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

[Sephychu]

PC gaming's not dead.
It's a sleepin'.

Seriously however, I don't think you can call something dead if hundreds and hundreds of people begin a flame-war to defend it. The whole point of something like that being 'alive' in the first place is that people do it.

 

[norwegian-guy]

Love the last joke. It makes a good point, the times are changing, but some things will never end.

 

[jamesworkshop]

I would agree for the most part except it's clearly the case that if PC gaming is dead then the fire and brimstone is coming from the console market than PC community, purely on the numbers since a multiplatform title might only see 30% of sales on PC.

 

[Tegid Teles]

Wow, the comments are just flooding in. I can't read fast enough to keep up, so I'll just say this:

The issues for me have always been customization and preference.

First, I'll have a PC as long as I can put it to a wide range of tasks, and tinker to satisfy my curiosity. Also, most of the games I enjoy have a wide array of user-generated content that is only available on the PC. The most recent commercial for Little Big Planet 2 touts the 'mind blowing' option of playing thousands of user created maps on the console, but compared to the content and mods available for game series like Fallout or The Elder Scrolls, it just scratches the surface.

Second, I don't care much what platform I'm using for games as long as it suits my preference. I enjoy certain games (like shooters) on a console because I don't need a mouse and keyboard for them, and it's more comfortable to play from my couch with a controller. On the other hand, some are better sitting at a desk (like MMO's), because they require a more complex interface which is easily accessible when sitting upright.

Would I like to play more games from the couch? Sure. It's getting easier to do this with cross-platform titles. However, I do enjoy the variety of going back and forth between PC and console since it gives me a different perspective and experience while playing games. I don't know if I could ever see myself playing all my games on a console, or all on a PC, even if technology and my setup of furniture allowed for it. It's always been this way for me, even when consoles were much more different from PC's than they are now, but that's because I'm invested in both.

I would agree that PC gaming *as we know it* is in decline. What we consider to be 'gaming', and who we consider 'gamers' is changing rapidly, so it's really hard to say what place PC gaming will hold in decades to come.

 

[Adventurer2626]

I'd like to pre-order my wrist-com please.

I think we've still got a couple years of PC gaming left though. There are a few benefits of PCs that haven't quite been overcome by consoles and portables. In my opinion, the biggest thing is the sheer power that PCs can output vs. it's miniature companions. Why? More space to jam stuff in a PC case.

Then there's modding. Sooooo much easier with PC games. That's mostly because once upon a time only PCs had internet access.

The interface. Console point and clickers (Wiimote, Kinect, Sony eye camera thing) still have a few bugs to work out. Also it'd be nice to have a typing pad that doesn't require a stylus to use so you don't push four buttons at once. But you know what? They're on their way. So all portables/consoles have to do is put 1 and 1 together to make 2 and they'll have the traditional keyboard & mouse beat.

Actually...that's about it. Processors and hard drives will get smaller and stronger, portables will get improved internet access, and the interfaces will get less clunky. Time and innovation, my friends, will see the merger of PCs and Consoles. I'll give it no more than 30 years.

 

[Dice Warwick]

I'm waiting for head-were gaming, like it is portrayed in the new .hack anime.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

Please never say that again. The idea that I might eventually be forced to own a product from Apple is too terrifying a concept. Eventually, consoles and PCs are going to be essentially identical (what *IS* the difference between them at this point anyway?) and the line will only truly break when someone comes up with a new name for this machine.

Also, in regards to the actual form of the machines, I have to add; what is the difference between the black box attached to my mouse and keyboard and that other black box attached to my TV and a controller?

EDIT: Not with the first quote, I like this show.

Here is the thing: if you look at the movie industry (which I expected Bob to do, don't even know why), it used to be as free as PC Gaming is now ? distributors, producers, and studios where all independent and interested in doing their small independent jobs well. But then, the public became increasingly thirsty for "premium content", the studios, starting with Paramount, started vertically integrating with distributors and producers, until the whole industry became devided among the five studios we have now. There are forces in gaming that want to do the same. If they succeed, then PC gaming will die.

But it will happen, that's the problem. As much as we'd like to protest against it, companies will do what they believe is best for their business- which includes growth, product output and consolidating with other businesses (That's my A level in Business/Economy for ya').
Eventually there will be clusters of different cells under the same project names, much as Warner Bros and Universal exist today, and they will be hitting the lowest output for the highest income.
Namely, using pre-prepared engines (such as Unreal) to make games for consoles. More people buy these, and the problem keeps escalating until we have the gaming equivalent of the 'Scary Movie' franchise.

That's not the consoles fault I stress, that's the problem with industry as a whole. Businesses make most of their cash from people they can exploit at low cost (ie. gullible and unintelligent) and so most of what comes through mass produced will aim at an easily hookable audience.

Like the Carbolic Smokeball that claimed to cure all disease (any other law majors out there? Nobody?)

 

[Ravek]

Moviebob certainly doesn't know what he's talking about.

A few newsflashes for you:

- Laptops are PCs
- Starcraft is not the only RTS
- Motion controls are insufficient to replace the mouse.

The pc will be obsolete after the television is.

 

[ALPHATT]

Bob is almost right, the only thing all these connected devices( or atleats most of them, and laptops in my book are indeed pcs) are missing is openness. The freedom to customize, to mod, to only buy a set of hardware that you need is what sets pc gaming and pc usage apart from other devices, it's not really the everyman's thing but that does not mean it's dead.

@ Don, what are you talking about, the movie industry had huge ass companies and independent companies living by each other since forever, it sounds more like the music industry really. Also i don't see how the analogy applies either way.

 

[Astalano]

I would agree for the most part except it's clearly the case that if PC gaming is dead then the fire and brimstone is coming from the console market than PC community, purely on the numbers since a multiplatform title might only see 30% of sales on PC.

Another pro tip: If your game isn't designed with PC in mind, it won't sell. This is because using a mouse and keyboard to navigate the game world and menus is vastly different to the controller. Bulletstorm doesn't even let you navigate menus with the mouse. Can you honestly expect such a game to sell on PC? No, you can't and I think PC gamers are right to vote with their wallets and avoid crappy ports of multiplatform titles.

 

[doodger]

PC gaming is dead. For real?
Tablets are a fad, at least for me.
It might be futile, but I'll defend PC gaming until my death

 

[Hashime]

Considering my computer could (theoretically) run both a ps3 and xbox game at the same time I doubt the console will ever be my main platform again. Besides to fun of building a computer gaming is a secondary function of a computer, which means my desktop is more useful than a console in many many ways.

 

[Osaka117]

I never understood why people love PC gaming so much. I tried it when I went over a friends house and played Half Life 1 on his PC, and HATED it. Not the game, the game was great, but the mouse and keyboard. I NEED a controller because I just can't get used to the mouse keyboard combination. And yes I know there are controllers that you can use for a PC, but then I'd still rather play on my bigger TV screen.

So yeah, I really didn't care for playing games on the PC, but if you like it then more power to you, it's just not for me.

 

[Alar]

2011 PC Exclusives.
-snip-
Source - "Reasons to be a PC Gamer" [http://www.pcgamingfan.com/]


As for the Hardware debate. In no way shape and form can your phone, your laptop or your console provide the same high fidelity experience that a modern desktop can.

Desktops have better visuals, audio and overall performance. Heck the basic gaming desktop of today is easily a generation ahead of the console. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.247185-Crytek-PCs-Are-a-Generation-Ahead-of-Consoles]

If graphics, sound and data storage did not matter, we would all still be playing Space Invaders.


Edit: Corrected generation gap and provided a link to the article. My old memory is not as good as it used to be.

Thank you for pointing this out. I think there's also the fact that many people grew up using a keyboard and a mouse, and it would take some serious doing for them to simply "give up" on it and move to something else. That isn't to say they wouldn't learn how to use them and incorporate them into their play (as a PC Gamer, I do play on consoles occasionally), it's simply that they will never be the same, or take the same place in our lives.

EDIT: For example, the tablet? I'm not even a big fan of the touch aspect of my Nintendo DSi, let alone switching my personal computing experience to something that is ONLY a touch aspect.

I just have to respectfully disagree with Bob here. There are too many reasons to say that PCs are going to die any time soon.

Hell, even in Ghost in the Shell, a futuristic anime about cyborgs who have computers in their heads and 'cyborg implant eye games' still use desktop-like computers.

 

[Scars Unseen]

When I was still single I had my PC hooked up to a projector. I lounged in bed with my wireless keyboard and trackball, playing Oblivion on my 100 inch screen(and that was only because I lived in a small dorm. it could have gotten much bigger). To suggest that I would trade that for an iPad... just no.

PC gaming is just as dead now as it was when every other self-important windbag declared the same thing in the past couple of decades. I think we'll see hoverboards and flying Deloreans first.

 

[GeorgW]

Sometimes I just enjoy playing with a mouse and keyboard, and maybe I want to game while watching TV? Then PC gaming is needed. I don't think it's dead, but it is dying.

 

[Safaia]

While I more or less agree that we are moving in this direction the main reason I still like my desktop so much is because I don't have to switch between the four items you listed. I like being able to do everything from one machine more or less.

 

[TitsMcGee1804]

Nah, PC gaming is not dying, its just being overshadowed as the market grows

I dont get why people say PC gaming is dead - I can think of a shit ton of games that are coming out for the PC amongst other ports...

I have been playing starcraft since launch, theres portal 2 and HL ep3 on the horizon...why would they be coming to PC if PC gaming is dead

I normally think 'wow bob really does his research and spends time backing up what he says with proper thought and justification' but this episode seems really uninformed...did the deadline sneak up on you again bob?

I realise that i just fell into the trap you set up and even told us about at the end of the video, but i dont care...with steam, MMO's and rts's (consoles not even in spitting distance of PC rts's)

I dont think PC gaming is dying, i think that console gaming is exploding...

 

[ALPHATT]

Osaka, it's really simple, a lot of people aren't like you, also you never gave it a chance, you went with a specific settings, mosue sensitivity, monitor etcectecttec that that 1 friend of yours had. Your questions make you look like an idiot, no offense.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Look, as long as I can play games with a mouse and keyboard while surfing the net in a separate window and talking on Ventrilo, I'll be fine, thanks.