PC gaming is the primary market for indi game developers. Just check out steams selection of indi games. Its huge, and they are cheap.Onyx Oblivion said:
Why is PC gaming "dead"?
- Thread starter Vault101
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Darkness62 said:
D62, again your quotes bring wisdom to a community
BTW, how's it goin man? Haven't seen ya around the Zone is a while . . .
I would agree about "more troubleshooting needed" 10 years ago, but today? This PC I'm using right now was bought 3 years ago, it never had a single problem, and it runs all the games I throw at it. Windows versions are pretty stable and things work better. Of course you can run into problems, same as an XBox RRODing or any other console defect.Ramin 123 said:
OT: I have owned consoles of all previous generations, except the current one. I don't live in the US, and console games are expensive here. Sometimes I think about buying a current-gen console. Then I see that 80-90% of the console games I want to play I can buy for the PC for one tenth of the price I'd pay for the console version (thanks to Steam sales). Plus there are so many good games I couldn't play on consoles, it's just not worth it.
It's not the bigger market right now, but it's not dying.
I don't think PC gaming is dead. Actually in the last 2 years pc gaming has picked up a lot for me. And it keeps getting stronger.
I wouldn't get too excited about the integrated systems yet. At the moment AMD's Fusion is strictly low end aimed at mostly at laptops, netbooks and low end systems that only need multimedia playback rather than gaming graphics. Essentially they're shifting their integrated GPU chipsets from mobo based to CPU die set based - combining the lower ends of both their lines of GPUs and CPUs into a single unit, and looks to affect their (M) class ('mobility' - laptops and so on) products most of all. AMD have no intention in the near future to phase out their Phenom II and Radeon lines in favour of Fusion integrated units.imperialreign said:
Intel, OTOH, are aiming for much higher spec machines and the cpu component part of their integrated chip die appear to be the most robust processing units Intel have kicked out so far... unfortunately Intel still haven't cut a deal with nVidia on GPU chipsets so the launch (code-named Sandy Bridge) models for their integrated units will be horrendously subpar where graphics processing is concerned.
nVidia seem quite comfortable to sit the integrated unit experiment out for the time being and with good reason - Intel haven't offered them enough money to make it worth their while yet. As long as AMD keeps the Fusion line aimed at low end systems and not leveraging their CPU lines into the battle for supremacy in mid-range and enthusiast level GPUs the market is still very much focused on discrete GPU cards, meaning Intel needs nVidia more than nVidia needs Intel where Intel's integrated unit line is concerned.
Personally I see the new integrated units as having very little impact on gaming, PC or otherwise, in the immediate future. What could change that is the next generation of consoles because by the time they drop the integrated unit will be more mature and console manufacturers will be quite interested in a single unit that offers a robust CPU and a high level GPU for several reasons. At the same time a console integrated unit doesn't constitute a threat to the discrete GPU sales (important to both nVidia and AMD).
As for PC gaming dying - won't happen as long as there are PCs.
It isn't, it's still more than alive and kicking.
Millions of people still play, would you consider a nation with tens of millions of inhabitants to be dead?
Millions of people still play, would you consider a nation with tens of millions of inhabitants to be dead?
PC gaming is good at a variety of things:
* Indie games are much easier to launch on PC. No dev kit, no running things by MS or Sony, and no 50mb size cap. Just release over the Internet, or on Steam, and Bob's your uncle.
* Steam, Gamer's Gate, etc. provide developers with lower cost-of-entry points for publishing, and higher percentages of the profits than official publishers do.
* Publishers should like it because they don't have to pay MS or Sony the typical gratuities.
* I'd say used game sales are as great a problem for consoles as piracy is for PCs.
* Nobody needs a top-of-the-line computer for gaming anymore. The most taxing game in recent memory is probably Metro 2033, and it runs just fine (medium settings, but it looks great!) on my 2-year-old middle-of-the-road laptop.
* MMOs and social gaming obviously have no competition from consoles. The price of entry is "having a PC," generally speaking, and pretty much any old computer will work.
* RTS, TBS, pretty much any strategy game and most deeper RPGs, are at a serious disadvantage on consoles.
* Modding is pretty much available only on PC.
* It's possible to play modern games for only $400 nowadays. A bargain-bin PC and a last-generation graphics card, and you're set. And with games mostly stagnated at the graphical level of the last hardware generation, you'll be able to keep playing pretty much anything you want for years!
* Based on recent sales figures, PCs are responsible for more than half the total reported revenue (with digital distribution notoriously difficult to count). The remainder is divided between consoles and mobile platforms, and the console section is divided between Sony, MS, and Nintendo.
* The price of entry for the consumer is much lower on the software front. A new game will cost you $60 on consoles; aside from arrogant publishers like Activision and Ubisoft, most new games on PC cost at most $50, and "niche" titles generally start at $40 and go down from there. And then there's Steam sales - a huge backlog of games from recent years, available for a pittance, all in one place!
* Niche experiences are much more readily available. Gamer's Gate has "euro" games that you can't get anywhere else (White Gold: War in Paradise, to name one), Good Old Games has various classic titles from years far past, Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress and similar are all available online, and Paradox churns out strategy game after esoteric RPG after strategy game.
So, really, the only people who are really at a disadvantage on PC are the triple-A game publishers making FPS after FPS, and not noticing the surging tides of RTSs, RPGs, and other more complex genres emerging on the PC. (Paradox Interactive is largely responsible for this)
The last couple of years (2008-09), it's seemed like PC gaming was suffering - but 2010 was good for us, and going into 2011, it looks like PC gaming is swelling mightily. We're not dying - we're not even infirm. We're seeing a record-breaking surge of new life!
* Indie games are much easier to launch on PC. No dev kit, no running things by MS or Sony, and no 50mb size cap. Just release over the Internet, or on Steam, and Bob's your uncle.
* Steam, Gamer's Gate, etc. provide developers with lower cost-of-entry points for publishing, and higher percentages of the profits than official publishers do.
* Publishers should like it because they don't have to pay MS or Sony the typical gratuities.
* I'd say used game sales are as great a problem for consoles as piracy is for PCs.
* Nobody needs a top-of-the-line computer for gaming anymore. The most taxing game in recent memory is probably Metro 2033, and it runs just fine (medium settings, but it looks great!) on my 2-year-old middle-of-the-road laptop.
* MMOs and social gaming obviously have no competition from consoles. The price of entry is "having a PC," generally speaking, and pretty much any old computer will work.
* RTS, TBS, pretty much any strategy game and most deeper RPGs, are at a serious disadvantage on consoles.
* Modding is pretty much available only on PC.
* It's possible to play modern games for only $400 nowadays. A bargain-bin PC and a last-generation graphics card, and you're set. And with games mostly stagnated at the graphical level of the last hardware generation, you'll be able to keep playing pretty much anything you want for years!
* Based on recent sales figures, PCs are responsible for more than half the total reported revenue (with digital distribution notoriously difficult to count). The remainder is divided between consoles and mobile platforms, and the console section is divided between Sony, MS, and Nintendo.
* The price of entry for the consumer is much lower on the software front. A new game will cost you $60 on consoles; aside from arrogant publishers like Activision and Ubisoft, most new games on PC cost at most $50, and "niche" titles generally start at $40 and go down from there. And then there's Steam sales - a huge backlog of games from recent years, available for a pittance, all in one place!
* Niche experiences are much more readily available. Gamer's Gate has "euro" games that you can't get anywhere else (White Gold: War in Paradise, to name one), Good Old Games has various classic titles from years far past, Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress and similar are all available online, and Paradox churns out strategy game after esoteric RPG after strategy game.
So, really, the only people who are really at a disadvantage on PC are the triple-A game publishers making FPS after FPS, and not noticing the surging tides of RTSs, RPGs, and other more complex genres emerging on the PC. (Paradox Interactive is largely responsible for this)
The last couple of years (2008-09), it's seemed like PC gaming was suffering - but 2010 was good for us, and going into 2011, it looks like PC gaming is swelling mightily. We're not dying - we're not even infirm. We're seeing a record-breaking surge of new life!
Maybe Chibz is confusing 'port' with 'version'?Darkness62 said:
I've seen several games where the console version is superior but that's because the game was made for consoles and ported to PC (apparently by retarded monkeys). Never seen a PC native game ported to console and the console version be the superior one.
Hell, it's not like PC gamers don't often ***** that PC ports are hamfisted.
I like console gaming more than PC gaming.
For a few reasons:
-Community is much, MUCH better. I'd rather deal with whiny 10 year olds than elitist assholes who look down on everyone who doesn't PC game.
-I feel more comfortable with a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse while gaming. I know you can buy controllers for your PC, but many of the PC exclusives are made to be used with the keyboard/mouse...
-I hate modding. Too damn expensive. Too complicated.
For a few reasons:
-Community is much, MUCH better. I'd rather deal with whiny 10 year olds than elitist assholes who look down on everyone who doesn't PC game.
-I feel more comfortable with a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse while gaming. I know you can buy controllers for your PC, but many of the PC exclusives are made to be used with the keyboard/mouse...
-I hate modding. Too damn expensive. Too complicated.
It's "dead" because certain software publishers and hardware manufacturers wish they could really convince console users that they really do 'have it good' and should throw a larger percentage of their income at them for less content, more fault prone hardware, useless peripherals, paid for game matching services (but you still have to host) and additional layers of crap between you and fun.
Of course its been dead for about 10 years now.
We cannot kill the beast....
Of course its been dead for about 10 years now.
We cannot kill the beast....
I got a laptop that can run Crysis with a couple of things on high, and most settings on medium. Looks quite pretty.Vault101 said:
I don't think PC gaming is dead, but there does seem to be a more focus on consoles. Maybe there's not as much PC exclusive games as there used to be?
yeah PC gaming isnt dead...never will be... fact: i just bought 26 pc games (via steam) for under $100
The way I see it, PC gaming isn't dead, it's just impotent and has a hip problem.
In short, PC gaming isn't gone or going it's just well past it's 'Golden age', you've lost out to the console gamers, they're the olympic athletes of the gaming world now while your PC's (as good as they are) are just the older guys who sit on the benches and grumble about how things were 'back in the day'.
In short, PC gaming isn't gone or going it's just well past it's 'Golden age', you've lost out to the console gamers, they're the olympic athletes of the gaming world now while your PC's (as good as they are) are just the older guys who sit on the benches and grumble about how things were 'back in the day'.
I still play PC games... sometimes. just when they're flash. my sister got Civilization 4 for Christmas; ain't dead yet!
my sister got Civilization 4 for Christmas; ain't dead yet!
1) I disagree.Cheery Lunatic said:
2) I disagree.
3) Hating modding damages the respectability of your opinion significantly in my opnion. Factor in the games and PC games is probably cheaper (ignoring piracy). PC gaming is far less complicated than people make out, and consoles are getting more complicated to boot, with patching and installing becoming increasingly common.
Just like console gamers will when the next generation of consoles go motion controls only and the PC gets all the "proper" games.Iron Mal said:
Now I'm not saying you're one of these people so don't get excited or anything, but a lot of people barge in on PC gaming discussions, spout a lot of unsubstantiated (or outright false) crap, call everyone who disagrees when them 'PC elitists' and then cry that PC gamers are mean. Some PC gamers ARE mean but then again some are just bored with the constant trickle of self-important, know nothing fuckwits who feel the need to piss on their shoes. I'm sure there are console gamers who are sick to shit with PC gamers barging in on their discussion and acting like total cocks as well. Gaming has always had a noticable percentage of fuckheads.Cheery Lunatic said:
Expensive? Mods are expensive? I've been in and out of game modding communities for 15 odd years and playing modded games for just a wee bit longer. Over that time I've probably had over 1Tb of mods (I love my mods) and never once has anyone asked for a cent... As for complicated, if you think game mods are complicated now you should have seen it in the days before dev supported mod tools existed.
Thanks to the 360, developers who used to be PC exclusive are not PC exclusive anymore.
The only games that are, are RTSes and MMOs (Although some games aim to change that) with no exclusives, and people abandoning PCs for consoles in droves for various reasons, PC game sales now make up 7-ish percent of the market.
Back in the day it was 50-ish or more.
Arcade fanboys thought that the arcade would last forever, but consoles cannibalized them, and took all their benefits.
The only games that are, are RTSes and MMOs (Although some games aim to change that) with no exclusives, and people abandoning PCs for consoles in droves for various reasons, PC game sales now make up 7-ish percent of the market.
Back in the day it was 50-ish or more.
Arcade fanboys thought that the arcade would last forever, but consoles cannibalized them, and took all their benefits.