Is the PC dying as a gaming platform???

[Kkkk1]

I am a PC gamer and my son has an XBOX 360. Both are good at what they do although I prefer my PC purely because of the type of games I play such as Flight Simulator X. However there is an interesting article discussing the possibility of the PC dying as a gaming platform.

Let me know your thoughts!

(See Link)

http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=15517

 

[mi1ez]

Last year was a fantastic year for PC games and gaming so I'd like to say no, although with more and more PC games being console ports, you can understand people's fears!

 

[yabyab]

In two words. No Way.

All gaming platform WILL die eventually, but not the PC. There is no sign that people would stop using Personal Computers(PC) even with the new all-in-one type of cellphones (iPhone..etc). You still going to need a Laptop or a Desktop, and when you do have that then you're a candidate market for PC Game. Which means, a company will find a good marketing power in the world because of everyone having a PC around then they'd find it profitable to develope a game for those PC owners. Simple Economy, as long as there are PC owners, you will find PC games.

Actually, the quantity of PCs in the world is MUCH higher than XBOX or PS3 or whatever. So, the PC market is always bigger no matter what. The gaming industry comes by default and will keep going. Even if big companies find it more profitable to switch to console(and easier) small companies will still produce PC games. Worst case scenario is that we go back to the Single-Person-Developer which brings again the GREAT games that are really fun. Or simple project games that we still love, the classic.

But honestly, with all this HUGE market share I find it hard to believe that big companies dont want to invest in it and they are. As long as you're getting profit, the industry remains.

The truth is, PC is developing globally. Not by 1 company(like PS, Ninetendo.etc) but by the whole world. Intel and AMD? nVidia and ATI? and so forth. PC Is being developed to run faster and better. It is here to stay and it is NEEDED unlike console machines.

So, the market is strong and the market is only getting bigger and better. Investing in a PC game will always be a good thing if done right.

PC platform gaming dying? No way.
PC platform gaming flourishing? hell yeah, like it always did. Steady improvements since the day PC became available for consumers.

 

[Kkkk1]

I agree with you to a large extent, obviously there are millions of PC's in the world but how many are actually capable of playing games? I have a standard laptop (as well as my game rig) with 1gb ram and core 2 duo T7200 processor 256Mb Intel video. Fine for business but I can't even install most games as the on board video doesn't meet minimum requirements such as Shader model 2.0 or above. So to me that meens that probably 3/4 of PC's won't be able to play games which does cut the market down significantly.

 

[Hydrotricithline]

Long of the short gaming consoles always tend to be much more stalwart and stable.. omitting Xbox360's that I've seen prone to lockups. Aswell .. gaming consoles will always always be the best 'bang for the buck' as with gaming experiences and titles I love the PC as it is not restricted to games liscensed for only one console. Aswell as previously mentioned but not clarified all consoles become obsolete simply because the hardware in them gets outdated in time; even the Xbox360 hardware specs is becoming near mid-entry level gaming computer as for power and speed of most typical gaming systems today. Aswell as the obvious the internet adds alot of replayability; eventually I find console games to lose their appeal because your just playing vs the computer or on some ultimatley akward hard to see split screen multiplayer mode in a game; provided he can con someone else into playing with him.. XboxLive and other console subscription services I find a far cry from what the inet is to modern gaming on PC's.

My thoughts;
Not yours

-Dylan Orr-

 

[Hydrotricithline]

as much as quoted by companies I have yet to see a 'gaming laptop' that can handle high graphic settings above 15fps. even the high end ones. As with PC gaming which he asked about Modern day gaming rigs require a decient cpu; minimum 1gig ram, 2gigs ideal, and atleast one 8700 geforce card running on them. Most laptops I see simply don't have the GPU for the video cards or the memory; largley due to cost; heat and energy consumption of said cards. You can get a low end 8800 (GTS) low end 8800 is somewhat of an oxy moron I'm aware but if you want a 'gaming system' that can play games.. not just open them; you'll be dumping 300+$ into a video card; pretty much how it goes; I run a single 8800GTX myself and have little to no problems running any game reasonably, But as previously mentioned; you'll end up having to drop a few bills on a video card for any self respecting gaming rig

I agree with you to a large extent, obviously there are millions of PC's in the world but how many are actually capable of playing games? I have a standard laptop (as well as my game rig) with 1gb ram and core 2 duo T7200 processor 256Mb Intel video. Fine for business but I can't even install most games as the on board video doesn't meet minimum requirements such as Shader model 2.0 or above. So to me that meens that probably 3/4 of PC's won't be able to play games which does cut the market down significantly.

 

[Kkkk1]

as much as quoted by companies I have yet to see a 'gaming laptop' that can handle high graphic settings above 15fps. even the high end ones. As with PC gaming which he asked about Modern day gaming rigs require a decient cpu; minimum 1gig ram, 2gigs ideal, and atleast one 8700 geforce card running on them. Most laptops I see simply don't have the GPU for the video cards or the memory; largley due to cost; heat and energy consumption of said cards. You can get a low end 8800 (GTS) low end 8800 is somewhat of an oxy moron I'm aware but if you want a 'gaming system' that can play games.. not just open them; you'll be dumping 300+$ into a video card; pretty much how it goes; I run a single 8800GTX myself and have little to no problems running any game reasonably, But as previously mentioned; you'll end up having to drop a few bills on a video card for any self respecting gaming rig

Absolutely,

However the argument that Consoles are outdated is true but it is also true for the PC. My current gaming rig is a P4 3.0Ghz oc @3.4Ghz, 7800GS+ 512Mb AGP, 2gig RAM, Raptor, XFi etc. This will play latest games at medium settings on a playable framerate. I can just about live with this at the moment. However in order for me to upgrade, i've now got to go the full hog and buy a new Motherboard, which will then require new RAM, Video Card and Processor. I might get away with my current 550W PSU but don't know. My system is 4 years old and is now out of date and I can't upgrade it any more. If there is a more powerful AGP graphics card my CPU would be a bottleneck for it etc. I'm not sure If I can afford to upgrade again, I might have to make do with a PS3, although I would love a new PC. So I reckon the life span of PC's and Consoles aren't that different.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

The PC platform isn't dying as there will always be a way to make money out of the PC gaming industry. On the other hand, consoles provide a better profit margin and therefore attracks more publishers to distribute on this platform.

The consequences of consoles being more attractive for publishers are simple. PC gamers should expect more console ports to the PC and you will see less PC exclusive titles such as Crysis. If they don't increase security on PC titles, we will find more title exclusif to the consoles (which won't be available to the PC). MMORPGs will soon hit the consoles when they figure out the networking issues and when this happens, the PC will have very little more to offer.

However, PC gaming industry remains a good market to make reasonable profits which shouldn't change as long as they can figure out the piracy contraints.

 

[spoonboy]

I am a PC gamer and my son has an XBOX 360. Both are good at what they do although I prefer my PC purely because of the type of games I play such as Flight Simulator X. However there is an interesting article discussing the possibility of the PC dying as a gaming platform.

Let me know your thoughts!

(See Link)

http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=15517

Ive been into pc gaming since about 1996, at the time it didnt strike me that it was that popular but had some games i was really impressed with and fiddling around with the machine and software really appealed to me at the time. Fast forward to now and i still feel the same way about it. Its never been a massive platform in my opinion but it will always retain more than enough fans to keep going in a more than healthy state. Plus things like online shooters and rpgs, both on and offline are enormous draws for people. Deviaiting from topic a bit my only gripe with pc's is that racing games are a bit thin on the ground compared to consoles, and Pro evolution soccer just seems much more fun (and bitter and enfuriating and ecstacy inducing lol) on a cheapo console with a mate than on the pc, even with a gamepad. If you think the pc is under pressure as a viable gaming platform, its nothing compared to when the ps1 was released, and a 1300 quid p133 with all the fancy trimmings was easily beaten by a small grey box with 5 chips in it and a loud cd-drive.

 

[rayzor]

I think that there is a temporary downsturn in the pc game market. Prime evidence of this is the fact that The Force Unleashed is not going to be initially released for PC, which is really the platform that pushed LucasArts to its position today.

I think part of the problem is game engine technology has far outpaced what user's systems are capable of running. When developers fully realize the potentially MASSIVE market for pc games (most everyone owns a computer by now) they will begin to make games more scalable for varying hardware configurations. Also, the unfinished game business has to stop. Part of the reason the pc game market has dwindled so far is because of the sheer number of problems people encounter trying to play pc games, problems that exceed the skill level of the majority of users.

So this is hopefully a temporary downturn and developers will begin to see the potential in the pc game market again.

 

[tomasf]

console games don´t have the same graphics quality than pc games because they use low range procesors and gpu and they expande the pixels so the can meet the screen resolution. besides how many console generations came every year? a console life time is up to 3 or 4 years, and games dvelopment slow down because of hardware limitation. meanwhile pc manufacturers are improving hardware every day and in just one year you can see 3 generations of graphic cards. besides you can adjust and scale your pc for new and improved graphics in games. console will always be the choice of people who just want to play, but dont know about hardware

 

[Hellboy]

People who own Consoles hype their machines as much as a man with a old Skoda with a 3.5 turbo litre engine in it.

At the end of the day its still a Skoda.

Yes when consoles come out sometimes, there features raise some eyebrows and say pcs are over.

But a console is still a console and its done at a budget

Yes they are getting better all the time but the pc gets even better with so many more options that a console will ever have..

When was the last time you typed a letter in xbox or playstation 3 land to the tax office, or downloaded a porno clip sent to you by email.... Or printed a photo on one from mates in Australia for example.....

PC's are tried and tested games platform with the greatest input devices called keyboard and mouse, and the biggest back catalogue from ebay etc...

most can be bought for peanuts on ebay and there is some great games out there...

Games are cheaper on the pc too not costing up to £50 for one.

PC versions end up being better than consoles

You can down load extra content made by the publisher and fans of the game - look what happend to battlefield 1942 with desert combat....


The only thing that knackers pc games is people copying them....

Bit torrent and such is the reason why not so many games are out on our beloved platform..

Pirates crack them, hack them and put them on the net for free...

I always buy games im gonna play due to the fact i get all the patches...

And patches are also available easier on pc - sometimes adding extra content - bf series for example

Graphics are always better on pc too.....

All the best

 

[nachowarrior]

I don't think the PC will die as a gaming platform, buth with so many people just downloading the games, it's hard as a developer to stay true to it as a platform for release. Why develop something that will just be copied as many times as it is bought, if not more.... see what i'm saying? to do so with a console takes a little more work, but it can still be done... but it's just much easier on a pc. I'm not saying "bring on the crappy drm" but what i am saying is that if you really want a game... support the people that made it... go buy it. even if you wait till it's in the bargain bin. or off a friend. or used somwhere else... it'd help the industry out, and we WOULD start seeing more high quality games for pc.

 

[guruofchem]

I've been gaming on PCs since my Apple II+ was new (man, that RAM upgrade from 48K to 64K made that sucker SING!), and I've heard the same thing over and over again. Reports of the death of the PC as a gaming platform have been greatly exagerated...

 

[nottheking]

Let me know your thoughts!

They're yet another errant doomsayer. They, too, fail to realize that should PC gaming fold, there'd be little to zero incentive for console makers to actually put anything more into their consoles; you'd just get a re-hashed machine with pretty much no new features, and not really much more powerful, that would still run you $300US... It's not a pretty picture.

I agree with you to a large extent, obviously there are millions of PC's in the world but how many are actually capable of playing games? I have a standard laptop (as well as my game rig) with 1gb ram and core 2 duo T7200 processor 256Mb Intel video. Fine for business but I can't even install most games as the on board video doesn't meet minimum requirements such as Shader model 2.0 or above. So to me that meens that probably 3/4 of PC's won't be able to play games which does cut the market down significantly.

Well, given that Steam's hardware survey reports that 9.37% of their users have GeForce 8800 series cards, and if that is anywhere NEAR representative of their some 13 million users, that's some 1.2 million people ALONE that have graphics that will rival what 8th-generation consoles will sport. And that doesn't count all the other series of cards out there, of course.

I'd say that while obviously, most computers aren't suited for gaming, I'd counter to note that there are hundreds of millions of PC; were they all gaming-capable rigs, we wouldn't be hearing about consoles at all. Rather, only a tiny fraction of those machines are gaming-ready, but that still very much works out to a number in the millions and millions.

as much as quoted by companies I have yet to see a 'gaming laptop' that can handle high graphic settings above 15fps.

That would depend heavily on the game. Certainly, for something like Crysis, but other games which are still quite modern, (Crysis is something I'd call before its time) like STALKER or Supreme Commander.

 

[Furious5k]

Well, given that Steam's hardware survey reports that 9.37% of their users have GeForce 8800 series cards, and if that is anywhere NEAR representative of their some 13 million users, that's some 1.2 million people ALONE that have graphics that will rival what 8th-generation consoles will sport. And that doesn't count all the other series of cards out there, of course.

I would just like to make a note that this is probably because people who have powerful PCs like to take these surveys more. I have been a PC gamer pretty much all my life, I haven't owned a console since the time the coolest games you could play were Contra and the like (until recently I acquired a PS3). And I can remember being much more interested in filling surveys like this when my PC was brand new and top of the range. It's a bit of an Internet ego and it makes you feel good to be able to tell other people just how great your PC is. So takes those %s with a grain of salt.

I'd say that while obviously, most computers aren't suited for gaming, I'd counter to note that there are hundreds of millions of PC; were they all gaming-capable rigs, we wouldn't be hearing about consoles at all. Rather, only a tiny fraction of those machines are gaming-ready, but that still very much works out to a number in the millions and millions.

I agree, a lot of people in the world own a PC and few enough of those are Gaming PCs. Still, a little from a huge amount is still a lot.

Another point is that PCs are the ones that keep pushing the hardware forward. Sure, the companies probably don't give a damn of how advanced their games are as long as the money comes in, but the people who make the games do. They are the type of people who are more enthusiastic about games then the gamers and they do care about pushing boundaries. Consoles don't let them do that, except for when they have just been released I suppose.

Games are cheaper on the pc too not costing up to £50 for one.

I agree fully and I absolutely hate the companies for coming up with these ridiculous prices. The only reason I bought a PS3 was so that I could have a next gen console for the few games that will end up being PS3 exclusive and to at the same time be able to go back and play all the PS2 games that never came out on PC and I missed out on.


And finally - there are games that just aren't great on anything other then PC. Now, I haven't ever played a strategy game on a console, but I bet I'd be happier with my mouse and keyboard then a gaming pad. Shooters too. [Of course, I realise this point is only valid until large number of people start using keyboard/mouse with their console. After all, there's a reason you have a USB slot on your console...]

 

[S2759]

Doesn't everyone want to play a console game with those lameass controllers? PC's are the only way to go as far as gaming goes. There are so many cool gaming mice and input devices like steering wheel setups and HOTAS flight controls and the Track IR systems. The trouble with PC game developers is that they have gotten into a rut with the types of games they make. I would like to see more flight and driving games. And I would love to see a decent hunting game come out. With the level of graphic engine technology nowadays, you would think they could make one that looked really good.

 

[nottheking]

I would just like to make a note that this is probably because people who have powerful PCs like to take these surveys more. I have been a PC gamer pretty much all my life, I haven't owned a console since the time the coolest games you could play were Contra and the like (until recently I acquired a PS3). And I can remember being much more interested in filling surveys like this when my PC was brand new and top of the range. It's a bit of an Internet ego and it makes you feel good to be able to tell other people just how great your PC is. So takes those %s with a grain of salt.

That's also why I said "if anywhere near representative." I noted that the survey managed to account for roughly 9% of Steam's user base... And it was also a safe assumption that also, all 13 million users they have are gamers. And I'd be having a hard time believing that nVidia's only sold some 112,000 GeForce 8800 series card, what with everyone and their brother looking to get one, from the time they unveiling the 320MB GeForce 8800GTS, to the 8800GT, and so on; 1.2 million of those cards sounds about fair to me, if not higher.

I suspect that there may be a SLIGHT bias in favor of more powerful PC owners being more likely to submit tech data, though it can't be too strong, given the relatively noticeable numbers of people submitting stats from weak and ancient hardware.

Another point is that PCs are the ones that keep pushing the hardware forward. Sure, the companies probably don't give a damn of how advanced their games are as long as the money comes in, but the people who make the games do. They are the type of people who are more enthusiastic about games then the gamers and they do care about pushing boundaries. Consoles don't let them do that, except for when they have just been released I suppose.

That's very true; after the consoles are out, they are doomed to very rapidly fall behind the lastest PCs in terms of hardware processing power. Since the steps tend to average only every 5 years, it'd be possible for console makers to produce what still appears to be an upgrade every generation yet still fall well, well behind the implications of Moore's Law.

 

[bash007]

OK, I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Will you, please, stop linking PC gaming to piracy as if it is only exclusive to PCs?
All consoles (with the exception of the PS3... for now) can easily be cracked and used to play backups. All portable consoles included.

And, no, please do not tell me that the downloads for PC games are higher than the downloads for consoles.. I know for a fact it is not true.
Go to any torrent site and see how many have downloaded the popular X360 games (and we're talking about the most lucrative platfrom nowadays). Don't even get me started on the Wii, PS2, PSP and DS.
On one torrent's site game section, the highest downloaded game was Bioshock for the 360 with more than 6670 downloads, Odin Sphere for the PS2 comes in second with with 6665, and Crysis comes in third with around 5900 downloads. Of the highest 20 games to be downloaded, there are only three PC games. The other 17 games are console games.
On another torrent site, the highest seeded games were *free* to download PC games, Planeshift and FEAR Combat, third place comes in some NES ROM set, fourth place is Taxi 2 for the DC (yes the DC). Looking at the highest seeded PC games, it seems that most of them are games that don't require much of a machine to run.

Game companies are already trying to "crack down" on PC piracy with highly intrusive DRM schemes, however, that, if anything, will only negatively affect them. I know that myself, and MANY people as well, refuse to buy any game that goes that way.
I think the game companies should instead focus on the games themselves, and actually *finish* them, rather than releasing incomplete and buggy ones that need to be patched God knows how many times, in order for the consumer to actually enjoy them.

Regardless, PC gaming will not die, IMO. As long as there is high-end hardware, there will always be someone who will want to make use of it. I wouldn't mind console to PC ports, as long as they're well made... if anything, that saves me the trouble of buying a console for only a couple of games. Plus that will make sure my X360 and Logitech controllers are put to some good use with platformers, third person games and the like.
I'd love to see more exclusives for PCs, but exclusivity does not make much sense from a business point of view, even for consoles. Why limit yourself to one platform when there is money to be made on all the others?

 

[righteous]

All I have to say regarding the PC dying is that we are going into a global economic slump. Whenever this happens we see what we see now. Slow hardware development, a slow gaming industry, and a perception that is basically stagnant.

These games are mostly to all developed on PC platforms, no?
I just can't see it happening. It is my opinion that we just have a huge boom in the console industry right now due to the audience (kids who arent ready for a pc platform) and it is overshadowing the PC gaming industry because the console indistry has a larger demand.

But as the kids that fueled this console boom mature, they will see the benefit and the long strides in technology involved in a good PC platform. As a result the PC gaming Industry will pick back up.

I own a few consoles having a 9 year old myself, and I hate consoles because they are worthless for anything else, even though they try to push DVD, the web and all these other half-baked attempts at reaching a parallel with the PC platform, but it will never happen. They are also usually obsolete in a couple years too, where I can simply swap video cards in my PC and rock on for another year or two.

I highly doubt the PC gaming platform is anywhere close to death, but rather on the edge of a huge upturn. I just think the right companies need to get together and slap microsoft and sony around with great platforms showing the far superior tech and it'll all come out in the wash.

I see gaming console sales falling in upcoming years if anything, and people going back to the PC platform being far better adapted to any purpose you could throw at it.

 

[nachowarrior]

k, i dunno if you were replying to me with the "exclusive to pc" part... but i did post this in my last post "...to do so with a console takes a little more work, but it can still be done... but it's just much easier on a pc." as far as the pirateing goes. and my point was to bring up the number of games on a pc, all anyone has to do is go out and buy a pc game that they like rather than downloading it... same with any given console to support it and get more games... but console sales are going to be up for younger kids with parents that don't know how to operate a pc properly... they just pop it in and it's instant "kids being entertained time" see what i'm getting at? I doubt any given soccer mom will take a pc over a game console, it's not "convenient" and while i personally hate convenience shoppers because they help destroy our country (see wall*mart), i can understand the market for it and why it still exists and why a lot of developers target that market... imo, on that market, it doesn't mater how good or crappy the game is, or how the console makes it look as long as the kid tugs his/her mom's pants enough for her to pick the thing up and buy it. See? PC's are a bit different. I should know.. i had my fair share of crappy games when i was a kid... and now my little brother does too... although i'm trying to educate him... haha

ps: if you think i'm wrong, look at the pokemon franchise, and all the barbie or mary kate and ashely olson video games and how much they reall suck yet for some reason they still do decently well.

 

[bash007]

I did see what you wrote in your previous post, but what I got from it was that you think the PC is pirated for more than consoles, which is why developers are seemingly avoiding it. I was trying to show that it was not true, and that as a matter of fact, it is consoles that are being pirated for nowadays more than PCs.
Quoting what you said:

I don't think the PC will die as a gaming platform, buth with so many people just downloading the games, it's hard as a developer to stay true to it as a platform for release. Why develop something that will just be copied as many times as it is bought, if not more.... see what i'm saying? to do so with a console takes a little more work, but it can still be done... but it's just much easier on a pc.

Also, I was talking in general in my post, so it was not directed at your post alone.

Anyway, I got your point in your last post, and there is a lot of truth to what you're saying in that one, and that I agree with.

Keep on working on educating your little brother. We need more PC gamers.

 

[exfileme]

All this thinking makes my butt itch.

 

[crom]

The PC has never been a mainstream gaming platform, and it never will be. It will continue to be a niche market. Some of the things that have come out of it are popular, like World of Warcraft or the SIMS, but for the most part PC gaming will continue as it has. As the consoles grow more PC like, you'll see a lot of crossover titles, but the number of game sales will never reach the level of a console platform.

This isn't because of piracy either. Games are pirated on EVERY platform, not just the PC. It has more to do with a less stable development platform in the PC. For a console you're only shooting for one hardware design, so you can tweak the hell out of your code. For the PC it's almost infinite, which would require more R&D and development time. It is a good platform to show off the latest and greatest in graphics, AI, physics which will trickle down to the next generation of console.

Will PC gaming die? No. There will always be people testing and tinkering. The PC lends itself very well to titles like FPS, RTS, MMORPG, and flight sims. I've yet to see a console that can do these as well as a PC. Consoles will always be bigger though due to the cheap price tag (a fully loaded PS3 costs as much as an 8800GTX video card), easier setup, and stable environment.

 

[stemnin]

Confirmed deceased:
C64
ATARI STUFF
NES
SNES
GENESIS
32X
SEGA CD
PSX
N64
GC
PSX

There's a console graveyard somewhere.. right next to the pc one.