that dominant the PC like RTSs, MMOs, Diablo-esque RPGs, MOBAs, etc.

Here's an example of someone asking for help in getting XCOM to run [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.398473-Poll-XCOM-Enemy-Unknown-help#19894904] on a discussion here on the Escapist in a thread about which starting continent is the best. If they were playing on PS3 or 360, they wouldn't be needing help in getting the game to just run.

You really come off as one of those PC master race elitists saying consoles exist solely because of "fanbois." Consoles exist because people prefer playing a game on their TV from their couch without having to do anything but putting in the damn disc.

 

[Raziel]

Consoles are pointless now, yes. When they bridged the gap from truly "plug and play" to "plug and update the console firmware... then the kinect firmware... then the game updates... then the game's dlc updates... then re-calibrate the kinect since it lost its previous settings due to the update... then maybe play if you're still awake 30 minutes later" they completely stopped having a point.

PCs are, at the current point in time, so superior to any console in terms of actual "gaming" ability it's not even funny. Backwards compatibility? Yes. Custom mods? Yes. Emulating every console to play their games in addition to the PC's already massive library? Yes. Actual control over your machine, so you can pick what services you use and where you buy games without a single company holding the reigns on "your" console? Yes.

The only thing consoles had, back in the day, was dedicated gaming. Nobody had to worry about their console specs being up to par, nobody had to take out their n64's video card and replace it two years later because a new one came out. The game went in the machine and the machine played the game. No questions, no fuss, no delay. Computers, while still being powerful gaming machines back in that era, had all *kinds* of delay, and you had to be more or less computer-savvy (and have a lot of disposable income) to keep your PC specs up-to-date. Consoles were the clear choice for easy access, pick-up-and-play gaming.

The moment they threw that aspect out the window, without also offering all the utility and control that PCs offer, consoles became pointless. The only reason they're still alive is idiot fanbois supporting a company that outright hates them and tries its best to strip them off their consumer rights (see also: Xbone) and console-exclusive games, which, because consoles have no point in existing otherwise, is nothing more than holding a game or game series hostage.

I'm going to have to disagree with you here. What the consoles still have going for them is you put the game in and it works. The pc is nothing but headaches to try and get to play games unless you shell out for a pricey gaming rig. I know the specs of my pc I go to the store look at a game and don't know if it'll play it. Because I don't happen to know the specs of every graphics card. I ask an employee and all they can tell me is it should. I go online and find a test to see if the game will run and it passes. I buy the game install it and it doesn't work. I spent a week going back and forth with tech support and spend days looking for new drivers and it still doesn't work. I'm done with pc gaming. I don't need to spend a week trying to get a 6 hour game running.

Sure mods might be interesting to try. But they involve even more work to install, assuming you can even find good ones that don't crash or infect your machine.

 

[Foolery]

Eh. Plug and play is only dead if you're not into retro-gaming. I still have my PS2 kicking around. If I want to play The Bouncer or Final Fantasy X, all I have to do is pop in the disc.

So your arguing that plug and play NOW is not dead because you play old games?

No, not completely.

I don't know about the way you're doing it but I turn on my PS3 and I get to play the game off the bat.

What this gentleman said here encompasses my feelings on the matter pretty well. You don't have to take your console online or run updates. Most games will still play right out of the box.

 

[EXos]

-snip-

I'm going to have to disagree with you here. What the consoles still have going for them is you put the game in and it works. The pc is nothing but headaches to try and get to play games unless you shell out for a pricey gaming rig. I know the specs of my pc I go to the store look at a game and don't know if it'll play it. Because I don't happen to know the specs of every graphics card. I ask an employee and all they can tell me is it should. I go online and find a test to see if the game will run and it passes. I buy the game install it and it doesn't work. I spent a week going back and forth with tech support and spend days looking for new drivers and it still doesn't work. I'm done with pc gaming. I don't need to spend a week trying to get a 6 hour game running.

Sure mods might be interesting to try. But they involve even more work to install, assuming you can even find good ones that don't crash or infect your machine.

Sorry but that's utter BS. That hasn't been a problem for years. I haven't looked at specs for a games since getting X3.

Since the seventh Console gen a decent $700 PC can play anything that you throw at it.
Okay perhaps you had to update Direct X once in a while.

Both PC and Console have the update (delays) these days.
Though I haven't had to wait for a game to update in ages... All praise to steam.


Back on topic.

The console are trying to become PC's. They are used for much more than just gaming and with versatility come issues and delays.

 

[viranimus]

Today, it is still about the same though computer games have become easier as I have gotten older and the computers today are made with gaming in mind rather than an afterthought. It still requires several minutes to get into a game. Turning it on, getting on Steam, waiting for updates, I am preaching to the choir; we have all experienced this. My PS3 still takes about 10% of the time it takes to get into a game. If I only have like 10-15 minutes to play a game, I am turning on my PS3 and playing some Uncharted or something. It is still quicker.

First off, try ditching steam.

On this PC alone I have at least 10 games currently installed all of which will take all the effort of a simple double click to start. Takes my PS3 longer to simply get to the xbar, or to swap discs out, check if controllers are decently charged, etc. Not sure why a PC would take any more or less time to get a game running unless you are comparing uneven things such as playing a game on PC from installation, vs a previously played/updated ps3 title (which also takes time for software checks and updates if youve never played the title on the box before)