Is the PC as a Gaming Platform Dying?

[Danny Skonez]

I certainly hope not, the PC has the most robust user community of any gaming system by far, is the most receptive to mods, and often has the most features...

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. With the several cons ive attended U have to say consoles have a far more robust and diverse fanbase. While PC fanbase is mainly nerdy white boys (myself included) I met a group of black gentlemen at a con once, one was gay had an eye patch from loosing his eye in the gulf war and he could repair xboxs without making them look liek theyve been tampered with. Eye PAtch Black Veteran deffinately beats nerdy white guy on the robust level. Plus not all computer games can take mods.

 

[jamesworkshop]

Well for one thing does exculsive titles really indicate the health of a gaming platform when across the entire industry exclusivity tends to only be first party development, with capcoms games appearing on all systems or FF13 going to the 360, multiplatform is just the way it is now.

PC title exclusivity was brought about by the fact that previous console generations did not have the same capabilties (no Hard drives, no internet) however during that time did many 3rd person action games get released (Assassins creed, DMC, street fighter, Prototype)

But now the PC is getting titles and genres it never really had as well as its staples like C&C4/dawn of war/crysis/borderlands (FPS + RPG) how excatly is this a sign of a dead platform when the lack of exclusivity is filled by high quality games in genre that have been completly underserved and by companies that before completly ignored the platform or like Capcom shoved their products to a cheap dev team to create a nasty port with no desire to see if they even did a good job.

Capcoms recent efforts which are comendable BTW in the PC is a really good sign of the health of the platform they could easily just release their PC versions with an option to change the resolution and they would have a perfectly acceptable game but instead they do seperate Dx9 and Dx10.exes even supporting NVIDAS stereoscopic 3D tech or adding new mode like "legendary dark knight" from DMC4 or Mercenary mode in RE5 have 3x times the ammount of enemies.

Brick and mortar stores are abandoning the PC isle because the PC consumers abbandoned them in favour of Internet distribution or buying used games of ebay.

One myth I have seen is this legendary power of the PS3 which somehow is yet to appear and yet a £80 graphics card like say the HD4770 can play games at twice the maximum supported output resolution of the PS3 which to be fair is actually a rarity in the current libary to have a game actually run in 1080P a feat that current PC games and hardware have no trouble acheiving.

 

[Flying-Emu]

it wont. the PC is the 2nd most powerful gaming platform (only completely pwned by the ps3) and im talking power. not anything else. you can mod a pcs graphics card and such to exceed some 360 games, but the ps3 power chip is 23 times better than the best supercomputers available.

also, theres WoW, CS and tons of other great exclusives that people will keep on playing for a really long.

I'm calling bullshit on this. The PS3 was developed in 2007, and has not received a hardware update since then. PC graphics cards have come FAR since '07, and there is no way in hell the PS3 is more powerful than "the best supercomputers available", much less 23x.

 

[Christemo]

it wont. the PC is the 2nd most powerful gaming platform (only completely pwned by the ps3) and im talking power. not anything else. you can mod a pcs graphics card and such to exceed some 360 games, but the ps3 power chip is 23 times better than the best supercomputers available.

also, theres WoW, CS and tons of other great exclusives that people will keep on playing for a really long.

Wait seriously? that part about 23 times faster than a super computer can't be true. something that cost 20 million dollars definitely surpasses the ps3 in graphics processing. Hell isn't a good desktop more powerful than a ps3?

not that kind of supercomputer. the really really powerful ones some people buy. with a normal price of 4000$

and not faster than a supercomputer, more powerful. as in graphics n such.

How I see it power is directly proportional to speed. More power = higher fps, higher fps = faster.

How are you defining power?

i define power by how well it can handle graphics, sound, etc.

 

[Christemo]

it wont. the PC is the 2nd most powerful gaming platform (only completely pwned by the ps3) and im talking power. not anything else. you can mod a pcs graphics card and such to exceed some 360 games, but the ps3 power chip is 23 times better than the best supercomputers available.

also, theres WoW, CS and tons of other great exclusives that people will keep on playing for a really long.

I'm calling bullshit on this. The PS3 was developed in 2007, and has not received a hardware update since then. PC graphics cards have come FAR since '07, and there is no way in hell the PS3 is more powerful than "the best supercomputers available", much less 23x.

by supercomputers, im meaning those super-expensive 5000$ ones, not those used by scientific facility.

and by the way, the ps3 was developed 2005-2006 and released november 06.

 

[Flying-Emu]

it wont. the PC is the 2nd most powerful gaming platform (only completely pwned by the ps3) and im talking power. not anything else. you can mod a pcs graphics card and such to exceed some 360 games, but the ps3 power chip is 23 times better than the best supercomputers available.

also, theres WoW, CS and tons of other great exclusives that people will keep on playing for a really long.

I'm calling bullshit on this. The PS3 was developed in 2007, and has not received a hardware update since then. PC graphics cards have come FAR since '07, and there is no way in hell the PS3 is more powerful than "the best supercomputers available", much less 23x.

by supercomputers, im meaning those super-expensive 5000$ ones, not those used by scientific facility.

and by the way, the ps3 was developed 2005-2006 and released november 06.

You realize you just proved my point even further? Do you realize how far video games have come since 2006 on the PC? Bullshit. Until I see a link that relates graphical processing power between the PS3 and PC, it's bullshit. It simply doesn't make any sense, especially since 90% of games billed as "high-end graphics" release on the PC before the PS3.

 

[T3h Camp3r T3rr0r1st]

Firstly, the gerund for "die" is "dying," not "dieing." It was a good guess, I suppose, if you'd been from another country.

Secondly, there's no reason for a PC game to be exclusive, considering the XBox 360 is made by the same company that makes Windows (the OS that most PC games are developed for). In fact, people program console games on PCs (because consoles don't have keyboards). So, if you measure "success" by how many games are PC-exclusive, you're digging a hole in the sand for your head to go into. It effectively blinds you to cross platform releases.

Thirdly, the popularity of MMORPGs and so-called Casual Games is on the rise. Ironic, considering what I just stated, but these games are mostly PC-exclusives. Not because it's too complicated to code for a console, but because even console gamers own computers that can play them. There's no reason to attempt to open up a new market if that market already has access to the game.

And finally, fourthly, this is the perennial question that everyone seems to ask, even columnists on the Escapist. It's like clockwork. We get a whole bunch new games, they sell well, their PC counterparts come three to six months later and everyone goes "welp, time to start hammering some nails into the coffin of PC gaming!" except they apparently forgot to find the cadaver of PC gaming first. It's like PC gaming is standing in the corner at it's own funeral going "Hey, um... I'm not dead..." and everyone else is going "it's so sad... You know, if I listen close, it's like I can almost hear his voice..."

HAHA, the Grammar Nazi strikes again. Heil Grammatik. OT: Nope as long as there are massive 800 pound gorrilas like Wow PC will never die. I personally find PC gaming a lot more enjoyable than any console. PC foreva!!!

funny that you call him a grammar Nazi when he said "firstly" and "fourthly" because you don't actually add the -ly anymore! OT PC won't die so long as Duke Nukem Forever is on the way (it really is I heard that another company picked it up!)

 

[Christemo]

it wont. the PC is the 2nd most powerful gaming platform (only completely pwned by the ps3) and im talking power. not anything else. you can mod a pcs graphics card and such to exceed some 360 games, but the ps3 power chip is 23 times better than the best supercomputers available.

also, theres WoW, CS and tons of other great exclusives that people will keep on playing for a really long.

I'm calling bullshit on this. The PS3 was developed in 2007, and has not received a hardware update since then. PC graphics cards have come FAR since '07, and there is no way in hell the PS3 is more powerful than "the best supercomputers available", much less 23x.

by supercomputers, im meaning those super-expensive 5000$ ones, not those used by scientific facility.

and by the way, the ps3 was developed 2005-2006 and released november 06.

You realize you just proved my point even further? Do you realize how far video games have come since 2006 on the PC? Bullshit. Until I see a link that relates graphical processing power between the PS3 and PC, it's bullshit. It simply doesn't make any sense, especially since 90% of games billed as "high-end graphics" release on the PC before the PS3.

i citate: "The PS3's hardware has also been used to build supercomputers for high-performance computing."

 

[AwesomeNinjaPowers]

Never! They shall have to pry my PC out of my cold dead fingers before I give it up >D

Though saying that I also have the same reaction towards my 360 so read into that what you will.

 

[Flying-Emu]

i citate: "The PS3's hardware has also been used to build supercomputers for high-performance computing."

Citation is useless if I don't see where you cite from. As far as I know and am concerned, you made that up. Link pl0x or get a new argument.

 

[wordsmith]

I certainly hope not, the PC has the most robust user community of any gaming system by far, is the most receptive to mods, and often has the most features...

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. With the several cons ive attended U have to say consoles have a far more robust and diverse fanbase. While PC fanbase is mainly nerdy white boys (myself included) I met a group of black gentlemen at a con once, one was gay had an eye patch from loosing his eye in the gulf war and he could repair xboxs without making them look liek theyve been tampered with. Eye PAtch Black Veteran deffinately beats nerdy white guy on the robust level. Plus not all computer games can take mods.

I call shenanigans, and raise you one "pics or it didn't happen".

OT: Hell no. Computers are used to design the things, and until that changes we'll use them to play the things as well.

i citate: "The PS3's hardware has also been used to build supercomputers for high-performance computing."

Citation is useless if I don't see where you cite from. As far as I know and am concerned, you made that up. Link pl0x or get a new argument.

Emu, that's wierd, the site he got it from said citation was needed as well xD

Further edit: I *KNEW* it. Citate isn't a word, it's "I will cite", "I am citing" "I have cited".
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cite
(/\ Citation by the way/\)

 

[Admiral Stukov]

No the PC will never die as a gaming platform for three reasons.
1.The ability to easily upgrade it yourself.
2.The RTS genre. There may be a few RTS for console, but a real RTS should be played on a PC.
3.The modding.

 

[Manbro]

No way! PC's reign upon the throne of platforms will last for a thousand years!

 

[Disaster Button]

In a word? No.

 

[asinann]

it wont. the PC is the 2nd most powerful gaming platform (only completely pwned by the ps3) and im talking power. not anything else. you can mod a pcs graphics card and such to exceed some 360 games, but the ps3 power chip is 23 times better than the best supercomputers available.

also, theres WoW, CS and tons of other great exclusives that people will keep on playing for a really long.

Odd you should think that, my 2 year old computer has more power graphically than any console out there and can easily run games that the ps3, 360 and wii cannot, and it is far from high end. The only difference between the ps3 and a pc is that the pc doesn't have some "special chip" (which oddly enough, all of that special chips can be emulated on a pc) and the pc isn't hell to develop for. The architecture on the 360 is most like the pc which means that most games that come out for one will either receive a simultaneous release or have a short delay between one or the other.

 

[Spieggelmaus]

Until Nintendo realise that their Wii remote is the perfect console equivalent of the mouse and therefore make hundreds of RTSs, the PC will reign supreme as the only system capable of running them efficiently.

 

[Horticulture]

I'm calling bullshit on this. The PS3 was developed in 2007, and has not received a hardware update since then. PC graphics cards have come FAR since '07, and there is no way in hell the PS3 is more powerful than "the best supercomputers available", much less 23x.

I used to think the same way you did. At first, it does seem impossible. But then, remember that the PS 'Triple' (I named mine Trey) was brought to us by Sony-who are not only Japanese (and hence unrestrained by the laws of physics), but have previously distinguished themselves with the PS2 ('Ma Deuce,' my PS2 slim, cured my leukemia while I played several hours of God of War), and the original PlayStation, which in addition to causing the collapse of the Soviet Union also could run Final Fantasy 7. The PlayStation 3, amazingly, is even more of a technological marvel.

In addition to the difficult-to-program-for-but-not-that-powerful Cell processor, renamed GeForce 7800, and Blu-Ray drive, the PS3 has a built-in flux capacitor producing 1.21 jigawatts of power making it the most powerful computer ever conceived. When PSN is used to connect over one million PS3s, it can actually cause the planet to travel backwards and forwards in time, all while running Crysis at a rock-solid 60 fps. 23 times more powerful than the previous most powerful supercomputer (still the PS2, by the way) is, as I'm sure you'll agree in light of my well-citated evidence, a conservative estimate.

 

[Solytus]

I certainly hope not, the PC has the most robust user community of any gaming system by far, is the most receptive to mods, and often has the most features...

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. With the several cons ive attended U have to say consoles have a far more robust and diverse fanbase. While PC fanbase is mainly nerdy white boys (myself included) I met a group of black gentlemen at a con once, one was gay had an eye patch from loosing his eye in the gulf war and he could repair xboxs without making them look liek theyve been tampered with. Eye PAtch Black Veteran deffinately beats nerdy white guy on the robust level. Plus not all computer games can take mods.

I think you're mistaking "robust" for "diverse," as I've personally found that PC games have a far more comprehensive and user-friendly online experience.

Also, by the description you've given, I'm envisioning the gentleman you described as a sort of hybrid between Bill (L4D) and the Demoman. ^.^

 

[mikecoulter]

If anything, consoles are turning more and more into PC's.

I'd say no, PC's will never die as a gaming platform.