The State of PC gaming

[FFP2]

It's pretty good (solely because of mods and GOG) except for the massive amounts of piracy that put devs off of making games for PC/a barebones port.

Also- NO JRPGS!!! Seriously, apart from The Last Remnant the only JRPGs on PC I have are ones that I emulate.

 

[FFP2]

It's pretty good (solely because of mods & GOG) except for the massive amounts of piracy that puts devs off of making games for PC/a barebones port.

BUT THERE'S NO JRPGs!!! Seriously, aside from The Last Remnant the only JRPGs I have on PC are emulated ones.

 

[Tanakh]

Uh...it's fine. Prospering, I guess? I've been a PC Gamer my whole life, and I've never been happier with the quality or quantity of games, nor the price I am able to get them at.

Damn, I was going to post exactly this. There are so many good games at such low prices the only problem is finding the time to play them (especially if you are addicted to a timesink like WoW, SCII, DotA, Planetside, etc).

 

[Warped_Ghost]

I think it the state of PC games depends on what you're looking at.
I think the indie market is booming and that certain genres are going strong. MMOs I think are starting to wane and many will not last much longer judging by sales and critic reviews\

I think PC gaming used to be awesome and had more going for it than it does not because people used to be more willing to experiment and there was less porting and redundancy....I think it's not struggling on the whole, but if you break it down its hard to say

I will add I miss point and clicks adventures...

Walking dead got game of the year from VGA's and sold over 8 million copies. Point and click had that going for it this year.

 

[Tanakh]

Botanicula
Machinarium

This two are among the most beautiful adventure games i have played in my 24 years playign the genere, a shame nowdays point and click bores me to tears because they are masterpices of adventure.

 

[Creator002]

The state? Ohio!

I think PC gaming is going fine. It seems, to me, that more people are switching to, or at least adding, PC gaming as a major part if their gaming life. I know I myself switched to PC gaming late 2011 because I was getting sick of my Xbox being used as more of an obligation to my social life rather than as an entertainment device. I prefer the solace of single player games on PC.
I did recently buy a 360 Slim though, but that's mainly for my cousin and I to play GTA IV (because too many people on PC cheat) and Halo 3. I also got Red Dead Redemption (again) and Lollipop Chainsaw, both if which I am loving.

 

[an annoyed writer]

PC Gaming's alright. I still occasionally run into the "will my system run this?" issue, but that's because y tower is a refurbished 2007-era ACER so that's to be expected. I love developing mods and shit(I'm currently working on some shit for Garry's mod right now) but I just can't really get my hands around a Keyboard and Mouse for most games. The ergonomics are on their way to giving me carpal tunnel, and the fact that there's so many things to memorize that my muscle memory just doesn't cut it. Luckily there's controller input mods and settings for most of the games I play, so it only really bothers me in select circumstances.

I still play a lot of consoles though, as they're much more hassle-free in certain areas that matter. Say what you will about XBox Live: mechanically speaking though, it made joining friends and playing with them a LOT easier, and that's what matters at the end of the day. Steam did a similar thing for PC gaming, but again, most of my friends are on consoles right now.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

PC gaming is great. Steam <3. That is all.

 

[rcs619]

I have to admit, prior to about, oh, two years ago, I had never really been a PC gamer. Nearly my entire gaming experience has been on consoles or handhelds. I'd never had a good computer (and even now all I really have is an average laptop) so PC gaming in general seemed like this hugely daunting wall of hardware requirements. But then a friend got me to try out Steam, and between older games and indie titles, I probably play more games on my computer than I do on my PS3 currently. It is great to have a huge library of great older games, or smaller, independently-made titles right there at bargain prices compared to new games (not even including steam sales).

So yeah, I think the PC is doing fine in terms of newer games and the advent of the USB gamepad basically made it able to run any and all games a console could, barring exclusivity. But, I think it's that indie and older-gen market that really makes PC gaming so distinctive. Consoles are getting there, but between services like Steam and GoG, there is just such a massive library of bargain-priced titles to choose from alongside the newer stuff.

One thing I'm actually really excited about is the Homeworld franchise finally coming up for sale as it escapes the bloated, dying pinata that is THQ. Homeworld 1 and 2 are excellent real-time strategy games, and the 3D space-RTS is a woefully underrepresented genre right now. The way THQ has just sat on the IP is borderline criminal in my opinion. Here's hoping they both finally get a release on Steam or GoG (a couple potential buyers have expressed interest in the Homeworld IP so far), and maybe even a Homeworld 3 someday (hopefully when I have a computer that would be able to run a new one lol).

Speaking of games that deserve a second life on the PC. Who owns the rights to Panzer Dragoon these days? The fact that neither Panzer Dragoon 1, 2 or Saga has gotten a re-release is a tragedy, especially considering how obscure being on the Sega Saturn made them in the first place. I know Panzer Dragoon Orta was on the xbox, but does Microsoft own the rights, or Andromeda Team? Someone really needs to make an online re-release of those games happen. I know I'd buy them

 

[bananafishtoday]

Never been better. This is the first console gen I've skipped, and I can count on one hand the games I regret not being able to play. (For the record: Journey, MGS4, Xenoblade, Last Story. Though I may yet get a used PS3 if Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls are good.) Every other game I've been interested in has either been available on PC or exclusive to it. Practically everything developed for both consoles is trivially easy to develop for PC at the same time, and digital distro has reduced the barrier of entry so low that there's been a massive influx of indie games over the past few years as well. I'd go so far as to call this a renaissance.

Edit:

pc gaming is about to enter a renaissance with a whole stable of new mid reange games mostly kickstarters, etc which are final;ly catering to what gamers actually want rather than what publishers decide we do

Also this, which I'd totally forgotten about. There are a ton of amazing Kickstarter-funded games coming down the pipeline. As long as nothing terrible happens (which seems unlikely, as these games are coming from industry veterans staking their careers and reputations on them) we've got titles like Wasteland 2, Star Citizen, and Project Eternity to look forward to: all games with multi-million dollar budgets that would be impossible to create if they were forced to work within the limits of console hardware.

 

[AlbertoDeSanta]

PC gaming is at it's height right now. The market is thriving, especially Indie titles. They get their moment in the limelight whereas before they'd just be ignored. With the immergence of more F2P games (Planetside 2 in particular) people are making the switch and getting more Free Content then on the X360, PS3, WiiU or 3ds. Which is great. Mods are another thing that have greatly contributed; which is excellent, as it allows for almost a completely different experience (in some cases). Overall, PC gaming has never been better, and it will continue to rise as people realise that they get more for their money on PC.

 

[mohit9206]

in my opinion pc gaming is only going to get better . the concept of having a dedicated console to play games will die off in 5-10 years. pc will become the prominent platform. i agree that pc gaming really suffered due to xbox 360 and ps3.

 

[deviltry]

in my opinion pc gaming is only going to get better . the concept of having a dedicated console to play games will die off in 5-10 years. pc will become the prominent platform. i agree that pc gaming really suffered due to xbox 360 and ps3.

Nope as long as there's people like me. No way I'm using my PC for gaming (except Blizzard games, bah).

Anyways, people emphasize these indie games. Bought first three indie bundles for 1 cent each, install - play for 3-5 minutes, delete. What's so great about dem indie games? Stuff looks like on NES? Brings back nostalgia? Story? LOLOLO GAME STORY LOLOLO WHOOPDIEDOO LOLOLO, go read a book.

Kickstarter? Besides more indie, what games came out of it? And this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/309790545/kurt-braunohlers-cloud-project?ref=home_spotlight rofl. Kickstarter, the holy grail of gaming. "It lets developers communicate with players". Oh yeah because earlier we were in West Germany and developers were in East Germany. As for not getting funding from companies, Interstellar Marines, Natural Selection 2, Primal Carnage launched "preorders" with rewards if you donate over said amount and I supported them. They didn't needed Kickstarter. And if others weren't so smart to come out with this idea by themselves, what does it say about their game quality?..

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

It's been going good as it always has been but for my part it's taken a long time to try building my own gaming rig ( saving money and having to pay bills/save for a holiday/food etc) and it's not really been a fun ride getting all sorts of different opinions on what hardware parts are better than others but hopefully in a week or two it will be finished and maybe then I can manage to play games from 2011 until I save up for a new GPU which again will be fun *sarcasm* in finding a better model.

In the end I'll still divide time from playing some games on the PC,360,Wii U and a handheld because at the end of the day to me it doesn't matter which one is the master race or which one is the superior platform because to me just having fun matters.

That and I still love my consoles >.>.

 

[veloper]

There are a ton of amazing Kickstarter-funded games coming down the pipeline. As long as nothing terrible happens (which seems unlikely, as these games are coming from industry veterans staking their careers and reputations on them) we've got titles like Wasteland 2, Star Citizen, and Project Eternity to look forward to: all games with multi-million dollar budgets that would be impossible to create if they were forced to work within the limits of console hardware.

Don't expect PE and W2 to push your PC hardware. PE in particular should still look good, but it will be through 2D backgrounds to deliver a projection POV, a la Planescape, Baldur's Gate and such, only high resolution, full color. So alot of bang per buck.
Star Citizen may still be demanding though.

Such games should be very possible to create on the 360 and ps3 (though the controls would still be clumsy with a controller), it's just that publishers have no interest in medium budget titles, let alone niche genres, so kickstarter.

If most the bigger kickstarter game projects like PE, W2, SRR, SC and BS actually succeed then we can declare a new golden age of PC gaming.