Let's take all of those games though and put 'em on the top of the NPD charts for PC. Does that paint that much of a healthier picture for PC gaming than Sims 2 and World of Warcraft? It'd be a less stagnant picture for sure, but they're all still mostly things already available on consoles except without the perks, sold more on consoles and yet were still long since pushed off the charts by newer games. Furthermore, these games tend to be the hallmark of PC gaming and are merely run of the mill for consoles amidst a plethora of releases. Everytime a game on PC releases; its usually displaced by the same old games that've been selling forever. You could argue that games like World of Warcraft and Sims 2 are just utterly popular, easy to do given Sims 2 sold over 100 million copies and World of Warcraft has 10 million + subscribers; but we actually get the numbers and see some PC games top the lists for maybe their first week and simply plummet.
You say PC market is stagnant and yet you point at WoW as the holy grail of originality reflected by the subscriptions amount? Irony at its best, mate.
Maybe if the other games sucked so bad at sales, the companies behind them (some of them developing solely for the PC, like Relic Entertainment) would be shut down by now. You don't need 10 million subscribers for a successful MMORPG, and you also don't need to be the number one seller for financial success.
I agree with the argument of way more games coming for the consoles though.
Where did I say World of Warcraft was the holy grail of originality? I said World of Warcraft and the Sims were utterly popular; which they are and for the reasons I gave.
And I think you missed the point of me mentioning the giant numbers that those two brands do; 100 million copies in 8 years across two Sims and all of their expansions means 8 years of probable impossibility when it comes anything else staying on the charts for long; except World of Warcraft which has expansions of its own and enormous success.
My point wasn't that the Sims and Warcraft numbers were necessary to achieve for a game to be considered a success, just that the Sims and Warcraft level of successes could and have easily masked any other successes.
It's similar to Nintendo products that often dominated by first-party titles. What happens though is that no matter how popular the actual hardware is, other developers tend to stop developing for it when the same few things dominate.
I believe that's why the 360 and PS3 are the most common grounds for a variety of developers and their biggest projects.
Maybe I misunderstood what exactly where you referring to with "stagnant" (games or the market), my bad.
To be honest, I don't even believe Blizzard can re-do WoW again, it's an anomalous amount of people playing even for a MMORPG, they just had the perfect setup for it on its time. The sim-esque games were fun to me, even if The Sims is not my personal choice, but I do admit the game is pretty nice.
Companies with good ideas are selling their games recently, but the profit for console gaming is far superior and this is obviously wounding PC gaming. I remember an article comparing Gears of War sales, where the Xbox had five times more sales than the PC, another one commented on how Crytek was displeased at the low amount of sales for Crysis (PC exclusive and award winner). I wouldn't be surprised with more PC developers going to consoles gradually. It's not a matter of developers doing bad games (exceptions aside) but rather piracy taking its toll.
I don't know what to think of this recession. I have a feeling it has been blown way out of proportion in the medias. Last recession all building basically stopped. No new houses were being built and people stopped going on shopping sprees. This recession i see plenty of new houses being built and the shopping malls filled with people. Its been amazing to see how hard its been to even get a parking space on weekends when doing a little shopping. Last recession malls where completely empty. The only thing i have seen from this recession is people spending as they always have.
1) Piracy is everywhere... and to use it as an excuse at this point is just turning a blind eye. After all, EVERY console now can pirate with a software update... and we are seeing Console software on torrents more and more. In fact, it is NOT PC, but a CONSOLE that almost died from over-piracy (the PSP). Simply put, pirates will follow the software, and if the next "super game" is only on console, be ready for the hoard to descent overnight and leave everyone wondering what the hell happened.
2) Gears of War on PC did NOT fail sales due to piracy. It got hurt FAR worse between comming out so much later then the 360 version (gamers always have a case of "shiny-itis": always wanting the new and shiney) and a backlash from PC/360 owners who were pissed that their version they bought way back would NOT have the new chapter.
3) Crysis got hurt by it's own requirements more then anything. Most people were interested were hearing the media blitz of it's through the roof reqs, so of course when it came time to buy, they were timid.
1) Piracy is everywhere... and to use it as an excuse at this point is just turning a blind eye. After all, EVERY console now can pirate with a software update... and we are seeing Console software on torrents more and more. In fact, it is NOT PC, but a CONSOLE that almost died from over-piracy (the PSP). Simply put, pirates will follow the software, and if the next "super game" is only on console, be ready for the hoard to descent overnight and leave everyone wondering what the hell happened. 2) Gears of War on PC did NOT fail sales due to piracy. It got hurt FAR worse between comming out so much later then the 360 version (gamers always have a case of "shiny-itis": always wanting the new and shiney) and a backlash from PC/360 owners who were pissed that their version they bought way back would NOT have the new chapter. 3) Crysis got hurt by it's own requirements more then anything. Most people were interested were hearing the media blitz of it's through the roof reqs, so of course when it came time to buy, they were timid.
Sorry, but it's not just an excuse. It's a harsh reality. More and more developers are reporting a piracy rate of nearly 90%.
To compare it to console piracy is silly, the piracy on consoles is nowhere near that of the PC.
To pirate on a console you need to install a mod chip and flashes are very unreliable and don't last long due to Xbox live banning you. This right there keeps piracy from reaching the mainstream as you can't buy these in just any store, Xbox Live also scans your hardware so you can't really pirate games if you want to stay connected to XBL.
Comments
You say PC market is stagnant and yet you point at WoW as the holy grail of originality reflected by the subscriptions amount? Irony at its best, mate.
Maybe if the other games sucked so bad at sales, the companies behind them (some of them developing solely for the PC, like Relic Entertainment) would be shut down by now. You don't need 10 million subscribers for a successful MMORPG, and you also don't need to be the number one seller for financial success.
I agree with the argument of way more games coming for the consoles though.
Where did I say World of Warcraft was the holy grail of originality? I said World of Warcraft and the Sims were utterly popular; which they are and for the reasons I gave.
And I think you missed the point of me mentioning the giant numbers that those two brands do; 100 million copies in 8 years across two Sims and all of their expansions means 8 years of probable impossibility when it comes anything else staying on the charts for long; except World of Warcraft which has expansions of its own and enormous success.
My point wasn't that the Sims and Warcraft numbers were necessary to achieve for a game to be considered a success, just that the Sims and Warcraft level of successes could and have easily masked any other successes.
It's similar to Nintendo products that often dominated by first-party titles. What happens though is that no matter how popular the actual hardware is, other developers tend to stop developing for it when the same few things dominate.
I believe that's why the 360 and PS3 are the most common grounds for a variety of developers and their biggest projects.
Maybe I misunderstood what exactly where you referring to with "stagnant" (games or the market), my bad.
To be honest, I don't even believe Blizzard can re-do WoW again, it's an anomalous amount of people playing even for a MMORPG, they just had the perfect setup for it on its time. The sim-esque games were fun to me, even if The Sims is not my personal choice, but I do admit the game is pretty nice.
Companies with good ideas are selling their games recently, but the profit for console gaming is far superior and this is obviously wounding PC gaming. I remember an article comparing Gears of War sales, where the Xbox had five times more sales than the PC, another one commented on how Crytek was displeased at the low amount of sales for Crysis (PC exclusive and award winner). I wouldn't be surprised with more PC developers going to consoles gradually. It's not a matter of developers doing bad games (exceptions aside) but rather piracy taking its toll.
Because PC's F**kin Rule
Trade in material assumptions for spiritual facts and make permanent progress.
I just want Activision-Blizzard to do good even if I don't play any of their games. Since that is who I am most invested in, hehehe. doh
I don't know what to think of this recession. I have a feeling it has been blown way out of proportion in the medias. Last recession all building basically stopped. No new houses were being built and people stopped going on shopping sprees. This recession i see plenty of new houses being built and the shopping malls filled with people. Its been amazing to see how hard its been to even get a parking space on weekends when doing a little shopping. Last recession malls where completely empty. The only thing i have seen from this recession is people spending as they always have.
1) Piracy is everywhere... and to use it as an excuse at this point is just turning a blind eye. After all, EVERY console now can pirate with a software update... and we are seeing Console software on torrents more and more. In fact, it is NOT PC, but a CONSOLE that almost died from over-piracy (the PSP). Simply put, pirates will follow the software, and if the next "super game" is only on console, be ready for the hoard to descent overnight and leave everyone wondering what the hell happened.
2) Gears of War on PC did NOT fail sales due to piracy. It got hurt FAR worse between comming out so much later then the 360 version (gamers always have a case of "shiny-itis": always wanting the new and shiney) and a backlash from PC/360 owners who were pissed that their version they bought way back would NOT have the new chapter.
3) Crysis got hurt by it's own requirements more then anything. Most people were interested were hearing the media blitz of it's through the roof reqs, so of course when it came time to buy, they were timid.
Sorry, but it's not just an excuse. It's a harsh reality. More and more developers are reporting a piracy rate of nearly 90%.
To compare it to console piracy is silly, the piracy on consoles is nowhere near that of the PC.
To pirate on a console you need to install a mod chip and flashes are very unreliable and don't last long due to Xbox live banning you. This right there keeps piracy from reaching the mainstream as you can't buy these in just any store, Xbox Live also scans your hardware so you can't really pirate games if you want to stay connected to XBL.
Piracy on the PS3 is extremely difficult to do.