The Big Picture: PC Gaming Is Dead - Long Live PC Gaming!

[skibadaa]

Eh, miniaturization hasn't come so far as all that. Perhaps soon the PC will simply be a box in your closet that stores your files and processes your games, and you'll access it from any of a dozen devices... but that box will still be necessary. Processors in mobile devices are still a joke, and compared to those we can make that put out the kind of heat modern PC processors do, they always will be. Until we find a truly viable replacement for silicon, there will always be the physical limitations of heat dissipation.
Honestly, I think the next wave (if corporate greed will allow it or hackers will make it despite corporate greed) is really the integration of what we think of as "consoles" into PC hardware. PCs are modular technology, they can process any code you want 'em to. Consoles are too limited to survive in the face of that.

In regards to a viable replacement for silicone, look up Graphene. It's a buckyball pattern carbon chain that's been flattened out, and has the greatest conductivity out of any material seen to date. We're talking 100x the power of silicone per square inch. So, let's say a square inch of silicone yields 1.4 GHz (it probably doesn't, we're using imaginary numbers. Stick with me) if you were to replace the silicone with graphene, it would yield 140 GHz. That's one damn fast processor. I think anything with that kind of capability could be used for anything we use our big desktops for right now. I, for one, welcome that.

If you're interested in what else bucky balls can do, look up carbon nanotubes. It's amazing stuff.

Graphene is good stuff, but we're not even sure if it can be used to replace silicon yet. On paper it has the correct properties, but in practice the stuff is incredibly hard to transfer onto an IC, and individual transistors made of it tend to perform rather poorly so far.
Maybe someday. Probably not soon.

Graphene may well be the closest known material that is almost a low temperature superconductor, but quantum computing and optic computing are also coming along in leaps and bounds. Give it 10 years and capabilities will skyrocket, but im pretty sure that these new capabilities will be showcased first on modular PC's, precisely because of the ease of upgrade. PC users can access new tech the moment it hits the market whereas console gamers have to wait at least 5 years for the next generation of consoles to surface and when they do PC's have ususally overtaken them already. My current rig has at least 3x the power of my Xbox360 and on my pc i can mod my games. So, for example, when New Vegas hit the stores do you think i got the Xbox Version? Hell no, straight to Steam for the DL. Word.

 

[deadstoned]

First off, love your shows Bob I keep watching them all. But ow you stuck that knife into my heart and twisted hard lol.

I'm going to have to disagree with you here Bob. I think the PC defiantly declined with the latest generation of consoles out. But I think its kind of stagnating now/slow growth (so many different reports out I cant keep up). I reckon it will keep going for another 10 years as multi platform development these days is cheap. Plus Steam has done well to stop it from falling apart altogether, despite Microsofts best efforts with GFWL.

Also gratz on the huge amount of comments this video will gain lol.

 

[Wrds]

This seems more like an attempt to stay relevant than make a real point. While it has had a lot of it in MMOs and shit, PC gaming has entertained steady growth. About 90% of what you said seems more like speculative thinking rather than making an actual point. Its like you assume those other things have already drowned out any hope the PC has of continuing, which I just really don't see.

 

[infohippie]

I couldn't finish watching that video, it was downright insulting. Then MovieBob implied he uses Internet Explorer and MS Office by choice, and I realised he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

Yeah, I can't see the PC going anywhere any time soon. And I for one will absolutely not be buying a console for as long as they don't have keyboard and mouse support as standard, you won't get me picking up one of those uncomfortable, inaccurate, pain-inducing controllers.
Of all the games I'm really looking forward to this year, about half are PC exclusives, and the other half, while not exclusive, are certainly going to be better on PC - higher polycount, mod support, bug-fixing patches, etc.

 

[loc978]

Spoiler: snip

Eh, miniaturization hasn't come so far as all that. Perhaps soon the PC will simply be a box in your closet that stores your files and processes your games, and you'll access it from any of a dozen devices... but that box will still be necessary. Processors in mobile devices are still a joke, and compared to those we can make that put out the kind of heat modern PC processors do, they always will be. Until we find a truly viable replacement for silicon, there will always be the physical limitations of heat dissipation.
Honestly, I think the next wave (if corporate greed will allow it or hackers will make it despite corporate greed) is really the integration of what we think of as "consoles" into PC hardware. PCs are modular technology, they can process any code you want 'em to. Consoles are too limited to survive in the face of that.

Spoiler: snip

In regards to a viable replacement for silicone, look up Graphene. It's a buckyball pattern carbon chain that's been flattened out, and has the greatest conductivity out of any material seen to date. We're talking 100x the power of silicone per square inch. So, let's say a square inch of silicone yields 1.4 GHz (it probably doesn't, we're using imaginary numbers. Stick with me) if you were to replace the silicone with graphene, it would yield 140 GHz. That's one damn fast processor. I think anything with that kind of capability could be used for anything we use our big desktops for right now. I, for one, welcome that.

If you're interested in what else bucky balls can do, look up carbon nanotubes. It's amazing stuff.

Spoiler: snip

Graphene is good stuff, but we're not even sure if it can be used to replace silicon yet. On paper it has the correct properties, but in practice the stuff is incredibly hard to transfer onto an IC, and individual transistors made of it tend to perform rather poorly so far.
Maybe someday. Probably not soon.

Graphene may well be the closest known material that is almost a low temperature superconductor, but quantum computing and optic computing are also coming along in leaps and bounds. Give it 10 years and capabilities will skyrocket, but im pretty sure that these new capabilities will be showcased first on modular PC's, precisely because of the ease of upgrade. PC users can access new tech the moment it hits the market whereas console gamers have to wait at least 5 years for the next generation of consoles to surface and when they do PC's have ususally overtaken them already. My current rig has at least 3x the power of my Xbox360 and on my pc i can mod my games. So, for example, when New Vegas hit the stores do you think i got the Xbox Version? Hell no, straight to Steam for the DL. Word.

That's a mighty big assumption regarding our capabilities to implement graphene the way we think we may be able to...

If it does wind up working like that, though, it'll take the industry a long time to incorporate it. We'll be hearing about it in backbone routers, corporate servers and supercomputers before it finally starts hitting the PC market in the form of top-end server hardware for crazy rich people with mainframe racks in their houses.

If we still haven't integrated internet, gaming, office apps and media into a single multi-thousand dollar machine by then, I'll be rather surprised.

 

[Diablo1702]

well all this from a guy who uses IE LOL
if pc gaming is dead why do companies still make graphic cards FOR GAMERS
why IS STEAM DOING SO WELL
WHY does EA say that PC is the leading platform for them
.
.
. face it PC is alive and kicking it will not go down so easily just watch us struggle and win in the end

 

[Danpascooch]

I repeat, consoles are pc's with limited options and unupgradeable hardware. I can play my games in a similar way as any console player with a gamepad by linking my pc to the tv with a cable.

That's true, but you're overlooking the massive advantage of consoles from a development standpoint, do you have any idea how hard it is to develop a PC game without knowing exactly what rig your customer will have? It's basically impossible, that's why they develop to a number of computers they think are close to what their customers will use. It causes all sorts of issues and presents all sorts of ridiculous challenges in development.

With consoles developers know EXACTLY what the game will be played on, so they can optimize it and push to the very brink of its capabilities without worrying about framerate issues or other glitches due to hardware incompatibility (I know some console games have framerate issues and such, but that's due to lazy development, those issues would likely have been 10x more serious had it been on PC)

Isn't that just bad programming? There is plenty of indie developers who succeed in making games perfectly playable on virtually every computer. Big shots such as Blizzard and Valve can do it and are well rewarded for it. Seeing as the majority of succesful games are made by AAA studios, they have the funds to fix these issues.

It's not bad programming, its really an insurmountable challenge to program something that will work on every rig.

The reason indie developers can do it better is because indie gamers are generally much smaller and simpler in terms of processor load and volume of code, the number and severity of problems increases exponentially with the complexity of the program.

 

[Zechnophobe]

*sigh*

Redefine words to mean what you think.

Lovely.

I'd love to think that you just created this for page views, out of spite, because most of the reviewers have their own little hate pad against computers.

I know this isn't true though. You've just redefined all the words. Whee. That's nice. And added a disclaimer that if anyone flames, you're right as well.

I'm not going to get angry, because the writing on the wall's been there for some time. You work on PCs, you play on consoles, so because you hate work, you have to differentiate them.

Comfort over Versatility. Sad. Maybe it's all just for page views though? Part of me wishes it was just a troll attempt.

Here's the Little Picture: [HEADING=3] Consoles are becoming PCs.[/HEADING]

My thoughts exactly. How do any of his arguments not also apply to consoles with that logic? Portable gaming devices are the next evolution of consoles, just like smart phones and laptops are the next evolution of computers. They'll all merge at some point into what he is trying to prophesy. But using this title is just a way to drum up reactions. One day your wii-mote and, Move and whatever WILL BE the game console without the need of a big box in a part of the room.

Oh, and the idea that 'hah, now you can plug in a mouse and keyboard into a console' is meaningful is a joke. You've *always* been able to plug a gamepad into a PC, but that hasn't killed console gaming.

And the incredible deluge of games being designed for PC right now by Indie companies is... huge.

 

[LGC Pominator]

As for the "PC Gaming Is Dying Because PCs Are Dying" issue I completely missed, no. Using stationary machine while using a real mouse and keyboard will never die because it's the only way to properly use a computer. Think about it: typing on a pad is pretty bad because you don't have any physical feedback from the device. However, using a keyboard while riding the subway would be complete torture if the device isn't a laptop.

Ever heard of Haptic surfaces?

basically by use of nanotechnology a flat surface can compress itself into the shape of a button, say if you were using it as a keyboard, its quite interesting tech, so the "only way" argument doesn't hold much water for me anymore, as we are always finding new ways of doing things, for example (in reference to an above comment as well) I DO do my university work on my smartphone, its a HTC XDA serra, and it is running windows mobile 6.1, I use microsoft word on there and write up all of my essays on that, with all of the same options (that I need) as my home computer, not to mention the fact that it wirelessly interfaces with the university devices, accesses my university account and allows me to print those files without ever transferring them to another device.

If I can do that now on a years old phone, there is NO WAY that using a laptop or home PC will remain the ONLY way that our jobs are done.

 

[ezeroast]

But why would I want to use four different devices to do all this stuff when I could just sit down on my comfy chair at my computer and do them all on one device?

Thats what I was thinking. Also I cant lose my pc, I'm not likely to leave it in the taxi or have it stolen while I'm swimming at the beach.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

You know, the chances of your PC-less world happening the other way around - with consoles being built into PCs - is just as likely, moreso even, as anything else you've predicted here.

 

[mechanixis]

Goddamn, does this video touch people's nerves. I like how Bob brought up the stereotype of the elitist, derisive PC gamer as a joke, and then hundreds of Escapist users dogpiled the comment thread in confirmation of it.

What Bob is actually saying - to all of your who are defending PC gaming as being "too awesome to die" - is that the PC gaming market is only going to get less practical to sustain as years go by. As hardware specs continue to rise and owning a powerful desktop computer becomes less and less essential in day-to-day life, the niche market of gaming-rig owners is only going to shrink. Back in the day, any gentleman with a desktop computer could pop down to Best Buy, pick up "a video card," wedge it into the machine and play Baldur's Gate 2. Nowadays, playing most AAA titles on the PC requires a much more deliberate investment and technological know-how.

For instance, ten years ago, literally any computer could run Oregon Trail 2. It was a pick-up-and-play market. Nowadays, unless you go to the store thinking "I want a PC that can run StarCraft 2," chances are you won't get a PC that can run StarCraft 2. This means the PC audience is only going to conist of die-hards, and that kind of audience generally shrinks faster than it grows.

Bob's statements aren't about the quality or appeal of PC games and genres: there's no denying PC games are great and allow for more depth and finesse than most console titles. What Bob is discussing is the marketability and practicality of designing expensive games for a shrinking demographic that's difficult to join. Eventually, more publishers will realize they can make more money designing for consoles than hardcore PC gamers, and PC games will become more and more rare. Like he said, we'll have our StarCrafts and our WoWs for a long time to come, but other than that things will only get worse from here.

 

[ValentineUK]

I actually hadn't thought about the death of PC gaming at all. At the moment, my PC is really the only machine that I game on. But Bob made some really valid points in that video.

Thinking about what he said, i'm surprised this hasn't been discussed more often what with fewer and fewer developers releasing games in a physical medium and instead releasing games through digital download. I know that people are going to tell me that it's a counter measure to stop piracy, but the act of piracy in itself also contributes to the death of PC gaming. Console games are alot more difficult to pirate than PC games which does in fact make consoles the more secure form of profit for game developers.

One point that Bob made that I would like to challenge is the use of pointer and motion controllers. Personally, i'm not a big fan of motion controllers. When I play video games, I like to be able to sit down and relax, not get up and wildly flail my arms around. I'm not saying that motion controllers should never have been made or anything along those lines, i'm just saying that I don't think that gaming should be entirely governed by them.

Anyway, I for one hope that PC gaming will make a comeback of sorts and I won't be forced to purchase another gaming machine in order to persue the hobby that I enjoy so much.

 

[Celador]

You are a heretic and you don't know what you are talking about.

Not sure whether you did this purposely, but you downplayed the role of PC. Its not the PC gaming that is dieing, its consoles and handheld devices that will eventually degrade and vanish from existence.

You can't replace parts in those smaller devices, you can't use them (at least not conveniently) for anything else, rather than playing and you can't switch between tasks (be it socializing, work, gaming, listening music or watching a movie) as fast as you can on PC. It takes time, it takes money and it takes specially designed apps to use those devices for anything else, rather than their original purpose.

Sure - that whole bunch of hardware is going to disappear, eventually, along with TV sets and it will be replaced by a smaller devices - projectors and holography.

Consoles, PC rigs, phones and notebooks are going to get smaller and smaller, until they can be fit onto human body, like watches and they will use projections, instead of screens.

So its pretty much the same boat we are in - PC players, console players, Apple fans etc.

 

[zBeeble]

The basic flaw in the argument is ignoring history. Video didn't kill radio. It may have changed it (as part of your thesis), but it didn't even diminish it let alone kill it.

But the real battle is over user controlled devices vs. concierge controlled devices.