The next gen is likely gen:monkey's paw

[Treblaine]

Well thank God a PC gamer came along and told me what I should do.

Makes a change from the depressingly usual attitude seen on these forums of console gamers constantly acting like console is the only option to consider...

Well, once I figure out how to fix that "This video card does not support this game"

You do realise that's like putting a PS3 game disc in a PS2 and pouting about why it doesn't work? Even though "it worked for my other PS2 games". Double standards... double standards everywhere!

Do PC Gamers who waltz into threads about consoles

No, this is a gaming discussion board.

If you want a dedicated "Console Only Gaming Discussion (no stinking PCs allowed)" forum category, then you can petition the Escapist staff to create such an arbitrary segregated enclave, but till then any gaming discussion is just as valid to include PC gaming.

 

[LordFish]

I'm looking forward to the Xbox 720.... So my ported-to-PC games are less cut down

Heheh, that's the same reason I'm looking forward to the new console generation.

But then I remember that the rumours of the next gen's power are not that encouraging.

And that most 'new' AAA titles look pretty but are as substantial as wet paper.

The likes of Far Cry 3 and Dishonored recently have restored my faith in AAA games - and the PC ports worked well. When I know the price of a PS4 I'm gonna see how kick-ass I could build a gaming rig for that budget. I'd be more than willing to offer PC specing and building tips to the escapist but I suspect very few people would take notice.

Also, I DO have a console, I'll often fire it up if I've borrowed a game from a friend.

 

[UberNoodle]

COnsole gaming lost me years ago. I sold my consoles and almost two thousand dollar investment and built a gaming PC which has lasted very admirably since. I'd had enough of the region locking, language omissions and general unpredictability of console gaming.

I had moved from Australia to Japan and there was nothing in Japan in English (I am talking about Western published titles, and note that EA strip languages out of many of their PC games too). Half the games for import were region or language locked, and the rest which were region free were 25/75 service locked or open.

I couldn't use local point cards and subscriptions because my account was Australian. I wasn't allowed to change my region. Eventually, I found that more and more DLC was being IP or language blocked even for region free or multi-region games.

While PC does suffer from some of these problems, I have not yet had a problem which I couldn't solve with an email. Steam were nice enough to allow me to purchase from the Australian storefront even though I am in Japan where most Japan published PC games are not available on Steam.

So, though I may buy a WiiU in the future for nothing less than Zelda and Metroid, it will probably be the last console I ever own.







And in regard to a post above alluding to PCs always having problems -- I can't say that that has been my experience in PC gaming. I have had some issues, for example Rage and some DRM in connection with Origin was all messed up and needed some commands in DOS. Yet, 90% of the time, games have all run perfectly and as expected. At least with PC, these problems are almost always software or driver derived and can be solved without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[Treblaine]

I can't wait to start playing God of War, The Last of Us, Killzone, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, Halo 4, inFamous, Journey, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid, Persona, Resistance, Ratchet and Clank, and Valkyria Chronicles on my brand new gaming PC!

Wait, you are comparing PC to no less than TWO DIFFERENT consoles?!?!

So buy and invest in TWO different consoles before considering installing any PC game?!?! Really three consoles considering Uncharted and Resistance series appear on PSV.

Who says the next Metal Gear Solid won't be coming to PC? It doesn't have any exclusive publishing arrangement like there was for MGS4.

What's PC got:
-World Of Tanks (Valkyria Chronicles fans will miss this)
-League of Legends
-Dota 2
-Team Fortress 2
-Hawken
-Planetside 2
-Blacklight Retribution
-0x10c
-Minecraft
-Amnesia series, Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs
-DayZ
-Company of Heroes 2

It's not like this is a one-way-street, that considering PC gaming you only lose Console exclusives and are no better off.

The console exclusives have become fewer and further between in recent years. There were at least 6 major PS3 exclusives in 2011, not as many in 2012 or prospectively for 2013.

I am a PC gamer but I still have a PS3, I keep it for the exclusives and don't see that as any obligation to buy the rest of my games on PS3.

 

[bobajob]

You know, with a little patience we will be able to emulate these current-gen "exclusives" in a few years anyway.

Anyone remember the GOW 1 port for Windows that had a game-save wiping glitch THAT WAS NEVER EVER PATCHED??
Even after the prior issue where the digital certificate expired & stopped anyone playing the game for nearly 2 weeks?

Pepperidge Farm remembers..........

 

[Treblaine]

I just don't understand who the fuck is buying consoles in 2013? Get a PC. You can use a joypad with it. You can connect it to a HDTV. And if you love online downloads and DRM and not being able to resell or buy used games you can even use Steam.

oh get off your high horse people like you is the reason why no one likes pc gamers

You ever stop to consider it is the attitude YOU express which is the reason people gang up on PC gaming?

Xomo gives advice that it's a better choice for the gamers in general and you attack them for it just because it isn't a major established gaming console.

This thread is all about saying this console is better or worse than another console, yet suddenly you're on a "high horse" if PC gaming is brought into the picture. You aren't on a high horse for suggesting PC gaming has any relevance, it is YOU who is on a high horse for arbitrarily putting consoles above PC, above any consideration with PC.

Seriously, this is crap that belongs on IGN boards, with segregated sections of the forums for Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo's platforms. This is Escapist Forums, this has a gaming discussion forum and no sub-forums for fanboys below that.

I'm a PC gamer but I don't exclude any console from any consideration.

 

[Elijin]

I just don't understand who the fuck is buying consoles in 2013? Get a PC. You can use a joypad with it. You can connect it to a HDTV. And if you love online downloads and DRM and not being able to resell or buy used games you can even use Steam.

oh get off your high horse people like you is the reason why no one likes pc gamers

You ever stop to consider it is the attitude YOU express which is the reason people gang up on PC gaming?

Xomo gives advice that it's a better choice for the gamers in general and you attack them for it just because it isn't a major established gaming console.

This thread is all about saying this console is better or worse than another console, yet suddenly you're on a "high horse" if PC gaming is brought into the picture. You aren't on a high horse for suggesting PC gaming has any relevance, it is YOU who is on a high horse for arbitrarily putting consoles above PC, above any consideration with PC.

Seriously, this is crap that belongs on IGN boards, with segregated sections of the forums for Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo's platforms. This is Escapist Forums, this has a gaming discussion forum and no sub-forums for fanboys below that.

I'm a PC gamer but I don't exclude any console from any consideration.

I think he was taking offense to the tone of the original poster, with his 'Who the fuck is blah blah blah' The tone reads as aggressive and hostile, implying that people who are buying consoles have suffered from some failure of logic or intelligence.

As to the rest of your point, about how the topic puts consoles above PC's automatically? Well thats how you've interpreted it. Personally, I thought nothing of PC not being mentioned when discussing consoles, because to many, we will have a high end PC and a gaming console. So PC isnt listed as a choice because its assumed PC is its own category, which doesnt compete with the consoles. Where as people are far more likely to only buy one of the consoles available, so its a choice there.

 

[Yopaz]

I just don't understand who the fuck is buying consoles in 2013? Get a PC. You can use a joypad with it. You can connect it to a HDTV. And if you love online downloads and DRM and not being able to resell or buy used games you can even use Steam.

oh get off your high horse people like you is the reason why no one likes pc gamers

Agreed. I am more of a PC gamer than a console (I do play console games, but rarely) and I get pissed off at that kind of people too. "lol consoles suck". Yeah, maturity used to be one of the things PC gamers used to brag about.

OT: Personally I don't see Wii U as a necessarily weak system just because it lacks the power of the other consoles we'll see. Right now it's a weak system because there are 3 games that are exclusive and the rest are ports which wont convince anyone to buy a new system since they can already get the games without paying for a console at the same time. All of the consoles will suffer from the fact that they are going to be outdated compared to PC technology. Look at the Xbox 360 and the PS3, both released with less RAM than what you'd start to require from a laptop not intended for more than work related stuff. The Wii was a slightly updated GameCube and could have been conceived as last gen at release. Consoles will probably stick around, some of the consoles that are coming out now might fail, it might be Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft or Valve, but it's too soon to say. Only one of them are released and the others are more or less mysteries to us.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I just don't understand who the fuck is buying consoles in 2013? Get a PC. You can use a joypad with it. You can connect it to a HDTV. And if you love online downloads and DRM and not being able to resell or buy used games you can even use Steam.

Not everyone likes to fight with a PC and just want a simple machine they know will play games everytime.

OT: The deciding factor will be the same it was for this gen, the lineup of games and the price. Unless they do add features that make it a pain to play (DRM, no used games etc) that would be a major turn-off so they would have to do something to compensate for that.

PCs aren't that complex; the only tricky part of PC Gaming would be components-related, but even then, with the internet at one's disposal, you can build a decent rig quite easily; I would even go as far as comparing it with one of those complex lego kits(?) that have loads of components in terms of difficulty to set up. I used to prefer consoles over PCs for this very reason, but once I actually built my own rig, I was puzzled as to why I was so turned off by the notion of PC Gaming.

OT:If I would have to, then it would berice and third party support; when I was able to buy a console(when I was younger), I did not want to be anywhere near Nintendo because of the Wii's piss poor 3rd party library(cause usually, 1st party games tend to be a bit shit(In my opinion anyway)).

Also RockBand, if it exists on the console, chances are I will buy just for that reason(currently I haven't, but I do, in the future) as that is the sole reason that I would ever purchase a console now.

 

[Ryank1908]

For the first time in my life I'm just not bothered about the next gen of consoles. I'll take a look at them, sure, but unless one of them has a really solid launch library I won't be picking one up any time soon.

I'll probably wait about 6 months - a year, and then check them out again. If they have enough decent titles to warrant a purchase, I'll pick one up. If not, I'll buy a shiny new GT690 GPU for my rig and go back to playing games on my PC again.

 

[Kikyoo]

So I'm just gonna say, what sold my brother on the Wii U was actually having remote play function. Ya know taking that big ass tablet and going into your room to enjoy your favorite game while laying down in your bed. He was considering getting a PS Vita for a long time to do that, but ended up going with the Wii U, cause it could do it, and had less strings attached.

 

[MiskWisk]

I just don't understand who the fuck is buying consoles in 2013? Get a PC. You can use a joypad with it. You can connect it to a HDTV. And if you love online downloads and DRM and not being able to resell or buy used games you can even use Steam.

If all these rumours about how Sony and Microsoft are planning on screwing over customers on the console front are true, I might just do that.

 

[gorfias]

We like new hardware because we want advancements in graphics. The Xbox was better than the PS2, but PS2 beat it. The difference was nominal. But plenty of people demanded that PS2 be better than PS1 and it was. Otherwise, I would have stuck with my N64 and just bought a DVD player.

I've read that if you judge in terms of people buying games, the PS3 and 360 did do better than the Wii. For my part, my Wii gathers dust. I wasn't going to get burned again by Wii U.

We do want more options and capabilities too.

These guys (the big 3) have to come up with a new generation. They have to get people excited and they have to compete with ever more options like:


This will be relatively weak, but only $100. But you'll be able to easily play games you incidentally downloaded to your smartphone for as little as free.

Same with this:


This is even smaller and will cost more like $75 and may have web browsing, Netflix, etc capabilities.

I think people aren't going to give a darn about used game stuff when they can buy state of the art games for $5.

I have no idea what this will cost but, color me very interested. All the gamestick has to offer PLUS the ability to stream to my TV the state of the art STEAM games I have on my PC. Play handheld stuff while the wife watches football, or put it on my TV. The price scares me though.


This looks way out of my price league. I've heard $1K. The Steam Box:


I think gaming may be in a similar bind that existed for TV around 2000. You could spend $5K on a 40" 720P DLP TV, or just buy a 36" flat CRT 480P for $700. Back then, the difference in visuals was too nominal to spend all that money. Today, I have a $50 GTS 250 that can get almost the same FPS on Batman Arkham City, medium settings, as my $500 HD 7970 gets on high settings. Again, the difference is too nominal for most people.

I know we'll get to point B some day, but how we get there from our current point A? I have no idea. I just think things will keep getting better and ultimately, it will be worth the money.

 

[Treblaine]

the OP makes me giggle a bit.

I mean he makes a few good points, but claiming Nintendo will fail cause they have the 'weakest machine'? um ... you have heard of the Wii right? That things was kicking all the ass open for kicking, until they decided to stop supporting it with good games (like the ones people had to start a petition/movement to get).

Here is the thing, if you aren't going to exclude consoles because they aren't powerful enough, while Wii was welling 100 million, PS2 was selling up to 250 million. Even PS2 selling far more wasn't anything to write home about, it's like being the winner... of a walking race. I think any console tally that includes Wii (in comparison with PS3/360) must also include PS2.

Wii was nothing but an extended-life Gamecube, the hardware and software were so similar gamecube emulators could play Wii games only needing a plugin for new controllers. And PS Move doesn't make PS3 a new system.

Look BEYOND the re-branding, look at the actual vital statistics. Look at PS2's life and relevance well after PS3 and Xbox 360 were launched including new releases. Look at the similar price point and graphical performance of PS2 and Wii, not identical but closer to each other than Wii was to PS3.

This is not a cut-and-dry "7th Gen console". Console generations ranking is open to abuse and misuse, it's a system entirely corporate focused and detached from what the user gets and pays for.

The point is the Wii was cheaper, not that it was weaker "7th gen" that now meaningless term.

WiiU is so much more expensive than PS3/360, if it's the same price as the Next Xbox or PS4 which is more powerful... then what's the point?

 

[xPixelatedx]

Games look great on it, but we all know they won't look amazing in a year or two. That's the wiiU's failing

So? The games on the Wii weren't graphically impressive the day they came out, but the Wii has still sold more units than the PS3 or the 360, by about 30 million each

the OP makes me giggle a bit.

I mean he makes a few good points, but claiming Nintendo will fail cause they have the 'weakest machine'? um ... you have heard of the Wii right? That things was kicking all the ass open for kicking, until they decided to stop supporting it with good games (like the ones people had to start a petition/movement to get).

Yeah it did outsell the PS3 and Xbox originally, all while starting underpowered, but you are not really seeing the forest for the trees. In the 6 year course it ran, it's limited graphical abilities were constantly used against it; in the spite thrown it's way and the excuses developers used to avoid making ports for it. People hating on the wii might not seem like a big deal, but it was. They alienated a whole crowd, which would have added even more sales. Worse yet, the crowd they alienated was the crowd most likely to buy again and buy consistently. Nintendo even came out and admitted their new, current audience wasn't sustainable even if they did shower them with money before, which is exactly why they have stated several times they are trying to once again coax back the more seasoned gamers. Being a big seller or not, there is a reason why the wii sales teetered off into oblivion over the last two years. That's a big contrast to the PS3 and Xbox which are still selling strong right now. The wii was a console that could have used a better library of games, but too many developers didn't want to go the extra mile to optimize and downgrade what they were making for the PS3 and Xbox, because that was considered the standard now. This is why half the wii's games (maybe more) are just cash-grab, shovel-ware party games.
It would be extraordinarily unfortunate for the wiiU to repeat history, especially since that new audience that Nintendo caught last-gen is already bored of them and moving to tablets and cellphone games. Nintendo knows that, game industry analysts know it and you should know it to. That said, I don't think the wiiU will do as bad. But the fact that developers have to go above and beyond to optimize and downgrade their games again is very disheartening and once the new gen gains momentum we will see less and less cross-platform games making it to the wiiU. So, yes, it's the wiiU's failing. The only reason why the wiiU is getting the frequency of cross platform games it's getting now is because the other platforms are the last gen ones, so it's easy to make it work on the wiiU. That's going to change in a year or two.

This isn't 2009 anymore, casual was eaten up by the mobile market now.

Yeah, this guy gets it. All those people you see using tablets and phones almost exclusively for gaming now? Those are a HUGE chunk of the people who originally showered Nintendo with riches over the wii. They found something new, easier to use, so they left. That's kind of what being casual means. That is also why Microsoft is going to fail in their attempt to capture Nintendos lost market.

 

[Colt47]

The Wii U already had a good library of games for those who never owned a Wii before thanks to the backwards compatibility. Ever since the game cube, I just sort of treat each new nintendo console like an upgraded version of the previous one thanks to how they handle their back log. A rather stark contrast to Sony and Microsoft, who have been treating their back log like garbage and cherry picking what they think people want to play.

 

[Treblaine]

I just don't understand who the fuck is buying consoles in 2013? Get a PC. You can use a joypad with it. You can connect it to a HDTV. And if you love online downloads and DRM and not being able to resell or buy used games you can even use Steam.

oh get off your high horse people like you is the reason why no one likes pc gamers

You ever stop to consider it is the attitude YOU express which is the reason people gang up on PC gaming?

Xomo gives advice that it's a better choice for the gamers in general and you attack them for it just because it isn't a major established gaming console.

This thread is all about saying this console is better or worse than another console, yet suddenly you're on a "high horse" if PC gaming is brought into the picture. You aren't on a high horse for suggesting PC gaming has any relevance, it is YOU who is on a high horse for arbitrarily putting consoles above PC, above any consideration with PC.

Seriously, this is crap that belongs on IGN boards, with segregated sections of the forums for Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo's platforms. This is Escapist Forums, this has a gaming discussion forum and no sub-forums for fanboys below that.

I'm a PC gamer but I don't exclude any console from any consideration.

I think he was taking offense to the tone of the original poster, with his 'Who the fuck is blah blah blah' The tone reads as aggressive and hostile, implying that people who are buying consoles have suffered from some failure of logic or intelligence.

As to the rest of your point, about how the topic puts consoles above PC's automatically? Well thats how you've interpreted it. Personally, I thought nothing of PC not being mentioned when discussing consoles, because to many, we will have a high end PC and a gaming console. So PC isnt listed as a choice because its assumed PC is its own category, which doesnt compete with the consoles. Where as people are far more likely to only buy one of the consoles available, so its a choice there.

Well if no one is allowed to point out in unequivocal terms that PC is a better logical choice then that's AGAIN another example of how the decks are stacked against PC from the start. Certainly we have to sit here and politely take it while PC is pissed on from 20'000 feet.

So PC isnt listed as a choice because its assumed PC is its own category

That's just a plain wrong assumption.

That's arbitrary exclusion. If so many games like Arkham City are released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, how can anyone refuse to consider PC???? Every year there is a smaller and smaller number of games that are only released on console and not on PC, falling down to the Sony or Microsoft exclusives. It's just as bad for a console gamer to exclude PC as for an Xbox 360 gamer to refuse to consider any PS3 games, that's universally derided as fanboyism.

Screw "compete with consoles" logic. That's not the talk of a gamer focused analysis, that's a corporate focus. It's way WAY too easy to fall into corporate focus when what REALLY matters is what the gamer gets, and what they pay for.

Where as people are far more likely to only buy one of the consoles available, so its a choice there.

But people are VERY likely to own a PC of some sort.

And I am so tired, so very very tired of people perpetuating the UNSUBSTANTIATED SELF SERVING MYTH* of "must have $2000 PC that only the richest kings of Europe can afford". It's nonsense. Anyone can get started with PC just trying some games on their PC. So many free weekends, demos and free-to-play games. You put as much into graphics as you want, settings vary all the way from 6th gen equivalent up to 8th gen equivalent. You can get very capable plug-and-play graphics cards for half the price of a new console game.

-------

(*this isn't "yelling" this is called block capitals, read any legal document and you'll find block capitals text for parts that MUST BE READ AND CONSIDERED.)

 

[Elijin]

That's arbitrary exclusion. If so many games like Arkham City are released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, how can anyone refuse to consider PC???? Every year there is a smaller and smaller number of games that are only released on console and not on PC, falling down to the Sony or Microsoft exclusives. It's just as bad for a console gamer to exclude PC as for an Xbox 360 gamer to refuse to consider any PS3 games, that's universally derided as fanboyism.

Screw "compete with consoles" logic. That's not the talk of a gamer focused analysis, that's a corporate focus. It's way WAY too easy to fall into corporate focus when what REALLY matters is what the gamer gets, and what they pay for.

Where as people are far more likely to only buy one of the consoles available, so its a choice there.

But people are VERY likely to own a PC of some sort.

And I am so tired, so very very tired of people perpetuating the UNSUBSTANTIATED SELF SERVING MYTH* of "must have $2000 PC that only the richest kings of Europe can afford". It's nonsense. Anyone can get started with PC just trying some games on their PC. So many free weekends, demos and free-to-play games. You put as much into graphics as you want, settings vary all the way from 6th gen equivalent up to 8th gen equivalent. You can get very capable plug-and-play graphics cards for half the price of a new console game.

-------

(*this isn't "yelling" this is called block capitals, read any legal document and you'll find block capitals text for parts that MUST BE READ AND CONSIDERED.)

Its like you read my post, but didnt manage to take anything away from it, as you were already on the defensive.

Read it again. My entire point is "People will generally have a PC -AND- then choose one console.

So following that line of thought, the PC doesnt need to be considered when talking about 'Which one will you buy?' because its already a forgone conclusion that you will buy/have a PC -AS WELL- as the console selected. Jeez.

Or to put it another way, if you dont like me assuming people will get a pc in this day:
The PC has so many unique properties over the consoles, that it isnt considered because its a different type of product, and will be assessed seperately as fitting such.

I mean hell, if you read between the lines, Im basically saying the PC has such a lead over the consoles, that its in its own category.

You were so ready to defend your stance on the PC, that you missed I wasnt attacking the PC as a platform, simply offering a different point of view. That the PC isnt being victimised, but is in fact, assumed to be superior.

Also I will stick to my guns that regardless of the validity (or lack of) in Xeno's post, his tone was aggressive and begging people to be put off side. And its not even that valid really. Different markets, different tastes. I have a decent gaming computer AND a console. They cater to different ends of my gaming habits.