[jaykhunter]

IMO games should be focused primarily on the main campaign, and online comes after. But the majority want multiplayer (as well as MMOs, I'd imagine) so that's what the focus is on Anyway, I find SF4 a challenge on medium, so if you're not 'challenged' by the hardest difficulty you should be playing in tournaments (ie you're too good at it!)

I was referring to Pog saying games were "too easy"; I agree that games have gotten easier (i.e. I can now finish current gen games, which I routinely couldn't ~15 years ago) contend that there are still very difficult games should you wish to play them. Unless you're a SF wiz; it's very deep and difficult. And if that were too easy; online player can feed you additional challenge.

Maybe Street Fighter isn't your thing, but there are extremely hard challenges to be found in today's gaming. I've played almost all of the main Mario games over the course of my life and I'm finding SMG2 a challenge!

[oceanclub]

Originally Posted by Dara Robinson

Most PC games when newly released cost 50-60 euros

Where are you buying your games? Very rarely is a new PC game on, say, play.com, more than €40:

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/6-/RegionHome.html

P.

[Liber8or]

Originally Posted by Dara Robinson

P.S: Liber8or is my hero for the next few days

Lol, what did I do to deserve such a title?

[Dara Robinson]

Originally Posted by Liber8or

Lol, what did I do to deserve such a title?

This

Originally Posted by Liber8or

/thread over

I have to agree with jaykhunter, all most all games I have played over the last 5 years or so were completable in a days good gaming (ie 4-5 hours good uninterrupted play time) and thats a complete joke. And the main reason for them being so quick to finish is almost completely and exclusively proportional to how easy the game (btw excluded anything from Forgotten Relms and Bethesda from that list). Games should propose a challenge, a real one that should have you screaming and crying in frustration and only after playing that one section for the 56th time do you get it right.
(ok it pains me to make an example with a console game of all things but its a very good example of what I am talking about so you can crucify me later) but Gran Turismo 4 Prologue for the PS2, the licences were a challenge in them selves and some people would spend months trying to get gold on all of them. Thats a proper goal.
Look at SWG and the original set up for the Jedi. Bloody awesome cause it was so freakin hard. You either played the game or you went for Jedi, there was no middle ground and Jedi were rare and hard to obtain but so awesome because of it. So good because they were good but also so good because of the time and hardship endured to get one.

Where the hell has my difficulty level gone. And I'm not talking about a bloody slider that increases the number of mobs, their health and reduces mine cause thats just plain lazy if the game is a walk over to begin with.
Shoddy work and there is nothing we can do about it cause when we complain and speak with our wallets and buy quality products and ignore the mongrels out there they just flock to the console retards.

oceanclub, I'm talking about main stream retail stores in Dublin. I know its rip off centre but its where most people should be getting their games. Reality is that we dont because they rip us off so we shop around online or wait a few weeks for a bargain

[oceanclub]

Originally Posted by Dara Robinson

oceanclub, I'm talking about main stream retail stores in Dublin. I know its rip off centre but its where most people should be getting their games.

I don't understand. You're complaining about the prices, but then saying you buy there because you feel you should? If you're going to buy from them anyway, rather than the cheaper option of online retail, why should they lower their prices?

P.

[Dara Robinson]

no, I dont buy there unless I am getting a bargain like I said. I just feel that retail rips you off and then bitches about the fact that they are loosing sales to the north or online companies. Ignore me I am just bitching tbh lol

[kowloon]

Consoles don't have flight sims or proper strategy games, but if a new console came out able for these I'd buy one, and keep a sub-par pc for all the office muck.

[MoonHawk]

I love PC gaming as much as the next (pretty much grew up on Commander Keen / Duke Nukem (2D) / Apogee games, LucasArts, Sierra, etc.) but, at the same time, I would have missed out on some fantastic gems, like Mario, Goldeneye, Donkey Kong, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc. had I just stuck with PC games.

[Monotype]

Originally Posted by jaykhunter

MW2 is last year's biggest new game, that's why I chose it. I also gave L4D2 as well......i don't care to more research but if want to please do. Though I doubt you'd do research to show that games have sold much better on consoles.

I'm not arguing with your point, I'm just saying that MW2 is especially skewed.

About the games getting easier... where's this thread wandering off to... I would have to agree. I noticed it when I chose the hard setting for HL2 (as someone of average skill). I think back to C64 games which were nearly impossible and earlier PC games like Descent which I couldn't get by a good portion of the levels without cheats. I haven't needed cheats in years and it's not because my skills have vastly improved. I think it's a reasonably good thing that games have gotten a bit easier. Otherwise there'd be no end to the unfinished games. On the other hand, I do miss the nightmare-mode style of difficulty, severely missing from modern games. Possibly because respawning invisible monsters on the first level doesn't fit into today's genres.

[Drakar]

I dont know if ye got in on the xcom set for €2 deal a while back. I started it up to relive the wonder years of pc gaming, and was really shocked at how poor it was when I had to remove the rose tinted specs. Not just graphically, but gameplay wise. As a gaming society, I think what we expect from games has changed dramatically.

[20goto10]

Originally Posted by Kharn

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?

Adding keyboard and mouse to a console would simply make it a crap low spec pc that can only play games. Know if they come out with role playing games on kinect - that would really spell trouble for the pc.

The most annoying thing about pc games is the variation in hardware. You need to update your hardware every 12 months in order to get the best from the latest games. With consoles you can play safe in the knowledge you are seeing the game in it's full glory. There is if course still the variation in broadband speeds but I don't think that is an issue anymore in Ireland.

[Monotype]

Originally Posted by 20goto10

The most annoying thing about pc games is the variation in hardware. You need to update your hardware every 12 months in order to get the best from the latest games. With consoles you can play safe in the knowledge you are seeing the game in it's full glory. There is if course still the variation in broadband speeds but I don't think that is an issue anymore in Ireland.

If you bought a PC three years ago with the same specs as a console and want to play a game that comes out today on all platforms, it will still play as good as the console. Unless it's badly coded.

I don't see how the option to upgrade is a negative thing, unless you need to see a game in its full glory - in which case you'll never pick the console version.

There's only a few games in recent times where you needed newer hardware - a few DX10 only titles were released over that past while.

[oceanclub]

Originally Posted by 20goto10

You need to update your hardware every 12 months in order to get the best from the latest games. With consoles you can play safe in the knowledge you are seeing the game in it's full glory.

Oh jesus, where do I even begin with this one....

P.

[marco_polo]

Originally Posted by Monotype

If you bought a PC three years ago with the same specs as a console and want to play a game that comes out today on all platforms, it will still play as good as the console. Unless it's badly coded.

I don't see how the option to upgrade is a negative thing, unless you need to see a game in its full glory - in which case you'll never pick the console version.

There's only a few games in recent times where you needed newer hardware - a few DX10 only titles were released over that past while.

Yeah I have a HD4870 that is over a year old and I can see very very few game on the horizon that it won't be capable of playing at a very high level / max of detail for at least the two years. Probably make an unnesscessary upgrade anyway if I start to feel left out of the DX11 eye candy revolution.

Upgrading is addictive .

[Dara Robinson]

Originally Posted by Monotype

... where's this thread wandering off to...

The thread is going where the concerns of modern PC gamers are. The reality is that most people here feel that games have gotten easier to the detriment of the genre and I think that what people are talking about. One of the best examples of the was SWG for me. SWG was a game full of flaws but the reality is that it was on a solid base and just needed to be finished. However the games company gave into demands to dumb it down and make things easier and it was a disaster. So much so they felt the need to make drastic changes in a almost complete over-hall which actually killed the game. However as if to prove that the original game was a sold and worth while game a bunch of programmers got together and created SWGEMU which is a SWG revival where they are creating everything from scratch them selves. Its looking good so far.

Originally Posted by 20goto10

The most annoying thing about pc games is the variation in hardware. You need to update your hardware every 12 months in order to get the best from the latest games. With consoles you can play safe in the knowledge you are seeing the game in it's full glory. There is if course still the variation in broadband speeds but I don't think that is an issue anymore in Ireland.

Mate, sorry but that is a very very incorrect statement. I built my current machine 6 years ago. I have updated once about a year or so ago. The now runs AMD 64 3800+, 3 gig of DDR ram and a HD4350 and I am still playing pretty new games like FEAR, Crysis, MW2, Assassins Creed, Mass Effect 2 and more. The reality is that most modern games need mediocre hardware because most people cant afford to update every 2 years. Now you want to play with 100fps on full graphics and high rez yea you will need to but thats not a requirement simply a want. Big difference.