Originally posted by Kyleran People have been heralding the death knell of PC gaming ever since the first consoles came out over 20 years ago. Its still here and going strong. As long as consoles remain somewhat limited in their abilities compared to a full blown PC, it will continue to thrive. The gaps narrowed a lot , but fundamentally games designed to run well with a game controller don't translate to the keyboard. Both controllers have their benefits, and are better suited to certain gaming designs. I think we'll see PC games continue for a long time to come.
Largely, it's the console maker's fault for the gap as they don't want any customer to tinker about their console box at all. I believe it's a federal crime to sell mod chips even, so you can see what the real problem is with the modern console versus the early/ancestral consoles (at least with them you could actually program on them like with the C64...). And the more these console makers are trying to skirt the edge of the GPL licenses on a number of firmware and software products they're using (such as the Linux kernel and certain BIOS specs) the more they open themselves up to litigation by the FSF (which has won in every case of GPL violation...). So, the console makers better get their noses clean before they pretend to have any sort of magical dominance in the computing industries.
Originally posted by Locklain PC gaming has almost always been a niche thing. Consoles will more than likely trample all over PCs within the next 10-15 years if not sooner. There have been several posts on these forums about people not liking to update their computers to keep up with the updated games and graphics. This is what will end PC gaming when the cost to keep up with the curve becomes too much.
The core reason why this will not happen, unless there is a drastic change with console machines which essentially turns them into cheap crappy PC's or full blown pc's with the same price tag.. is that your console machine is a static entity. To stay with the times, you have to change the whole device. With a PC, you just pop her open, unclick one or two cards and swap em out with new ones.
Believe you me, this console vs pc thing has been going on forever, I recall people saying the original nintendo spelled doom for the PC world. Piece of trash that is was.
Also your game will stay usable on your PC no matter how much you upgrade it (assuming its coded well and not one of those really old games that run at hyperspeed on today's pcs)
PC gaming isnt going any where. Personally, I dont plan on ever buying another console, theres just no reason to when I get much more use out of a PC. Sure, they may be churning out tons of console games, but most of them are utter shit. Why pay $50+ for a game that I could blow through in 1 bored weekend?
Actually if anything.. PC gaming is back on the rise since all the next generation consoles are failures (in their own little way).
The 360 was released too soon... limiting the system to DX9, it broke a lot when it was first released and Blu-ray has won out on the format wars making the 360 rather silly in that regard. Also again like with the X-box, companies are porting games over to the PC with better feature, graphics, controls etc. The biggest exclusives are now on the PC... Mass Effect, Gears of War etc. Only really big one that will probably be on the PC two years later is halo 3.
The Wii is actually probably the only succesful one mainly because it's cheap and families and just about everyone can enjoy it TOGETHER. Basically if you are a loner or like single player games then it's a niche system.
The PS3 is too expensive for many (though it's not as bad as some computers) as well as the game library just plain sucks right now. Most exclusives have been ported to the 360 or PC if not both. They lost Devil May Cry 4. Though the PS3 has potential to rise above the rest. The big 3rd-party exclusives are coming soon. FF13 and all that entails. MGS4. Resident Evil 5 etc.
PC gaming is getting more and more ports of console games, the computer technology is getting cheaper and cheaper rather than more expensive (Ok, some parts start out expensive but they drop somewhat quickly) and with huge amount of players for games such as World of Warcraft and other MMO's. Who is not going to tap into the market?
most people lack pc knowledge that is why they think they have to buy a $2000 to run new games
This is another issue. There are a lot of people out there that would have a brain aneurysm just trying to turn a PC on let alone tinkering with the guts of it. I am also well aware of how cheap it is to build a nice system, however, said people above have no idea and feel the need to run out and buy the most expensive Alienware they can (more expensive means its better right?).
It's a Jeep thing. . . _______ |___| \_______/ = |||||| = |X| \*........*/ |X| |X|_________|X| You wouldn't understand
I know console gaming is on the rise, and when I went to a game store recently, the section for PC games was very small (maybe 8% of the games in the store). Is this a trend or simply a stable market? I would hate to have gaming all go to XBox and Playstation. That would be limiting, especially for MMORPG's. Thoughts?
The funny thing is that i just read on some site that PC gaming sales were far above the total console sales.Wish i could remember where i read it but i can't,and it was only like 2 days ago lol.
What is even more stratling is that about a little over a year ago microsoft claimed they were gettting out of the console gaming and getting back to PC gaming.There recent trends show this to be anything but true so i'm not sure what they are up to.I also saw one of the EA games maybe it was madden football? i can't remember but they said they were not releasing it on PC for the sole reason of fraud.Personally i don't see fraud as an issue because all the games now require key codes.
It wouldn't bother me so much if all games were console only,however the games would have to be available on all consoles ,something i doubt will ever happen.It would eliminate the biggest flaw in PC gaming and that is configurations and hardware/driver issues.
They say the PS3 machine and it's cell has HUGE potential and can run some pretty massive games.With additions of HD's on consoles i can't see why they really need PC gaming i guess.Perhaps it has more to do with modding.Game modding is huge as tons of players out there like to create there own ideas for games.The freely released unreal engine caused a ton of stuff in this area.There is of course a huge modding family in the quake and half life engines.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
most people lack pc knowledge that is why they think they have to buy a $2000 to run new games
This is another issue. There are a lot of people out there that would have a brain aneurysm just trying to turn a PC on let alone tinkering with the guts of it. I am also well aware of how cheap it is to build a nice system, however, said people above have no idea and feel the need to run out and buy the most expensive Alienware they can (more expensive means its better right?).
also companis like alienware overcharge by like 1-2k
I actually think the Console market is more in danger of declining a bit. Afterall consider the consoles themselves [not the games just the consoles], They are full of expensive hardware most console companies sell them at a loss just to make them affordable And they will only lasy a couple of years before PC equivelents of console hardware becomes affordable to the average PC buyer.
So i feel there is a good chance that the number of console companies on the market will in a few years leave the console market due to high costs as that expensive piece of hardware called a console will only be competative with PC's hardware wise for a few years before a whole new even more expensive console will have to be designed just to compete with standard PC hardware [bear in mind the PC hardware that competes with next gen consoles and costs a lot will be a LOT cheaper in 1-2 years time and therefore more common in PC's].
Only way for consoles to compete till the Next Next gen consoles [Playstation 4?] come out is for them to be better at making games and squeezing the most out of the Next gen hardware. And even that may only work for a year.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Hmmm.... interesting theory... I go to the local gaming store... Walmart,... lol.... and there was one row that was completely computer gaming and there was 1.5 rows of completely console gaming... do I think pc gaming will go down over time? maybe, maybe not... it depends on prices, what games they sell for it, and the requirements for those games... not everyone has those high-priced gaming computers or enough money to buy those high-priced gaming computers.... every computer game has different requirements... while two games for the Playstation 3 have the same requirements... a playstation 3... that's it..... im not asking for the requirements to go down, but maybe they should price the high-powered gaming comps a little cheaper... have you noticed that only some of the games that come out on console come out on comp... Iron Man, Hitman, so on and so forth... they should make them all come out on computer... but more people play console games than they do computer games.... unless you play mmorpg's, you probably don't play much on the comp.... that's the known fact... as long as mmorpg's exist, computer games will exist... that is plain it....
I saw an article on youtube about gears of war 3.......AND THE PRODUCER SAID "We are trying to sell as meny Xbox 360 as possible"..........so.......They are trying to replace Pc gameingTHIR IS A DISASTER!!!!!!!
All platforms are going to end up merging over time.
Exactly right, there will be a natural convergence of the technologies as we are starting to see with cross-over gaming titles.
In the end practicality will mean that consoles just can't be produced fast enough to keep up with the latest gaming technology unless the next generation will be able to be upgraded with new hardware, in which case with the price of a decent PC system becoming proportionally cheaper each year it will not be worth the money to invest in a console, when a PC system of similar cost can do so much more and be upgraded with 3rd party hardware whenever its required.
The next generation of Consoles (IF they are ever even released) will be the last, instead we will see a new generation of Hybrid PCs designed from the ground up for gaming and for gamers with no computer knowledge. i.e. running a cut down version of windows gaming* (similar to what an Xbox is now but with a great step toward the hardware and specs of a PC)
PC gaming, as un-mainstream as it is, will go down VERY slowly and while putting up a fight. I personally think it's going to become more popular in the next few years. PCs have many many more options and can sometimes run even better than consoles. Not to mention a lot of more innovative games are made on PCs than consoles. So in my opinion it (being the death of PC gaming) will either happen very slowly, or go in the opposite direction.
Comments
Largely, it's the console maker's fault for the gap as they don't want any customer to tinker about their console box at all. I believe it's a federal crime to sell mod chips even, so you can see what the real problem is with the modern console versus the early/ancestral consoles (at least with them you could actually program on them like with the C64...). And the more these console makers are trying to skirt the edge of the GPL licenses on a number of firmware and software products they're using (such as the Linux kernel and certain BIOS specs) the more they open themselves up to litigation by the FSF (which has won in every case of GPL violation...). So, the console makers better get their noses clean before they pretend to have any sort of magical dominance in the computing industries.
-- Brede
The core reason why this will not happen, unless there is a drastic change with console machines which essentially turns them into cheap crappy PC's or full blown pc's with the same price tag.. is that your console machine is a static entity. To stay with the times, you have to change the whole device. With a PC, you just pop her open, unclick one or two cards and swap em out with new ones.
Believe you me, this console vs pc thing has been going on forever, I recall people saying the original nintendo spelled doom for the PC world. Piece of trash that is was.
Also your game will stay usable on your PC no matter how much you upgrade it (assuming its coded well and not one of those really old games that run at hyperspeed on today's pcs)
In my opinion there will always be pc gaming. Hard to say to what degree though, especially as consoles become more powerful.
most people lack pc knowledge that is why they think they have to buy a $2000 to run new games
PC gaming isnt going any where. Personally, I dont plan on ever buying another console, theres just no reason to when I get much more use out of a PC. Sure, they may be churning out tons of console games, but most of them are utter shit. Why pay $50+ for a game that I could blow through in 1 bored weekend?
Actually if anything.. PC gaming is back on the rise since all the next generation consoles are failures (in their own little way).
The 360 was released too soon... limiting the system to DX9, it broke a lot when it was first released and Blu-ray has won out on the format wars making the 360 rather silly in that regard. Also again like with the X-box, companies are porting games over to the PC with better feature, graphics, controls etc. The biggest exclusives are now on the PC... Mass Effect, Gears of War etc. Only really big one that will probably be on the PC two years later is halo 3.
The Wii is actually probably the only succesful one mainly because it's cheap and families and just about everyone can enjoy it TOGETHER. Basically if you are a loner or like single player games then it's a niche system.
The PS3 is too expensive for many (though it's not as bad as some computers) as well as the game library just plain sucks right now. Most exclusives have been ported to the 360 or PC if not both. They lost Devil May Cry 4. Though the PS3 has potential to rise above the rest. The big 3rd-party exclusives are coming soon. FF13 and all that entails. MGS4. Resident Evil 5 etc.
PC gaming is getting more and more ports of console games, the computer technology is getting cheaper and cheaper rather than more expensive (Ok, some parts start out expensive but they drop somewhat quickly) and with huge amount of players for games such as World of Warcraft and other MMO's. Who is not going to tap into the market?
This is another issue. There are a lot of people out there that would have a brain aneurysm just trying to turn a PC on let alone tinkering with the guts of it. I am also well aware of how cheap it is to build a nice system, however, said people above have no idea and feel the need to run out and buy the most expensive Alienware they can (more expensive means its better right?).
_______
|___
\_______/
=
|X| \*........*/ |X|
|X|_________|X|
You wouldn't understand
What is even more stratling is that about a little over a year ago microsoft claimed they were gettting out of the console gaming and getting back to PC gaming.There recent trends show this to be anything but true so i'm not sure what they are up to.I also saw one of the EA games maybe it was madden football? i can't remember but they said they were not releasing it on PC for the sole reason of fraud.Personally i don't see fraud as an issue because all the games now require key codes.
It wouldn't bother me so much if all games were console only,however the games would have to be available on all consoles ,something i doubt will ever happen.It would eliminate the biggest flaw in PC gaming and that is configurations and hardware/driver issues.
They say the PS3 machine and it's cell has HUGE potential and can run some pretty massive games.With additions of HD's on consoles i can't see why they really need PC gaming i guess.Perhaps it has more to do with modding.Game modding is huge as tons of players out there like to create there own ideas for games.The freely released unreal engine caused a ton of stuff in this area.There is of course a huge modding family in the quake and half life engines.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
This is another issue. There are a lot of people out there that would have a brain aneurysm just trying to turn a PC on let alone tinkering with the guts of it. I am also well aware of how cheap it is to build a nice system, however, said people above have no idea and feel the need to run out and buy the most expensive Alienware they can (more expensive means its better right?).
also companis like alienware overcharge by like 1-2k
Change!
I actually think the Console market is more in danger of declining a bit. Afterall consider the consoles themselves [not the games just the consoles], They are full of expensive hardware most console companies sell them at a loss just to make them affordable And they will only lasy a couple of years before PC equivelents of console hardware becomes affordable to the average PC buyer.
So i feel there is a good chance that the number of console companies on the market will in a few years leave the console market due to high costs as that expensive piece of hardware called a console will only be competative with PC's hardware wise for a few years before a whole new even more expensive console will have to be designed just to compete with standard PC hardware [bear in mind the PC hardware that competes with next gen consoles and costs a lot will be a LOT cheaper in 1-2 years time and therefore more common in PC's].
Only way for consoles to compete till the Next Next gen consoles [Playstation 4?] come out is for them to be better at making games and squeezing the most out of the Next gen hardware. And even that may only work for a year.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
Hmmm.... interesting theory... I go to the local gaming store... Walmart,... lol.... and there was one row that was completely computer gaming and there was 1.5 rows of completely console gaming... do I think pc gaming will go down over time? maybe, maybe not... it depends on prices, what games they sell for it, and the requirements for those games... not everyone has those high-priced gaming computers or enough money to buy those high-priced gaming computers.... every computer game has different requirements... while two games for the Playstation 3 have the same requirements... a playstation 3... that's it..... im not asking for the requirements to go down, but maybe they should price the high-powered gaming comps a little cheaper... have you noticed that only some of the games that come out on console come out on comp... Iron Man, Hitman, so on and so forth... they should make them all come out on computer... but more people play console games than they do computer games.... unless you play mmorpg's, you probably don't play much on the comp.... that's the known fact... as long as mmorpg's exist, computer games will exist... that is plain it....
I saw an article on youtube about gears of war 3.......AND THE PRODUCER SAID "We are trying to sell as meny Xbox 360 as possible"..........so.......They are trying to replace Pc gameing
THIR IS A DISASTER!!!!!!!
I wanted to say gears of war 1....sory:)
yes... well, maybe someone should write a petition to get more games coming out on computer... i'd sign it
All platforms are going to end up merging over time.
personally... that would be awesome.... all games being able to be played on one platform... that would be soooo awesome
Exactly right, there will be a natural convergence of the technologies as we are starting to see with cross-over gaming titles.
In the end practicality will mean that consoles just can't be produced fast enough to keep up with the latest gaming technology unless the next generation will be able to be upgraded with new hardware, in which case with the price of a decent PC system becoming proportionally cheaper each year it will not be worth the money to invest in a console, when a PC system of similar cost can do so much more and be upgraded with 3rd party hardware whenever its required.
The next generation of Consoles (IF they are ever even released) will be the last, instead we will see a new generation of Hybrid PCs designed from the ground up for gaming and for gamers with no computer knowledge. i.e. running a cut down version of windows gaming* (similar to what an Xbox is now but with a great step toward the hardware and specs of a PC)
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
PC gaming, as un-mainstream as it is, will go down VERY slowly and while putting up a fight. I personally think it's going to become more popular in the next few years. PCs have many many more options and can sometimes run even better than consoles. Not to mention a lot of more innovative games are made on PCs than consoles. So in my opinion it (being the death of PC gaming) will either happen very slowly, or go in the opposite direction.