Poll: PC Gaming Future?

[clint945]

With the advent of console gaming to the masses it's always been a worry that PC gaming will slip into decline, not just due to the cost of the machines and the constant need to update your ATI Radeon 3234ACPE-3252 to a 3234APCE-3253 every 3 nano-seconds in order to play any decent game...

But also the requirement of at least 3 brain-cells working in unison in order to keep a PC running, without which it will undoubtably decide to download the nearest virus and burnout all of it's RAM.

With all of that said, I'm an avid PC gamer and although i do own consoles i very much lean towards the PC for all of my gaming needs. Programs such as Steam, GoG, etc... have allowed PC gamers a lot more games at lower prices than Consoles and they make the whole patching/updating and compatability issues somewhat easier.

Despite this i sometimes feel that with each passing Console generation PC gaming is slowly having its life sucked out, with the remaining husk of PC gamers being reduced to so-called 'elitists' and somewhat shunned by the vast community of console gamers as a whole.

Obviously this is a generalisation but its what i see happening, despite the promises in recent years of PC gaming having a 'Revival' or showing 'Growth'. The dire fact of the matter remains, PC's as a concept are getting old and the idea of having a singular large computer that looms in the corner of the room is starting to look as antiquated as owning a VCR.

As annoying as it seems to my Tower-loving self, i honestly think that the future in gaming lies in the evolving nature of the console and 'portable' gaming. With everything being wireless and portable computing technology becoming nearly as powerful as its stationary competitor it seems as if PC gaming has a use-by date...

A use-by date that is fast looming for poor old-fashioned sods like myself.

 

[JET1971]

Well desktop systems are on the way out but at the same time laptop systems are getting good enough to play high end games at a reasonable price. desktop systems are becoming more of an enthusiast platform rather than the good ole everyone has it.

As for updating a graphics card the only time anyone needs to worry about that is if a game doesnt render correctly or some other graphics errors. if it works then dont worry about it.

Thing is PC gaming will outlast consoles, why have a console when your cheap laptop can do the same and you are not stuck with it being hooked to a TV? plus you would have the laptop for school or work already. and then consoles are becoming less of a plug it in and play and becoming more of a PC with installing and patching issues. makes sense to just get a laptop and a controller for both convienance and finance.

 

[Continuity]

...

OK I dont even need to read your post to know from your poll that you are completely misreading the situation. The Death of PC gaming is old news and guess what? it didn't happen. What happened instead is that it has become apparent the the very opposite is what is going to happen: Console gaming will die out and PC gaming will become ubiquitous... It may not involve a "PC" anymore but thats not really the material point.

I'll make it short and simple:

CHeap powerful hardware + lots of internet enabled devices (TV included) + services like onlive and steam + the social gaming and gaming as a service trends = PC games everywhere (everywhere) and consoles become a third wheel... why buy a console to play games when your TV already plays the same games and does it in a simpler and easier to access fashion. Thats the future.

 

[Twilight_guy]

1. Tell me why PC gaming dieing is bad. Aside from "it won't exist and I like it" there isn't a good argument. Technology marches on, progress keeps going. Just because the abacus was the shit back int he day doesn't mean we should never ever put away and move to something new. Things change, if you don't like it, cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get over it. I'm tired of people treating the possible changing of the market like the end of humanity. The sun will set, tomorrow will come, and you'll still be here. I like PC gaming but if it goes, it goes and I move on to mobile gaming or console gaming, or sticky-note gaming, whatever is the next thing.

2. Consoles have been around since the late 70s, they have yet to displace modern PC gaming. I'm tired of people arguing this point when by their logic PC gaming has been dieing since it began. Stop trying to portray yourself as the underdog. PC gaming isn't going to die any time soon.

3. Stop talking like an elitist. You like PCs so STFU and go play some PC games rather then bitching about how they're in danger.

 

[Vault101]

think about it this way

if PC gaming is as awsome as everyone says than it will never truly die

 

[DustyDrB]

Even though I'm a lifetime console gamer (I've only played a dozen games at most on a computer), I think consoles are the ones that will die. Or...they will hit a wall in how much they can innovate. Microsoft and Sony are trying to turn their machines into one-in-all entertainment centers, but a PC can do all that stuff and more. I think we'll just start to see more user-friendly computers, which would be a dream to me. I'm so stupid when it comes to making shit work on a PC. That's the major reason I haven't become PC gamer.

 

[AD-Stu]

Console gaming has been around pretty much as long as PC gaming has and if one was going to kill the other, it would've happened by now.

Also, I disagree that being a PC gamer means updating your video card every three seconds and that you can't play any decent games unless you do. While I know that some people go through that cycle, there are plenty of others that only upgrade their machine every few years, as in reality it takes at least that long for a machine to go from current spec to falling off the bottom of the minimum requirements list.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Sorry, not entertaining paranoid delusions this week.

 

[Polock]

Honestly its more like "consoles" are becomeing PC's.

 

[TheBestPieEver]

Actually I like more the consoles. Especially for the controls. I was never big on PC gaming and I just downloaded TF2 and I hate the mouse and keyboard to control a game.

 

[gostchiken]

Until you can mod a console game as easily as a PC game, PC gaming will live on. If and when that happens all bets are off.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Looking at the industry in it's current form, it seems like console and PC gaming will merge. Consoles are becoming more and more like PCs, and PCs are becoming more and more like consoles. I would wager 15-20 years from now, the descriptions of "PC" and "Console" will become obsolete. Or, it could be that we will play everything on our iPhone 500s. Either way, the future looks awesome.

 

[enzilewulf]

Nope. It isn't. I use all four, wii, PC, Ps3, and Xbox. All for different things that I find suitable. PC for RTS, Wii for mario and maybe dicking around with friends, Ps3 for RPG's and such, and Xbox for shooters and sandboxs(excluding Assasins Creed). Pc gaming doesn't really show signs of declining, I mean steam is as powerful as ever, and Origin gets a lot of use as is. If it is declining then its declining fucking slowly that's for sure.

To the mention of PC gamers being elitist generalization, I actually find this some what true. Just based off of experience any way. It seems like the people who prefer PC are, to be frank, complete snobs and assholes. I actually had some one insult me by saying "your a console fan boy, what do you know about true gaming"... to that I said "fuck off elitist prick." Yes some can be snobs but I know that the whole community isn't like that. I just don't see why we all can't shut the fuck up and play our games. Seems like the gaming community as a whole needs to fend off a bigger threat called the media.

 

[AD-Stu]

Console gaming has been around pretty much as long as PC gaming has and if one was going to kill the other, it would've happened by now.

Also, I disagree that being a PC gamer means updating your video card every three seconds and that you can't play any decent games unless you do. While I know that some people go through that cycle, there are plenty of others that only upgrade their machine every few years, as in reality it takes at least that long for a machine to go from current spec to falling off the bottom of the minimum requirements list.

Actually console gaming only truly jumped back in the 90s-2000s as it died in the 1980s. Its actually newer than PC gaming. Console gaming of the 1980s and modern console gaming are two different entities with two different attitudes. The consoles from the 1980s were literally gimmicks used to sell cheaply made games for an extortionate price. Everyone got sick of buying expensive turds, which collapsed the console market. Now its facing the same issues but for the opposite problems.

*shrugs*

They've both been around about the same amount of time, they've both faced various problems over the years... and yet they're both still here. Neither is going anywhere.

And let's be fair (I'm old enough to remember, FWIW) the majority of early PC games were cheaply made and extortionately priced for what they were too. PCs were also a lot more expensive back then compared to what they are now, and a hell of a lot more expensive than consoles, so the "expensive turds" argument isn't necessarily limited to consoles.

 

[Estocavio]

I havent Upgraded My PC in Years, and it can literally run anything. Youre but a Victim of Exaggerations. And as long as You dont do stupid things, You dont really need any Intellect to keep a PC running. Its an easy Trap to fall into, but think of it this way.

Since PC Gaming is 'Declining', its funny how Steam, D2D, Impule, Gamersgate, GoG, GMG, Origin, and other Online Platforms, AND Physical Stores are still in Business, and more are opening up, and many Series and Franchises are still PC Exclusive.

As for everything else, notice how PCs are getting smaller, and how Laptops are becoming more and more Gaming Compatible?
Both Consoles and PCs will always exist. Consoles will exist for one Audience which will become more and more "Gamey", and PCs will always exist because, well, go look at Skyrims Sales. Or go watch Jimquisitions thing about how Skyrim proves the Industry wrong. Then apply that Logic to Gaming as a whole.

 

[theheroofaction]

Oh dear.

Listen, PC gaming has been dying everyday since it started existing.

Seriously, though, what you're saying is nothing new, It's just in peoples nature to freak when something they like goes into a downturn, but it always goes back into upturn.

 

[AD-Stu]

The main problem wasn't that games were cheaply made or expensive, its that 99% of them were bad and unfinished. We are not talking about buggy games, we are talking about games that are literally unfinished and sold for over 100$ each. Consoles were flooded by garage developers who made a "game" in a single afternoon and sold it to anyone who was stupid enough to buy it.

The most notorious was Action 52, which was the embodiment of what was wrong with gaming before the crash cleaned the slate.

PC gaming avoided that flood, and its this reason PC gaming has never died. Consoles only came back because tech allowed for it, but now they cant keep up. Consoles are as static and outdated as a home telephone from the 1950s. It just doesn't have the flexibility to keep up with modern demands. In order to keep up, they would literally have to stop being consoles.

...again, this is a side issue that doesn't change the fact that PC and console gaming has been around pretty much the same amount of time, and that neither is going anywhere - at least, not until cloud computing makes pretty much all hardware redundant.

Until that happens, there will always be people who find consoles simpler and easier, just as there will always be people who don't want to spend the extra for a gaming console when they've got a perfectly good PC (I'm in the latter category FWIW), and for those as well as a bunch of other reasons, both will continue to exist.