I think only part of it is pirating, maybe a small part to the overall problems.
Like someone else already mentioned,
PC: Hard to upgrade, costly, bad compatibilty, often bugged, complicated to install, poor language support
Console: No upgrade needed for years, cheap, every game 'should' work on it, few bugs, easy to use, good language support
I think, out of those, that cost and how hard it is to upgrade a PC and install games, drivers, etc..have a bigger impact on sales than piracy has I think.
Also, a lot of people use only notebook now, those systems can't play games very well. Before notebooks became so popular people had full systems that could run games better maybe. Now they would have to buy another full system.
This was always a probelm for the coming of PC games... Which is why they need to standardize a default pc for gaming that has interchangable vid card and thats it.. It would already come equipped with decent enough hardware for at least max settings in recent games (minus the AA bs and Super AA and AAAA whatever people call that stuff) and when times start to evolve all one should have to do is pop in another vid card and go with the flow..
People get scared to upgrade because they let the terminolgy and hardcore leetsters confuse them. It should be laid out like a console with many plug and play components and wallah, PC games can start saying for requirments something like "Standard PC Gaming Configuration" which would obviously mean the pre-built , decent priced (around the same as an xbox 360 or ps3) standard pc gaming machine.
With this whole "Games for Windows" thing microsoft is trying to pull, a pc standardization is just begging to be made.. Hell, microsoft pretty much has a monopoly on pc software, why not make or set a standard for pc gaming machines as well?
Console percentage going up, PC going down. Been going on for a year or more and will continue even more in that direction. Console: couch or recliner, wireless controller, 50+ inch big screen TV, surround sound, watch blue-ray movies with ps3, innovative input devices (Wii), etc. PC: keep upgrading that rig, new card, more memory, will it play the game? For MMOs though, PC still very solid platform. I think it's because most of the people playing are actually white collar workers, playing MMO x in a window at work... boss walks in, quick minimize, pop open that dev environment and compliment the boss's most recent ideas in the last meeting. Wait for boss to leave, then back to killing more boars.
On the other hand my wife uses the pc for her business use, ya can't use a ps3 for word processing, accounts and photoshop!
The other thing this clearly doesn't account for are the revenues MMO companies reap through monthly fees. Even a moderately successful MMO with 100K users is still pulling down the equivalent of 360K box sales a year ($15/month x 12 months x 100K / $50 box price). So if you counted Eve Online's subscriptions, Eve would beat out several of the games on that top ten list.
If that's the case, why even charge for the box at all? Wouldn't they sell a lot more subs, without the box price as a consumer stumbling block? Rather than the free month for $50, why not a free week for free, followed by a standard subscription cost?
Because the way it is now, they have your $50 whether you subscribe or not. The box is great advertisement. People go into Walmart and pick up the box thinking that they or someone in the house will like the game based on the box. But then they get it home and it never gets opened or it gets opened and played for a few days, but they never subscribe, but they still got your $50. Your way, they would get nothing. Besides, most games offer a demo or trial offer that's free already.
Originally posted by VyethThis was always a probelm for the coming of PC games... Which is why they need to standardize a default pc for gaming that has interchangable vid card and thats it.. It would already come equipped with decent enough hardware for at least max settings in recent games (minus the AA bs and Super AA and AAAA whatever people call that stuff) and when times start to evolve all one should have to do is pop in another vid card and go with the flow..
People get scared to upgrade because they let the terminolgy and hardcore leetsters confuse them. It should be laid out like a console with many plug and play components and wallah, PC games can start saying for requirments something like "Standard PC Gaming Configuration" which would obviously mean the pre-built , decent priced (around the same as an xbox 360 or ps3) standard pc gaming machine. With this whole "Games for Windows" thing microsoft is trying to pull, a pc standardization is just begging to be made.. Hell, microsoft pretty much has a monopoly on pc software, why not make or set a standard for pc gaming machines as well?
What your describing here is basically a X-Box. A standardised pc., and no thank you, if I want a console i'll buy one.
The beauty of a PC is that it can be as powerfull or basic as you like, you can add or upgrade individual parts. What you describe removes the fundamental reason that many people own a PC in the first place. If the knowledge is lacking for some people about upgrading etc then they should investigate the thousands of sites on the net detailing this information.
You also describe having plug and play components. ALL PC components ARE plug and play in as much as the hardware is designed to communicate with other hardware hence standards such as PCI-E these are interface standards. So the only real concern left is that you have to install a driver which if thats too hard for some people then they should definetly stick to a console and not bring PCs down to the level of a console.
Certain consoles are showing there age already. There are games being released now on PC only! thats because the conosles cannot handle the level of detail. Now these console users are stuck with a non upgradable system. What solution do they have? they have to wait for a new version of their conosle. Where as PC owners when a game requires a more powerfull system they can simply upgrade for much less than the cost of a new console.
Well, I think next year those numbers will show 80% of the top ten console sales going to Wii. Since I don't feel PCs are really even in competition with Wii, and in fact recommend everyone owns both...not worried about it at all LOL!
PC sales going down? Bullsh*t – if you include online sales and monthly fees.
Total xbox 360 console sales 17.7 million. Current number of WoW subscribers 10 million. And keep in mind wow is just one game.
You probably have more people playing PC game than any one console. But PC gamers stick to one game longer, due to monthly fees and online communities. Take CS or WoW for example. I know I played Diablo 2 for 2 years.
So you probable have a large gaming base with PC even though the numbers of boxes sold aren’t as high.
The beauty of a PC is that it can be as powerfull or basic as you like, you can add or upgrade individual parts. What you describe removes the fundamental reason that many people own a PC in the first place. If the knowledge is lacking for some people about upgrading etc then they should investigate the thousands of sites on the net detailing this information.
Doesn't mean the PC can't make things more compatible and easy though. It's still far too hard to set up a cooler on your CPU, I've done it a few times but I did break a CPU once because I pushed too hard onto it.It's fun and all that you can pick your own things and make your own PC but it's not user friendly at all.
The naming of the CPU's and GPU are horrid, I mean:
People have no clue what those PC terms mean unless they're quite tech savy. But those are the components and types you need if you want to play games.
Then you force them to install more and more drivers and more and more patches come out, they need Steam, sound drivers, DX updates etc....It's not at all user friendly, they need more things like USB that make it really easy to operate a PC.
Exactly. For some reason people in the States think everyone pays $15/month USD.
China has the largest percentage of WoW subscribers and they have a different payment model (hourly). When people brag about WoW's huge numbers, it's really a success in China. The North American numbers have gone down 500k over the past year.
WoW went UP by 1 million subscribers in America in the past year.
The North American numbers have gone down 500k over the past year.
What's with WoW bashers stooping to lying now? There's a bright future for you in either the broadcast or print media field.
IRVINE, Calif. – January 11, 2007 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®, its subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), is now played by more than 8 million gamers around the world. World of Warcraft has also achieved new regional subscriber milestones, with more than 2 million players in North America, more than 1.5 million players in Europe, and more than 3.5 million players in China.
IRVINE, Calif. -- January 22, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season. World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia.
I think only part of it is pirating, maybe a small part to the overall problems. Like someone else already mentioned,
PC: Hard to upgrade, costly, bad compatibilty, Occasionally bugged, complicated to install, poor language support, Top range technology, Moddable games. Console: No upgrade needed for years, cheap, every game 'should' work on it, few bugs, easy to use, good language support, Outdated technology, Unmoddable games.
I think, out of those, that cost and how hard it is to upgrade a PC and install games, drivers, etc..have a bigger impact on sales than piracy has I think. Also, a lot of people use only notebook now, those systems can't play games very well. Before notebooks became so popular people had full systems that could run games better maybe. Now they would have to buy another full system.
HeH corrected for you. Fact of the matter is that PC's are very easy to upgrade now.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god." -- Jean Rostand
The beauty of a PC is that it can be as powerfull or basic as you like, you can add or upgrade individual parts. What you describe removes the fundamental reason that many people own a PC in the first place. If the knowledge is lacking for some people about upgrading etc then they should investigate the thousands of sites on the net detailing this information.
Doesn't mean the PC can't make things more compatible and easy though. It's still far too hard to set up a cooler on your CPU, I've done it a few times but I did break a CPU once because I pushed too hard onto it.It's fun and all that you can pick your own things and make your own PC but it's not user friendly at all.
The naming of the CPU's and GPU are horrid, I mean:
People have no clue what those PC terms mean unless they're quite tech savy. But those are the components and types you need if you want to play games. Thats the price you pay for making your own PC and in the end its not hard to learn.
Then you force them to install more and more drivers and more and more patches come out, they need Steam, sound drivers, DX updates etc such drivers increase performance and compatability with new hardware and software ....It's not at all user friendly, they need more things like USB that make it really easy to operate a PC. Getting more USB is easy to do just buy a USB port and plug it in.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god." -- Jean Rostand
Comments
People get scared to upgrade because they let the terminolgy and hardcore leetsters confuse them. It should be laid out like a console with many plug and play components and wallah, PC games can start saying for requirments something like "Standard PC Gaming Configuration" which would obviously mean the pre-built , decent priced (around the same as an xbox 360 or ps3) standard pc gaming machine.
With this whole "Games for Windows" thing microsoft is trying to pull, a pc standardization is just begging to be made.. Hell, microsoft pretty much has a monopoly on pc software, why not make or set a standard for pc gaming machines as well?
On the other hand my wife uses the pc for her business use, ya can't use a ps3 for word processing, accounts and photoshop!
If that's the case, why even charge for the box at all? Wouldn't they sell a lot more subs, without the box price as a consumer stumbling block? Rather than the free month for $50, why not a free week for free, followed by a standard subscription cost?
Because the way it is now, they have your $50 whether you subscribe or not. The box is great advertisement. People go into Walmart and pick up the box thinking that they or someone in the house will like the game based on the box. But then they get it home and it never gets opened or it gets opened and played for a few days, but they never subscribe, but they still got your $50. Your way, they would get nothing. Besides, most games offer a demo or trial offer that's free already.
What your describing here is basically a X-Box. A standardised pc., and no thank you, if I want a console i'll buy one.
The beauty of a PC is that it can be as powerfull or basic as you like, you can add or upgrade individual parts. What you describe removes the fundamental reason that many people own a PC in the first place. If the knowledge is lacking for some people about upgrading etc then they should investigate the thousands of sites on the net detailing this information.
You also describe having plug and play components. ALL PC components ARE plug and play in as much as the hardware is designed to communicate with other hardware hence standards such as PCI-E these are interface standards. So the only real concern left is that you have to install a driver which if thats too hard for some people then they should definetly stick to a console and not bring PCs down to the level of a console.
Certain consoles are showing there age already. There are games being released now on PC only! thats because the conosles cannot handle the level of detail. Now these console users are stuck with a non upgradable system. What solution do they have? they have to wait for a new version of their conosle. Where as PC owners when a game requires a more powerfull system they can simply upgrade for much less than the cost of a new console.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Well, I think next year those numbers will show 80% of the top ten console sales going to Wii. Since I don't feel PCs are really even in competition with Wii, and in fact recommend everyone owns both...not worried about it at all LOL!
PC sales going down? Bullsh*t – if you include online sales and monthly fees.
Total xbox 360 console sales 17.7 million. Current number of WoW subscribers 10 million. And keep in mind wow is just one game.
You probably have more people playing PC game than any one console. But PC gamers stick to one game longer, due to monthly fees and online communities. Take CS or WoW for example. I know I played Diablo 2 for 2 years.
So you probable have a large gaming base with PC even though the numbers of boxes sold aren’t as high.
Doesn't mean the PC can't make things more compatible and easy though. It's still far too hard to set up a cooler on your CPU, I've done it a few times but I did break a CPU once because I pushed too hard onto it.It's fun and all that you can pick your own things and make your own PC but it's not user friendly at all.
The naming of the CPU's and GPU are horrid, I mean:
"Intel core 2 DUO E4400 2GHZ"..what?..
"Nvidia 7700GTS, GT, GTX, Ultra, Xtreme, GS, MX, HD, GSX"....what?
or
"Xbox 360"
People have no clue what those PC terms mean unless they're quite tech savy. But those are the components and types you need if you want to play games.
Then you force them to install more and more drivers and more and more patches come out, they need Steam, sound drivers, DX updates etc....It's not at all user friendly, they need more things like USB that make it really easy to operate a PC.
Didn't LotRO launch in 2007?
What's with WoW bashers stooping to lying now? There's a bright future for you in either the broadcast or print media field.
IRVINE, Calif. – January 11, 2007 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®, its subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), is now played by more than 8 million gamers around the world. World of Warcraft has also achieved new regional subscriber milestones, with more than 2 million players in North America, more than 1.5 million players in Europe, and more than 3.5 million players in China.
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
IRVINE, Calif. -- January 22, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season. World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia.
http://www.blizzard.com/press/080122.shtml
My youtube MMO gaming channel
HeH corrected for you. Fact of the matter is that PC's are very easy to upgrade now.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand
Doesn't mean the PC can't make things more compatible and easy though. It's still far too hard to set up a cooler on your CPU, I've done it a few times but I did break a CPU once because I pushed too hard onto it.It's fun and all that you can pick your own things and make your own PC but it's not user friendly at all.
The naming of the CPU's and GPU are horrid, I mean:
"Intel core 2 DUO E4400 2GHZ"..what?..
"Nvidia 7700GTS, GT, GTX, Ultra, Xtreme, GS, MX, HD, GSX"....what?
or
"Xbox 360"
People have no clue what those PC terms mean unless they're quite tech savy. But those are the components and types you need if you want to play games. Thats the price you pay for making your own PC and in the end its not hard to learn.
Then you force them to install more and more drivers and more and more patches come out, they need Steam, sound drivers, DX updates etc such drivers increase performance and compatability with new hardware and software ....It's not at all user friendly, they need more things like USB that make it really easy to operate a PC. Getting more USB is easy to do just buy a USB port and plug it in.
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
-- Jean Rostand