Future of PC gaming. Angry Birds vs. Avatar

[enewmen]

Hi all.

After hearing the next gen console spec rumours, things are getting more cloudy for me.
The Xbox 720 for example can't run the Unreal Engine 4 (Good Samaritan example) since it requires at least the equivalent of an i5 and GTX 680 with about 8 gigs RAM. Forget about Avatar type graphics.

So, what's in the crystal ball for PC gaming?
1. Consoles will be much better than expected, they can run Unreal 4, CryEngine 4, even with near Avatar type graphics. These will then get ported to the PC. Android/iPhones/tablets will get this when they are ready.

2. Game publishers go from the "bottom up". They target smart phones. Then the smart phone games get ported to consoles, and then ported from console to PCs! Upgrade your rig for Angry Birds!

3. Graphic card makers and game studios WANT to make good stuff, even if consoles & tablets don't have the balls for it. Cards and game engines WILL advance anyway. Games with high-tech engines will come for the PCs FIRST, then to console when they can. Then to phones/tablets when they can.

I will personally want to see real-time ray-tracing, but I don't see this happening anytime this decade.

Any ideas? A question worth asking?
thanks!

 

[enewmen]

No responses.
Guessing the post is inappropriate or the future of PC gaming looks bleak.
Depressed already *sniff*

 

[casualcolors]

The next gen consoles are likely going to be less powerful than a mid-range 1000 dollar computer is right now.

 

[4Ryan6]

People have been worrying about PC gaming demise since the original release of X-Box which was supposed to be the death of PC gaming according to Microsofts misleading sales campaign, but PC gaming survived.

Then X-Box 360 would surely destroy PC gaming, oops! didn't happen!

The only thing that could stop PC gaming is if Nvidia and AMD/Radeon completely stop producing discrete graphics cards, when that happens then you can prepare PC gaming's grave stone!

Their stopping GPU production would affect us way more than just PC gaming!

Until then however, the death of PC gaming is just talk.

 

[enewmen]

Thanks for the posts!

I'm not actually worried about the death of PC gaming (as 4ryan6 said) - since cards always do get better (as 4ryan6 said). It's more about making games for the console or tablets FIRST, then having the same stuff ported to the PC - no matter how much more advanced the PCs are.

As Casualcolors said, the next gen consoles are minimal and it seems they still can't handle the next-gen gaming engines. So, if only the PCs can handle the next gen engines, I doubt there will be any PC only titles that can handle these engines.

SO! it seems likely Crysis will be about as good (visually) as PC game can get for the see-able future.

At the rate consoles are falling behind and tablets are improving, they may be equal within a few years.

Any truth to this post (based on current rumors)?

 

[casualcolors]

Hard to say, with regard to the tablet and console issue. If tablets ever threatened the console market you would probably see shorter life cycles on each console generation to stay a step ahead.

As far as releases being console-first and pc-ported, this will always be the case with AAA titles. Has been for years. The only time PC gets something built specifically for it, is if the developer goes through the trouble of developing a completely separate version of the game for the PC platform. DICE did this for Battlefield 3, for example. That is why it looks so incredible, and simultaneously runs extremely well on its high and medium settings on a wide variety of computers, while the ultra settings are pretty demanding (less so than dx11 crysis 2+hi res textures maxed though, since these are introduced in a more forced way).

The only real PC pure exclusives you will see are games that can only be competitively played on PC, such as RTS games. Everything else will be released on every platform possible, and at best PC versions will be developed alongside the console counterparts, and not ported. Don't count on that to become the norm though.

 

[Darksol]

Well ( i am pc gamer ) The ps4 is rumored to have the AMD's A8-3850 APU(processor) and a AMD radeon 7670 gpu.
The xbox 720 is rumored to have the same processor but the amd radeoon 6670 gpu

 

[kcsmacker]

The good thing for PC Gamers is that consoles have to sell cheap to sell to more people. So like Darksol stated the *new* system already has what most would consider a budget gaming pc build. While games are produced mainly first on Consoles there are some companies that produce a good AAA game for PC first. Witcher 2? loved that one. BF3 still felt like it was made for a Console first, so I have to disagree with casual on that. PC gaming provides a more mature community with people who are willing to pay for higher performance. I also enjoy the freedom of PC gaming, from modding to the variety of games. ( name a good RTS or MMO for console). PC Gaming Fo lIfE!

 

[jaguarskx]

In the future when the CPU and GPU architectures have advanced so far beyond our current way of comprehending how they work, all those future games will look like......

 

[enewmen]

Again, thanks for the posts.

Since the next-gen consoles will "only" have a or equivalent AMD's A8-3850 (a sub $1000 2012 PC) , we may be stuck with these consoles from 2014-2024 ! With console to PC ports for many years to come.
Seems scary to me! By 2020, PCs will have super-computer type performance of only a few years ago.

I believe if tablets can catch up to consoles, the consoles will then need to quicken the pace. Keeping my fingers crossed.

So, will PCs & gaming engines in 2020+ need to be dumbed down to 2014 console levels? From reading the posts, not many people feel concerned.
Hope you're right!
Why did I bother to make this thread? Because it seems consoles are falling further behind every year and not many people care.

BTW, what is an AAA title? I missed something.

 

[casualcolors]

Again, thanks for the posts.

Since the next-gen consoles will "only" have a or equivalent AMD's A8-3850 (a sub $1000 2012 PC) , we may be stuck with these consoles from 2014-2024 ! With console to PC ports for many years to come.
Seems scary to me! By 2020, PCs will have super-computer type performance of only a few years ago.

I believe if tablets can catch up to consoles, the consoles will then need to quicken the pace. Keeping my fingers crossed.

So, will PCs & gaming engines in 2020+ need to be dumbed down to 2014 console levels? From reading the posts, not many people feel concerned.
Hope you're right!
Why did I bother to make this thread? Because it seems consoles are falling further behind every year and not many people care.

BTW, what is an AAA title? I missed something.

Triple A titles are the blockbuster titles with big budget development and marketing. They also act as platform sellers often times.

As far as your other concerns, the answer is yes. That is probably how things will be. But to look at it in a less panicked light, you could have said the same thing to PC users back when the PS3 and Xbox360 launched. Sure it's a divisive topic, but the PC has also had some of its best releases ever during those years. The same will continue in that regard as well.

 

[enewmen]

I never played Crysis/ FarCry2/ Battlefield 3/ Skyrim on a console with 2006 hardware, but it must have been done.
Casualcolors is right. Some of the best PC titles did come from the past few years. And the same will be true for the next gen - even though 2014 consoles looks less ambitious than 2006 was.
In a less panicked note, it seems very unlikely we will still have Mario Bros & Angry Birds running on 2020 PC hardware.

 

[casualcolors]

Sadly, I only kind of know what the angry birds are. I don't play games on my phone :x

 

[enewmen]

I also never played Angry Birds. Still use a 2005 Nokia phone and it can still make phone calls.

 

[Eldd]

Sadly, I only kind of know what the angry birds are. I don't play games on my phone :x

Actually, there's a PC version of Angry Birds as well as browser-based one too.

 

[moocowisback]

I feel that the major problem with the consoles being such low spec compared to modern gaming pc's. is that companies producing games are held back from making truly amazing games because they have to run on consoles, good example is Crysis 2. I dont blame the companies because they just need to make money. I blame Console companies for not keeping up.

 

[nocturnal7x]

I feel like PC gaming has picked up a lot with this long way over drawn out console gen. The next gen is not looking to be much more powerful than the current gen. As in if the specs of the 720 are what IGN reported, next gen consoles will be able to play current gen games @ 1080p, almost.

With the next gen looking so weak, and the PC market growing at a rapid rate, I don't think its long before we start to see games developed for PC again.

BF3 is an ok example, if you have seen it run on an xbox, you know that game was DUMBED down A LOT compared to the PC version.

In the future, PC versions looking dramatically better than the console versions will help sell GPUs. And apparently PC gaming is doing ok, I don't see nvidia or ATI advertising much, so they are content with the rate they are growing

It looks better than ever IMO.

 

[rpg_poser]

I think that the sluggish US economy is the behind the "long way over drawn out console gen". People simply don't have disposable income for new hardware. Casual, enewmen and myself don't play games on our phones. It seems to me the tech evolution is heading towards powerful portable devices, and I for one love the idea of a powerful gaming tablet with tons of storage that I can hook up to my HDTV, but my family which used to have quite a bit of disposable income is now struggling to pay the bills. I know that a lot of American families are in the same position.
I think it's just really hard to look ahead right now. Hardware and software developers are scrambling for income (look at EA with "predatory" DLC and rushed releases).

 

[AntiZig]

I think that the sluggish US economy is the behind the "long way over drawn out console gen". People simply don't have disposable income for new hardware. Casual, enewmen and myself don't play games on our phones. It seems to me the tech evolution is heading towards powerful portable devices, and I for one love the idea of a powerful gaming tablet with tons of storage that I can hook up to my HDTV, but my family which used to have quite a bit of disposable income is now struggling to pay the bills. I know that a lot of American families are in the same position.
I think it's just really hard to look ahead right now. Hardware and software developers are scrambling for income (look at EA with "predatory" DLC and rushed releases).

That is an excellent point that I've brought up in another topic. Point is video gaming is a luxury, and today not as many americans can afford to spend much money on luxury as say back in 2006. We are starting to see things picking up which is the same time we start hearing about new consoles being developed. The current gen has stayed with us for long enough, and even though they overstaying their welcome it is reflective of the economic situation.

On the other hand Sony seemingly being in Japan shouldn't fall under this category but I think they were affected drastically too. The fact that they are saying they will beat new xbox to the market would make PS3 the shortest lived console of this gen, last one in and first out (or would that be wii?)

 

[casualcolors]

That is an excellent point that I've brought up in another topic. Point is video gaming is a luxury, and today not as many americans can afford to spend much money on luxury as say back in 2006. We are starting to see things picking up which is the same time we start hearing about new consoles being developed. The current gen has stayed with us for long enough, and even though they overstaying their welcome it is reflective of the economic situation.

On the other hand Sony seemingly being in Japan shouldn't fall under this category but I think they were affected drastically too. The fact that they are saying they will beat new xbox to the market would make PS3 the shortest lived console of this gen, last one in and first out (or would that be wii?)

Japan's been fending off deep recession for a lot longer than the United States has. I'm not sure that it's the cause of a prolonged console generation, but just stating it for the sake of fact =). Do with it what you will.

 

[rpg_poser]

Japan's been fending off deep recession for a lot longer than the United States has. I'm not sure that it's the cause of a prolonged console generation, but just stating it for the sake of fact =). Do with it what you will.

I have no factual evidence to back up my assumption. Just going by personal experience. Up until a couple of years ago, milestone was developing shmups for the dreamcast. Many games are still being developed for the PSP, even though VITA has been released.

 

[casualcolors]

I have no factual evidence to back up my assumption. Just going by personal experience. Up until a couple of years ago, milestone was developing shmups for the dreamcast. Many games are still being developed for the PSP, even though VITA has been released.

When I say I'm not sure that the two are related, I mean that literally. I think it's a fair point. It would be interesting to see it get explored further. I don't think that it's unlikely, but I certainly think it couples with the fact that PS3's and 360's still sell enough consoles each year to fiscally warrant their own existence.

You have a good point with the PSP though. To expand a little further on it, they were still releasing PS2 games (NCAA Football specifically) all the way up until 2011. Hell, I believe they still actually make the consoles or just recently stopped. Just think about that lol. That might push your point even better than the PSP vs Vita.

 

[rpg_poser]

When I say I'm not sure that the two are related, I mean that literally. I think it's a fair point. It would be interesting to see it get explored further. I don't think that it's unlikely, but I certainly think it couples with the fact that PS3's and 360's still sell enough consoles each year to fiscally warrant their own existence.

You have a good point with the PSP though. To expand a little further on it, they were still releasing PS2 games (NCAA Football specifically) all the way up until 2011. Hell, I believe they still actually make the consoles or just recently stopped. Just think about that lol. That might push your point even better than the PSP vs Vita.

Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me... PS2's are ubiquitous. Been thinking about Ikaruga (someone's new avatar) and Persona 3 Portable (currently playing) and their hardware came out subconsciously as examples. Scary.

 

[nocturnal7x]

Idk about the economy, people have kept buying the damn things. Despite being 4, then 5, then 6 and now 7 (omgwtfrotfl @ 7 years old hardware that was "old" at its release) year old hardware, people continue to buy it (360, ps3). Thats why the current console generation is still going (and going and going).

IMHO.

 

[AntiZig]

well the continue buying will last a while, there are some collectors out there that are still playing through their libraries of PS2 and xbox1 games (I know one). These people only recently bought new gen consoles because 1. console dropped in price 2. red ring issue got fixed (more or less) 3. they finally ran out of games to play on all their other consoles (somewhat). The point is that amount of people is a minority and they will support sales of said consoles for another 5 years to come, but that would nowhere near the sales the console has seen in the first 5 years of its release.

google a price vs sales graphs and I'm pretty sure we should be looking at the last parts of it