Boards.ie

Dytalus · 17-06-2010, 13:47

I can't ever see the PC dying. Many games are best played on the PC, and I know of many people who love a good old LAN game with everyone on their laptops communicating. I've yet to see that on consoles outside of gaming centres.

I, for example, will never play an RTS on a console, and I much prefer FPS gaming on a PC as well. The PC has its own niche, which is rapidly growing smaller because consoles are so much simpler. No need to update the technology, no need to install your games or preserve hard drive space. There will always be people who prefer the capabilities of the PC over the abilities of a console, not the least of which is that computers advance so much faster.

Monotype · 17-06-2010, 14:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dytalus

No need to update the technology, no need to install your games or preserve hard drive space

Those aren't really true any more.

Mr Freeze · 17-06-2010, 15:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dara Robinson

Theif II and Deus Ex, 2 of the best games I ever played.

Two amazing games from the old days, Thief and Deus Ex, was gutted when Through The Looking Glass went out of business.

Really hope they don't mess up Thief 4, no details at all yet what its like! Hopefully it will be as good as the 1st two. 3rd was good, but not a patch on the 1st two.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazzy

im liking dara robinson. his ideas intrigue me and i wish to subscribe to his newsletter

Here! Here!

20goto10 · 17-06-2010, 15:52

We need more innovation. wii and Kinect are a step forward but we need more. Whatever happened to virtual reality? We should all be putting on helmets and "jacking in".

**Shiminay** · 17-06-2010, 16:19

You know what'd really put a nail in the coffin for PC gaming? Native Keyboard and Mouse controlling support for consoles. FPS would suddenly become properly playable for those of us who didn't grow up on Halo and Strategy games would finally be a viable option for consoles.

I don't mind the controllers on my 360 though, they're not bad - I feel more or less the same about the PS3. I miss games mods - how many of us have stuck at a game because someone came up with a cool new idea for it? QuakeWorld, Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, DoTA, etc - all mods and all top notch stuff. It's just not accessible to do these things for Consoles and anyway, the companies behind some of the bigger games aren't interested in letting you have at it anymore anyway.

Games are a lot shorter (it seems) than they used to be. RDR even felt short for the sort of game it is now that I'm thinking about it. Seems like I got through it in no time and I don't really expect to get more than 1 or 2 days out of the single player of most of what I buy anymore. Multi-player can't be the only way to keep you interested - see the mods stuff above

However, as someone else mentioned above, it does seem to be about just doing enough work getting the next title out as quick as possible without it being a flop these days and to be fair, that's not just in gaming. I'd say that extends to a lot of society in general - we're expected to be good consumers and consumers need product, so why wouldn't they just keep giving us what we want?

Overheal · 17-06-2010, 16:36

I think theres a bit more to it than keyboard and mice. Again with Open Platform. Its great that on a console you can get a homogenous gaming experience from one person to the next but there will be always be a crowd out there that wants to have their own customizable platform. And people are already doing that with consoles; the only difference is they're being stopped at every turn from doing so.

I mean, what if I don't like the voice chat on Games for Windows Live/Xbox Live? On an Xbox, aren't you f*cked? Whereas on a PC I can just get my friends on a private Ventrilo or Mumble server if thats what I want to do.

Its that ever-expansive kind of versatility that a closed platform will never compete with. Though from what I hear wasnt Xbox starting to over in-game overlay for game guides and ****? How much time did that take and how many people did they have to pull off other projects just so they could code the console version of Alt+Tab and Firefox? I mean even the little things, look how slow companies like Netflix are to be able to get their service onto console in the same way they have it on PC. Last time I used an xbox you had to use a PC to add the movie to your queue before you could go to your xbox and watch the ****ing thing.

oceanclub · 17-06-2010, 16:38

Quote:

"You know what'd really put a nail in the coffin for PC gaming? Native Keyboard and Mouse controlling support for consoles."

Would it, though? I suppose there are people who have their XBox/whatever connected to a monitor at a desk, but for most, it's a couch affair. It might sway some people, but kill the PC gaming market? Doubt it, specially as most of those who game on PC do so because the variety of games on the PC differ to consoles (I've absolutely no interest in sports games, very little in racing games).

At the end of the day, I really doubt that PC gaming is going away until the PC itself dies. Does it have less of a percentage of the entire market share? Yes, definitely, but hardly surprising considering the competition and how cheap consoles are these days. But it's still a platform where small innovative developers can launch their products without the need for a distributor or paying licence fees.

Despite the fact that Macs are expensive, a niche market and not upgradable, there's still a Mac game market, for example; big enough that Valve have ported their back-collection to the Mac and launched Steam for OSX.

P.

PogMoThoin · 17-06-2010, 16:43

Not sure if keyboard and mouse would work on consoles with tv's? The idea of a controller is that You can relax on the couch 6 feet from the tv, with kb & m You need to be upright and would need a desk for the kb & m. Very few console gamers play on a monitor

BTW, I forgot myself earlier, I do play with a controller. I use a TrackIR for Arma2, now there immersion a console can never ever give (and a vibrant modding community) making it the saving grace for pc gaming for me at the moment, the only game worth upgrading my pc for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ

**jaykhunter** · 17-06-2010, 16:50

PogMoThoin, would you mind listing out all the games you've played in the last 2 years? I'd like to know if you actually play a lot of games that consoles and PCs have to offer, or if you just dismiss a lot of the (first on) console games immediately.

Maybe the current generation of games aren't to your particular liking (just as I don't like FPS games) but that doesn't mean that there aren't current-gen games are deep/have substance/enjoyable beyond the scope of 12 year olds. (I'm 27 by the way.)

Would you agree that online matchups (like in Street Fighter) might stop a game from becoming "too easy"? (There's always an American online that can beat my ass)

PogMoThoin · 17-06-2010, 16:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaykhunter

PogMoThoin, would you mind listing out all the games you've played in the last 2 years? I'd like to know if you actually play a lot of games that consoles and PCs have to offer, or if you just dismiss a lot of the (first on) console games immediately.

Maybe the current generation of games aren't to your particular liking (just as I don't like FPS games) but that doesn't mean that there aren't current-gen games are deep/have substance/enjoyable beyond the scope of 12 year olds. (I'm 27 by the way.)

Would you agree that online matchups (like in Street Fighter) might stop a game from becoming "too easy"? (There's always an American online that can beat my ass)

Yeah, I will do when i get back to my pc. You'll be very suprised, I install lots, but rarely finish

**jaykhunter** · 17-06-2010, 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by oceanclub

http://play.tm/news/29605/pachter-pc-gaming-in-decline/

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3178044

I'd never heard of the guy before; coming from a country where property market analysts were all wrong, it's quite possible this analyst is talking nonsense too:

http://www.bingegamer.net/2009/who-t...chael-pachter/

Steam does not release sales figures. Unless this guy is lowering himself Tom Cruise styles down air-vents in Valve HQ, he doesn't know either.

P.

Thanks for replying! First and third links don't work. Is this my connection?

I'm wager that since America has the most reporters/analysts from games that we read about, it'd have the most people that are wrong about some things. At least he admitted he was wrong - and has repeatedly referenced it on his segment on GT. Just because something risky bucks the trend (like Dragon Age being successful) doesn't mean it was a bad prediction. He's just going by what he knows. And since he's made a fortune off it, i'd tend to believe his word over people who don't make a living doing it.

Like i'd tend to take Trump's opinion on business more heavily than the guys who made Soda Stream!

**jaykhunter** · 17-06-2010, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by PogMoThoin

Yeah, I will do when i get back to my pc. You'll be very suprised, I install lots, but rarely finish

if you have the time, if you could include a short note about what you liked/didn't like on each game that'd be awesome.

elnino35 · 17-06-2010, 17:26

I am also a fan of PC gaming, particulary the football/champ manager series of games(very addictive!)....but the problem for most people is not having the required specifications to run the game properly, due to larger demands on ram, processor speeds etc...this is especially true of the footy manger 10 game, which requires a minimum 2.0ghz processor amongst other things.This in turn means many people can't run the games on laptops,(2 friends of mine can't play it) and is losing a lot of potential gamers, who don't want to upgrade their system just to play a game!! I myself upgraded last year so I could have the minimum requirements needed, and with the new release of FM 11 out in a couple of months, I dread to think of what spec will be required this time around

...this is a problem that console gamers don't really face, it's more or less just plug and play straight from the box with a huge variety of games to choose from( good and bad!!), and a hell of lot less hassle.
In summary PC games are more inventive and you can definitely immerse yourself in one more so than a console game, but I think people are switching away because of these problems.

oceanclub · 17-06-2010, 17:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaykhunter

He's just going by what he knows. And since he's made a fortune off it, i'd tend to believe his word over people who don't make a living doing it.

By that logic, everyone should have listened to Liz O'Kane's views on the property market for the past decade rather than independent amateur predictors of the bubble collapse.

It's quite possible that this guy is right more times than he is wrong and hence has made money, but has a blind spot for the PC market. The fact is, he doesn't know the figure for Steam sales. Many analysts like him still pay attention to games charts compiled solely from over-the-counter retail, which probably gives a relatively accurate reading for console games but is useless for PC.

For example, every week, the Guardian publishes such a chart (by GfK Chart Track) which is worse than useless as it entirely distorts games sales. I pointed out that, since Xmas, I've bought 22 games via digital download (mainly Steam), 3 by online retail, and 1 from over-the-counter retail.

P.

**jaykhunter** · 17-06-2010, 18:01

lol, Liz...Do independent amateurs get it right more often then professionals? Anyway professionals are fallible, and amateurs don't get flack for being wrong. If Steam don't release figures, surely everyone has a blind spot for PCs? In the 6-7% statement, he did actually mention going by "boxed packaging" but included Steam. So either he knows or it's his best guess.

We're getting bogged down in semantics, anyway. Whatever comes of attacking the guy's credibility as an argument, his points are still valid. (Excluding MMOs of course) The PC videogame market is in the vast minority compared to the console market; so more developers make games for consoles. There might be a billion PCs/macs in people's houses but only a very small percentage of those would be capable of/are running current gen games. PC games sales vs pirated PC games is well above the average for home console systems, so developers don't focus on a PC port primarily. Going by the trend of the Wii's sales, a majority of (at least, console) gamers don't want a controller, even a keyboard and mouse; they just wanna waggle their hands.

Surely if Steam was selling exceptionally well, they'd be on to more publishers to make more new, exclusive games? Is that the case? (I don't know) Or do Steam just buy the game and all the rights to it, so they make all the profits?

17-06-2010, 16:50	#39
jaykhunter Moderator Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Temple Bar, Dublin Posts: 8,390 Adverts \| Friends Mod: Podcasts, Pro Wrestling, Sega	PogMoThoin, would you mind listing out all the games you've played in the last 2 years? I'd like to know if you actually play a lot of games that consoles and PCs have to offer, or if you just dismiss a lot of the (first on) console games immediately. Maybe the current generation of games aren't to your particular liking (just as I don't like FPS games) but that doesn't mean that there aren't current-gen games are deep/have substance/enjoyable beyond the scope of 12 year olds. (I'm 27 by the way.) Would you agree that online matchups (like in Street Fighter) might stop a game from becoming "too easy"? (There's always an American online that can beat my ass) Last edited by jaykhunter; 17-06-2010 at 16:53.

17-06-2010, 17:26	#43
elnino35 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: in a cave playing scrabble with bin laden... Posts: 54 Adverts \| Friends	I am also a fan of PC gaming, particulary the football/champ manager series of games(very addictive!)....but the problem for most people is not having the required specifications to run the game properly, due to larger demands on ram, processor speeds etc...this is especially true of the footy manger 10 game, which requires a minimum 2.0ghz processor amongst other things.This in turn means many people can't run the games on laptops,(2 friends of mine can't play it) and is losing a lot of potential gamers, who don't want to upgrade their system just to play a game!! I myself upgraded last year so I could have the minimum requirements needed, and with the new release of FM 11 out in a couple of months, I dread to think of what spec will be required this time around...this is a problem that console gamers don't really face, it's more or less just plug and play straight from the box with a huge variety of games to choose from( good and bad!!), and a hell of lot less hassle. In summary PC games are more inventive and you can definitely immerse yourself in one more so than a console game, but I think people are switching away because of these problems.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

17-06-2010, 13:47	#31
Dytalus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 31 Adverts \| Friends	I can't ever see the PC dying. Many games are best played on the PC, and I know of many people who love a good old LAN game with everyone on their laptops communicating. I've yet to see that on consoles outside of gaming centres. I, for example, will never play an RTS on a console, and I much prefer FPS gaming on a PC as well. The PC has its own niche, which is rapidly growing smaller because consoles are so much simpler. No need to update the technology, no need to install your games or preserve hard drive space. There will always be people who prefer the capabilities of the PC over the abilities of a console, not the least of which is that computers advance so much faster.

17-06-2010, 15:52	#34
20goto10 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1,190 Adverts \| Friends	We need more innovation. wii and Kinect are a step forward but we need more. Whatever happened to virtual reality? We should all be putting on helmets and "jacking in".

17-06-2010, 16:19	#35
Shiminay Moderator Join Date: Feb 1998 Location: At the Gate! Posts: 17,150 Adverts \| Friends Mod: Comeonbanus, Dark & Deviant, The Nocturnal Forum	You know what'd really put a nail in the coffin for PC gaming? Native Keyboard and Mouse controlling support for consoles. FPS would suddenly become properly playable for those of us who didn't grow up on Halo and Strategy games would finally be a viable option for consoles. I don't mind the controllers on my 360 though, they're not bad - I feel more or less the same about the PS3. I miss games mods - how many of us have stuck at a game because someone came up with a cool new idea for it? QuakeWorld, Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, DoTA, etc - all mods and all top notch stuff. It's just not accessible to do these things for Consoles and anyway, the companies behind some of the bigger games aren't interested in letting you have at it anymore anyway. Games are a lot shorter (it seems) than they used to be. RDR even felt short for the sort of game it is now that I'm thinking about it. Seems like I got through it in no time and I don't really expect to get more than 1 or 2 days out of the single player of most of what I buy anymore. Multi-player can't be the only way to keep you interested - see the mods stuff above However, as someone else mentioned above, it does seem to be about just doing enough work getting the next title out as quick as possible without it being a flop these days and to be fair, that's not just in gaming. I'd say that extends to a lot of society in general - we're expected to be good consumers and consumers need product, so why wouldn't they just keep giving us what we want?

17-06-2010, 16:36	#36
Overheal Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: South Carolina Posts: 34,570 Adverts \| Friends Mod: Facilitators, Feed Forward Private, Feed Forward Public, FeedForward	I think theres a bit more to it than keyboard and mice. Again with Open Platform. Its great that on a console you can get a homogenous gaming experience from one person to the next but there will be always be a crowd out there that wants to have their own customizable platform. And people are already doing that with consoles; the only difference is they're being stopped at every turn from doing so. I mean, what if I don't like the voice chat on Games for Windows Live/Xbox Live? On an Xbox, aren't you fcked? Whereas on a PC I can just get my friends on a private Ventrilo or Mumble server if thats what I want to do. Its that ever-expansive kind of versatility that a closed platform will never compete with. Though from what I hear wasnt Xbox starting to over in-game overlay for game guides and *? How much time did that take and how many people did they have to pull off other projects just so they could code the console version of Alt+Tab and Firefox? I mean even the little things, look how slow companies like Netflix are to be able to get their service onto console in the same way they have it on PC. Last time I used an xbox you had to use a PC to add the movie to your queue before you could go to your xbox and watch the **ing thing.

17-06-2010, 16:43	#38
PogMoThoin Closed Account Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 13,650 Adverts \| Friends	Not sure if keyboard and mouse would work on consoles with tv's? The idea of a controller is that You can relax on the couch 6 feet from the tv, with kb & m You need to be upright and would need a desk for the kb & m. Very few console gamers play on a monitor BTW, I forgot myself earlier, I do play with a controller. I use a TrackIR for Arma2, now there immersion a console can never ever give (and a vibrant modding community) making it the saving grace for pc gaming for me at the moment, the only game worth upgrading my pc for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ

17-06-2010, 18:01	#45
jaykhunter Moderator Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Temple Bar, Dublin Posts: 8,390 Adverts \| Friends Mod: Podcasts, Pro Wrestling, Sega	lol, Liz...Do independent amateurs get it right more often then professionals? Anyway professionals are fallible, and amateurs don't get flack for being wrong. If Steam don't release figures, surely everyone has a blind spot for PCs? In the 6-7% statement, he did actually mention going by "boxed packaging" but included Steam. So either he knows or it's his best guess. We're getting bogged down in semantics, anyway. Whatever comes of attacking the guy's credibility as an argument, his points are still valid. (Excluding MMOs of course) The PC videogame market is in the vast minority compared to the console market; so more developers make games for consoles. There might be a billion PCs/macs in people's houses but only a very small percentage of those would be capable of/are running current gen games. PC games sales vs pirated PC games is well above the average for home console systems, so developers don't focus on a PC port primarily. Going by the trend of the Wii's sales, a majority of (at least, console) gamers don't want a controller, even a keyboard and mouse; they just wanna waggle their hands. Surely if Steam was selling exceptionally well, they'd be on to more publishers to make more new, exclusive games? Is that the case? (I don't know) Or do Steam just buy the game and all the rights to it, so they make all the profits?